Monday, April 16, 2012 – Au revoir, New York
I’m on my way back to DC after a very full weekend in New York. On Monday morning, the streets of the LES began to bustle early with people on their way to work and school. I set off for the subway, with a stop enroute at the Essex Street Market to pick up provisions for the four or five hour (i.e. 2-3 meal) journey. As expected, subway cars are packed at rush hour, but it’s a short ride on the F train to 34th Street. I arrived at the designated red pole on 33rd Street to meet my DC2NY bus an hour before its scheduled 10:00 departure, leaving me enough time to dash into a coffee shop before I joined the queue. Once I was on board, I only had a few minutes to write since I didn’t want to experience any more of that motion sickness that plagued me on the way up here.
Fortunately, the bus had empty seats and I settled in comfortably, with time to reflect on all I had accomplished in the past 48 hours. I went out for two brunches – at Tapéo 29 on Saturday and at Macondo on Sunday, both small Latin-fusion restaurants in LES. Acquiring the brunch habit (thanks, Elisa and Christian) makes me feel like a real New Yorker. At Tapéo 29, Elisa and I ordered omelettes, while Christian went straight to dessert with whole wheat chocolate chip pancakes topped with fresh fruit.
On Saturday afternoon, Audrey and I saw a very interesting exhibit of Renoir’s figure painting at the Frick Collection on the upper East Side. We had perfect weather for a leisurely walk across Central Park at 72nd Street, which was closed to vehicles for the day.
I discovered how delicious the breads and desserts are at Le Pain Quotidien, where we had dinner prior to the New York Philharmonic concert at Lincoln Center. (A note to friends in northern Virginia: Le Pain Quotidien has several locations in our area.) The concert was exciting, but we had to rush out as soon as the final notes sounded so that Audrey wouldn’t miss her train back to Long Island. By this time, I was feeling quite comfortable getting around by subway. Even late at night, there were plenty of people in the stations and on the trains. When I got back down to Essex and Delancey around 11:00 p.m., the rain was falling gently and young people were starting to gather outside the popular bars, restaurants, and clubs. Since I was hungry again, I stopped for a $1 slice of pizza on Rivington, made by Hakki, the Turkish award-winning pizza maker. Mmmm, good!
The plan for Sunday was to get together with my brother, Harvey, and his wife, who live in Westchester County, north of New York City. They came down to the Lower East Side around 10:30 in the morning (late for Harvey, but early for Elisa and Christian). We went up to the roof for a view of the city (Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and more) and then took a walk around the neighborhood. Orchard Street was closed to traffic for the weekly pedestrian-only market day. Our brunch at Macondo on Houston Street was delicious. We shared some small plates and I had a Latin American version of eggs Benedict – yellow corn arepas (a pancake-like bread) topped with smoked salmon, poached eggs, and a saffron lemon aioli. After my brother and sister-in-law left, I took the subway up to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see a special exhibit of artwork collected by Gertrude Stein and her two brothers when they lived in Paris. It was a fabulous show, full of paintings, drawings, and prints by Renoir, Picasso, Matisse, and many others, well worth the $25 admission fee. (I guess I’m spoiled by all the free museums in DC.)
Dinner on Sunday evening was at David Chang’s MomofukuNoodle Bar in the East Village. Crowded and noisy, like almost all of the popular places in this part of town, Momofuku was definitely worth a visit. We started with a couple of soy sauce eggs (creamy and salty, with crispy fried shallots on top), then a snap pea and vegetable salad (bright, crunchy, and full of sesame flavor), followed by incredibly delicious shiitake mushroom buns, and finally a big bowl of ginger scallion noodles with pickled mushrooms, cabbage, and cucumber. Somehow, we managed to find ourselves at the Butter Lane cupcake bakery on our way back to the apartment. The three of us shared a cupcake – vanilla cake with fresh raspberry cream cheese frosting. I can see why Elisa was so adamant about taking this route. When we got back to the apartment, I was so completely satisfied that I didn’t even bother with my usual after-dinner dark chocolate.
On my final night in New York, I tried to get to bed before midnight so it wouldn’t be too difficult to get up at 7 the next morning. As this trip was coming to a close, I was already planning what I wanted to do next time. At the top of the list is a visit to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. And I’ll make sure I bring Elliott along.
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