A Complete Guide to What to Do In New York Over 4th of July Weekend
Stage Your Own Clambake
There are all sorts of package deals that you can get for 4th of July BBQ feasts at places like Briskettown, Pork Slope, and Dinosaur BBQ. And I’m not saying that you shouldn’t cater your own feast with foods from one of those spots—you probably should! They all make some damn fine food. I mean, I’m drooling just thinking about Pork Slope’s nachos right now. But another really good—and traditional—way to feast this holiday weekend is to have an old-fashioned clambake. You don’t have to be literal about the clams (although you should be, clams are a delicious and usually more affordable alternative to oysters) but you do need to be literal about getting some a lot of seafood. There are different ways to approach this, of course. You could head over to Fairway and pay a visit to the lobster tank and the seafood counter and cook it all up yourself, but, well, that sounds like an awful lot of work. So, bypass all that prep time and just head over to a really good seafood restaurant and gorge yourself there. Now the lobster rolls at the Red Hook Lobster Pound are terrific, and the oysters Rockefeller at Marco Polo Ristorante are a fine example of old-school decadence, but you really ought to head over to Littleneck and get a clam roll with fries and a whole lot of beer. Don’t forget to save room for pie. It’s a holiday weekend after all.
Red Hook Lobster Pound; 284 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook
Marco Polo Ristorante; 345 Court Street, Carroll Gardens
Littleneck; 288 3rd Avenue, Gowanus