Hospital, Turkey, Jazz & Family: NY Thanksgiving Report
Dec 1st, 2010, 06:56 AM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 6,628
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hospital, Turkey, Jazz & Family: NY Thanksgiving Report
I wasn't going to do a a trip report for this trip to see family but after thinking about it, we did end up doing a lot of things that may be of interest to future visitors.
I grew up in NY and have always celebrated Thanksgiving in the City. We haven't gone the last 4 years as DD was in college and wanted to come home to visit her BF. But, this year, she is living here post-college and wanted to revive our T-giving tradition. After talking DS into it, we booked tickets last June.
I ended up going early as my mother had to undergo a heart procedure ($150 AA change fee plus $28 fare difference). I didn't do much else for 4 days besides running back and forth from my parent’s apt. on the upper west side to the hospital at 68th and York. I do
have to say that it is not a convenient place to get to (86th crosstown and York bus -terrible. 1 train then 65th crosstown - a little better, taxi -slow and expensive. When I gave the address to one cab driver, he looked at me and said "are you ok?" I think he thought I was going to be sick in his cab
Also managed a few trips to Zabar's, Citerella and Fairway to figure out dinner each night. Is it a requirement to be as rude as possible in order to be employed by Fairway? (A rhetorical question...)
http://www.zabars.com/ http://www.citarella.com/
http://www.fairwaymarket.com/
DH and DD flew into LGA on Sat. before Thanksgiving. None of us had eaten lunch, so we went to 5 Napkin Burger on 84th and Broadway. DD had a sushi platter, DH and I split a burger and fries. DH also ordered a app. of deep fried pastrami and pickles with sauerkraut and a mustardy sauce. They actually were tasty and perfect for DH who likes weird foods. Sushi was fresh, burger was dripping and we could have used our extra 4
napkins, as we only got one each. We had lunch around 3:30 and it was packed. A fine place to stop in to for a quick bite. http://5napkinburger.com/upper-west-side
Had tickets to NY Philharmonic on Sat. night. I hadn't been to Lincoln Center in years, the re-do seems fairly successful. Saw Anne-Sophie Mutter perform and conduct 3 Mozart concertos as well as a piece written for her by a composer named Wolfgang Rihm ( yes, even the NYTimes review said something about the 2 Wolfgangs). She's an unbelievably good violinist and in residence at the Phiharmonic all year. Go see her if you can.
http://nyphil.org/
I grew up in NY and have always celebrated Thanksgiving in the City. We haven't gone the last 4 years as DD was in college and wanted to come home to visit her BF. But, this year, she is living here post-college and wanted to revive our T-giving tradition. After talking DS into it, we booked tickets last June.
I ended up going early as my mother had to undergo a heart procedure ($150 AA change fee plus $28 fare difference). I didn't do much else for 4 days besides running back and forth from my parent’s apt. on the upper west side to the hospital at 68th and York. I do
have to say that it is not a convenient place to get to (86th crosstown and York bus -terrible. 1 train then 65th crosstown - a little better, taxi -slow and expensive. When I gave the address to one cab driver, he looked at me and said "are you ok?" I think he thought I was going to be sick in his cab
Also managed a few trips to Zabar's, Citerella and Fairway to figure out dinner each night. Is it a requirement to be as rude as possible in order to be employed by Fairway? (A rhetorical question...) http://www.zabars.com/ http://www.citarella.com/
http://www.fairwaymarket.com/
DH and DD flew into LGA on Sat. before Thanksgiving. None of us had eaten lunch, so we went to 5 Napkin Burger on 84th and Broadway. DD had a sushi platter, DH and I split a burger and fries. DH also ordered a app. of deep fried pastrami and pickles with sauerkraut and a mustardy sauce. They actually were tasty and perfect for DH who likes weird foods. Sushi was fresh, burger was dripping and we could have used our extra 4
napkins, as we only got one each. We had lunch around 3:30 and it was packed. A fine place to stop in to for a quick bite. http://5napkinburger.com/upper-west-side
Had tickets to NY Philharmonic on Sat. night. I hadn't been to Lincoln Center in years, the re-do seems fairly successful. Saw Anne-Sophie Mutter perform and conduct 3 Mozart concertos as well as a piece written for her by a composer named Wolfgang Rihm ( yes, even the NYTimes review said something about the 2 Wolfgangs). She's an unbelievably good violinist and in residence at the Phiharmonic all year. Go see her if you can.
http://nyphil.org/
Dec 1st, 2010, 06:59 AM
#2
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 6,628
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Sunday we went to the Met. Museum. We always have trouble figuring out where to eat anywhere near the Met, but came up with going a little further East and eating first. Went to Totonno's on 2nd Ave bet. 81 & 82 sts. The 3 of us split a salad and a large pizza. We had 1/2 Bianca, 1/2 Margherita pizza to satisfy all tastes.The pizza was huge, and terrific. I liked the white pizza best, nice and garlicky.
http://www.metmuseum.org/
http://www.totonnos.com
The Met was, as expected, incredibly crowded on a Sunday. The only crowd tip I have is to use the entrance on 5th Ave that is for handicapped/school groups. It's a door located South of the main entrance stairs at street level. You can check your coat and pay admission fees there without the huge lines that always seem to be upstairs.
We saw the special ex. "Man, Myth, and Sensual Pleasures: Jan Gossart's Renaissance" which we enjoyed; "The Roman Mosaic from Lod, Israel" which is a fantastic Mosaic floor with marine and sea scenes, found in Israel during recent excavations and "Italy Observed: Views and Souvenirs, 1706–1899" which was a kind of ridiculous exhibit of items collected by Robert Lehman during his grand tour-type trips to Italy. Also took a brief look around European painting gallery and Greek and Roman sculpture, which DH hadn't seen since
they've been reinstalled.
Monday we decided to go to the Tenement Museum. Didn't realize that it's not a museum in the literal sense, that the only way to see it is by taking a tour. We booked the "Piecing it Together" tour, because it fit into our time frame. The tour was terrific, our tour guide (Sarah) was animated and informative, the cute 8 YO on the tour asked funny and useful questions and I would love to go back sometime and do the other tours.
I think it's a great resource,
http://www.tenement.org/
http://www.metmuseum.org/
http://www.totonnos.com
The Met was, as expected, incredibly crowded on a Sunday. The only crowd tip I have is to use the entrance on 5th Ave that is for handicapped/school groups. It's a door located South of the main entrance stairs at street level. You can check your coat and pay admission fees there without the huge lines that always seem to be upstairs.
We saw the special ex. "Man, Myth, and Sensual Pleasures: Jan Gossart's Renaissance" which we enjoyed; "The Roman Mosaic from Lod, Israel" which is a fantastic Mosaic floor with marine and sea scenes, found in Israel during recent excavations and "Italy Observed: Views and Souvenirs, 1706–1899" which was a kind of ridiculous exhibit of items collected by Robert Lehman during his grand tour-type trips to Italy. Also took a brief look around European painting gallery and Greek and Roman sculpture, which DH hadn't seen since
they've been reinstalled.
Monday we decided to go to the Tenement Museum. Didn't realize that it's not a museum in the literal sense, that the only way to see it is by taking a tour. We booked the "Piecing it Together" tour, because it fit into our time frame. The tour was terrific, our tour guide (Sarah) was animated and informative, the cute 8 YO on the tour asked funny and useful questions and I would love to go back sometime and do the other tours.
I think it's a great resource,
http://www.tenement.org/
Dec 1st, 2010, 07:03 AM
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 6,628
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
For lunch before the tour we went to a restaurant called 'inoteca on Rivington street. DD, who spent a semester in Rome, was very pleased with real Italian food for lunch. We passed around 3 pannini: smoked mozzarella, grilled zucchini & peperonata; coppa, peperoncino spread & fontina, and bresaola, basil, provolone piccante & agrumati followed by a capuccino (which DD reminded us was not OK by Italian standards
to have it after lunch - oh well).
http://www.inotecanyc.com/
In our quest (mostly DD's) to go places she had never been to before, we took the subway to Grand Central from the Lower East Side. She has taken Amtrack into the city many times, but always landed at Penn Station. She wanted to see Grand Central. They currently have a nice holiday market going on there. Lots of crafts and other items to buy.Then we went and had a beer a split a dozen oysters at the Oyster Bar, just to say we had done it. DD's first oysters - she wasn't too sure going into it, but ended up liking them. She's a very young looking 22 yo and when we ordered the beer, she started to take out her ID. The counter guy said "if the cops come, you show to them...." He didn't care, and he made us laugh.
http://www.grandcentralterminal.com/index.cfm
http://www.oysterbarny.com/
Tuesday we went to the Frick, with a stop at Le Pain Quotidien at 85th and Madison for early lunch. Every other time I've tried to eat there it has been way too busy, but we went early (11:45ish) and had no trouble getting in. I had rustic tuna tartine, DD and DH had smoked salmon tartine ~ all delicious. I love the Frick, its' permanent collection is terrific, it's
great to see what an actual NY 5th Ave. mansion looked like and they have a wonderful special ex on at the moment "The Spanish Manner: Drawings from Ribera to Goya". I think it can be hard to look at drawings so we went to see them downstairs first. The room full of Goya drawings were particularly expressive, I really enjoyed them.
http://www.lepainquotidien.us/#/en_US/locations/new_yor
k/uptown/madison_n_85th
http://www.frick.org/
It was my nephews 11th birthday, so went to visit him and wish him a Happy Day. We thought we had gotten away early enough to try out the Spotted Pig but at 6:30 there was a 1 1/2 hour wait. Thank goodness for smart phones...we ended up at Perilla which turned out to be the restaurant of first Top Chef winner Harold Dieterle. We sat at the bar, split Spicy Duck Meatballs
and something else for apps then had Roasted Game Hen with chestnuts; Hanger Steak with sunchoke creamed spinach and Grilled Branzino with pancetta, milk braised fennel, pickled treviso & preserved lemon sauce. The Branzino was the winner dish.
http://www.perillanyc.com/
DS flew in from Madison Tuesday night at midnight. He raided the fridge and we all went to bed about 1:30am.
to have it after lunch - oh well).
http://www.inotecanyc.com/
In our quest (mostly DD's) to go places she had never been to before, we took the subway to Grand Central from the Lower East Side. She has taken Amtrack into the city many times, but always landed at Penn Station. She wanted to see Grand Central. They currently have a nice holiday market going on there. Lots of crafts and other items to buy.Then we went and had a beer a split a dozen oysters at the Oyster Bar, just to say we had done it. DD's first oysters - she wasn't too sure going into it, but ended up liking them. She's a very young looking 22 yo and when we ordered the beer, she started to take out her ID. The counter guy said "if the cops come, you show to them...." He didn't care, and he made us laugh.
http://www.grandcentralterminal.com/index.cfm
http://www.oysterbarny.com/
Tuesday we went to the Frick, with a stop at Le Pain Quotidien at 85th and Madison for early lunch. Every other time I've tried to eat there it has been way too busy, but we went early (11:45ish) and had no trouble getting in. I had rustic tuna tartine, DD and DH had smoked salmon tartine ~ all delicious. I love the Frick, its' permanent collection is terrific, it's
great to see what an actual NY 5th Ave. mansion looked like and they have a wonderful special ex on at the moment "The Spanish Manner: Drawings from Ribera to Goya". I think it can be hard to look at drawings so we went to see them downstairs first. The room full of Goya drawings were particularly expressive, I really enjoyed them.
http://www.lepainquotidien.us/#/en_US/locations/new_yor
k/uptown/madison_n_85th
http://www.frick.org/
It was my nephews 11th birthday, so went to visit him and wish him a Happy Day. We thought we had gotten away early enough to try out the Spotted Pig but at 6:30 there was a 1 1/2 hour wait. Thank goodness for smart phones...we ended up at Perilla which turned out to be the restaurant of first Top Chef winner Harold Dieterle. We sat at the bar, split Spicy Duck Meatballs
and something else for apps then had Roasted Game Hen with chestnuts; Hanger Steak with sunchoke creamed spinach and Grilled Branzino with pancetta, milk braised fennel, pickled treviso & preserved lemon sauce. The Branzino was the winner dish.
http://www.perillanyc.com/
DS flew in from Madison Tuesday night at midnight. He raided the fridge and we all went to bed about 1:30am.
Dec 1st, 2010, 07:06 AM
#4
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 1,391
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Welcome Back -- yes ground floor entrance to the Met is a great tip! I also suggest it because the restrooms are easy to find if that is a priority. If/when you return to the Tenement Museum, my current non-Katz's favorite place to eat is the Meatball Shop. Food for everyone including the vegetarians among you - you can craft the size of your meal as well.
Dec 1st, 2010, 07:08 AM
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 6,628
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Wed. morning my uncle took the train up from Philly. My sister, one of my nephews, Uncle, DH, DD, DS and myself
went to the High Line to walk around. The High Line was
created on old elevated freight railroad tracks. An incredibly successful re-use to create an urban park. It was a bit windy and starting to get chilly but the views of the Empire State building, Statue of Liberty as well as just the view of the Hudson River are all worth seeing. We had lunch at Tenth Avenue Cookshop. Too many of us to remember everything. Some people had a nice butcher board platter, picky nephew had mac and cheese, DS had a lamb sandwich special. Everything,
including service, was well done.
http://www.thehighline.org/
http://www.cookshopny.com/
DH got to pick and plan Wed night activity. We had dinner at Prune, which is a tiny, tiny restaurant. They had messed up the initial reservation, they had us there on Tuesday, but managed to make room for us on Wed. This is one of those restaurants Tony Bourdain talks about. They have roasted marrow bones as an appetizer, which we split. Shocking to watch DS just snarf it down, he loved it! Also shared an incredibly flavorful and tender octopus salad. Main dishes were lamb shank, veal paillard and pho style beef short ribs.
http://www.prunerestaurant.com/
No time for dessert, we had to dash to the Village Vanguard to catch trumpeter Tom Harrell and his band. We paid $25 pp a few weeks ago, but seating is first come first served, so we wanted to get there early for good viewing. The Vanguard is another tiny place, you would be able to see or hear from anywhere, but sitting up close does make it kind of special.
http://villagevanguard.com/
http://www.tomharrell.com/
Thursday: DD and I cooked the turkey and everything else. We watched the parade on tv. DS had gone to meet someone he knew after dinner and got to see some of the balloons being blown up around 77th street but it was chilly and we've done the parade thing so many times, we just decided "not this year".
Friday, DD had a lunch to attend, DS wanted to go to the Museum of Natural History (I think he was reliving a bit of his child hood). So, DH, DS and I joined a million other people at the Museum. I couldn't wait to get out of there, it was hot with screaming children but DS seemed to enjoy looking at things. We did wait on line to see The Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond which is a 31.06-carat deep blue diamond, very impressive.http://www.amnh.org
Met DD at Viand coffee shop on 75th and Broadway. DS needed another meal (at 20 he's not still growing, but he is always hungry). Then we split up to do some Broadway shopping, the men to Filenes/Syms (when did they merge??) and DD and I to Ann Taylor Loft and on a quest for a birthday present for my Dad's birthday the next day. Dinner at home with a Panettone from Citerella as a birthday "cake".
Saturday, we got up and raced to the Cloisters. DD had gone last spring break on a trip to Italy looking at Medieval ruins and DS had even recently taken a Medieval History class and none of us had been there for years. DS described it as a "Frankenstein" Cloister, and it really is, as it's a building put together using ruins and artifacts from many different locations. Can't imagine any museum sanctioning that today, but it is good that all these architectural treasures were saved.
http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/the_cloisters
Back to apt for leftover Thanksgiving lunch, then off to LGA. Used Carmel limo, though I made the reservation on the phone. I couldn't reserve 4 people and 4 bags online without committing to a van. But told dispatcher on phone that a standard car would fit all our stuff and it did. LGA security was as empty as I've ever seen it, I guess everyone waited until Sunday to fly.
http://www.carmellimo.com/
All in all, a nice if hectic trip. Hope everyone else's
Thanksgivings were happy.
went to the High Line to walk around. The High Line was
created on old elevated freight railroad tracks. An incredibly successful re-use to create an urban park. It was a bit windy and starting to get chilly but the views of the Empire State building, Statue of Liberty as well as just the view of the Hudson River are all worth seeing. We had lunch at Tenth Avenue Cookshop. Too many of us to remember everything. Some people had a nice butcher board platter, picky nephew had mac and cheese, DS had a lamb sandwich special. Everything,
including service, was well done.
http://www.thehighline.org/
http://www.cookshopny.com/
DH got to pick and plan Wed night activity. We had dinner at Prune, which is a tiny, tiny restaurant. They had messed up the initial reservation, they had us there on Tuesday, but managed to make room for us on Wed. This is one of those restaurants Tony Bourdain talks about. They have roasted marrow bones as an appetizer, which we split. Shocking to watch DS just snarf it down, he loved it! Also shared an incredibly flavorful and tender octopus salad. Main dishes were lamb shank, veal paillard and pho style beef short ribs.
http://www.prunerestaurant.com/
No time for dessert, we had to dash to the Village Vanguard to catch trumpeter Tom Harrell and his band. We paid $25 pp a few weeks ago, but seating is first come first served, so we wanted to get there early for good viewing. The Vanguard is another tiny place, you would be able to see or hear from anywhere, but sitting up close does make it kind of special.
http://villagevanguard.com/
http://www.tomharrell.com/
Thursday: DD and I cooked the turkey and everything else. We watched the parade on tv. DS had gone to meet someone he knew after dinner and got to see some of the balloons being blown up around 77th street but it was chilly and we've done the parade thing so many times, we just decided "not this year".
Friday, DD had a lunch to attend, DS wanted to go to the Museum of Natural History (I think he was reliving a bit of his child hood). So, DH, DS and I joined a million other people at the Museum. I couldn't wait to get out of there, it was hot with screaming children but DS seemed to enjoy looking at things. We did wait on line to see The Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond which is a 31.06-carat deep blue diamond, very impressive.http://www.amnh.org
Met DD at Viand coffee shop on 75th and Broadway. DS needed another meal (at 20 he's not still growing, but he is always hungry). Then we split up to do some Broadway shopping, the men to Filenes/Syms (when did they merge??) and DD and I to Ann Taylor Loft and on a quest for a birthday present for my Dad's birthday the next day. Dinner at home with a Panettone from Citerella as a birthday "cake".
Saturday, we got up and raced to the Cloisters. DD had gone last spring break on a trip to Italy looking at Medieval ruins and DS had even recently taken a Medieval History class and none of us had been there for years. DS described it as a "Frankenstein" Cloister, and it really is, as it's a building put together using ruins and artifacts from many different locations. Can't imagine any museum sanctioning that today, but it is good that all these architectural treasures were saved.
http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/the_cloisters
Back to apt for leftover Thanksgiving lunch, then off to LGA. Used Carmel limo, though I made the reservation on the phone. I couldn't reserve 4 people and 4 bags online without committing to a van. But told dispatcher on phone that a standard car would fit all our stuff and it did. LGA security was as empty as I've ever seen it, I guess everyone waited until Sunday to fly.
http://www.carmellimo.com/
All in all, a nice if hectic trip. Hope everyone else's
Thanksgivings were happy.
Dec 1st, 2010, 07:31 AM
#6
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 16,715
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Sounds like a busy but great trip. Hope your Mother is recuperating nicely. Agree the trip from UWS to NY Hospital is the pits. Great tip about phoning the car service for a regular sedan. Did they give you any trouble?
Dec 1st, 2010, 08:50 AM
#7
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 25,875
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hi Liz5959, thanks for the report! Lots of good info here.
I was in NYC Sun thru Wed just before Thanksgiving... could've run into you! I also saw the Gossart show at the Met, and was in Chelsea (for the galleries). Thought about going on the High Line but the weather wasn't great; and I've been there already earlier this year. I too was at Grand Central on Monday - went there to buy my Metro-North train ticket.
BTW, I'm totally jealous about the NY Phil concert you attended. Somehow, I always end up going to the Met Opera everytime I'm in NYC. Still haven't managed to go see the NYCB or the NY Phil!
I was in NYC Sun thru Wed just before Thanksgiving... could've run into you! I also saw the Gossart show at the Met, and was in Chelsea (for the galleries). Thought about going on the High Line but the weather wasn't great; and I've been there already earlier this year. I too was at Grand Central on Monday - went there to buy my Metro-North train ticket.
BTW, I'm totally jealous about the NY Phil concert you attended. Somehow, I always end up going to the Met Opera everytime I'm in NYC. Still haven't managed to go see the NYCB or the NY Phil!
Dec 2nd, 2010, 06:59 AM
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 6,628
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
mclaurie ~ I always seem to have some small trouble with Carmel. They've been late the last few times I've used them. The call to the dispatcher always results in some comment about "he's stuck behind a truck, he'll be there in a minute" which tends to turn out to be 5-7 mins. This has happened the last 3 times I've used them. On the other hand, there was no problem fitting 4 21" rollaboards in the trunk of a Town Car and the Driver did not give us any trouble.
yk...we could have seen each other, how funny. I thought you lived in Boston, what were you doing buying Metro-North tickets? Or did you drive to New Haven and park there?
I forgot to mention that we walked around Chelsea Market on the day we went to the High Line and that would also be a fine place to get a bite to eat if one was walking around Chelsea.
http://www.chelseamarket.com/
yk...we could have seen each other, how funny. I thought you lived in Boston, what were you doing buying Metro-North tickets? Or did you drive to New Haven and park there?
I forgot to mention that we walked around Chelsea Market on the day we went to the High Line and that would also be a fine place to get a bite to eat if one was walking around Chelsea.
http://www.chelseamarket.com/
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Toni
United States
15
Nov 1st, 2002 01:57 PM
