Patrick

As promised, here's the full report for our trip to New York -- June 1 to June 9 (8 nights).

Getting there was a nighmare thanks to the monsoon conditions in Ft. Myers. For those who are interested, you can read the full report on a separate thread; I won't go into all that now: http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...n_name=Patrick

We rented a one bedroom apartment through NYHabitat.com. It was on 51st between 9th and 10th -- the general area we wanted to stay in. It was a total cost of $176 a night. The building is old, but the owner (or long term renter) of the apartment had a real sense of style --

starrsville

I heard one of the songs from Wicked performed at a caberet last night and now want to see it even more! I'm jealous of all the plays you were able to see.

seetheworld

Hi Patrick! Ummmm, where's the report? I can't wait to read it

Patrick

bright colors, nice furniture (was oversized for the place, though) and really fine linens on the bed. The owner is into electronics and there was every entertainment device known to man, including about a thousand channels of TV, including free on demand ones, a computer set up, and totally free phone calls anywhere in the country. The stack of remote controls dazzled me, but we survived.

After our late arrival, and we unpacked, we hurried to Sardi's for a pre-theatre drink at the upstairs bar, then saw DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS from our front row mezzanine seats. Loved the show -- one of the funniest books ever and a really great cast. After the show we headed to Joe Allen's for supper -- calves' liver with sauteed garlic spinach and mashed potatoes. A great ending to a horrible travel day. We slept like logs.

Thursday: I have a current major decorating job going and spent most of the day at the Design Center on Third, near 59th. Took time for lunch at Sidecar, the upstairs "club" of PJ Clarke's, which was convenient. We've eated downstairs before, but the upstairs is similar in "old New York" decor, but much more spacious, quiet, and comfortable. We liked it a lot.
Then back to the D&D building for more work, walking back to our apartment in time to change and head to see DOUBT, stopping for a drink at the Delta Grill on the way. DOUBT was truly great and worth all the Tonys it won. Wonderful performances and a well written play as well. Again, we had front row mezzanine seats.

After theatre dinner tonight was at Bobby Flay's new place, Bar Americain. This was a hopping place late at night. The couple next to us were good friends of Bobby Flay, so he spent much of the evening standing between our tables conversing with them. We ordered full meals -- lamb for Lee and duck for me, really great, but next time I'd love to order a few of the great starters to share. An odd thing, though. It took me three tries to get a Dry Robroy from the bar. It came sweet rather than dry (made with the wrong vermouth), not once but twice -- the second time after I explained to the waiter that it should be made with dry not sweet vermouth. And when I finally got one that was right (made with dry vermouth) it had a cherry in it (instead of a twist). I thought this was all pretty inexcusable for such a high profile place in a city like New York.

Friday: We started off in the morning with a walk, and stopped for coffee and breakfast at our favorite old place -- the Coffee Pot on 49th and 9th. But, they have now put computers on the counters facing the windows, so we lost our favorite perches for "people watching" during breakfast.
We then headed down to ABC Carpet near Union Square, taking our time getting there. What a good idea that turned out to be, because soon in was time for lunch and we realized we were SO close to Grammercy Tavern, so we headed over there and had a wonderful lunch in the bar. Then we walked back to the apartment.

Tickets tonight to AFTER THE NIGHT AND THE MUSIC, a group of three new "sex" comedies by Elaine May. This proved to be our least favorite show of the trip. Mildly entertaining, but even the premise of a couple of them seemed so dated. A guy and a girl (he's gay) are both stuck at home waiting to hear from the guys they met in a bar the night before, and yet afraid to call each other for fear of missing the never received phone calls, yet why is this plausible? Having they ever heard of cell phones -- or at least "call waiting"? Oh, well. It was still fun.

Dinner after the show at Jezebel on 45th and 9th. We love this place and it has the best fried chicken (choose two typical southern sides to go with it). We once saw them delivering huge vats of lard there, so we know why the chicken is so good. The atmosphere is great but funky -- lots of crystal chandeliers, hanging African printed fabric swatches, porch swings at some tables, and huge plants. I thought it sort of funny, that while the whole place is basically Black owned and has a totally Black staff, the jazz musicians were all white!

Saturday: We discovered Cosi for breakfast this morning, based on frequent comments here. How great. Loved the "breakfast sandwiches" and the really good latte. We did a walk up to Central Park, then returned to our apartment to change for lunch and theatre. Lunch was at dbBistro Modern, and we both decided we HAD to have the signature $29 hamburger, served with the best pommes frites this side of the Seine. Yes, it was the best hamburger I've ever had, and yes it was worth the price. It has a chunk of fois gras in the middle and there are shredded short ribs mixed with the chopped (not ground) beef. It was really magnificent.

Saw the matinee of GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS -- one of the best examples of ensemble acting I've ever seen. At this point I couldn't decide if Alan Alda or if Liev Screiber would win the best supporting actor Tony. (Schreiber did win it though). Thoroughly enjoyed the show.

This evening we saw THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA at the Vivian Beaumont at Lincoln Center. There was a craft show going on there which we visited first. The show was beautiful to watch, but I found the score simply uninspired and totally "non-tuneful". For the first time ever I found myself listening to the wonderful orchestrations rather than the singers. And while the costumes (1950's in Italy) were wonderful, I couldn't get over the glaring "mistake" of the male romantic lead with his white linen shirt, not tucked into his pants and with unbuttoned sleeves hanging past his fingertips. As a young professional man in Florence in the early 1950's, I just couldn't accept this very modern look. Enjoyed the show, especially the leading performances.

Stopped at Red Eye Grill for dinner afterwards. Great fresh salmon and tuna.

Sunday: Did an early morning walk, over to the Hudson, then up, then into Central Park and back down to the apartment. We had brunch buffet at Brasserie 8 1/2 on 57th. We spent over two hours and really enjoyed it.

Saw the 3 PM matinee of ALTAR BOYZ. This show was SO much fun. Five very talented young guys play a Jesus Rock Band -- Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Juan, and Abraham (he's Jewish). Ninety minutes of incredible high energy and very funny performances, and they all really move and sing well.

At 7 PM we headed to our party for the Tonys, at Encore on 47th Street. Karen Mack and Michael Holland, two very funny and talented cabaret performers, along with two guests, performed a one hour set of Broadway "comic" spoofs, then we all headed upstairs for the awards on big screen TV with open bar and buffet for the evening. This was fun way to spend the evening, but sadly it was hard to hear as many of the people seemingly weren't that interested in the awards -- why were they there, I wondered?

Patrick

Monday: We spent today, doing what I enjoy most in New York -- just walking. I spent some time at the Drama Bookstore buying books for cast gifts for the play I just directed at home. We made to Artisinal for lunch, and enjoyed my cheese course the most (along with the side of macaroni and cheese we shared with our main courses). I had to get up to the design center again to pick up some things and decided a taxi would be quicker than the 30 minute or longer walk. WRONG! Third Avenue was stopped with traffic and it took us a full 25 minutes by taxi -- so I guess maybe we saved 5 minutes! Then at 4 we met Howard R and Bugswife at the Hilton for drinks. We all sat for a couple of hours I guess chatting away about travel and theatre (mostly theatre). Our own little Fodorite get-together.

At 8 PM we had to be at the off Broadway production of HURLY BURLY. I think the performance by Ethan Hawke in this show may have been the finest performance we saw on the whole trip. He was amazing as the 70's Hollywood guy lost in world of sex and drugs. I had not been looking forward to the full three plus hour production, but I wanted to see it. I ended up literally on the edge of my seat the whole night.

Pouring rain when we came out (the theatre is on 37th between 9th and 10th) and fortunately we had previously found a new small restaurant called HK that is just two blocks from there. Nice place that serves until 1 AM.

Rain slacked off for our walk back to the apartment well after midnight.

Tuesday: Finally we got to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. Took the subway (the only time we used the subway during the entire week -- and we only took one taxi as I mentioned -- can you say we love to walk?). We were pleasantly surprised that the Garden is free on Tuesday and we enjoyed it very much, despite the 90 degree and high humidity temperatures. We had a nice little lunch on their terrace, then headed to the museum only to find that it is closed on Tuesdays (so much for planning). So we decided to walk from there to the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory at Fulton Landing where we had wonderful strawberry, butter pecan, and peach ice creams. I already knew it, but was once again confirmed that the strawberry is the best. From there we headed by subway up to Lincoln Center to see a photo exhibit in the Public Library for Performing Arts. Then walked back to the apartment.

Tonight was SPAMALOT, with drinks first at Sardis again. Front row mezzanine seats were great. The show was hysterical. The two disappointments were that Hank Azaria has left the cast for a couple of months and his replacement wasn't even doing the show, but rather the replacement's understudy. Obviously he wasn't as good as I'd heard the raves about Hank Azaria. Also Sara Ramirez, who had just won the Tony, was still out sick. Her replacement was only so-so, in my opinion, based on the brief bit I saw Sara Ramirez do at the Tonys. But still a fun show.

Dinner afterwards at Maria Pia, a little Italian restaurant on 51st between 8th and 9th. I had pappardelle with FRESH porcini mushrooms that was to die for. This is one of my favorites in Italy, but where in the US can you find it made with fresh porcinis? At last I found the place! So good.

Patrick

Wednesday: A morning walk before lunch at Utsav, Indian buffet. We always go at least once to this place. While I love Indian food, I like it best at buffets where I can try several things. Here everything is labeled and even tells the ingredients, and it is all delicious. It is also a pretty place, and reservations for lunch are necessary as it is always filled with lots of business people from the surrounding buildings.
We saw the matinee of PILLOWMAN, undoubtedly the darkest show I've ever seen. Really enjoyed the show and the performances.

Tickets this evening for LA CAGE AUX FOLLES. We headed to Sardi's once again, but for some reason the place was packed, so headed down the street for a drink at the third floor bar of Angus MacIndoe's. I often recommend this place for dinner, but we didn't eat there at all this trip. Enjoyed the show, but the surprise was that although I thought I'd love Robert Goulet in the role, he was simply way too old. He seems actually infirmed and unable to move, like he's in pain. He just didn't seem at all likely as the father of the 20 year old, and certainly not believable that "20 years ago I was the hottest boy in the chorus of The Lido" or something like that. In fact, the line got an unwanted laugh from the audience. But Gary Beach is wonderful, and I think I liked the production itself more than the original.

Dinner tonight at Roberto Basson, on 9th and 50th. This is a sister restaurant to the place we ate last night. I went because I had seen "slow braised rabbit with olives" on the menu. Sadly, since we arrived after 10:30 and we were literally the only ones in the place after about ten minutes, the chef apologized that he couldn't do the rabbit. I ordered a tagliarini with lamb ragout that was put atop a layer of minted pesto. One of the best pastas I've ever had. We were trying to get our bill so they could close, when the waiter brought us two desserts, compliments of Roberto, who was still upset that he couldn't provide me with the rabbit. We had a banana and carmel tart and a panna cotta -- both really excellent. We left with the promise that next time if we come late, we can call ahead and he will definitely have the rabbit!

Thursday: A quick walk in the morning and coffee at Fluff, a little place I'd been getting coffee and pastries from in the mornings, around the corner from us on 9th. We packed up, the owner of the apartment came over and gave us our deposit back and at 11:40 we rolled our duffel up the street to have a final lunch at Le Bernardin. Of course, it was the finest meal of the whole trip. We relaxed and enjoyed it for a full two hours (despite my drinking only iced tea, thanks to my very high sugar reading in the morning -- those damn free desserts last night, I suppose!). We caught a taxi across the street in front of the Michelangelo Hotel and headed to LaGuardia for our 4PM flight home.

Of course, in usual style, American Eagle managed to lose our luggage, and it was delivered to us the next evening at home!


A great trip. I can't believe how rushed 8 nights in New York seemed. We've been spoiled by our trips where we've managed to stay a month or at least two to three weeks.

Of course, we can't wait to get back.

Questions?

Scarlett

I cannot think of any questions.
I have enjoyed this so much, your descriptions of the restaurants and the food are perfect and you really made me "homesick"
Especially now since we are moving and I would love to go through the D&D Building..I have a huge coffee table from there, a few other things too.
You brought back some nice memories of eating and shopping in New York.
Thank you and Welcome home~

highflyer

Thanks for a great report.

We love Indian food so I googled Utsav and liked the look of their website. Hope to try it out next month when we're in NYC.
I'm also looking for gardening inspiration (or at least a break from weeding).
Were there any water gardens /areas at Brooklyn Botanical Gardens?

Thanks,
V

seetheworld

Thanks for a wonderful report, Patrick

We are always looking for new places to dine and walking is always a good way to burn those *extra* calories, lol!

You and Lee are truly the theater marathon men -- congratulations!!

sunny16

Patrick, thanks for the tip on that restaurant. It's 2 blocks from my office. I'll have to check it out for lunch.

sfamylou

Great trip report. Sounds like fun, all the dining and theater. (We went with little kids; quite a different experience). Thanks!

LoriNY

Great trip Patrick, especially after the horror of getting here. Good thing you saw DRS the first night, any other play you might have dozed a little, I thought DRS was just hysterical! I have not eaten at Utsav, even tho it is right next to my office. Gotta try it.

easytraveler

Great report, Patrick! Thanks so much for sharing!

Big cities are not for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed your report! Thanks again!

jv827

Patrick, thank you so much for the wonderful report! If you don't mind, I have a question re: Spamalot. I just booked a last-minute NY trip (well, last minute in the sense that it's not 'til July/August, but it's much too late to book my favorite - like you it would seem - front mezzanine seats.) Needless to say, Spamalot is pretty much sold out on Telecharge, but I can still purchase a regularly priced Partial View seat in the last row of the balcony. I've been trying to remember my last time in the Shubert, but can't recall anything about the theatre (the mind is going it would seem...)

So I'm just curious, having been there so recently, what you think about trying to view the performance from that distance? I've never seen a show from that far back, but am debating going ahead, as I'm not willing to spend $500 through a broker. Thanks in advance - I appreciate any opinions you might have on the set-up logistics of the Shubert(on the plus side, I did get great seats to Doubt and Glengarry, as well as Guys and Dolls in London. Whoo!)

OneWanderingJew

Great report...after reading it, I'm ready for a diet

kswl

Your report made me homesick for Manhattan. The years we spent there were the best, and I love to read about people's visits. Yours was especially evocative. Thank you for that.

Patrick

jv827, this may just be me, but I would not take seats, especially "partial view" seats, in the last row of the balcony. I just don't see all that well to begin with, and from that distance I KNOW I wouldn't fully enjoy the show.

On the other hand, lots of people do them and still love what they see, so I'm not sure how much help I can be.

cd

Great report Patrick. We have not been to NYC since our kids were small. We have talked about going for a weekend to walk the town and go to the theater. We would probably only do the theater once and we love to laugh. Which play would you suggest? Thanks.

OWJ - LOL! My hips were big when I sat down at my computer this morning, now, they are huge!

HowardR

Patrick, it was an enjoyable two hours with you, Lee and Bugwife1. (Honored to be part of your report!)
I totally agree with you about the revival of La Cage. We, too, thought it was better than the original.
I'll agree with Patrick about the partial-view seat. When a theater says "partial view," it means exactly that!

Al_LaCarte

Great and thorough report, Patrick. I have only been to New York twice but your account makes me want to return.

Food and theatre are two of my favorite subjects and this is like a "primer" for anyone wishing to experience the best of both.

Thanks for sharing.

AL