MY WEEKEND: Kiah Stokes
WNBA star Kiah Stokes has bounced around a lot in her career. She’s now in her third season with the New York Liberty, but she’s also ventured far from Madison Square Garden, playing with teams from Turkey to South Korea. Competing a long way from her native Iowa has given her a taste not just for the global basketball obsession, but also regional cuisines. Although she lives in White Plains during the season, the 24-yearold fuels up with the tastes of the city on her weekends in Manhattan. The 6-foot-3 center tells LAUREN STEUSSY her favorite activities.
I love all kinds of food, especially Korean barbecue. In the city’s Koreatown, if I’m just walking around and I see something that looks good, I’ll stop in and try it.
My teammates and I will go out to the 40/40 Club sometimes, but mostly we just go to a little bar across from Madison Square Garden. We like to keep it simple. We also love this classic diner, Andrews Coffee Shop, near MSG. My friends and I go there all the time — the pancakes are so good.
If my mom’s in town she loves to go on walks, so we’ll get some coffee, walk around Bryant Park or Central Park, do some people-watching. You see some interesting characters in New York City. They probably assume I play basketball because I’m a giant. You can just never tell what a person does by looking at them here.
I’ve gotten to play overseas a lot — I’ve played for the team in Turkey and I’m on the team in South Korea [during the WNBA off-season]. But when I was younger I played in Mexico [and] Singapore, and in college I went to Italy — the food there was amazing. I was in Spain last year visiting my brother . . . the paella! I’ve been trying to find a good Spanish restaurant since then. I’m trying to find food from all the places I’ve been, which you can do here.
When I’m traveling, I miss the English language and the food — like my favorite food is from Potbelly Sandwich Shop, which I first tried here. I just love it. In New York you can walk down two blocks and see 20 different restaurants.