New York City - Part Five - The Food

There are more than 18,000 restaurants in the New York City area.  If you ate breakfast, lunch and dinner at a different restaurant every day for 365 days a year it would take more than 16 years to complete the job.  And that doesn’t include the ones that open during those 16 years.  We had a week to narrow down that number to something manageable and settled for showing up at 0.0008% of them.

Something obvious that we noticed about Manhattan is that people go out to dinner a lot.  It adds up to a competitive food scene and a seemingly normal place to eat in NYC can hold its own with top tier restaurants in Seattle.  That’s our opinion anyway and we’re sticking to it.  Here then, in no particular order are some places we can recommend. And none of these are fancy, high-end, expensive, pretentious places by the way.  That just isn’t our style.
 

Our Very Own Grimaldi's Pizza

 Grimaldi’s Pizza.  This is the place in Brooklyn we ate at before our bridge walk.  It's a clean, comfortable and popular place with an upstairs dining room at which we were seated.  There was a bit of sniping going on between the manager and one of his staff which was entertaining.  I loved the passion that these guys brought to work.  Perhaps it’s an Italian thing.  At any rate, we ordered our favorite type of pizza (the Margherita) which was very good.  I’m sure there’s a lot of good pizza to be found in some unlikely places here and wish we had more time to confirm that theory. 

 

A Scene From the Deli at Zabar's

Zabar's.  This is a very famous deli that has tons of items to buy and take back to your residence to eat if you don’t feel like going to a sit-down place.  We bought some bagels and cream cheese here to take care of a few leisurely eat-in breakfasts after we got up, as well as scoring things like Shepherd’s Pie to heat up in the oven or microwave for dinner.  Their cheese selection is stellar as well.
 

Indian Tanpura on Amsterdam Street

Indian Tanpura.  A non-descript restaurant on the Upper West Side which was recommended to us by a friend of a friend.  BowlingWidow enjoyed the chicken tikka dinner while I was knocked out by my lamb in a spicy sauce.  Inexpensive, unassuming…..and incredible.
 

The Madison Square Park Shake Shack

Shake Shack.  This is their In-N-Out Burger if you’re from the southwest, or their Dick’s Drive In if you’re from Seattle.  The one we ate at was at Madison Square Park (not to be confused with Madison Square Garden) and featured outdoor seating at their little plaza.  A great location, good burgers and as a bonus you could also get a beer.
 

Trattoria Trecolori

 Trattoria Trecolori.  This is a place near Rockefeller Center at which we went with our friends after catching a taping of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.  Although we had reservations we didn’t really need them.  Good pasta dishes.  It’s clean and the service was attentive.  These guys get extra credit for using one those squeegee things to clean off the tablecloth as they removed our main course dishes.

 

Gray's Papaya

Gray’s Papaya.  There are a few of these hot dog stands in New York.  They’re known for cheap hot dogs with a casing that “snaps” when you bite into the dog.  Serviceable but not great…for the price though you definitely get what you pay for.  The “papaya” part of the name refers to a longtime accompanying drink.  And it rolls of the tongue better than Gray’s Mango would.
 

A Busy Night of Eating in Little Italy

Somewhere in Little Italy.  For the life of me, I can’t recall where we ate in Little Italy and I failed to write it down.  But trust me.  Eat anywhere in Little Italy.  You’ll love it.

OK….this post was so lengthy that I’m going into overtime with a Part Six in a week or so!  I’ll conclude next time with the local beer scene and some final thoughts.

New York City - Part Four - Great Walks

One of the things we noticed about New York City during the week we were there is that, in general, New Yorkers are pretty physically fit.  We saw the same thing in Chicago.  People tend to walk a lot.  And since you can walk a lot faster than gridlocked vehicles, walking makes sense.

 

They walk in parks.  They walk to and from the subway.  They walk to the grocery stores and restaurants.  They walk their dogs.  That’s another thing.  Everyone who lived in one of the stone row houses (sans a front or back yard) seemed to have a dog.  And the dogs were height/weight proportional, too.

Here are a few walks that we found to be just great.

Central Park and The City from the Roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

 Central Park.  Certainly the most popular place to walk and jog in New York, Central Park is frickin’ big.  Six miles long and a half-mile wide.  We could have easily spent a week getting lost in Central Park.  I wouldn’t call the park particularly scenic (remember, we’re spoiled with some majestic National Parks here in the Northwest) but the fact that is there as an island of green in Manhattan really is pretty amazing.  Some of the things in the park worth a visit are:  Strawberry Fields, a quiet garden walk near The Dakota, where John Lennon was shot…..The Great Lawn, site of many memorable free concerts over the years including one we just missed out on (Stevie Wonder and John Mayer)……The Loeb Boathouse and Restaurant….Bethesda Fountain.

 

Bethesda Fountain on a Beautiful Day

Brooklyn Bridge.  You’re guaranteed to have lots of company on the pedestrian walkway that’s above the vehicle traffic on the bridge.  Lots of walkers, runners and cyclists make the half-hour (or so) trek across the famous structure every day.  We took the subway under the East River to Brooklyn and fueled up on some tasty NY pizza before walking around the neighborhood for a bit and hitting the bridge.  Just as walking across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco should be on anyone’s list who enjoys exercise, the same can be said about the Brooklyn Bridge.  Only this is better because it’s more user friendly and there’s usually no fog.

The Pedestrian Path Atop the Brooklyn Bridge

The High Line.  This is a real gem.  Not too many years ago, New York officials had the idea of taking an abandoned elevated rail line, sprucing it up into an aerial greenway, and making a great walking experience in the process.  The walk is about a mile long and runs along the west-central Manhattan near Chelsea Market at its southern terminus.  It’s a pleasant and relaxing walk with great views and art to be appreciated along the way.
 

Strolling Along the Old Rail Line

Building Art:  Great Scene from the High Line

Hudson River Greenway.  We were told by our upper west side hosts to check out this long path a few blocks from where we were staying.  It’s essentially a green and somewhat wooded narrow strip of land that runs along the east side of the Hudson River.  Not nearly as popular and crowded as Central Park, it’s a relatively nice and quiet area to walk a dog, bike or jog.

The (Relatively) Quiet Hudson River Greenway

As is typical of my travel series posts, I’ll conclude with food, drink and some final thoughts next time.

New York City - Part Three - Sites & Destinations

A week is really not enough time to spend in New York City to get a good sense of what it might be like to live there.  I suppose that’s true of most places that are worth visiting.  I went through some of our daily notes that we took and came up with a list of 10 places that we can endorse as being worthy of your valuable vacation time.  Well, actually nine that are worthy and one that was just memorable for perhaps all of the wrong reasons.  No, you won’t see the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty here, as they’ve gotten enough guidebook press over the years.  No scenic walks either.   That will be the topic of the next blog post.

So here we go, in no particular order:

1. Top of the Rock:  We heard this is the best view of the city, hands down.  We also heard it’s even better after dark but we’re morning people and were there at around 10:30am.  Well worth the experience, even if you just want to take a couple of pictures and hang out for a few minutes.  We didn’t have time to parlay this with the NBC studio tour but it was a great thought.
 

The Stellar View of Central Park and the City

2. Eataly:  Chef Mario Batali is of of the major backers of this huge “all things Italian” building.  Delis, restaurants, stores and so on.  Can you really choose among 40 brands of olive oil and 30 brands of pasta?  I would say at the very least, yes.  We didn’t eat or buy anything there but it was an amazing walk-through and is some serious foodie sensory overload.

The Olive Oil Aisle at Eataly

3.  Wall Street/Trinity Church:  These two things really have little to do with one another, other than the fact that they’re within a couple of blocks of one another, and Wall Street brokers are likely to drop into the church to pray after the latest financial meltdown.  The narrow Wall Street makes the buildings appear dark and somewhat evil.  The church and its beautiful stained glass is a welcome sight.

Visiting Our 401K at The NY Stock Exchange

4. Greenwich Village:  While this part of town is clearly not what I’ve read that it was like in the sixties and seventies, I’d still recommend it as a place to visit with some parks, shops and old taverns (such as McSorley’s Old Ale House).  Bob Dylan’s place at 161 West Fourth Street is still there, although nothing tells you that it was Dylan’s residence.  In fact, it exists today as just another garden variety sex shop.
 

One of the Narrow Streets of Greenwich Village

Mr. Zimmerman's Former Residence

5. Ground Zero:  We didn’t actually take the formal tour here but just walked around the perimeter and imagined what it must have been like to have been there on what started as a beautiful sunny weekday morning.
 

The New One World Trade Center:  Opening in 2014

6. Grand Central Terminal:  New York City has changed and updated this busy train and subway station, making it into a destination in and of itself.  The main floor is spacious and beautiful, with more than a tip of the hat to what it must have looked like 80 years ago.  The lighting and architecture are worth noting.  And if you’re hungry or want to go shopping there’s plenty of that, too.
 

Grand Central Terminal

7. Chelsea Market:  This two-block-long indoor market has just about everything.  Gifts, an oyster bar, spices from all over the world, boutique clothing, fancy cheeses…..etc.  And doesn’t it just figure that The Food Network headquarters are one floor above the market?
 

Inside Chelsea Market

 

More Chelsea Market:  Spices from Around the Globe

 8. Little Italy:  This part of town is slowly being consumed by Chinatown, but the several square block area that’s there is worth a visit with its restaurants, stores and general scenery.  And there’s even a Christmas store to satisfy BowlingWidow’s requirement of buying a tree ornament in every city we visit.

 

Little Italy's Restaurants:  Busy on a Nice Evening

9.  Chinatown:  The above mentioned Chinatown is the place that for us was memorable but not pleasant.  From the moment we got off the subway we were urged by folks who were very eager for us to check out their store, their produce, and I’m sure in some cases their stolen property.  We’ve been to Chinatowns in other cities and comparatively this one is at the bottom.  Almost no open space, and the stores and restaurants looked like they are on the verge of being condemned.  We couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

 

A Chinatown Street Corner

10. Columbia University:  I want to end on a positive note and with a place that we didn’t expect to make this list.  But if you have a couple of hours to spare, it’s worth taking a subway or a cab to 116^th Street and walking around the Columbia University neighborhood.  There are even a few hills here, something not often seen in most of Manhattan.  St. Paul’s Chapel is a nice visit, but most importantly how can you not like a university whose mascot is Roaree the Lion.

 

Inside St. Paul's Chapel

Next up:  I’ll review some great New York City walks.