Eating (and Walking) NYC

The Brooklyn Bridge - One World Trade in view

Visiting the (not-so-young-anymore-married) kids (formerly the young marrieds!) in New York City's UES (upper east side) was about much more than eating my way through the city and its culinary ethnicities, but as it turned out, I ate Greek, Italian, Halal, French, Chinese, Jewish deli and a proper Brooklyn Sunday brunch!

Orange wine (Ramato) with M.'s Duck Hash at Colonie in Brooklyn

I had red wine with the Greek food, a sip of orange wine with the brunch, A&W diet root beer with the pastrami, hot tea with the Chinese, water with the Halal, no beer at all, and two nitro coffees which were dark roast and disappointing. So much for nitro. It is bubbly, but I am no longer curious. I'm done.

M. pierced my poached egg and I attempted to capture the sunny run.

On the (Monday) night of the pastrami sandwich--my last dinner in Manhattan--I also felt like I was done with NYC ... at least for awhile! The city had done me in with its noisy subways, dirty, construction-obstructed sidewalks, long walks and heavy food consumption (I know, my fault)--along with my failure to maintain a comfortable temperature in my limited travel wardrobe.

But the pastrami sandwich at Katz's Delicatessen was not only a bucket list item (and a tourist-y thing to do), it had been promised to me on my birthday last summer. And it was tasty!

The iconic deli on Houston (pronounced howston)--which divides the city's numbered streets--was pretty much what I expected, except for the generous plate of pickles--the greener ones heavily pickled with ... cloves?? We were able to sit and be served rather than stand in line, which was a bonus. We all had the famous pastrami. M and I split a sandwich, and S. went bread-free--just a big pile of delicious pastrami with mustard and pickles! I would actually love to try their Reuben as well, one day.

Of course--Pickles with the Pastrami

After Katz we stopped at a legit (as the son-in-law likes to say) deli (Russ and Daughters) on Houston where I bought my first chunk of Chocolate Babka (ala Seinfeld), also on my food list. I was too full after the pastrami, but took it home with me in my suitcase and indulged later. It was unexpectedly delicious--more like cake than bread, I discovered.

The other major bucket list item fulfilled was walking the Brooklyn Bridge. I read that walking the bridge is considered by some to be some sort of right of passage into NYC--and we did walk back from Brooklyn into Manhattan, enjoying the great skyline views. It is an old and beautiful bridge. I think iconic could legitimately be applied here as well. I once banned the word iconic, but I fear I am getting soft on that. I will try to use it sparingly (although twice in this post!).

M. and I traversed the bridge around noon on Sunday, after a 6:45 alarm, an Uber to Brooklyn, church, brunch, and then a nice, long walk along the East River and back to the stairway for the bridge. I discovered that the bridge was half uphill! It was sunny out and 74 degrees. It was also crowded--a traffic jam of people, bikes and strollers. I somehow managed it, slowly, and with more than a few stops to rest on the uphill part. A convenient subway stop was close to the base of the bridge on the Manhattan side. I bought a $1 bottle of water for the ride home, easing my dehydration.

One more thing. A surprise sighting on Saturday (not on my list!) was the infamous naked cowboy strutting his stuff in front of Trump Tower (coulda shoulda been on the list) in his tighty whities, his guitar covering his privates a bit in the front. One photo I snapped of his shapely butt reads RUMP with the T not showing!

It was my first exposure to this part of 5th Avenue, a very interesting walk. We had also scouted out a small section of Central Park on our way to browse the West Elm store in the area.

South end of Central Park

Eating from the Halal Guys food cart on 5th Avenue is a very NYC thing as well. M. and I split a plate of lettuce, rice, chicken and gyro, topped with their special Halal white sauce.

The Halal Guys

I snapped other photos along the 5th Avenue stretch. The glass box Apple store was noteworthy. Pigeons, store windows, people from all over the globe ... so much to take in!

Lots of pigeons were hanging out by the Halal guys.

We finished our Saturday afternoon adventure with one pumpkin doughnut from Dough, sampling it on a bench in Union Square with some Dough coffee before hailing a cab home. I finished it after eating S.'s special meatball dinner at the apartment later that evening. It was delicious. (The dinner and the doughnut!)

Many doughnuts from which to choose--including black and orange with eyes--but pumpkin seemed like the right choice.

I simply cannot include all our activities and photos (some already uploaded to Facebook and IG) here. Google made me a nice NYC photo album I would share upon request. For instance, I went to an excellent Bach concert featuring the Six French Suites for solo piano--but it was not about eating (or walking) and I have no photos, so I did not (intend to) mention it. It was a nice 3:00 respite after that hot bridge walk on Sunday afternoon!

Also, most of the other food photos were not so good--the flaming cheese at the Greek restaurant, the beef and snow peas, the French lunch--all in the UES neighborhood. This is one of the few that was not only tasty, but a decent photo:

Greek Salad

Yet another year for an excellent adventure in NYC--and even the kids experienced a few new things, along with me! I don't know how many more years I (an overweight, newly-Medicared--and slightly medicated--senior) can enjoy excursions of this sort, but more taxi rides and less bucket list items may necessarily need to be in my future...