There is a very specific moment in New York when summer hasn’t quite left, but fall has started quietly making its way in. It happens almost overnight. The mornings feel a little cooler, the air has a crispness that wasn’t there a week ago, and suddenly a light sweater seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to carry around—even if it gets abandoned somewhere by lunchtime. The leaves are still mostly green, the sun is still warm, and the city is still holding onto its summer energy, but there are little hints everywhere that a new season is beginning.
September might be the best month for this particular kind of New York. It is warm without being oppressive, busy without feeling completely frantic, and full of that back-to-school feeling that somehow applies even when there is no school involved. Everyone seems to be returning to the city, making plans, booking dinners, buying new clothes, and generally acting as though September is the real beginning of the year. There is something about fall in New York that makes everything feel possible again.
The first sign is usually the wardrobe. Suddenly, the linen dresses and sandals of July feel a little too summery, and the fall clothes that have been sitting untouched in the closet since last October become exciting again. A leather jacket at night. Ballet flats with jeans. A sweater thrown over a skirt. The first pair of boots. New York might be the best city in the world for transitional dressing because the weather practically requires an outfit that says, “Yes, it’s fall,” while also acknowledging that it is still 72 degrees.
Central Park becomes even more beautiful once the temperature drops. The best fall days call for a coffee or matcha, a long walk and absolutely no urgency to get anywhere. The park slowly transforms over the course of several weeks, from late-summer green to every shade of gold and orange. Even before the leaves change, something about the cooler air makes walking through it feel different. A normal Tuesday morning can suddenly feel like a scene in a movie.
And then there are the restaurants, which might be the real reason to get excited about the season. Fall is when dining out in New York starts feeling especially good again. There is nothing better than settling into a warm restaurant after walking around in the crisp air, ordering a glass of wine, and realizing there is nowhere else you need to be.
The West Village is practically made for this. A table at Via Carota feels particularly right once the evenings get cooler, with its bustling Italian-osteria energy and dishes made for lingering over. L’Artusi is another downtown classic for a fall dinner when the plan is pasta, wine and staying out longer than intended. And for something that feels a little more tucked-away, Palma has its garden-like setting on Cornelia Street, which makes an early fall dinner feel almost like escaping the city without actually leaving it.
Of course, fall in New York also means trying somewhere new. The restaurant scene seems to wake up alongside the rest of the city every September. This season brings plenty of new places to add to the dinner rotation, including Hommali in the West Village, a contemporary Thai restaurant that just opened on Seventh Avenue South. The newly opened Astor at The Public Theater is another particularly New York option, with an old-New-York-tavern atmosphere that feels made for a pre- or post-theater dinner. Cafe Charmant — another impossible reservation to try and get. And with even more major openings expected throughout the fall, there is already an excuse to start making reservations for October.
Fall is also when New York feels especially good at combining ordinary life with something extraordinary. You can spend the day answering emails, grabbing coffee, running errands and doing absolutely normal things, then suddenly find yourself sitting inside a Broadway theater while the lights go down. You can have a casual lunch downtown and end up walking through SoHo for three hours. You can meet a friend for “one drink” and somehow end up ordering dinner. You can leave work on a Thursday and feel like the entire city is waiting for you to make a night of it.
There is also something about fall that makes the city feel more romantic. Maybe it is the earlier sunsets, the candlelit restaurants or the fact that everyone starts walking a little slower once the heat disappears. Maybe it is the return of coats and scarves, or the smell of something baking when you pass by Magnolia. Maybe it is simply that New York feels particularly cinematic when the streets are full of people dressed for the season and the trees are beginning to turn.
For now, though, the best part is being in the in-between. The last warm afternoons. The first cool mornings. The first sweater of the season. The first dinner reservation that feels distinctly autumnal. The first walk through Central Park where the air feels different. The leaves have not even fully changed yet, and already the city is giving a little preview of what is coming.
Summer in New York will always have its magic. But fall has something else: anticipation. And there might be nothing more New York than having an entire season ahead of you and already feeling like there is somewhere you need to go.
— Your Friend
