Via Condé Nast Traveler, written by Pilar Guzman:
3/19 Grand Banks
It’s hard to imagine that it’s taken this long for a restaurant or bar—in this case a chic-yet-cheerful oyster bar-plus concept—to take full advantage of Manhattan’s waterfront. When brothers Alex and Miles Pincus and nightclub veteran Adrien Gallo docked the historic Sherman Zwicker schooner at Pier 25 in the summer of ’14, they transformed the west side’s dockyard ruins into an instant warm-weather institution. Whereas so many outdoor waterfront establishments fail with their overwrought raw seafood towers and ersatz nautical décor, Grand Banks nails it with its south of France by way of Nantucket sensibility: Think Provencal yellow-and-white striped awnings and a just elevated enough menu of oysters, lobster rolls and fries, and carafes of easy house rosés and whites on tap. On a summer evening at the golden hour, there isn’t a better place to be in Manhattan than sitting at a tiny white enameled two-top and washing down perfectly plump Peconic oysters by the dozen with Sancerre served in a Duralex glass. The season runs from May to October and those of us who work nearby milk it, all bundled up in scarves, to the bitter end. The best kept secret is weekday lunch, which is served Wednesday through Friday. That and the fries, of course. –P.G.