It was almost midnight on a cool spring night, and we were walking across the Brooklyn Bridge from Brooklyn to our hotel near Wall Street. Looking at the lights of the Big Apple, we remembered how much we love this town-- the raw energy, the architecture, the history, the food.
The drive from Philly to NYC is short and easy until you reach the approaches to Manhattan. Then the traffic gets truly ugly. Still, inching our way forward from Brooklyn to the Battery Tunnel, the views of the lower New York skyline were awesome.
Our hotel was on the corner of Water Street and Wall Street, deep downtown. The area is undergoing extensive renovation and it was lunch time on Tuesday afternoon, so getting to our hotel was a problem. The street directly in front of the hotel was completely dug up, so we were forced to unload the car a block away, then try to find the parking garage that the hotel partners with.
The first one was inaccessible due to construction, but I finally found my way through a maze of semi-blocked and one-way streets to the second one. By that point I fully understood the reason New Yorkers have a reputation for irritability.
The hotel room was small, but very well appointed. The view was all New York.
We had an excellent, very early dinner with my sister and her husband who were enjoying their last night in town before jetting back to the Bay Area. We ate at the Commerce Inn, a small farm-to-table restaurant specializing in Shaker cooking, an odd niche that could only work in New York, I suspect. Simple, but perfectly prepared American food.
New York is the perfect walking town, and with our car safely stashed away, we walked and gawked at all the sights.
Like the fire station that became Ghostbusters HQ for the film.
Every time we come to NY, we are amazed at how many new skyscrapers have popped up. Lots of architectural eye candy.
Or eye sores.
We met our friend Vanessa for lunch at Schilling's for Austrian American food--perfectly done pork schnitzel.
She recommended Angelo's Coal-Fired Pizza for dinner. An excellent pie with deliciously-charred crust.
Afterwards, we caught the Lao Tizer Quartet at The Iridium. They played high-energy, funk-based jazz.
I'm not a big organ fan, but Lao really pumped some heavy funk out of that Hammond.
We walked back to our hotel through the madhouse that is Times Square. It was almost midnight and the place was jammed with people and swirling with colors and images from the huge video screens. It was total sensory overload.
We were relieved to finally get away from the crowds to the relative calm of lower Manhattan. We arrived at our hotel well after midnight, footsore after the more than ten miles we had walked that day, but happy.
And the next day we were ready to do it again. We took the subway to the High Line, then walked through Hudson Yards.
So cool--the Bloomberg Building has a moveable covering on huge wheels that opens on sunny days.
Right next to it is the Vessel, a giant, climbable sculpture.
At least it used to be climbable. Unfortunately, it became a lure for jumpers, and after the fourth suicide leap, it has been closed indefinitely.
That afternoon, we met some friends from Boise for lunch. They just happened to be in town for fun, and we shared a delightful meal at the Consulate on the upper west side.
That night we met Vanessa and her partner Jay at his home in Brooklyn.
They took us to an old school Italian place for dinner. Excellent Italian-American dishes. I had a fantastic Chicken Scarpariello, a dish I love, but can rarely find on a menu.
We ate well and talked for a long and lovely time, then it was time to make our way back to our hotel.
We thought taking the ferry back to Manhattan would be fun, so we started walking to the dock. Which we couldn't find even with the help of Mr. Google. After a long walk, we finally found a different ferry, but had just closed for the evening.
By this time, we were nearly to the Brooklyn Bridge, so we decided to walk across.
Except we couldn't find the way to actually get on the bridge. We knew it was possible, because we had done it a few years before, but we couldn't remember how to get there.
Finally, just as we were about to give up and get a taxi, a small stairway appeared with the sign "Brooklyn Bridge Walkway."
The walk was long, but the views were worth it.
The next day was rainy, so we took the PATH train under the Hudson to New Jersey.
We're goin' to Hoboken, baby!
There was method to our madness: O's niece Elisa and her family live in Hoboken. We had met her and her partner Laz briefly the last time we were in New York. At that time, she was pregnant with her now-three-year-old son, Wolfgang.
We met for a delicious lunch at the W Hotel on the Hoboken waterfront with a wonderful view of the NY skyline.
We had so much fun seeing them, meeting Wolfgang, and getting to know Laz better.
After lunch, Laz took us on a tour of Hoboken, which turns out to be far less of a punchline and more of a really cool little town than I would ever have imagined.
After all, this was O'l Blue Eyes' hometown.
Also home of the world's first match game of baseball!
They had heard that Samuel L. Jackson was shooting a movie in downtown Hoboken, so we did a driveby.
And there he was, sitting in a chair on the sidewalk, sporting a long white goatee. We were so startled, that we didn't get a picture, so we circled the block, prepped for a quick shot.
Unfortunately, by that time, he had gone inside the building, so all we could see was the back of his head. That goatee is unmistakeable, though.
Uma Thurman was also supposed to be on the set. We saw a blonde in the distance, but couldn't confirm that it was her.
We did meet a couple of geese and their family.
They're so cute until they grow up and start shitting all over everything. They have pretty well made every park in Boise a biohazard.
Hoboken has a lot of great street art, including this piece by Shepard Fairey.
We had such a good time with Elisa and her family. She and Laz are so hospitable, intelligent, and talented that the hours just sped by. And we were impressed by the cultural richness and the relaxing vibe of Hoboken. There's a lot here, and all of New York is just a short train ride away.
And the views are stunning. You can see almost the entire west side of Manhattan from the cliffs just north of town.
We will definitely be back.
For our last night, we went to a lively neighborhood restaurant called Comodo, specializing in Latin American comfort food.
Over the years, we've been lucky enough to have eaten at some of the most famous (and expensive) restaurants in New York, but we really enjoy the deep diversity of the city's neighborhood eateries. I think some of the best and most interesting cooking in the world happens in places like this.
Comodo is a case in point. We were able to get in on a Friday night without reservations and the menu looked interesting. So we went.
What looked interesting on the menu turned out to be a whole lot more than merely interesting in the mouth. Everything was cooked and seasoned perfectly. The many flavors were balanced with care. We shared a series of small plates. Every one was a revelation, popping with flavor, from the carnitas tacos with caramelized pineapple and pickled onions to the lamb sliders on Brazilian cheese bread with chipotle cream to the roasted baby eggplant with mole to the dulce de leche in puff pastry.
You know you're in a great food town when you can just walk into a place this good without a reservation on a Friday night because there are dozens of other places just as good nearby.
It was a delightful final night in one of our favorite cities.
P.
1 comment:
Wow, it looks like a great trip, Peter.
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