Within Six Stops
An underrated museum, a secret garden, and rapture-inducing hummus
Walking down Broadway, you cannot help but feel the city’s agitation. Car horns every minute, people rushing every hour, construction rattling in the background. Chaos. Anxiety. Excitement. “Stand clear of the closing doors, please.” And then, suddenly, you enter a quiet place, where nature thrives, where the air feels lighter, and where birds chirp beyond the reach of all that noise. Is there really a place like this near Columbia?
Welcome back to Within Six Stops, a series where we explore the hidden gems of the Morningside Heights neighborhood and its surrounding areas. I am your definitive tour guide, so join me as we enter our first location: The West Side Community Garden.
Located at West 89th Street between Amsterdam and Columbus Ave, the garden’s charm is evident at first glance. Even before you enter the garden itself, there is something disarming about the kindergarten next door. The sound of children running around and laughing is our cue that we’re in the right place. As we enter the garden, the smell of tulips welcomes us; they paint a beautifully colorful environment straight from a Vincent Van Gogh painting. It truly is a little piece of heaven hidden in the city that otherwise never lets you slow down. Come here with a cup of coffee and do some work, hang out with your friends, or just admire the beauty that surrounds you. It really feels like you’ve been transported inside a painting where the high contrast colors of the flowers engulf you in peace (unless you suffer from allergies—then it might not be so peaceful). Speaking of paintings, our next stop takes us from a garden that looks like art to a place dedicated to it: The Nicholas Roerich Museum.
If the community garden feels like stepping into a painting, the Nicholas Roerich Museum, located at 107th Street and Riverside Dr., feels like stepping into an alien world. Nicholas Roerich (1874–1947) was far more than a painter. A Russian artist, writer, archaeologist, and thinker, Roerich approached art as something larger than decoration, and that idea shapes the museum that bears his name. His paintings are filled with towering landscapes, vivid color, and a strange emotional mix of solitude, acceptance, and triumph. There is an unmistakable spirituality emanating from both his paintings and from the museum itself. His worldview centered on spiritual development, cultural preservation, and his lifelong belief that art and culture could serve the cause of peace. Walking through it, you get the sense that the museum is not simply preserving an artist’s work: It encompasses an entire philosophy about how beauty, thought, and spirituality might coexist.
If Roerich’s museum feels like stepping into a worldview, Silvana feels like stepping into a mood. After all that talk of paintings, spirituality, and transcendence, it only feels right to head somewhere that looks a little transcendent itself. Silvana is colorful, slightly psychedelic, and impossible to describe without sounding like you dreamed it.
Located at 300 West 116th Street, you are greeted by the warm smell of Middle Eastern food and vibrant Moroccan decor as you enter. Silvana’s rustic and mysterious aura permeates every corner of the room, and the warm lighting and chill music pull you into the atmosphere. They also have a surprisingly amazing record collection at the gift shop that made the music nerd in me ecstatic. I ordered their popular shakshuka and poached egg hummus bowl. I am not exaggerating when I say I had a religious experience almost as strong as what I felt at the museum when I took a bite of the shakshuka. The smoothness of the slightly spicy tomato sauce, combined with the cold and salty feta cheese and olives, clashing with the hot soft-boiled egg that melts in your mouth, is a union that should be reserved only for royalty. The hummus was nutty, with the caramelized onions and salty cheese clashing in texture and temperature in a blend of perfect creaminess. I will probably develop a stronger addiction to this hummus than my current one to cigarettes.
Once I was done eating, I ordered their house white wine—which was sweet and refreshing—and headed downstairs to their jazz music room. Walking there feels like you are being transported into another universe, with a completely different tone: dark, intimate, soulful, and shrouded in mystery. Your vision locks to the main stage, lit by contrasting psychedelic colors, where local talents from Harlem bless your ears with jazz so smooth that it rivals the hummus I described earlier. If there is any place you feel impelled to check out after reading this article, Silvana is a must. Words cannot describe the qualia of this place.
I could keep pretending I’m the only authority on what is worth checking out around here, but that would be a lie. For the next stop, I’m handing things off to my friend and colleague, Xinyan Chen, whose taste is good enough that I trust her with valuable column real estate.
I took Sebastian to my favorite cafe in the Upper West Side: Charlotte Cafe. Their UWS location opened in 2022. Stepping into Charlotte feels like being transported to a sidewalk cafe in Europe: The interior is warm, worn, and quaint—a stark defiance of modern private-equity subway tile cafes. The prices are quite reasonable (less than six dollars for a specialty mocha latte, and less than five dollars for a regular espresso-based drink). Thoughtfully, they also offer single-shot drinks for weaklings like me who can’t handle real caffeine. Their delicious cookies—displayed in tantalizing glass jars on the counter—go for a dollar each. When the weather is nice, go for a sidewalk table; I love coming here to read, especially since they have designated no-laptop tables in a cozy corner. Don’t skip their Viennese cappuccino, mocha latte, or apricot croissant; and, when you’re tempted—as you inevitably will be—get a cookie or two. They’re always perfectly crumbly and well worth your time. They greet their regulars warmly: If that’s temptation enough, you could become one, too!
— Xinyan
Now, what better way to end than with a late-night comfort spot? Nan Xiang Express, on 107th Street and West End Avenue, is my go-to when I want something more satisfying than a slice of pizza. They serve Chinese food with a focus on Shanghai cuisine and are best known for their xiao long bao, those hot little flavor bombs that demand your full attention. But when I find myself in a drunken state of consciousness at 1 a.m., my order is almost always the Shanghai stir-fried noodles. They are warm, greasy, comforting, and exactly the kind of thing that can almost convince you your life is together again. Pair that with the melon green tea, and you have something that comes suspiciously close to a medical breakthrough for hangovers. It is a charming little place, the kind that gives you a comfort so deep and immediate it almost feels familiar.
I hope you check some of these places out. They deserve your time, and you can be the cool friend who actually knows how to navigate the neighborhood in search of a good hangout spot. Before I sign off, though, I want to end on something a little more practical. A lot of you are staying in New York this summer for paid or unpaid opportunities, and as much as I love talking about food, eating out in this city adds up fast. If you are dealing with food insecurity, there are a few resources worth knowing about—resources I wish I had known about last summer when money was tight. The CSSI Food Pantry is free for currently registered Columbia students and does not have additional financial requirements, and its website lists locations, hours, and pickup information. There are also off-campus options linked through Columbia’s food security resource page, including Westside Campaign Against Hunger and The College Student Pantry at SAFH, along with tools like Too Good To Go and LemonTree for discounted meals and free-food updates. Stay safe, have fun, and do not go hungry. See you in the fall.
Mr. Galbenus is a sophomore at the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science studying mechanical engineering. He is a staff writer and photographer for Sundial.
Ms. Chen is a sophomore at Columbia College studying linguistics, economics and East Asian languages and cultures. She is the deputy editor of Sundial.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Sundial editorial board as a whole or any other members of the staff.
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