Where in the World is Suzi?: Manhattan, NYC

"Excuse me sir, can I have a quarter so I can kill my wife?"

When in Manhattan, you can expect to have such a question posed to you. In this case, Dave and I were attempting to navigate in the Astor Place area when a likely crazy man popped the above question. All you can do is pretend to not hear, yet chuckle inwardly, because it's just one of many things that ascertain that you are in New York City (NYC).

My third trip to NYC was different in many ways, and similar in others. This was my first trip to New York that did not include a trip to Ellis Island (thankfully...once is enough), and I did not spend any time in museums or my favorite district, Times Square. Rather than be a tourist as usual, this was my first trip ever that was centered around food. It was delicious and absolutely worth it, even if my jeans and credit card might protest.

Times Square...very wet.

Dave and I arrived separately on Friday night, meeting at our temporary residence Brooklyn, just a few blocks away from Central and Flushing Ave. My first NYC meal of the trip was Mexican: burritos and horchata (con whiskey!) from L.A. Burrito in Brooklyn, followed by a night of hipster art show entertainment with free booze and wedding cake. Chinese man artfully cracking raw eggs onto a mirror table, girl having nails and feathers stuffed into her mouth, a faux bicycle race and wedding celebration...it was so random that it became obvious why the booze was free.

Girl on the right with nails in her mouth.

To our disappointment, NYC was flooded with pouring rain and strong winds throughout the weekend. The impact of the rain was interesting, because New Yorkers, unlike Seattleites, actually use umbrellas, but once they break, they do not put them in the garbage, but merely toss them aside. The streets were what Jon Stewart described as an "umbrella cemetary." On the day I left, the sun was out and skies were blue. I suppose I'm becoming a true Seattlite in the sense that I appeared to have brought stereotypical Seattle weather with me. Besides getting soaked to the bone on some days, we didn't let the rain get to us, and still managed to have very full and fun days.

Umbrella Cemetery

On day one (Saturday), we slept in until noon and met a friend for a bagel brunch at Murray's Bagels, home of arguably the best red pepper garlic cream cheese ever. We then decided to brave the nasty weather, but after taking a beating from angry wind and rain, settled for relaxing in Rockefeller Center for the afternoon. For the evening's entertainment, we kicked it off at McSorley's Old Ale House, going through several rounds of all two kinds of their beers (light and dark). I loved this Ale House, where Abraham Lincoln used to drink, and so did the throngs of Manhattanites and fellow visitors that filled the bar. We topped off the evening with a few slices of New York pizza and a night of blues at the prohibition era dive bar 55 Bar in Greenwich Village. Sweet Georgia Brown was the entertainer for the night. Known on her website as "the last of the red hot mamas," she and her band exhibited impressive blues style musical talent, while Brown with her humorously racy commentary and outspoken personality made it clear that she is more than a singer, but an entertainer as well. Dave can definitely attest to this, as she chose to include him in one of her acts.

Sweet Georgia Brown at 55 Bar.

Sunday morning was also slow-going, starting off with a delicious brunch at Sarabeth's just off of Park Avenue. The brunch crowd was definitely a crowd, and while the menu featured traditional breakfast items, the food was wholesome, rich, and worth savoring every bite. I ordered a farmer's omelet, which was plump and full in size and flavor, with chunks of potato, gruyere cheese, ham and leeks. The eggs benedict and chicken/apple sausage were also impressive. For a complete NYC brunch, I recommend Sara Beth's.

Eggs Benedict at Sara Beth's.

Not long after brunch, a late lunch at Meatball Shop followed. The menu is quite simple, with an emphasis on the five specialty meatballs of traditional beef, spicy pork, salmon, and veggie. And dessert of homemade cookies and homemade ice cream (gingersnaps with vanilla bean for me!).

Meatball sliders! Salmon meatball with parmesan sauce, and spicy pork meatball with tomato.

That evening, we attended a comedy show at Comix in Chelsea. It was a special event, in more ways than one. For starters, it was called Generosi-titties (emphasis on the "titties" part), meaning it was topless standup comedy featuring women telling jokes without their shirts off. Second, the audience consisted mostly of women--gay women. This became more apparent as the six comedians throughout the course of their material revealed that they themselves were lesbians (most, if not all). Whew. If that wasn't enough, they had door prizes, since it was after all a benefit for breast cancer, and wouldn't you know it, someone of the male gender at our table won the top prize--a vibrator.

To top off a stellar day of food and comedy was a late dinner at a restaurant not far from the Meatball Shop. WD50 specializes in molecular gastronomy, a "scientific discipline that studies the physical and chemical processes that occur while cooking." In short, it was a pricey, tasty meal of food that looked more like a work of art than anything else. We shared a corned duck appetizer, and each ordered our own entrees: mediterranean bass, venison chop, and Wagyu skirt steak, all delicious. As a finale, we had the five course dessert tasting menu, which ended up being like 7 courses with the extra palette cleansers thrown in. After all, how often does a restaurant offer a DESSERT tasting menu? At the very end, as I was force feeding myself chocolate, it became apparent that sugar and fat aren't the best things to overload oneself on--savory food are far more indulgent in the long run. The desserts featured a lot of flavored foam, and perhaps my favorite pieces were the whole wheat sorbet, carmelized brioche with apricot filling, peppermint ice cream (reminiscent of Altoids), and the coffee ice cream that had the curious texture of cotton candy after it had been scientifically expanded. Feast your eyes on photos below!

Mediterranean bass, artichokes, bamboo rice, halva, chicory

Venison chop, freeze dried polenta, fennel, Asian pear

Wagyu skirt steak, long bean, tamarind, peanut butter pasta (like pad thai)

DESSERT

Palette cleanser: vanilla-mango ice cream, yuzu, spruce foam

Lemongrass mousse, brown sugar crisp, jack fruit, whole wheat sorbet

Caramelized brioche, apricot filling, buttercream, lemon thyme

Coffee ice cream (texture like cotton candy), pecan, cocoa, argan oil

It was like a rich chocolate moon pie. This was my filling point.

Soft chocolate, peppermint ice cream, black cardamom, toffee. So good...so full...

Monday, my last full day in New York, was also a late-starting day. We reached Manhattan shortly before noon and brunched at Ess-a-Bagel--everything bagel with scallion cream cheese...yum!

Ess-a-Bagel.

We then attempted to see the special Tim Burton exhibit at the MoMA, but were quickly dissuaded by the hordes of people and headed down to wait in line to catch a live taping of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. After waiting a couple hours in line in front of two gossipping sorority girls, we were let into the studio for the hour-long taping, which went rather smoothly and required only one re-take. Jon Stewart was a cordial and humorous host, allowing guest questions before taping started, and addressing us between takes as well. The guests for the day were professional WWF (or WWE) wrestler Mick Foley who likened Congress to pro wrestling and financial author Michael Lewis. It was a nice once in a lifetime experience. The evening consisted of a low key dinner and another comedy show, this time at the Upright Citizens Brigade (UBC), a club much less swankier than Comix, but much more down-to-earth in its interior as well as its humor.

The morning I left, we had breakfast at Clinton Street Bakery, not far from WD50 and the Meatball Shop. They are famed for the blueberry pancakes, and some wait 2 hours in line for them! They were pretty darn good, with the buttery, brown sugar "syrup," but I don't think I'd wait two hours for them.

Clinton Street Bakery blueberry pancakes.

We then got a tour of the Google NYC office, which was pretty cool considering it's the second-largest Google office after the Mountain View, CA headquarters. It certainly adheres to the rumors of being a fun place to work. How about getting around the office by scooter, getting free food, being able to work from an electric massage chair or the elliptical? All of these and more are possible at Google. As cool as it all was, I couldn't help but remember that it was still an office, and if anything, it's turned into the perfect way to eliminate any excuses for NOT being at the office.