Dancing in the Aisles, Drinking in the Chancel and Other Fascinating Side Trips

“From fantasy dinners to foodie excursions, you will find this book (as the title promises) fascinating. As many times as I’ve traveled to New York City, in these pages I’ve discovered new places to dine … and interesting restaurants I wish I’d had a chance to experience. This guidebook gives you anecdotes, history, and personal experiences as well as tasty culinary suggestions.”
- Barthélemy Banks, Mumm’s Curse

Ever wonder what was behind that red door at New York’s Church of the Holy Communion? Want to follow in Frank Sinatra’s carousing footsteps? Have a hankering for a fried grasshopper? Which celebrities had deli sandwiches named after them? Were there ever Russians in the Russian Tea Room? Would you be willing to dine in the dark? How about in the nude? Where’s the perfect bar to pull a bender? Did tough guy Mickey Spillane own a bar in Hell’s Kitchen? Where in Manhattan do you take an 8-year-old girl for a tea party? Have you ever had dinner (and a lap dance) at a Gentleman’s Club? Want to have dinner in a bank vault? It’s all here in this insider’s guide to unusual and hard to find restaurants, bars, dives, and nightclubs in New York City – both then and now!

Shirrel Rhoades is a writer, critic, filmmaker, former college professor, art collector, publishing consultant – and inveterate traveler. He has published Directions, an award-winning travel magazine, served as editor-in-chief of The Bahamas Handbook and Businessman’s Annual, Sun ‘n Sixpence, What-to-Do Magazine, The Cayman Island Handbook, Cayman Islands Holiday Guide, and other travel guides. His travel articles have been published in The Saturday Evening Post, Looking Back, and many other publications.