Just came back from a week in NYC with the family. Here are some random thoughts:
- I did quite a bit of research on restaurants and food. I wanted to find good bagels, pizza, pancakes, diners, among other things. At some point in this research, I started to feel that the pizza wouldn’t be way better then good pizza in Hawai’i (e.g., Boston’s North End). We didn’t get to try as many pizza places as I would have liked, but this expectation proved true. (We went to Bleeker Street and L’industrie in the West Village, and also Unregular Pizza near Union Square.) I also didn’t think the pastrami sandwiches at Katz’s would be better than then one at Langer’s in L.A. That also proved to be true, but Katz’s pastrami–and 2nd Ave. Deli’s– were still satisfying, (although I had some complaints about the former).
- We mostly got around by subway and walking. I find this hard to believe, but according to my daughter’s iphone we walked about 9 miles on the first day. Yes, we walked a lot, but I didn’t think it was that much. I’d say we walked about an average of 5 miles a day, and that might be a conservative estimate. I must say that being able to get around the city independently–by subway and walking–was really gratifying. (Watching YouTube videos, learning the map of Manhattan, and using good maps really helped.)
- For me, the most enjoyable part of the trip was going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art–specifically the five Vermeer paintings–and MoMa. It was really exhilarating being at both places. In contrast, the Guggenheim was a disappointment–but that was mainly because only the side rooms were available. The main “path” was closed–and we didn’t realize that until we got there. By the way, twenty years ago, we tried going, but got there right when they closed. (I had misread the times. It’s just not meant to be, I guess.)
- Somewhat surprisingly, the American Museum of Natural History was one of the worst activities on the trip. But to be fair, I was worn out by the time we visited.
- There’s too many things to do and see in a week–and trying to do everything can be overwhelming. I realized that were going to miss a lot, and I psychologically prepared myself for this. Doing this helped me mitigate any feelings of disappointment, and while the pace wasn’t as frenetic and harried as it could have been, it wasn’t as leisurely as I normally prefer.
- In terms of sections/neighborhoods of NYC, the kids like Times Square the best. (We went once during the day and once at night.) They both said they would have liked to have stayed at a hotel nearby. My favorite section continues to be Greenwich Village, maybe the West Village a little more than the East Village. I also liked Nolita/Little Italy/SoHo.
We (maybe not so much the son) love doing public transportation too, when traveling. The best part of public transportation is never having to worry about your car, as in where to park it or driving it around. The next best thing is being able to go into any place you see on the way or keep walking without having to worry about getting too far from your car and having to trek back.
What did the rest of the family like best?
My kids really liked Times Square. They also enjoydc Aladdin (the Broadway show), and riding bikes at Central Park. I think Larri liked DUMBO best.
While doing research (mostly vlogs), I got the impression that much of Manhattan is a tourist trap, not unlike Waikiki–mostly in the downtown and midtown sections (maybe not r the Financial District). I especially got this impression from Little Italy. Just based on what I saw, I had little desire to eat or buy anything from that neighborhood. (We ended up not going into Italy).
At the same time, I got the impression that the best restaurants–in terms of food quality and cost–would be found in the outer boroughs. But there were several problems with this. For one thing, some of the vibe of some of the places were unappealing–in terms of the built environment and maybe safety. Looking at some of the food establishments and the neighborhoods they were in, the relatively lower prices were understandable. Also, traveling out to the outer boroughs just for food posed problems. To wit, one could only eat at two or three places before getting full. And the good places may not be clustered together. This raises another issue–namely, being able to get to the place via public transportation. Finally, going into a neighborhoods without knowing the safety level and overall vibe was a negative.
If I went back to NYC, I would definitely want to go to the outer boroughs especially to ethnically diverse places like Jackson Heights in Queens or Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, which some people call the real Little Italy.
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Best thing I ate:
The first thing that comes to mind is the frozen chocolate drink at Glace in the Upper East side. i thought it was going to be a hot chocolate, but it’s really frozen hot chocolate–basically a chocolate shake. It was expensive but I really liked it. (The cups were pretty small–I’d estimate about 12 oz.)
Here’s a video on it. (Note: The guy describes it has hot chocolate, but when we went they only hand a cold version. He’s drinking it with a straw, and I don’t see steam coming out of the cup, so I’m wondering if he had the frozen version as well.)
My daughter basically got the one the guy, but Larri got a different one–one coat with chocolate that hardens upon contact with anything cold.
The other thing I really liked was the cookies and cream affogato at Cafe Panna.
Here’s a video:
(Note: the affogato’s didn’t have chocolate syrup or some baked item on the bottom. The ones we had just came with the panna–i.e., whipped cream–gelato, and espresso. Honestly, I don’t know if this particularly affogato was exceptional–I just love affogato in general.)
Most disappointing thing we ate
Hot chocolate at Dominique Ansel’s. (The pastries there, overall, were kind of disappointing, but maybe I was too full to appreciate them.)
Also, the pastrami sandwich at Juniors. (I’m pretty sure the pastrami were pre-package types you can buy from the store.) I did like their cheesecake, although I wouldn’t say it was exceptional. (I preferred it to Eileen’s, although I only one or two bites.)
Oh, the Italian sandwich at Parisi Bakery. Look at the way Helen Rosner, of the New Yorker magazine, raves about these sandwiches:
(We tried the Dennis too, which was better, but the chicken cutlets weren’t hot. They seemed to have been sitting on the side for hours. Everything else in that sandwich was good though. I thought the bread was good, but not as good as she does. I think I didn’t like some of the meats in the Italian sandwich.)