Welcome Mermaid Inn to the Upper West Side

I don’t typically blog about restaurants but thanks to my wife’s awesome job at Food and Wine Magazine I often get the chance to preview a place before the rest of the public.  It’s not often that I feel compelled to share my experiences with my readers and it’s not because the experience isn’t wonderful but more because we eat at so many different places that i can’t keep them all straight in my head.  And oh yeah…I write about real estate!

That said, last night my wife and I had the sincere privilege of dining at the "friends and family" opening of the newest Mermaid Inn located on Amsterdam between 87th and 88th Streets on the Upper West Side.  The first Mermaid Inn is located in the trendier East Village and has been a smashing success.  After last nights experience from the ambiance of the space to the deliciousness of the food, I suspect this location will also thrive. Those who live on the Upper West Side know how completely "starved" the area is for good food.  So welcome to the Upper West Side Mermaid and all of you Upper West Siders get out there and support her…she’s a catch!

On a completely different note, our dining experience last night was a bit of a trip down memory lane in terms of the gentrification of this area of Manhattan.  You see, I used to live in a 600sf 2BR (yes 2BR’s in 600sf) in the tenement walk-up building just adjacent to the Mermaid Inn.  I think my roommate and I paid $550/mth.   We often passed drug dealers and users in our vestibule going about their "transactions."  Once my girlfriend (now my wife) and I pulled up in a taxi to have an undercover cop point his gun through the rear windows of our cab in an effort to bust one of our neighborhood dealers.  That was nearly 20 years ago before the Upper West Side morphed into the trendy stroller-laden haven that it is today.  Some mourn the loss of character that existed back then, and others like myself see The Upper West Side as a safer, cleaner, and better place to raise our families.  It seems that now we can also FINALLY support good restaurants (and there are more to come!!!)  Thank goodness!

UPDATE: Since it appears that many are visiting my site after Googling "Mermaid Inn Upper West Side," here’s the contact info:

Mermaid Inn is located at 568 Amsterdam Avenue (between 87th and 88th Streets)                        Give a call and check it out at 212-799-7400