Lord’s

Just a block down from Dame, the trendy West Village fish and chips restaurant, is its sister restaurant Lord’s, bringing British classics to the New York dining scene. Cozy yet elegant, Lord’s is the perfect place to nestle into a booth and share a comforting meal with friends or family, like perfectly jammy curried Scotch eggs or a chicken and cabbage pie with a side of “proper” English chips. Lighter seasonal plates like the poached white asparagus and snap pea salad add a nice pop of freshness and crunch to the heartier dishes. With minor tweaks on classic cocktails, like the snap pea ‘tini (a pea leaf-infused gin martini) and the damson negroni (using sloe gin made from damson plums), the drinks menu is simple and unpretentious, if somewhat unadventurous. The best way to close out any meal is the rhubarb and apple crumble with honey ice cream—a blend of tart, sweet, and creamy that will satisfy any sweet tooth. A welcome escape from the bustle of everyday life, Lord’s delivers comfort food that is just elevated enough to feel like a special occasion.

The Rehearsal

In a world as unpredictable as ours, is it possible to rehearse a scenario over and over again to control the outcome? This is the premise of Nathan Fielder’s The Rehearsal, an absurd docu-comedy in which test subjects present their problems to Fielder, who then painstakingly reconstructs each situation and offers them the chance to rehearse it to perfection. Here’s an example: the Season 1 finale features a woman who isn’t sure if she wants kids. Fielder builds a functional replica of her house, complete with progressively older child actors who are swapped out every so often to mimic the experience of watching a child grow up. Coupled with Fielder’s signature deadpan delivery, these surreal scenarios blur the lines between parody and sincerity and between performance and reality. 

The show explores something that is perhaps not unfamiliar to scientists: the desire for a world in which every variable is controlled, every scenario repeatable, and every possible outcome accounted for. As the rehearsals grow ever more intricate, the show begins to turn inward, questioning what underlies our motivations for total control and how far we are willing to go to achieve it. Awkward, funny, and surprisingly touching, The Rehearsal serves as a reminder that real life is not perfectly predictable—and what fun would it be if it were?