Soho could very well make you mad. If you’re not dodging speed-walking shoppers and street vendors hocking anything from watercolors to beaded necklaces, you’re escaping trucks barreling down cobblestone streets. Soho is most known for chic shoppes and swank cocktail havens (Thom at 60 Thompson or Mercer Kitchen, anyone?) – places to see and be seen – not for soothing soups and leafy greens.

Enter Olive’s – a tiny soup and sandwich shop, so delish and tucked away, that most don’t know about it and passersby are always confused about the long lines snaking out of the shop. For fresh, locally produced produce used in salads and sandwiches (they serve up the simple to the mind-boggling complex: everything from fresh mozzarella and peppers in basil oil to harvest greens – fresh, crisp arugula with goat cheese, root veggies, pecans, grilled asparagus, and a creamy vinaigrette or sample the roast beef with aioli on a bed of greens, nestled between a fresh baguette) check out this local spot that should be in your know.

Be sure to duck in for market greens and wholesome grains and specials which change daily. For the heartiest soups (Caribbean chicken to a tasty butternut squash) to rustic, rich desserts (pumpkin pie encrusted with pecans or sample their homemade PB&J cookie!), food at Olive’s is always served fast but never falls short on flavor.

Olive’s
120 Prince St | Btwn Wooster & Greene St
New York City
Subway: N/R to Prince Street; C/E to Spring Street; F/V/B/D to Broadway/Lafayette

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Want to dine like a celebrity or just get treated like one? Tempo, a sleek Park Slope eatery promises all the savoir fare of Manhattan dining without all the attitude. From the cream-colored stucco walls and crushed silk draperies, to the warm wooden tables and soft candlelight, the owners (all three working partners, veterans of Manhattan’s eminent restaurants, including chef Michael Fiore (of famed Babbo, are intimately involved in all aspects of the dining experience from the decor to the wine list) seek to offer a comforting environment and elegant fare.

Whether you chose to dine at the 20-foot-long cork-topped food and wine bar, or dine in one of the two stylishly appointed dining rooms, a night at Tempo will quickly become your weekend (as well as weekday) hot spot. Well-trained sommeliers are on hand to help the amateur enthusiast on their wine picks as well as the more adventurous connoisseurs and with an extensive wine list boasting a variety of grapes from regions in Italy, Spain, France and the U.S., diners won’t be wont for ideas.

Primarily Mediterranean, the menu is influenced by Tuscan flavors. I savored the organic chicken served with okives, preserved lemon, saffron, ginger, coriander leaves, along with chick peas fries. Alongside a creamy polenta appetizer and a special butternut squash soup, the food was complex in seasoning and preparation, sumptuous and elegant in presentation. All the while, the attentive staff always ensured our wine glasses were tapped and our needs were always met. I left feel incredibly pampered and ultimately satisfied.

In Park Slope? Make Tempo your essential eating stop.

Tempo Restaurant & Wine Bar
256 5th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Between Carroll and Garfield Streets
Subway: R to Union Street

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Yoga studios in New York are much like Duane Reade and Starbucks – they’re everywhere. One can walk through the streets without spying yoga bags and Be Present pants. With so many studios selling scented oils, WAH! cds, mats in fuchsia and baby blue, and a philosophy that guarantees to change your life, a new student can be overwhelmed and frankly, intimidated.

After five years of practicing yoga (considered a short time in yoga years), I continue to search the city for studios that focus on alignment and awareness, without being overly dogmatic and serious. So it’s with great pleasure that I stumbled upon Yoga Mandali, New York’s first and only center devoted to Anusara, a school of yoga founded by John Friend, in the vibrant and fashionable Soho area. Studio director, Phil Di Pietro says, “While based in a philosophy to engage in the deepest desire of the heart, Anusara Yoga looks to three elements of practice that are distinctive of yoga: Attitude, Alignment and Action.” Anusara’s remarkable popularity is due in large part to its uplifting philosophy, epitomized by a “celebration of the heart,” that celebrates the good in all people and all things. Students of all levels of ability and yoga experience are honored for their unique differences, limitations, and talents.

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