Believe it or not, I grew up on the Lower East Side, on Water Street, down by the Seaport. It was amazing to grow up down there in the 80s. It used to be a fish market, but I always tell people I watched the Seaport get rebuilt from scratch. I went to Catholic school in Chinatown, St. James. Just growing up in New York during that time was an experience. The trains covered in graffiti. Times Square. It wasn’t the Hollywood of New York that it is now. I remember going to Beefsteak Charlie’s in Times Square with my mother late at night on a weekend, and it was just fascinating.
But oddly enough, growing up in New York, I had never been to Lincoln Center. Thanks to our current mayor, anyone can go and experience the opera through a lottery system. It’s called Opera for All. Mayor Mamdani and the Met are giving away 70,000 free tickets this season, 10,000 a month, in every section of the house except standing room. If you live in New York and haven’t bought a Met ticket since 2019, you can enter. As soon as I heard about it, I jumped on the bandwagon. I wanted to go so bad. I wanted to experience the opera, and now I have.
We saw Così fan tutte, and for my first time, it was amazing. A three and a half hour opera is kind of intense. I nodded off a little bit. But by the second act I was wide awake, LOL. That in itself is a whole other experience.
But lo and behold, eating at Lincoln Center. We didn’t have reservations. Luckily, The Grand Tier was admitting two more people, and my best friend and I got a table. I cannot tell you. We had the crab cake. We had the halibut. I had the most amazing raspberry ice cream with pistachio, and it was divine. The drinks were perfect. Yes, the meal itself was a little pricey. We paid about $400 for the two of us, but we had two drinks, and my best friend had a cappuccino. At first he didn’t want to eat, and I was like, this is a once in a lifetime experience. From the décor to the staff to everything, I truly enjoyed it.
If you’re ever in New York, or you live in New York and you’ve never ventured to Lincoln Center or seen the opera, go ahead and get your lottery ticket. Enter at on.nyc.gov/opera or through the Met Opera app. Try it. You’re gonna win eventually, and you’ll get to experience it. And if you can, I highly recommend making a reservation for the restaurant. The décor alone is overwhelming. It’s like no other experience I’ve ever had in New York, and I’m so grateful for it.
By Corey Wesley
Lead photo: D. Benjamin Miller, Wikimedia Commons (CC0). All other photos by Corey Wesley.
