NeoPatrick's month in Manhattan
Jun 3rd, 2007 | 06:14 AM
#82
Original Poster
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 36,842
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Great week 3, but BAD also, as my laptop hard drive crashed this week. So it may be a bit before I post week 3. I'm back to "internetting" at the Coffee Pot, but it is expensive timewise to do those long posts. Hang on. I SHALL return. Our rental landlord is supposedly setting us up with his computer today or tomorrow (it was already in the apartment but also lost its entire Windows operating system -- how odd), so he's going to try to download it for us.
Jun 3rd, 2007 | 05:29 PM
#88
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 46
Likes: 0
It was a pleasure to meet you and Lee at the GTG. Hope your computer issue is resolved pronto-we do want to see the rest of your report. And of equal importance-don't want you to be inconvenienced. Enjoy the rest of your summer adventure.
Jun 8th, 2007 | 02:10 PM
#90
Original Poster
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 36,842
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WEEK THREE- Sunday, May 27 to Saturday, June 2:
Off to the fun little Zuni Cafe on 9th at 43rd for brunch -- one of those amazing deals including a Bloody Mary or Mimosa. Lee had pancakes with fantastic chicken/apple sausages ($8.95) while I had a New York Steak and eggs with potatoes ($12.95). Great mini muffins included. Took the subway down to South Ferry and walked along the waterfront to South Street Seaport -- OK, this is a beautiful Sunday on Memorial Day weekend. What were we thinking? We could barely move in the crowds. But we used our BofA cards for free admission to the Nautical museum, including the ships docked at the seaport -- not much crowd there.
Sunday evening was the new A.R. Gurney play called CRAZY MARY, starring Sigourney Weaver. It was a wonderful play (which I see has just extended its limited run for another couple of weeks. Following that we had a really good dinner at the Film Center Cafe -- 9th and 44th. At last I found a place in New York where the bartender actually knew how to make GREAT dry robroys.
Monday was Memorial Day, and after sleeping and wasting most of the morning away, we headed to Washington Square Park. We were looking for the Washington Square art show which is supposed to be huge and according to Time Out would run through today. But we covered the park and there was no sign of it. We figured they had made a mistake and it was probably Saturday and Sunday only. Later I found out the Washington Square art festival isn't in Washington Square but starts several blocks away -- we never saw a sign of it. Anyway, we headed into Mario Batali's Otto for fantastic pizzas. I know this place is normally packed and hard to get into, but today was perfect and half empty. We then walked through the Village and into Soho -- which is even more crowded than South Street Seaport had been yesterday. Who would have guessed there'd be such a mob shopping on Memorial Day?
We took the subway back to ourplace midtown, but then headed back down to the Village for a great dinner at AOC, a nice French place with a large garden, but couldn't get into the garden. Planned to do Marie's Crisis piano bar or Rose's Turn afterwards, but Rose's Turn was closed, and there were a grand total of two people inside Marie's Crisis at 10 -- so we opted to just head home.
Tuesday was haircut day for me (which wasn't too successful as I kept saying shorter, but when finished my hair had hardly been cut) and we went to Rockefeller Center to get our brown shoes polished. Lunch at PJ Clarke's on Third -- great hamburgers and onion rings as always. Then crowded busses up to the Guggenheim. A few decent permanent collection pieces showing, but the entire ramp is still closed for the eternal refurbishing -- wasn't that going on several years ago when we were there?
From there we headed down to the (JP)Morgan Library near the Empire State Building. The original library and drawing rooms are open and are spectacular, but we mainly went for an exhibition of the recent bequest of composer Fred Ebb (Kander and Ebb) collection of German drawings -- quite interesting and much supposedly helped inspire CABARET.
Tonight was TALK RADIO, almost a one man performance by Liev Schreiber. He was amazing in the show. Dinner afterwards at Maria Pia on 51st. Always good and reasonable Italian.
Wednesday, I got up and turned my laptop on (which I'd been having a few problems with and Gateway talked me through) and only got a black screen and a horrible constant clicking sound. Some time on the phone with Gateway convinced me my hard drive has completely crashed -- not a pleasant thing. So the rest of the time here will be using an internet cafe at The Coffee Pot -- 49th and 9th.
Had lunch at Virgil's BarBQ, good as usual, and then saw JOURNEY'S END, the World War I British was drama which was indeed brilliant and inspiring.
Dinner tonight at Erminia on the upper east side, thanks to suggestions by several Fodorites. It is easily the most "romantic" restaurant I've seen in NYC, small with lots of regular candles in candlesticks on the tables, tuxedoed waiters, and wonderful food and service. While the food was great, we both agreed that Roberto Passon is perhaps better (at least for their veal) and certainly considerably less expensive, but the atmosphere is indeed wonderful. We're glad we went -- a nice quiet change from the usual loud places we've been doing.
Thursday, did a couple loads of laundry in the morning, then headed out to Vynyl, a sort of funky trendy diner place on 9th near 51st. This was the surprise food so far. Lee loved his meatloaf and mashed potatoes, but my half grilled organic chicken was flawless -- actually much better than several I've had recently at double the price. The smashed redskin potatoes rich with cream and butter were great, and the big mound of spinach sauteed with garlic was the BEST (and I've been eating a lot of it). For something like $12.95 for the meal -- this place goes to the top of the list for great food at at bargain prices.
Before theatre that evening headed to Kellari Taverna for a drink, but couldn't get in the door, so went to the Algonquin instead -- hadn't been there in years and it is still the same elegant old place.
The show was LEGALLY BLOND, and we totally enjoyed it. No musical could be more energetic, all the elements came together. Remembering the lukewarm reviews that basically just seemed to say it has no "substance", I still say, "Duh! It's Legally Blond, what do you expect, Othello?"
After the show we took Doug Stalling's (Fodors editor) suggestion of Tintol, which was right around the corner. We had Portuguese tapas and great red wines by the glass. Very good.
Friday we headed to the Ziefield Theatre planning to see Pirates of the Carribean, but next showing wasn't until 2:45, so did soup, salad, and wine lunch at Le Bonne Soup -- what a great place.
Headed back to the show and were surprised that there were only about 20 people total in that huge theatre.
Drinks at Sardi's before seeing XANADU, the musical which is still in previews. This show is so camp, funny, and over the top, we hurt from laughing. I wished I had seen the movie before going, as a few things others were laughing at were clearly better understood, but the show makes such fun of itself, it was great anyway.
After the show had dinner at Charlotte at the Millenium Hotel. Just OK foodwise, but although we arrived at 9:45 (Xanadu is only 90 minutes) they started clearing the tables, and as there was only one other table of patrons, we really felt "unwelcome".
We quickly made up for that, however, by returning to After Party at West Bank Cafe arriving just after 11 and it was just starting. Not quite as funny as last week, but lots of great performers. Again we stayed until 2:30 AM.
It was a short night, as we had to get up earlier than usual, get dressed, and catch the Ferry bus and then the Ferry across the Hudson to Weehawken, N.J. for the Fodorite gathering at Paula's at Rigoletto restaurant. Great time as reported by others on Fodors. Enjoyed meeting a few faces from the internet and the food and wine were great.
We got back to the apartment about 6 PM, but wandered out around 9 looking for dinner, and settled on Island Burgers and Shakes (guess what we ate). It's great.
Week four coming soon.
Off to the fun little Zuni Cafe on 9th at 43rd for brunch -- one of those amazing deals including a Bloody Mary or Mimosa. Lee had pancakes with fantastic chicken/apple sausages ($8.95) while I had a New York Steak and eggs with potatoes ($12.95). Great mini muffins included. Took the subway down to South Ferry and walked along the waterfront to South Street Seaport -- OK, this is a beautiful Sunday on Memorial Day weekend. What were we thinking? We could barely move in the crowds. But we used our BofA cards for free admission to the Nautical museum, including the ships docked at the seaport -- not much crowd there.
Sunday evening was the new A.R. Gurney play called CRAZY MARY, starring Sigourney Weaver. It was a wonderful play (which I see has just extended its limited run for another couple of weeks. Following that we had a really good dinner at the Film Center Cafe -- 9th and 44th. At last I found a place in New York where the bartender actually knew how to make GREAT dry robroys.
Monday was Memorial Day, and after sleeping and wasting most of the morning away, we headed to Washington Square Park. We were looking for the Washington Square art show which is supposed to be huge and according to Time Out would run through today. But we covered the park and there was no sign of it. We figured they had made a mistake and it was probably Saturday and Sunday only. Later I found out the Washington Square art festival isn't in Washington Square but starts several blocks away -- we never saw a sign of it. Anyway, we headed into Mario Batali's Otto for fantastic pizzas. I know this place is normally packed and hard to get into, but today was perfect and half empty. We then walked through the Village and into Soho -- which is even more crowded than South Street Seaport had been yesterday. Who would have guessed there'd be such a mob shopping on Memorial Day?
We took the subway back to ourplace midtown, but then headed back down to the Village for a great dinner at AOC, a nice French place with a large garden, but couldn't get into the garden. Planned to do Marie's Crisis piano bar or Rose's Turn afterwards, but Rose's Turn was closed, and there were a grand total of two people inside Marie's Crisis at 10 -- so we opted to just head home.
Tuesday was haircut day for me (which wasn't too successful as I kept saying shorter, but when finished my hair had hardly been cut) and we went to Rockefeller Center to get our brown shoes polished. Lunch at PJ Clarke's on Third -- great hamburgers and onion rings as always. Then crowded busses up to the Guggenheim. A few decent permanent collection pieces showing, but the entire ramp is still closed for the eternal refurbishing -- wasn't that going on several years ago when we were there?
From there we headed down to the (JP)Morgan Library near the Empire State Building. The original library and drawing rooms are open and are spectacular, but we mainly went for an exhibition of the recent bequest of composer Fred Ebb (Kander and Ebb) collection of German drawings -- quite interesting and much supposedly helped inspire CABARET.
Tonight was TALK RADIO, almost a one man performance by Liev Schreiber. He was amazing in the show. Dinner afterwards at Maria Pia on 51st. Always good and reasonable Italian.
Wednesday, I got up and turned my laptop on (which I'd been having a few problems with and Gateway talked me through) and only got a black screen and a horrible constant clicking sound. Some time on the phone with Gateway convinced me my hard drive has completely crashed -- not a pleasant thing. So the rest of the time here will be using an internet cafe at The Coffee Pot -- 49th and 9th.
Had lunch at Virgil's BarBQ, good as usual, and then saw JOURNEY'S END, the World War I British was drama which was indeed brilliant and inspiring.
Dinner tonight at Erminia on the upper east side, thanks to suggestions by several Fodorites. It is easily the most "romantic" restaurant I've seen in NYC, small with lots of regular candles in candlesticks on the tables, tuxedoed waiters, and wonderful food and service. While the food was great, we both agreed that Roberto Passon is perhaps better (at least for their veal) and certainly considerably less expensive, but the atmosphere is indeed wonderful. We're glad we went -- a nice quiet change from the usual loud places we've been doing.
Thursday, did a couple loads of laundry in the morning, then headed out to Vynyl, a sort of funky trendy diner place on 9th near 51st. This was the surprise food so far. Lee loved his meatloaf and mashed potatoes, but my half grilled organic chicken was flawless -- actually much better than several I've had recently at double the price. The smashed redskin potatoes rich with cream and butter were great, and the big mound of spinach sauteed with garlic was the BEST (and I've been eating a lot of it). For something like $12.95 for the meal -- this place goes to the top of the list for great food at at bargain prices.
Before theatre that evening headed to Kellari Taverna for a drink, but couldn't get in the door, so went to the Algonquin instead -- hadn't been there in years and it is still the same elegant old place.
The show was LEGALLY BLOND, and we totally enjoyed it. No musical could be more energetic, all the elements came together. Remembering the lukewarm reviews that basically just seemed to say it has no "substance", I still say, "Duh! It's Legally Blond, what do you expect, Othello?"
After the show we took Doug Stalling's (Fodors editor) suggestion of Tintol, which was right around the corner. We had Portuguese tapas and great red wines by the glass. Very good.
Friday we headed to the Ziefield Theatre planning to see Pirates of the Carribean, but next showing wasn't until 2:45, so did soup, salad, and wine lunch at Le Bonne Soup -- what a great place.
Headed back to the show and were surprised that there were only about 20 people total in that huge theatre.
Drinks at Sardi's before seeing XANADU, the musical which is still in previews. This show is so camp, funny, and over the top, we hurt from laughing. I wished I had seen the movie before going, as a few things others were laughing at were clearly better understood, but the show makes such fun of itself, it was great anyway.
After the show had dinner at Charlotte at the Millenium Hotel. Just OK foodwise, but although we arrived at 9:45 (Xanadu is only 90 minutes) they started clearing the tables, and as there was only one other table of patrons, we really felt "unwelcome".
We quickly made up for that, however, by returning to After Party at West Bank Cafe arriving just after 11 and it was just starting. Not quite as funny as last week, but lots of great performers. Again we stayed until 2:30 AM.
It was a short night, as we had to get up earlier than usual, get dressed, and catch the Ferry bus and then the Ferry across the Hudson to Weehawken, N.J. for the Fodorite gathering at Paula's at Rigoletto restaurant. Great time as reported by others on Fodors. Enjoyed meeting a few faces from the internet and the food and wine were great.
We got back to the apartment about 6 PM, but wandered out around 9 looking for dinner, and settled on Island Burgers and Shakes (guess what we ate). It's great.
Week four coming soon.
Jun 8th, 2007 | 02:29 PM
#91
Original Poster
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 36,842
Likes: 0
mariasch, here's the latest deal on our couple of days next week. Our client/friend in Mass. is not doing too well, has a bad infection from her surgery which is delaying the start of her chemo, so we will be going to Long Island rather than up to Mass. We leave our apartment next Wednesday morning and have a car reserved for pickup(two blocks away) that we will return to JFK on Friday night, where we're staying at the Courtyard for our early Saturday morning flight to London. Thanks to mclaurie's suggestions, we have booked tickets at the Bay Theatre in Sag Harbor for a play on Wednesday night, so that meant we would want to stay in Sag Harbor. I've now booked at the Baron's Cove there (many places are already full, despite it being the middle of the week). I think we'll take our time driving out there on Wednesday, and will head to Montauk for lunch on Thursday, maybe do dinner in one of the Hamptons on Thursday night. Suggestion? Then we have all day on Friday to get to JFK (would like to find a decent place for dinner not far from JFK before we return the car that night). At some point we will be doing Shelter Island.
So I'm still looking for suggestions -- although I already have some from my other post on this issue.
Interesting place to stop for lunch on our way out the island on Wednesday?
So I'm still looking for suggestions -- although I already have some from my other post on this issue.
Interesting place to stop for lunch on our way out the island on Wednesday?
Jun 8th, 2007 | 02:57 PM
#93
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,693
Likes: 0
Here is Harvest's website if you are interested:http://www.harvest2000.com/
I didn't realize that another restaurant I like in Montauk, North by Northeast, is owned by the same people.
I didn't realize that another restaurant I like in Montauk, North by Northeast, is owned by the same people.
Jun 8th, 2007 | 05:08 PM
#95
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 578
Likes: 0
Patrick - I've so enjoyed your weeks in Manhattan. 40 years ago this summer I moved to the YWCA located at 8th Ave & 51st St. It was a pretty seedy neighborhood then. Went back by that way in 1999 & was surprised how nice it now is.
So glad Lee is doing well & you are both having a wonderful time. Enjoy Europe & can't wait to read more of your travels.
So glad Lee is doing well & you are both having a wonderful time. Enjoy Europe & can't wait to read more of your travels.
Jun 9th, 2007 | 06:57 AM
#96
Original Poster
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 36,842
Likes: 0
Tout Va Bien? Only a block from us and last trip I mentioned it's a new favorite. Not sure why we haven't been. No plans tonight, so maybe we should hit it. A month sounds like a long time until you list a hundred or so favorites you want to hit, not counting some new ones.
Jun 9th, 2007 | 06:57 AM
#97
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 16,715
Likes: 0
What fun! Patrick, at one point you'd mentioned doing a day trip to Old Westbury Gardens. It would be much easier in the car. I've still never been, but you could do that on your way out to Sag Harbor and eat there. http://www.oldwestburygardens.org/about_us.html
Teddy Roosevelt's house Sagamore Hill is also near there. http://www.nps.gov/sahi/
Otherwise, I don't really know of any place worthy of a special stop mid island on your way, although poster Cindymal or someone else might. Westhampton is about 30-45 minutes before Sag Harbor and there's a nice restaurant on the beach there called Passionfish. http://events.nytimes.com/2006/07/30.../30lidine.html
For lunch on Thurs., imo Cyril's is the best in and around Montauk. It's just a roadside seafood bar but very good. It's on the "Napeague stretch" before you actually get to Montauk. You'll come to the famous "Lunch" before it outside of Amagansett which is popular. For eating IN Montauk, Gosman's on the fishing pier is classic and the setting is lovely, but I don't think the food is as good as these other places. The Dock is a more casual place right next to it. I don't think the Harvest, mentioned by SusieQQ is open for lunch.
For Thurs. night dinner....there are a number of options in Sag Harbor from the American Hotel for upscale, B. Smith has a place right next to the theater on the water. I'm not a fan b/c I had the worst meal of my life there, but that was some years ago and things may have gotten better. Sen is Japanese, there's a new Italian called Tutto Il Giorno. It's pedigree is good. I haven't been yet but probably will before next week.
http://beach.curbed.com/archives/200..._prime_103.php
Teddy Roosevelt's house Sagamore Hill is also near there. http://www.nps.gov/sahi/
Otherwise, I don't really know of any place worthy of a special stop mid island on your way, although poster Cindymal or someone else might. Westhampton is about 30-45 minutes before Sag Harbor and there's a nice restaurant on the beach there called Passionfish. http://events.nytimes.com/2006/07/30.../30lidine.html
For lunch on Thurs., imo Cyril's is the best in and around Montauk. It's just a roadside seafood bar but very good. It's on the "Napeague stretch" before you actually get to Montauk. You'll come to the famous "Lunch" before it outside of Amagansett which is popular. For eating IN Montauk, Gosman's on the fishing pier is classic and the setting is lovely, but I don't think the food is as good as these other places. The Dock is a more casual place right next to it. I don't think the Harvest, mentioned by SusieQQ is open for lunch.
For Thurs. night dinner....there are a number of options in Sag Harbor from the American Hotel for upscale, B. Smith has a place right next to the theater on the water. I'm not a fan b/c I had the worst meal of my life there, but that was some years ago and things may have gotten better. Sen is Japanese, there's a new Italian called Tutto Il Giorno. It's pedigree is good. I haven't been yet but probably will before next week.
http://beach.curbed.com/archives/200..._prime_103.php
Jun 9th, 2007 | 07:26 AM
#99
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 2,264
Likes: 0
Gosh NeoPatrick;
I don't know where to start on praising you on the Manhattan project
I have so enjoyed all the reports and check on it everyday to see if you've updated or what the other's here on fodor's have to say.
Thanks for letting Me in on all the free info that I will surely use when I make it to the Big Apple. I wish You two safe travel and can't wait for the next post.
Theresa in Detroit.
I don't know where to start on praising you on the Manhattan project
I have so enjoyed all the reports and check on it everyday to see if you've updated or what the other's here on fodor's have to say.
Thanks for letting Me in on all the free info that I will surely use when I make it to the Big Apple. I wish You two safe travel and can't wait for the next post.
Theresa in Detroit.
