Pink beer would hardly have been the drink of choice of the thirsty fishmongers that worked the docks south of the Brooklyn Bridge for 193 years. But sweltering heat and cold imports can be persuasive and if the fish markets were still there, the lines at the flash new eateries at the South Street Seaport might be even longer.

Schofferhofer almost isn’t a beer at all, being only 2.5% alcohol and mainly grapefruit juice, but it blended rather well with a margherita pizza in the cool atmosphere of Industry Kitchen. Positioned to catch the flow of tourists, Wall Street punters and bikers in transit, this bar / restaurant / pizzeria is part of the transformed boardwalk that is making everything old new again. You pay for the view, and the pizza is not exactly Joe’s, but the combination makes for a fun spontaneous date on a scorching midsummer Monday. Fortunately Sean & I were sufficiently dry after riding through all the water features along the East River bike path to be reasonably presentable, but this situation soon reversed when we retraced our tread. The seals may still have been sleeping, but the kids were waiting for a victim, and we were only too happy to oblige…