Livin’ like a local – Autumn in NYC

Andy: I have to stay in Canada for another week!

Reyes: Why don’t you spend the weekend in NYC then – silly to go all the way back to London?

Andy: Ok!

And he did. Our friend Andy flew in for a random weekend that turned in to a culinary adventure around NYC. Memorable … and tastey!

Friday night – Taste of Korea in k-town (32nd street) … where restaurants put on a sample menu for a fixed price. I’ve never had Korean bar-b-que and I didn’t know it was sweet — but now I have and it is! The boys stopped for a “cask ale” on the way home. I didn’t know what that is either — and that’s one thing from the evening I wouldn’t recommend, unless warm beer is your thing. Ugh.

Saturday we ventured down to a little tiny spot in the West Village called Daddy-O’s that my cousin introduced us to. Better than their infamous, spicy bloody marys are their tator tots and BLTs. From there, we walked around as the mid-day sunlight filtered through the air the way only it can when autumn is in the air. The walk brought us east and north to 14th Street / Union Square where a hundred or so vendors pile the sidewalks on Saturdays and tempt tourists and citygoers alike with locally grown colorful everything … from flowers to pig to heirloom tomatoes of every color and bulbous variety. We had some apple cider and a donut while I picked up the makings for a Sunday batch of butternut squash soup.

Andy wants to see our new apartment. We’ve been reticent to mention it on the blog as the deal is not yet done. But .. we are planning to buy a little piece of the rock up in Harlem. So we wandered home to drop off my gigantic $2 bundle of kale (what AM I going to do with it all!!?) and then took the bus on a scenic ride from the jewish bialy stop of 86th street up to the hairbraiding mecca of w 122nd street. We couldn’t go inside, but we showed him the facade of our soon-to-be-new-home as well as the neighboring park. We found respite and much needed caffeine and fuel for the day in Settepani, a near-by coffee shop. I just happened to throw a game in my purse while we were at home, so coffee and a game brought us new friends and conversation over java. Then it was back down to the homebase while we made dinner plans. In lieu of lodging, Andy’s company will take us to dinner. We will not abuse nor squandor this opportunity … so steak house it was. But we were pretty tired from a long day of exploring, so we stayed local and made our way to Roth’s Steakhouse.

Turns out, on Saturday night, Roth’s has a live jazz band. Turns out, the singer was this old guy I wish I could have photographed. His smile invited you to ask him about the million and one stories that seemed to be lying in wait behind is playful eyes. He had to be about 80, and he ambled up to the stool to join the stage with guys in their 30s .. maybe 40s .. and he outdressed them all in his three-piece black velvet suit, complete with purple baseball cap (no logo). As I was digging into my petit fillet and side of sauteed-in-just-the-right-amount-of-butter onions and mushrooms, he was diging into a little number he co-wrote, a piece he thought, we might, just maybe recognize. And then little Jimmy Norman showed those white kids on stage just how to sing jazz as he crooned “Time is on my side.” After we got up off the floor, Conrad promptly bought the man’s CD … and I escorted the boys out of the restaurant before they could interrogate poor Jimmy about the days gone by …. as surely this lyricist legend had a few storeis to share … but we let the idea marinade in our memories like the butter and fat from the tasty steaks lingered on our tongues.

Sunday was a bit more low paced with a casual breakfast around the corner at Le Pain Quotidien where opening a soft boiled egg in an egg cup is still something will we strive towards perfecting. After breakfast we headed to the local UWS sunday green market in hopes of finding an Obama t-shirt for Andy to take to London, alas, the only one who bought a t-shirt was me … along with a fat purple heirloom carrot and some fresh flowers. Andy departed just after noon for London, and Conrad and I promptly collapsed on the couch with the Sunday Times and smells of our butternut squash dinner bubbling on the stove.

Great weekend. We love when friends come to down and give us an excuse to eat our way through Manhattan