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Janae Pierre: From WNYC, this is NYC NOW. I'm Janae Pierre.

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Janae Pierre: A lawsuit over spicy salsa, a heated rivalry parody musical, and Mayor Zohran Mamdani's cultural references. That's ahead on this edition of the Arts & Culture Check In. First, here's what's happening in New York City. For decades, the Watchtower buildings in Brooklyn served as the world headquarters for Jehovah's Witnesses. Now, a private developer wants to turn the complex into housing. Council Member Lincoln Restler says the buildings have sat vacant for years.

Council Member Lincoln Restler: We have a lot of negotiation left to do, but I want to see empty buildings activated, and we have a housing crisis across our city.

Janae Pierre: Under CIM Group's proposal, the buildings will get more than 660 homes, including 165 affordable units. The project faces multiple rounds of review. Some older adults in New York City are advocating for a larger share of the city's budget. A coalition of seniors and elected officials are asking for the city to designate more than $2 billion to senior services. That's more than triple the amount in the city's proposed budget released last month. They say it should pay for investments in things like housing, senior wellness programs, and older adult centers. 80-year-old Kitty Ruderman lives in Queens and volunteers with AARP. She says seniors are most affected by the city's affordability crisis and need the support.

Kitty Ruderman: My rent just went up for one year, at least $200. My Social Security increase was $35. They keep talking about cuts and taking it away.

Janae Pierre: The final budget has to be adopted by the end of June. New York City officials are doubling down on pothole repair this weekend to help the streets recover from this winter's harsh weather. Mayor Mamdani says the city will launch a pothole-filling blitz on Saturday. Beginning at 6:00 in the morning, 80 Department of Transportation trucks will be out in all five boroughs. The goal is to fill thousands of potholes in just one day. Still ahead, our Arts & Culture Check In. We're going to eat, drink, and be merry. You'll see. That's after the break.

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Janae Pierre: Welcome to another edition of our Arts & Culture Check In. This is where we take a look at what's been coming across the Arts & Culture desk here at WNYC and our news site, Gothamist. Of course, joining me to walk us through it all is Matthew Schnipper, who is the editor of our newsroom's Arts & Culture desk. Hey, Matt.

Matthew Schnipper: Hi, Janae. How are you?

Janae Pierre: I'm doing really well. I got a good dose of sun this week. I'm feeling good. How are you?

Matthew Schnipper: I'm feeling full of pizza. Shout out to John's on Bleecker Street.

Janae Pierre: Nice. Well, Matt, I have a quick question. As we jump into things on your desk, are you familiar with the term "fool's spring"?

Matthew Schnipper: I am, yes.

Janae Pierre: Okay, let's talk about it because, according to Wiktionary, it's this period of warm weather before spring, but also before a cold snap. We had, like I mentioned, some really nice days beginning this week. I'm talking really, really nice. What's going on? It was the type of weather where I'm like, "I need to make a reservation to be in the yard of some restaurant."

Matthew Schnipper: Did you?

Janae Pierre: I did not. It's been a busy week.

Matthew Schnipper: That's true.

Janae Pierre: Your desk has been doing a lot of reporting on some good eats lately. There are 10 New York City Vietnamese restaurants serving some delicious pho.

Matthew Schnipper: Yes, and we did this story knowing we would hit the end of winter. This is not necessarily a full spring story, but it is a March story. We were like, "You know what? This is a good last attempt to eat some very hearty soups." Robert Sietsema, who is a great longtime food reporter, went out and hit the boroughs and came back with a really fantastic list of pho restaurants to check out.

Janae Pierre: Okay, so can you throw out some recommendations for us?

Matthew Schnipper: It's cool. One that I really like is a small chain called Lucy's. We talked about how they are, like, if pho was invented in Texas because they serve a brisket version, and it's kind of smoky. I actually really like that. I'm within ordering distance of one of the Lucy's, so I can have that sometimes.

Janae Pierre: Yes, I get the vegan ginger chicken pho.

Matthew Schnipper: Oh, wow.

Janae Pierre: Delicious, delicious.

Matthew Schnipper: I love that one.

Janae Pierre: Any other recommendations aside from Lucy's? Because I'm not sure if they have a location in Manhattan.

Matthew Schnipper: In Chinatown, there is Pasteur Grill and Noodles, which is actually, Robert says, the first post-war Vietnamese restaurant in the city.

Janae Pierre: Oh, cool.

Matthew Schnipper: Yes, because there are a lot of Vietnamese restaurants in the city. It's not like you walk in being like, "Oh, this one has been around for 50 years," versus, "This one's been around 20, 30." Knowing how far back the legacy is there was exciting to me to find out.

Janae Pierre: Okay. Well, let me know when you check that one out.

Matthew Schnipper: I will.

Janae Pierre: Do you like it spicy?

Matthew Schnipper: Medium. I'm a medium guy.

Janae Pierre: I'm a hot girl. I think we talked about this.

Matthew Schnipper: We did, yes. It's not something I'm proud of, but it's something that's true.

Janae Pierre: Yes. Well, I only asked because spice is another hot topic on your desk this week. You saw what I did there.

[laughter]

Janae Pierre: You guys did something about a lawsuit against a taco restaurant because the salsa was too spicy? What's up with that?

Matthew Schnipper: We did. I love this story. Shout out to Walter Wuthmann, who brought this story to us. Essentially, a German man went to Los Tacos No. 1, which is a great chain in New York City, highly recommended, and ordered some tacos and spooned a bunch of salsa on them.

Faycal Manz: I'm Faycal Manz. I'm from Germany. I ordered three tacos, and the last one was the most spiciest one.

Matthew Schnipper: The salsa is not labeled. He says he ate some of this green salsa and experienced a good deal of distress.

Faycal Manz: My mouth is burning. It was absolutely bad, bad. I got blisters in the mouth after this incident. I had the feeling I was in a sauna with 50 degrees inside. My head is getting red. My Apple Watch showed me that I have a pulse increase like I am running.

Janae Pierre: [laughs] I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh at this guy's distress.

Matthew Schnipper: He does not think it's funny. I will tell you that. He said he had some gastrointestinal issues. I think he had some mouth problems. He was struggling. Because, as he has said, he is a German man, he expects there to be rules.

Janae Pierre: Oh.

Faycal Manz: I wanted just to have an explanation why there is absolutely no warning for these sauces.

Janae Pierre: He needed a warning label.

Matthew Schnipper: Exactly.

Janae Pierre: Okay.

Matthew Schnipper: He sued Los Tacos No. 1, saying, "You didn't warn me, and the salsa was too spicy."

Janae Pierre: Wow. Real lawsuit.

Matthew Schnipper: He did not win. The judge shot down his case. There have been cases where people have sued McDonald's for the coffee being too hot.

Janae Pierre: Yes, I remember that.

Matthew Schnipper: What is interesting to me about this gentleman is that on this trip to New York City, he also sued the NYPD, but then he also sued Walmart because he said he went to a Walmart in New Jersey. He wanted to use their Wi-Fi, and he has a German phone number. They would not accept his German number as a valid number. He couldn't log on to the Walmart Wi-Fi.

Janae Pierre: Okay, so this guy just traveled to the States for a spree of lawsuits?

Matthew Schnipper: We talked to him. Walter talked to him, and he said, "Look, this was, this was a bad trip."

Janae Pierre: [chuckles] Tell me about it.

Matthew Schnipper: He wants to be compensated, but he says, "If things are wrong and I can make them right, that is my duty." Walter also went up to Los Tacos No. 1, talked to several tourists who said the sauce is fine.

Amanda Hosni: I'm Amanda Hosni. Okay. I'm a wimp, and this is not spicy. I mean, it's spicy, there's some heat on my tongue, but I'm not going to sue anybody for personal injury.

David Boudreau: My name is David Boudreau. Maybe they should put a little sign. Also, you should probably try a sauce before you dump the whole thing on your taco.

Matthew Schnipper: Just try a little bit before you dump it all over your taco.

Janae Pierre: Yes, that's good advice right there. Maybe wash it down with a little seltzer.

Matthew Schnipper: Yes, and we call that spicy water.

Janae Pierre: [laughs]

Matthew Schnipper: That's what my three-year-old calls it.

Janae Pierre: SeltzerFest is kicking off this weekend, right?

Matthew Schnipper: Yes, in Brooklyn.

Janae Pierre: The second year in a row?

Matthew Schnipper: Yes. Seltzer festival is happening in Industry City this weekend. I think this is incredible. There's going to be a ton of egg creams there. There's going to be Lime Rickeys, people just coming out and drinking seltzer. It's funny, we heard about this. We looked into it, and it's like, "Are they going to be doing seltzer and a hot air balloon?" There's got to be a thing, right?

Janae Pierre: Yes. What's the thing?

Matthew Schnipper: Seltzer is the thing.

Janae Pierre: Just seltzer.

Matthew Schnipper: It's seltzer. It's great. You can go get an egg cream. Kosha Dillz, the rapper, is going to be performing.

Janae Pierre: Okay.

Matthew Schnipper: Mostly, it's just if you want to go have a bunch of seltzer, enjoy yourself, get refreshed. Do you like seltzer?

Janae Pierre: From time to time. I'm not the one that's like, "Oh, this is what I need." If it's around, I'll drink it. I honestly will have to bring a few shooters of gin. I can do seltzer and gin.

Matthew Schnipper: Oh, my God.

Janae Pierre: Sorry.

Matthew Schnipper: That's actually something I don't know. Are they serving booze at SeltzerFest?

Janae Pierre: I'll bring mine.

Matthew Schnipper: I like that. Just a DIY.

[laughter]

Matthew Schnipper: It's GinFest for you, actually, with a side of SeltzerFest.

Janae Pierre: Yes, it's GinFest. [chuckles] It's GinFest.

Matthew Schnipper: All right. If you're looking for a little bit of a "pick me up at SeltzerFest," find Janae.

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Janae Pierre: Yes, the good stuff, not the cheap stuff. Speaking of thirst, there's a Heated Rivalry parody musical going on. How thirsty can we get here, Matt?

Matthew Schnipper: That is what I was asking myself when we were writing this headline.

Janae Pierre: [laughs] I'm sure you watched Heated Rivalry, right?

Matthew Schnipper: Yes, I have watched the show.

Janae Pierre: For listeners who don't know-- I don't know. Can we keep this podcast-friendly? Tell us what Heated Rivalry is. Tell us about this show.

Matthew Schnipper: Heated Rivalry is a TV show, so I wonder, if it was a movie, would it be rated R? I guess, yes. There's butts, but there's not full frontal.

Janae Pierre: No, there are booties.

Matthew Schnipper: Yes, there's full back, full rear. Heated Rivalry, quickly, for those who do not know, is a phenomenon that has swept in from the north. A Canadian TV show about two closeted hockey players who are rivals and enter into a heated love affair. People are obsessed with this show, including a gentleman named Dylan MarcAurele, who decided to script an unlicensed parody musical based on it.

I love this interview with him because he seemed to be deeply overwhelmed by the response that he is getting. Sold out immediately. More shows set up. Sold out immediately. He has a director, but it's just going to be a table read. He's like, "We don't have money, and so we're just going to have some people reading through it," and people are coming.

Janae Pierre: A very quick green-lighting process, I'm sure.

Matthew Schnipper: It seems like it's going to be popular, and I can only imagine more. It's funny. He was pretty tight-lipped about what some of the songs were going to be. We were trying to find out a little bit more and dig into some of what have got to be an incredible amount of hockey puns.

Janae Pierre: Listen, I know you're a music head, so tell me, do you have any suggestions for this guy as far as the music?

Matthew Schnipper: Odd. To me, I think just straight-up John Williams, like Star Wars epic kind of thing, right?

Janae Pierre: Okay, yes.

Matthew Schnipper: That's the first thing that comes to mind. Just big and absurd like Dune. The Brutalist, we need just like hockey-- I'm not going to try to sing. I did that one time on this show, and that's enough.

Janae Pierre: [laughs] It was a hit.

Matthew Schnipper: Thank you. We need some hockey drama, like real, just stakes. That's what I think it needs.

Janae Pierre: Yes. Check out the show Heated Rivalry on HBO, so you can indeed then check out Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody. Again, as Matt mentioned, 1,200 tickets already sold. It's so popular that Mayor Mamdani actually mentioned it as one of his cultural references earlier this year, right?

Matthew Schnipper: Yes, not the parody musical, unfortunately.

Janae Pierre: No, no, no, the show.

Matthew Schnipper: He actually referenced the books because they are based on a series of books. When it was snowing recently, he was like, "Go get it out of the library and just start doubling down on your Heated Rivalry," so he did talk about that.

Janae Pierre: Speaking of Mamdani's cultural references, this is a thing that you're tracking. Any updates?

Matthew Schnipper: I do have one update, but I want to say what has been interesting is the lack of updates. It has been a fairly serious time in the city and in the world. In it, in his speeches and in his press conferences, in his Q&As, Mamdani, he's just been serious. There's not a better word for it. It has just not been a time for jokes. Not that every time he brings out a cultural reference, it is necessarily in order to drive humor, but it is to bring some bit of levity, I think.

Janae Pierre: Lighten--

Matthew Schnipper: Lighten things, and to say, "Hey, he's a real person experiencing this." He has been in mayor mode, I think, out of necessity. That's not a thing where you're going to start making jokes about Family Guy or whatever. I combed through all the transcripts of everything he does. I was happy to see him actually make a cultural reference this past week, which was nice.

Janae Pierre: What was it?

Matthew Schnipper: He has been working overtime, I think, on getting increasing access to childcare in school for young kids, growing the 3K program. He was talking about that, and he happened to break-- He said, "If there's one thing that I know," he's like, "and I do know, actually, that for a little while, I was the mouse who stole the cookie from the cookie jar." I'm paraphrasing here, but he interrupted himself to say, "Hey, when I was talking with these kids earlier today, we were going through who stole the cookie from the cookie jar." He said at one point, it had been him.

Janae Pierre: [laughs]

Matthew Schnipper: I thought for a moment, as someone who has been tracking this stuff and, actually, a little bit desperate to be like, "Can we get a reference? Got something?" I was like, "Oh, there's our guy. Oh, he's back." To be honest, this is not like the greatest Mamdani cultural reference of all time. Because it came in a dearth of them, a flare went up, and it was him again.

Janae Pierre: That's WNYC's Arts & Culture editor, Matthew Schnipper. Thanks so much for talking with us, Matt.

Matthew Schnipper: Janae, always a pleasure. Thank you.

Janae Pierre: Always, always, indeed.

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Janae Pierre: Arts & Culture editor Matthew Schnipper and I spoke a lot about this thirsty moment in New York City culture, from SeltzerFest to Heated Rivalry musicals. Another journalist here at the station has a really interesting angle that I wanted to chat about as we go into the weekend. Producer Elizabeth Shwe has been looking into what sober nightlife is like across the five boroughs. What's up, Elizabeth?

Elizabeth Shwe: Hey, Janae.

Janae Pierre: How's it going?

Elizabeth Shwe: Good, how are you?

Janae Pierre: I'm doing so good. The closer we get to the weekend, the better I am.

Elizabeth Shwe: Yes, me too. I'm the same way.

Janae Pierre: What did you find out about sober nightlife?

Elizabeth Shwe: Yes, so I myself enjoy a good drink once in a while. As I've gotten older, I don't like to drink every single time I socialize now. That's because I usually just don't feel that good the next day. I feel like it's kind of a wasted day. I don't really do anything.

Janae Pierre: Ah, she can't take the hangover, guys.

Elizabeth Shwe: Can't take it anymore. I've been trying to find more spaces where I can just hang out with my friends without feeling the pressure to drink. I found that there are four completely alcohol-free bars in the city.

Janae Pierre: Really? I'm hoping you tell us where.

Elizabeth Shwe: Yes, there's two in Manhattan and two in Brooklyn. They sell mainly mocktails, but they also sell drinks like coffee and tea and sometimes food. They've all opened up in the last few years or so, which makes sense because after the pandemic, alcohol levels have been going down.

Janae Pierre: Okay, I do definitely love a good mocktail.

Elizabeth Shwe: Yes, mocktail is pretty good.

Janae Pierre: Refreshing.

Elizabeth Shwe: Obviously, nightlife isn't just bars. There's also a Substack called Bright Nights Social, where Sam Bail curates a list of alcohol-free events at night throughout the week in the city. That includes stuff like game nights and live jazz and dance parties.

Janae Pierre: Nice.

Elizabeth Shwe: There are also several cafes and tea houses, where you can hang out until late into the night. Qahwah House has multiple locations across the city. Caffe Reggio in Soho. There's Prince Tea House and Barzakh in Crown Heights, and Nook in Bushwick. There are also 24-hour diners all across the city where you can hang out.

Janae Pierre: I absolutely love Nook. I had no idea about all the extras. I literally just go there--

Elizabeth Shwe: I love Nook, too. I love Nook. I love the live music on Fridays.

Janae Pierre: Yes, yes, cool vibes there. All right, so I understand that you and one of our digital producers went out to some of these sober nightlife bars. You talked to some people. What did you find out?

Elizabeth Shwe: Yes, we met a 19-year-old college student named Evnika Myhovych, who is obviously under the drinking age, but she wanted to find a place to hang out with a friend off-campus.

Evnika Myhovych: I literally searched up on Google, "non-alcoholic jazz club." This is the first place that popped up. I did my research, and I was like, "Thursday night? We're free on Thursday night." It was perfect.

Elizabeth Shwe: We met Natt Garun, who was pregnant but still wanted a date night with her partner.

Janae Pierre: Cute.

Natt Garun: We're expecting in a couple of weeks, so this is our last little date night also.

Elizabeth Shwe: Oh, my God. Congratulations. We also met Ezra Goh, who still drinks from time to time, but prefers these alcohol-free spaces to read and work.

Ezra Goh: I think that a lot of New Yorkers, especially, they go to bars to escape. Even if they go to connect, you're not really connecting to the person. You're connecting to the drunk version of them. It's like, sure, it feels like you're having a social time, but at least for me, I walk away not knowing who I actually talked to. There's still an empty feeling at the end of the day. Whereas here, I found that I have been able to make meaningful connections.

Janae Pierre: Nice. Now, Elizabeth, as you mentioned, nightlife doesn't just mean bars, right? What about places to dance and get your groove on?

Elizabeth Shwe: Yes, that's a really good point. I talked with Jean Sebastian Serena, who is the co-founder of Zero Proof NY, which is a pop-up, substance-free dance party. He started it a year ago with a couple of friends because they all like to go out. They enjoy good music. They all like to dance, but they just all don't really like to drink.

Jean Sebastian Serena: We just wanted to put together a space that's not necessarily about completely stopping alcohol consumption or anything like that, but to prove to people that they're capable of having fun without that alcohol.

Elizabeth Shwe: They wanted to create a space for people like themselves.

Jean Sebastian Serena: You can go and dance. You don't need to take a shot first before you go and dance. The only thing stopping you is yourself.

Elizabeth Shwe: To him, a sober party isn't really all that different from any other party.

Jean Sebastian Serena: We went to many sober parties in our lives, and we all had the time of our lives. My 11th-grade masquerade ball was some of the most fun I had in my adolescence. There was not a lick of alcohol anywhere to be seen. Everyone was turned and having fun.

Elizabeth Shwe: He said he's met a lot of people who tell him that they don't think they can party without alcohol, and he's pretty surprised by that. There's also something called For the People, which are substance-free dance parties in Bushwick. There's also something called Reboot NYC, which is the family-friendly silent disco dance party.

Janae Pierre: You know what I love most about a silent disco? The person right next to you can be grooving to something else. You have no idea. You're just like, "Hey, aren't they offbeat?"

Elizabeth Shwe: Love that. [laughs]

Janae Pierre: All right, so I find it very interesting that people are drinking a lot less these days. Why is that?

Elizabeth Shwe: Yes, so during the pandemic, alcohol consumption increased a lot across the country. Now, there's a record low number of Americans who are drinking. That's according to data from the National Survey of Drug Use and Health. When I talked with Dr. Timothy Brennan, who works on addiction at Mount Sinai, he told me he thinks it's because recent research is showing that not even a drop of alcohol is good for you and linked to all sorts of bad things like cancer. When I spoke with Jean, again, he is the co-founder of Zero Proof NY and hosts pop-up, substance-free dance parties. When we were talking, we're both Gen Z, and we think it's more because Gen Z is more broke as a generation.

Janae Pierre: Ding, ding, ding. That's exactly what I was thinking. Drinks are about $24 if you want a good cocktail, right?

Elizabeth Shwe: Exactly.

Janae Pierre: You need at least two to really party.

Elizabeth Shwe: Exactly. In the same way that we can't afford homes like our parents did in their 20s and 30s, we also can't afford all these expensive cocktails. Jean said that he thinks that Gen Z is just good at finding other ways to have fun, and that he predicts that naturally alcohol-free spaces will continue to grow in the city, especially those late-night cafes like Nook in Brooklyn.

Janae Pierre: Yes, for sure. Exciting times in New York City.

Elizabeth Shwe: Yes.

Janae Pierre: That's WNYC's Elizabeth Shwe. Thanks a lot for joining us.

Elizabeth Shwe: Thank you, Janae.

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Janae Pierre: Thank you, dear listener, for listening to NYC NOW. Are we missing anything here? Send us a voice note, letting us know what's up in your New York. You can shoot that over to NYC NOW at wnyc.org. We'd love to hear from you, and you may hear your comments on a future episode. I'm Janae Pierre. See you next time.

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