The Best of 2005... Sara Style

Ok so this week the Village Voice came out with their best of 2005 issue (view it here: www.villiage voice.com)and I got to thinking about what I would put in if I were writing so here are a few (bear in mind that I live in Park Slope and I work in Midtown so these are colored by those facts):

Best Place to Get Trampled By Tourists: Times Square. No explanation needed.

Best Theatre to do Unpaid Theatre Work: Here I give a shoutout to Gallery Players (14th and 4th in Park Slope) a theatre where I have worked as an Assistant Stage Manager for five plays in a row, including The Full Monty and The Laramie Project. Come check it out!

Best Place to Watch Baseball: Yankee Stadium (161st Street..on the B/D line) Say what you will about the recent post-season collapses of this team...they still have the best place in town to catch a game at a place steeped in history. Get there early enough to get into Monument Park and take in the history.

Best Place to Watch Hockey: Madison Square Garden (34th and 7th above Penn Station). "The World's Most Famous Arena," indeed. After hockey's season long absence, it'll be great to get back to MSG and catch the Rangers. Don't forget to wave at Mike Richter's number 35 above the ice.

Best Place to Eat Before Going to MSG: Keen's (36th and B'way). Good burgers. Good club sandwiches. Good beer.

Best Place to Buy Books: Coliseum Books (11 W. 42nd St)Sure, the books aren't any cheaper than BN, but they sponsor the reading lounge in Bryant Park and host authors such as Tony Kushner and Gregory Macguire.

Best Show Not Starring a TV/Movie Star: Altar Boyz (Dodger Stages, 50th St bewteen 7th and 8th). I expected this show about a Christian Boy Band to be idiotice but it was in fact, delighfully cheesy fun. But go see it for yourself.

Best Place to Eat Lunch and Not Look at Your Office Building: My favorite is this place on 50th Street next to Strawberry's with a fountain and a waterfall encases in a wall. There are tables and chairs. Just don't sit near someone who's smoking or on their cellphone.

Best Thai: Yum's (Across from Virgil's on 46th St). A small hole-in-the-wall that everyone seems to know about if you fancy Pad Thai for lunch.

Best Margarita: Mexcal's (7th and 5th in Park Slope). The service might not be the best but those flavored maragaritas (raspberry and strawberry are the best) in cactus-handles glasses more than make up for it.

Best Bar to Go With a Big Group: Fiddlesticks (Greenwich...get off the train at W. 4th). No cover and good atmosphere...and good chicken fingers.

Best Movie Theatre: Loew's Lincoln Square (1998 Broadway) Price of an Imax movie ticket: $15. Price of Christian Bale's face filling up your entire field of vision: priceless.

Best Show on Broadway: Rent (41st and 7th). Now with a movie coming out and a tenth anniversery looming, Rent will do big businees. But it's still the show about dreaming big, rock music and love. No day but today.

That's it for now. More soon.