Variously described as “a frat party on steroids on a boat,” or swarming with “People I Hated in College,” or polluted with “wall-to-wall ex-frat boys,” The Frying Pan is actually a historic lightship, originally built in 1929, formerly at the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay, now docked at Pier 66 near Chelsea piers. It has filthy toilets and crappy service (or is it the other way around?), and looks as if it were raised from the ocean floor yesterday…but we still like it. And not just the name.
During hot summer days we know of no cooler place to sit down, order a bucket of Corona beer and scarf mussels with fries. Oh, and there’s the view—a trillion times better than that insipid tourist Mecca in San Antonio (don’t get us started), especially nice during toxic sunsets.
The Frying Pan
23rd Street and The Hudson River,
Veronika Pfeiferova