NYC day 4

We decided to take it easy the last day in the city, sleeping in until almost 9. We checked out around 10, leaving our bags at the hotel for the day while we did our last bit of exploring. Jeremy suggested we visit the Intrepid, which seemed both fun and appropriate since it is Memorial Day and Fleet Week, which, once we got there we realized also meant crazy long lines. So rather than standing around we decided to ride the 1 train to the Staten Island Ferry terminal. We took some pictures if the (far away) Statue of Liberty and then walked to the Brooklyn Bridge. We sat on a bench under the bridge for a while, just relaxing, then decided to try and find a pizza place to get some “real New York pizza”. You would think this would be an easy task, but like the bagel search before it, it proved rather elusive. This time however we stumbled onto an even better place to eat, Les Halle, as made famous by Anthony Bourdain’s book “Kitchen Confidential”. So without much further thought we grabbed a table inside where I enjoyed pommes frites with a small salad and a homemade pork and beef sausage sandwich, Jeremy had their famous burger. Both were excellent, the fries in particular were exceptionally good, that perfect combo of crunchy, piping hot, and salty, yum.
After satisfying my caffine craving with some French press coffee we headed out and sat in Battery Park for about 45 minutes then headed back to the hotel to pick up our bags and head to the airport. Two train rides and a bus ride later we’re now sitting at the airport pub waiting for our flight.
This has been a great trip, great sights, great food, got to meet up with great friends, and got to share it with a great guy, couldn’t ask for more.

NYC day 3

So today was the day of museums and tasty food. We left the hotel around 9:15 cheated on breakfast and grabbed some food at the Starbucks next to our hotel and then hopped on the train to midtown to start the day at the Natural History museum. The line to get in the front entrance was huge but thankfully Jeremy had the secret-local-knowledge that there’s a second entrance in the subway station so we wentback in and found that, one family in line in front of us, sweet, and much better than waiting a half hour to get in the front. Having seen “Night at the Museum” I had some idea of the exhibits there but wow is that place big, and it’s an interesting mix of new exhibits and kischy older ones. We met up with one of Jeremy’s college friends in the fossil hall for a few minutes before we went outside to wait to meet up with Jenny for lunch.

Once we found each other outside the museum Jenny suggested we try the Shake Shack for lunch, which was funny since Jeremy had found that same place online a few weeks before the trip as a good place to eat. So we went there and everyone had a Shackburger (cheeseburger with a mayo-based “shack sauce”) and I had a tasty chocolate milkshake. All of the food was very good and once we finished we partedways with Jenny and headed to the Met for the afternoon. Another huge museum but in 3 hours we managed to hit all the highlights and then headed back to the hotel to get changed for dinner.

So we made our way to Craft, got there a bit early, and wasn’t sure what the ettiquette was for reservations, if it was better to come in early or exactly on time. We opted for early and they sat us quickly, the servers quickly making sure we had full water glasses and bread right as we sat down. Jeremy and I had decided on the tasting menu with paired wines before we had even left so the menu decision wasn’t hard.
Tasting Menu (some wines may be named not quite right, had a hard time reading the server’s writing for a few of them):

1. Wagyu Carpaccio, Pickled Quail Egg and Jerusalem Artichokes; served with Vouvray, Foreau Clos Naudin, NV Loire Valley
2. Diver Scallops and Sweet Garlic Cream; served with Grenache Blanc, Denard, Alta Mesa, 2008, Lodi
3. Olive Oil Poached Day Boat Cod, Morels, Fava Beans, and Razor Clams; served with Vire Clesse, Denis Jandeau, 2006, Maconnais
4. Panchetta Wrapped Guinea Hen, Chanterelles, Wild Asparagues and Tortellini; served with Domaine du Meix Foulot, 2003, Cote Chalonnaise
5. New York Baby Lamb, Artichokes, Porcini and Fiddlehead Ferns; served with Grenache, Syrah, Morvedre, Doyenne, Mesier, 2006 Red Montaine
6. Lemon Meringue Tart, Hibiscus Syrup and Coconut Sorbet
7. Crepe Suzette, Chocolate Mousse and Malted Milk Ice Cream; served with Erbaiuce di causo, Passito, Fernando Solatino, 2007 Piedmont

My favorite course was #4, Awesome. And it was really interesting on the 3rd course, the fish was just ok on its own, but combine it with the razon clam stuffing, and it provided the perfect amount of saltiness and texture. For each course both Jeremy and I would taste each component of the dish separately then together just to see how all the flavors played out, very fun for the palate. The whole meal was fantastic, the servers were super attentive and on the way out they even gave us mocha chip muffins to take home. A superb experience and definitely something I could get used to ;)

We got a bit turned around on the way back to the hotel and ended up hailing a cab which I got a kick out of as it was my first NYC cab ride.

Tomorrow we have no definite plans, will probably just wander the city a bit, have a bit more of a relaxed day.
Picture total: 524

Musings from NYC

A few random observations from this trip:
1) it’s really awesome when kids are eager to learn.
While we walked around the Natural History museum in the planetarium there was a family talking with one of the guides about the Big Bang. The daughter, who was maybe 8 or so made the very awesome observation (and came to the conclusion before her parents did) that “asking ‘What happened before the Big Bang?’ is like asking ‘What’s north of north?’” Learning is cool :)
2) the old saying of “don’t judge a book by it’s cover” is still true
Riding the subway back from the Bronx Zoo a trio of teenaged skateboarders came on board. One guy was limping badly and was pretty banged up and I kind of wrote it off as he was just doing dumb stunts on his skateboard with his buddies but then one of his friends pulled out a “Tribeca Film Festival” Crumpler-brand camera bag and pulled out a Nikon digital SLR camera and started going through the action shots he had taken of his friends doing tricks on their skateboards. The few I saw were pretty good. So yay for finding a budding skateboarding photographer.