Sunset Park at Sunset, Then Aguachile on Fifth Avenue
Catch the sunset from a Brooklyn hilltop park, then walk three minutes downhill for aguachile and mezcal on Fifth Avenue.
🗺️ Hilltop to Fifth Avenue
🌇 Climb Before the Sun Drops
NYC Parks lists Sunset Park among its best places to watch the sun go down, and the name holds up. The park rises between Fifth and Seventh Avenues and 41st and 44th Streets, and from the top you can see the Manhattan skyline, the Statue of Liberty and the hills of Staten Island and New Jersey, free of charge. Get to the park 30 to 45 minutes before sunset so you have time to climb the lawn and find a spot. The sun sets around 4:52 PM on November 1 and around 4:45 PM on November 8, so check the time for your date.
🦞 Down to the King of Fish
El Rey del Pescado, also called The King of Fish, is at 4515 Fifth Avenue, about three to five minutes on foot from the park's Fifth Avenue side. Reviews quoted on its own site describe a room dressed like the inside of a ship. Its posted menu lists shrimp aguachile at $22, an octopus tostada at $8 and mezcal cocktails at $14, before tax and tip. It opens at noon every day and stays open until 1 AM Monday to Wednesday, 2 AM Thursday, 4 AM Friday and Saturday, and midnight Sunday. Those are restaurant hours, and the kitchen may stop serving earlier.
🚇 How the Evening Runs
Take the R train to 45th Street and walk about five minutes uphill to the park corner at Fifth Avenue and 44th Street. Stay on the lawn until the color fades, then walk down Fifth Avenue to dinner. Plan about two and a half hours for the evening. The 45th Street station has no elevator.
