NYC-Mini GTG
 

This weekend, the pandas and the RhkKmks traveled to NYC for a few mini GTG's with Asia Fodorites. We've survived and have a few amusing tales of friends and Asian food. Tengohambre, Nywoman and Ekscrunchy, in that chronological order, were great hosts for us Red Sox fans.

On Friday, we departed the dred Needham in the pandamobile at about 9:15 a.m.. The ride down was smooth and enjoyable. Bob was asleep. Naturally, we began to talk about food after we passed Hartford, about half way. We concluded that we would go to the Shanghai Tea Garden, a spot of a former NYC GTG. The restaurant is in mid-town on the East Side. Navigator Bob had us go over to the West Side and come back through the park and crawl slowly doen Second Avenue. I suspect he did not want us to get there early. I found a legal spot across the street and in we went. We had the soup dumplings, very good, slippery chicken, very good, chicken with rice cakes, very good and Bob had normal dumplings, very mediocre.

Beth had two places in the garment district that she wanted to see, so we went over to Sixth Ave. No parking, so I waited in the car while the three little bears wandered off. Beth bought a few little things and I managed to get a $115 parking ticket. the meter maid began writing the ticket 20 feet away, so by the time I saw her , she said "Sorry, i've already started." A fine welcome. No Red Sox stickers or anything. Just the usual warm hug from the Big Apple. I was standing next to the car, reading my book on top of the car. I was obviously with the car. Actually, Bob is to blame. He got us a good deal on a hotel in Godforsaken Jersey City. Beth called it, Kimball's Folly. If we had gotten a Manhattan hotel like normal people, we would have checked in and the car would have been in the lot. That would have been too easy. No, we saved $50 per night and got a $115 ticket. Nice, eh?

To compound matters, it was now 3:45 and we had to be back in Manhattan at 6:00 so we could follow Tengohambre out to Queens. We started to go to GFS Jersey City, but traffic was crawling. Fortunately, Tengohambre picked this time to check on our well- being. When I explained the situation (I talked even though I was driving because Bob cannot be trusted to communicate properly), he (Tengohambre) graciiously offered to let us rest at his apartment in mid-town instead of crawling to Jersey City and back. We took him up on his suggestion. we parked in the basement of his building after we realized that the spot I had gotten earlier was actually not legal. In other words, I managed to park unticketed in an illegal spot for an hour and one half. However, when standing next to my car, i managed to get a ticket. Some sort of Kharma. Jill, Tengohambre's wife put up with us for what must have seemed like an endless afternoon with grace and charm. That's Jill with the grace and charm, not the afternoon.

TH appeared and we were off. The original plan was to dine at SRI, but that was closed for the week. maybe this was a coincidence, but I have my suspicions. TH had discovered a new Thai place in Queens Ayada. We followed Jill, who said I drived too slowly. Compared to her, I did. Of course, with my previous parking violation, I did not want to add a moving violation, so I obeyed the speed limit. That made one of us. Several times, She had to wait for us.

The restaurant was great. TH ordered and the food was delicious. From eggplant, papaya salad and Pad Thai, we meandered to several curry dishes. This was topped off with mango with Sticky Rice. Wonderful. Even better, we got to meet, NYwoman. She is delightful and funny. In truth, if she were only funny, that would have been plenty for me. But she was also delighful. She jumped right into the conversation and easily held her own. The next night, she admitted that she was determining whether Bob and I were OK or complete flakes. She claimed that we met her standards and we had passed muster. This says more about her than anything else. I'm guessing she liked Laurel and Hardy as well.

More later.

now the truth must be told.....i was not asleep, i had my eyes closed in prayerful silence, praying for our safety from the unsafe situation that developed in the pandamobile....its called reckless driving...

in short, we arrived safely....well sort of....the other 7 cars he cut off have been towed to the car cemetery....

our encounters: Fanny, aka nywoman, is a hoot....she is simply lovely, gracious and easy to chat with on any range of subjects---its her european roots i guess... she is a real gem, like so many other fodorites....

i guess i skipped ahead as i should have started with the Tengohombres... robert, jill and their offspring are the most perfect hosts....the kids, aaron and zoe, are true life sophisticated new yorker kids....a joy to be with... throughout the weekend robert kept checking on us to see if everything was ok...

ekcrunchy joined us on saturday, or i should say we joined her for a trip back to queens for the second nite of asina dining.....she too is an interesting and fun person to share time with...

both E and NTW made our trip tons of fun....their knowledge of asian food and the asian food scene in the ny area is fantastic... and robert follows right behind them....i vote for the 3 of them to have a regular spot on the today show weekly....

the food: it was varried....it was good to excellent, it was abundant....it was well cooked, it was all asian until we had indian today for lunch, but that also was in queens on 74th street...

restaurants visited:

shanghai tea garden, about #257 E 55th st nyc...site of an earlier GTG

Ayada thai; 77-08 Woodside Av, queens...718-424-0844---small place with fantastic thai food...maybe only 8 tables...BYOB...cheap but excellent...street parking...as good as SriPraPhai, also on queens...$130 for 10 people...

Le Pescadeux, only 4 weeks old... 90 Thompson st, soho, nyc
212-966-0021...excellent.... canadian french bistro.... highly recomm. front of restaurant opens to sidewalk in pleasant weather...

Hunan House...137-40 Northern Blvd, flushing...718-353-1808...authentic hunan chinese in ny....good....also $130 for 9 people

Delhi Palace...74th street, queens....fantastic neighborhood to wander in, all indian... we had the buffet $10.95, which was excellent, but they are never good to judge by....i'm sure the food a la carte is fantastic, based on the buffet...

so other than the mis observations of the gpanda this was a fantastic weekend....our westin hotel in jersey city was very nice in deed and the panda forgot to report that they neglected to charge us for parking, which if we had stayed in the city would have been as much as $60 per nite with no in/out privledges....$91 on priceline....i can't think of a better place to stay on a visit to nyc than in jersey city....the tram is right there to take you to manhattan in 5 minutes and the place is safe, clean and fun....but in truth its not manhattan proper...exactly 3 blocks from the jersy side of the holland tunnel...

don't forget the boston GTG on oct. 10, 2090

above mistakes:: "second nite of asian dining"..."E and NTW"

Isn't that NYW? Or am I confused.

Sounds like you all had a good time.

LOL. In fact haven't laughed so hard in a while. NYC traffic, GFS Jersey City, the meter maid -- what a hoot! Four Asian/Indian restaurants in two days -- and a French Canadian bistro thrown in -- make it all worthwhile. Love it!

here are a few pics

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BauXDJw2aqOyA

yes it is NYW---newyorkwoman-----your hands would not work right if you spent a weekend in a tiny volvo with a madman...

ask him to tell the whole story of what he said to the lovely ny city police woman......you won't believe this one!!!!

Is EK yet another guenmai, in front of the camera?
Thanks for sharing the photos.

yes she is.....some time we are going to have a man who is camera shy???

carol....both women were delightful and tons of fun....we made encouragements for them to come to boston but nywoman with be in asia, but E may come we hope---she would be a nice addition....

Using the latest software I was able to get a side profile of Eks from the reflection in Gpanda's eye. I'll upload the picture after work if anyone is interested.

sounds like you all had GREAT time. LOL about getting a ticket.

Where was I before I was so rudely interupted? Oh yeah, we finished dinner in Queens at Ayada and followed Jill back to Manhattan across the Queensboro Bridge. All of these driving minutiae are included because New Yorkers are all, everyone of them, obsessed with driving directions. It must be in the water. We wandered over to the West Side and slipped through the Holland Tunnel without problem. Immediately after exiting the tunnel, we took a right on Marin and another right on eighteenth. This bends around to become Washington and the Westin in GFS JC was there on our right.

We made the mistake of letting Bob initiate the check-in. Of course, this became a long drawn out process that went on for ever. Eventually, we were admitted to the "promised land". (Who ever thought a Westin in GFS JC would be called promised?) The elevator dinged on every floor for no apparent reason. The room was a standard Westin room overlooking the rest of the sterile part on JC known as Newport. If you stood just right in our room, you could see a slice of the Hudson River. Bob's room was not so blessed. We collapsed into bed.

Next morning, I was up early (big surprise) and went for a run along the river. The buildingd were all new construction and completely boring. There were other runners even though it was early. Naturally, there were no interesting places to eat anywhere near our space station. I went to Starbucks and bought some of their tedious muffins. Upon my return, Beth was just getting up. Later the Kimballs called and I went back to Starbucks to fetch them some tedious pastries.

Oh, I forgot to mention that Laurico and Eric joined us for dinner on Friday night. L was her usual energetic self regaling us with stories. She's a welcome addition at any GTG.

Our plan was to walk the Brooklyn Bridge. At Laurie's suggestion, we drove into Brooklyn and walked into manhattan. Bob went half way across and went back to get the car. This is a delightful stroll in good weather. We managed to meet up with Bob at Chambers St. in Manhattan.

We drove over to SOHO and found a legal parking space. A slight diversion here. Beth and I have law degrees, Bob was a banker specializing in small print, Karen a detail oriented nurse. Nonetheless, we were barely able to decipher the parking signs to determine what was legal and what was not. the aforementioned spot near the Shanghai tea garden was legal on saturday, but restricted to commercial vehicles M-F. Each sign had three or four parts that needed to be read as a whole in order to uncode the meaning. Deliberately confusing to trap the unwary tourists. It made me feel like a country panda.

Undetered, we set off wandering in SOHO. For the non NYers, this is a charming section filled with unique shops and tons of good food. There's the occassional Tommy Hilfiger, etc., but plenty of individual stores. We spent a while in LePage on Thompson St south of Spring St.. This place has wonderful lucite constructions with very clean lines and splurges of color. It's very statue-like. Bob managed to put his foot in his mouth, but the owner graciously allowed him to extract it with a minimum of fuss. She recommended a lunch plane. Les Piscadueax north of Spring on Thompson.

Lunch at LP was very nice. Beth was brave enough to get a scrapple sandwich. She claimed she liked it. The shrimp toast was especially good. We chatted with the owner. The center for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Ilgauskas, was also there.

As an aside, we managed to ask several of the shop owners how much they paid in monthly rent. A small shop was $5500. The restaurant was $13,000. A larger store was $30,000. Not cheap.

After lunch, we continued wandering with afew purchases hither and yon. This was a very pleasant way to pass the afternoon. The weather was cooperative and NYC can be beautiful. Beth did spend an inordinate amount of time in examining eyewear.

Throughout the day, we remained in contact with Tengohambre and Ekscrunchy to coordinate for dinner. My suspicion is that they were slightly concerned that the hicks from Massachusetts would get into further trouble in the Big Apple. They neglected to remember that NYC is just a distant suburb of Cambridge.

<i>Naturally, we began to talk about food after we passed Hartford</i>
That's better than talking about food after you passed Ayer.

This entire trip sounds ridiculous. With all of those law degrees, bank degrees, and nurse degrees, was there no room left for common sense that says a car in NYC is not really a great asset? Common sense that says a room in the city beats anything in GFS JC? (Hint: There's an excellent Holiday Inn Express on 29th St, a 3-minute walk from Penn Station. Rooms typically go for less than $200 with a bit of planning.)

My favorite Asian food in NYC is a good corned beef sandwich (Israel's in Asia, no?). However, I'm also glad to hear of the places you visited -- I'll keep those in mind for upcoming trips.

Also, agree 100% about downtown areas being a lot more interesting and filled with character (and characters) compared to midtown and Upper E/W Sides.

I'll bite -- What DID you say to the meter maid?

I am glad Andy finally managed to quite talking about his self and remember that Laurie and Eric joined us on Friday night. Laurie had her usual humerous tales to tell, and her suggestion of walking the Brooklyn bridge was my favorite activity of the weekend. It was fun meeting NYW and E. As usual Tengohambre and his family were the consumate hosts, looking out for our welfare through out the weekend.

Just want to say thank you to all , incase the panda, and rhk forget.

I will ignore the obvious fact that misspelling effects all members of the Kimball house.

Ok, here's the meter maid story in full.

The zone I was in was commercial parking only. So I stood at the back of the car reading my book that was placed on the car. My thinking was that any meter person could just tell me to move and off I would go. Apparently, I did not take into account the quota system in place in NYC. the meter maid began writing the ticket 20 feet from my car. By the time I became aware of her she was already writing the license plate number. The glee with which she told me that there was no leeway was obvious.

I'm not so good with authority, but even I knew that if I started a brouhaha, she would happily call the police and let them sort me out. We would have missed dinner and I never would have heard the end of that story, so I took a different approach. I ignored the ticket and began suggesting to the meter maid that perhaps when she was next in church and they were speaking of kindness to a fellow human being that she realize that this did not apply to her. I further suggested that she close her eyes and cross her fingers during the kindness part of the sermon. I guessed out loud that the deity to which she prayed would want her to show a greater level of mercy to people in general and me specifically. She said nothing, but her blood pressure visibly rose like in a cartoon.

does he actually have the guts to repeat what he said to the lovely NYC policewoman??

his public wants to know

Back to the trip report. Certain Ekscrunchy-type people should not the diligence that I'm applying in moving the narrative forward. In fact, the non-diligence was one motivating factor in planning this trip. Hers, not ours.

We had successfully negotiated the password protocol put in place by Ekscrunchy and arranged to pick her up at her apt. at 6:00 p.m.. We left SOHO early and arrived at 5:30. I called her to let her know and she said she would be down in five minutes. I then went to change from shorts into long pants. The doorman took pity and let me use a strorage room. When I emerged into the hall, EKS immediately said "Panda?" She recognized me without a speedo.

We then got in the car to ride out to Flushing for dinner at Hunan House. I submitted EKS to a gentle cross-examination, but have been sworn to secrecy. Suffice it to say that she's led an interesting life with lots of travel to Asia. I leave the details to her. I do note that she was quite capable of talking and directing my driving without missing a beat.

We arrived in Flushing early for our 7:00 p.m. reservation, so EKS took us on a walking tour of the Chinese section. This included a stop at a chinese grocer.

When we arrived at Hunan House, we were met by tenghambre, Jill and Zoe. He had traded children, not wanting to subject either to a full helping of Bostonians. Unsurprisingly, we were seated in the rear of the restaurant away from the good patrons.

Rizzutto-we ate in Queens three times, so a car was actually necessary. The GFS Westin in JC was only $91 per night. We did save some money even if we travelled widely.

Very confusing! So you were walking around Soho in shorts and at the same time you had a pair of pants in the car? Then you went to pick up Eks and decide to change in the lobby of her apartment?

H-yes, I walked around in shorts and a soon-to-be sweaty shirt. I brought more appropriate dinner clothes in the car. I'm an old rugby player and have no shame or embarrassment. I would have changed on the street, if necessary. Technically, it was a room adjacent to the lobby. I made my way into the lobby and was accosted by EKS.

now the truth must be again told....on friday he did change in the street....

but on saturday after beth yelled at him a couple of times to stop....this is a nice ny neighborhood remember, the doorman offered him an escape to a dark closet....

when we left the hotel saturday AM, he brought a small wheelie with him....for what --his clothes....it should be pointed out that some of us wished to return to the hotel that afternoon to change, etc, but no we were not allowed....but who was it that had a change of clothing in his suitcase....yup....

the chinese neighborhood was tons of fun especially that grocery store....we bought some dark long grain rice which looks delicious---$1.25/lb....amazing....they had ginzing for up to $480/lb....fantastic dried mushrooms of every kind...karen said we already had enough...

along the same vein, when we went to the thai shop across from ayada friday nite to purchase our cold beer (BYOB), i had to buy chang as they were out of singha..... robert bought K a new bottle of fish sauce.....ours is old and getting thick...he bought himself a bunch of things including some fresh thai basil...

saturday nite we also had a BYOB, so i purchased two bottles of sparkling rose from E's boyfriend before leaving manhattan---he has a shop....all the restaurant had was shot glasses for us to drink from so that was interesting....one sip per glass...

Ooh, you had so much fun, isn't it nice to meet other Fodorites, especially the ones from the Asia board!

"She jumped right into the conversation and easily held her own. The next night, she admitted that she was determining whether Bob and I were OK or complete flakes. She claimed that we met her standards and we had passed muster."

Does this mean she thinks you're OK -- or complete flakes???

I love NYC. We go about every year with a group of friends from IN --- Hoosiers come to the Big City --- but we get hotel rooms on Priceline for about $115/night (no parking fee as we fly on the big silver bird).

Sounds like you had an excellent adventure!

(complete flakes...lol) They're quite a pair, those two. You should come to a GTG and find out! BOS in October is the next one that comes to mind. Join us!
Carol

Backing up, after we picked up EKS, we went to her boyfriend's store to buy some wine. I tried to be anonymous, but he was wise right away. EKS must have warned him. He seemed nice, but he's a Yankee fan, so it was a trick.

Did I mention that several of the Fodorites asked my opinion about the Dogster? His fame extends far and wide.

Dinner at Hunan House was fun. EKS had previouysly written a review on Chowhound. She ordered for us with some input from Tengohambre and NYwoman. EKS had a notebook and a computer print out. The bok choy was so good, we got another order. Naturally, it took about a half hour until they produced the wrong dish. Also notable was the tofu, duck and napa cabbage. The soup dumplings were great.

In attendance were the above-mentioned, as well as Nywoman who came back for another round of punishment. This was enhanced by her being forced to sit next to me.

We did see some other wild dishes being ordered by our neighbors, who were mostly Asian.

Our path back to Manhattan managed to take up about 10 minutes of conversation with every singlke New Yorker chiming in vociferously. We gave EKS a ride back and she went the way that she chose.

Now the struggle began. Beth and karen wanted some ice cream. i spied a baskins-Robbins on Second Ave and stopped, letting Beth and Bob out. Karen and I circled the block and waited. they returned with Ciao Bella ice cream from another store. Beth said the B-R was grubby with bad flavors.

We then set out down Second and across town with Bob yelling that we should have taken the FDR drive. everythin went smoothly until we tried to enter the Holland Tunnel (only made a necessity by our residing in GRF JC). The traffic was really blocked up and Einstein (Bob) claimed that if we had taken the FDR we would have flown into the tunnel. Unlikely.

Eventually, we staggered back to GFS JC and ate our ice cream out of the pint containers. It had been rock hard and melted just right after the long drive back.

Amazingly enough, dinner at Hunan House was $129.51 for nine people. That's .51 more than dinner at Ayada on Friday. Who says food is expensive in NYC?

Also, on sat. morning before setting out, we went to the end of Washington St. in GFS JC to look at the Staue of Liberty. I spied a woman in a Red Sox hat and approached the only living person we had seen in GFS JC. She and her husband live in GFS JC in a section called Pollis Point (or something like that). It's actually a pleasant area with low houses and not as sterile as Newport.

There's a great ice cream place in Chinatown that our friend has taken us in the past -- green tea, ginger, and black sesame seed ice cream -- what's more Asian than that?

Karen, thanks for remembering that Eric and I joined you! (Glad you liked the walk).

Andy, you are in the doghouse and a very large penalty must be paid for you to get out! ((&))

I did remember. On my own, with no help. I do note that Bob clearly forgot as well. My story is that you were under the weather and less out there than normal. And I'm sticking to it! Sorry.

Laurie, I hope we'll see you and Eric in Boston in October.
Carol

how could i forget laurie....when we first planned this trip i contacted her immediately....besides she was at the other end of the table...

he has the facts a bit mixed up as usual but the intent is right....not worth correcting him....he will deny it anyway...

btw, my prayers worked, we got home in one piece...

we are now expecting nywoman to join us in bkk in november....should be fun...

Sunday morning, all the other slugs slept late. I ventured to Starbucks for bagels for Beth and me. This is an accurate indication of GFS JC. When the best you can do for bagels is Starbucks, you know it's a sterile place.

Eventually, we checked out. It was notable that we did not get charged for parking, even though we used valet.

Off to Little India, at the suggestion of Tengohambre. We had the address of a restaurant to guide us. Of course, Bob had a ridiculous idea that an address on 74th St. was best reached by driving many blocks past 73th street. His reasoning was that the street containing Little India went off at an angle from Northern Blvd. Wrong again! After a short detour, we turned around and went back to 74th St. T had suggested Jackson Diner as a good place for brunch. He also said Delhi Palace was good.

The JD did not open until 11:30 so we wandered around. We popped into a jewelry store. Karen saw a necklace she liked and Bob and I engaged the store manager in a conversation. She was charming. Karen passed on the necklace, but we went to Delhi Palace at the store manager's recommendation.

DP had a very nice brunch buffet for $10.95 per person. We were the first ones there, so the food was fresh and hot. Very nice.

After lunch, we wandered some more in Little India. beth bought a Sari and Bob and Karen bought some foodstuffs at the Patel Bros. supermarket.

On the road back to Boston at 1:30 p.m. We hit a good deal of traffic and the ride that took 3:45 down to NYC took 5:15 on the way back.

Have they left the island of Manhattan yet?? Is it safe to come out now?? Sheesh. You can't take some people anywhere. . . .

We all had a great time. The food and talk and the company. Thank you all for visiting.

Now, if I can only figure out what to do with those three extra orders of bok choy I had to take home with me. (Inside joke. Suffice it to say Hunan House will not soon see another table of such hungry and confused diners for quite some time.)

Indianpearl: ; the ice cream spot is called Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. We were going to head to Chinatown for one of the meals but, the Hunan menu had things we couldn't find in more well known dining establishments. In fact, the only person familiar with such foodstuffs is likely an internist. In truth, however, the food was very good. Great tofu dishes, cumin lamb and the famous bok choy. Ayada, as noted, is a great Thai spot, we think the equal of Sripraphi, though much smaller and relatively new. If we ever had a GTG there we would have to take over the entire restaurant, and probably half of the kitchen.

Fun was had by all.

I'll make note of these places you've recommended for our next NY excursion. Thanks!

i second the fact that ayada's food was at least as good as SRI....the larb was to die for, as were other salads we had...

I'm not sure if he ordered lamb or lard, or maybe had a waitress named Barb.

The narrative is over, thankfully. I had to spend 57 hours with Bob. I wanted you to feel my pain. Why should I suffer alone?

The Mini-GTG was fantastic. The NYC Fodorites were very amusing, consistently gracious and very kind with their time. Conversations flowed easily and happily along. The restaurants were all superb. Of course, it is more properly termed a Queens Mini-GTG, but who's keeping score?

I was surprised that the NYC'ers don't do this more often on their own. I guess it takes a visit from us country Fodorites to get the city Fodorites motivated.

I forgot to mention that Bob did pay for half the parking ticket. Beth tried to refuse, but he was insistent. Of course, I note that there were two Kimballs and only one Beth walking around at the time and a much more fair assessment would have been 2/3 of the ticket. Panda math. way better than fuzzy math.