Last Day. No brunch for you!

 So, our adventures come to an end. 

Here’s this morning’s first world problem: No one seems to serve brunch on a Thursday in Manhattan. Every place we tried, using Google, Open Table or Yelp, stopped serving breakfast at 10 or 1030. The place that acted like they do, near Chelsea Market, had no openings from 1030 till 1. 😡

We ended up doing a Restaurant Week participant near Bing & Dot’s hotel. 

It was very food porn worthy. 

I practiced for class next week at the front door, where the greeter asked, “Do you want to check your coat?” And I looked at mine and said “yeah, it’s a coat.” I was told later their laughs were at the greeter’s confusion, not my joke. She didn’t laugh. 

The Sea Fire Grill sat us near their (fake) fire and the waiter, no Jeremy, had his own routine. It was only kinda funny. 

We had salads to start. Except GW, who had this fancy-plated burrata:

For main course, Bing had salmon. 

I had the pasta with crab meat. 

The other two had the sirloin. 

And, OC, they had New York cheesecake as part of their prix fixe menu. 

After a two hour lunch, we were on our way to Chelsea when I asked GW if we really wanted to spend the time to make the trip. She said we didn’t have too, it was going to be a lot, so we didn’t. 

And, rather anticlimactic, came back to their room, got our bags, and Uber-ed to Penn Station. 

We said we’d do something again soon. It was a fun but short trip. I was a bit disappointed that Bing, “the crooner”, didn’t break into song more. 😕 I mean, I think I sang more of The Bright Side of Life yesterday (with whistle ) than he sang the whole time we were there. Not once did I hear the opening bars of “Tradition.” 😀  alas…

Back to home and for both of us, back to work  🥲

 Adieu till next time. 

The Bright Side of Life, including the Food

Day 2, dear Reader, and maybe the last full day in the big city...

The early morning adventure (Bing has to get A LOT of beauty sleep) was finding a bakery near our apartment.  I found a place 15 minutes away, but asked the front desk guy on my way out of the building (oh, yeah, ICYMI, it was like 15 and windy) if there was a bakery close.  "There used to be one right across the street, but it closed because someone else bought the building...they were there 40 years."  Sad story and interesting, but no help!!!!

I ended up at Pain Quotidien.  It gave me the pain au's necessary. 

So, we met at 11:30 for "brunch."  On Google it said "kitchen closes at 11 AM."  This, Clouseau, was a clue!  Then the seater wouldn't seat us at 11:28 -- had to wait till 11:30.  What?!!?! 

Then we were told there was no breakfast anymore!!!  So, we had lunch.  GW (we conferred and decided that RR is now "GW" for these trips' purposes -- Guest Woman -- as in the guest in the Road movies who paired with Bob when Dorothy ended up with Bing) had a lamb burger, which she raved about.  GW raved a lot about her food today. 

Then to the theatre.  GW and I saw *Spamalot*.  I had seen it in London with EH in '06 -- I remember it was at the Cambridge (I think I've been in there twice) and we sat so high up I think there was only one row above us!  EH bought the opera glasses.  I lived with the ants singing down below. :)

It was fun.  The Knights of the Round Table piece is always fun, as is the Bring Out Your Dead bit.  There were several clear rewrites and additions from the original (there was a joke from God about inventing America), which was interesting.  The final piece is The Bright Side of Life...good fun.

It was in the St. James theatre.  I am telling this so anyone who wants to care knows -- beware!  The seats, unlike last night, were too short -- I could not put my legs together and not enough width to spread them.  Grrr...there ended up being an empty seat next to me so I could side saddle, but it wasn't good. 

Went for a rest, while Bing and Dot went to the taping of Colbert.  Clive Owen was the main guest and our girl Juno Temple the second -- fans from Ted Lasso and now she's the hero of the new Fargo.  

Dinner was at Gabriel Kreuther.  Gabe (as his friends know him) now has 2 Michelin stars.  I've been working on a tire(d) joke all day, but couldn't get a grip on one. 😂. Gabe has a tasting menu or a prix fixe (a term I've used more this week than in years)...since the tasting was only for the whole table, we settled on the other. 

Here follows many pictures.

This is the amuse bouche #1, with some kind of hushpuppies in the center and the sides are butternut squash ravioli and pear gelatins.  The gelatins were "interesting."

This was the pre-ordering bread course (bread course #1): the green stuff was a scallion sauce and the bread had scallions and something in it.  Note the funky glass holder. 

I didn't take a picture of THEIR liverwurst (as our waiter, Jeremy, later called it), which they had as an appetizer. 

Here are our first courses.

My cheese ravioli.  The best I've ever had.  Yum.

Bing and GW had the scallops and raved.  Dorothy (famous in the movies for the fruit) had the pear tartine. 

Bread course #2.  I don't remember what was in them, but it came with some kind of honey butter. 

GW had duck for dinner.  She said it was the bomb. 

Bing, whose birthday is Sunday, treated himself for his birthday dinner to the Wagyu steak.  Those aren't M&Ms 😀

Dorothy and I had the black bass.  It was good, but not up to the standard of the ravioli. And, FYI, there are fava beans underneath.  Hannibal was remembered, OC. 

No.  Not done.  Dessert was good AND they added a little extra. 

Bing and I had the chocolate thing -- described as "like a cream puff but with chocolate" -- 

And the women both had the coffee mousse and hazelnut gelato and pistachio? cookies...

Then these "afters" -- housemade chocolates and tiny cranberry tarts.

And, because it was impressive, GW had this cocktail, which has hibiscus foam and a flower on top.

Jeremy and I had multiple exchanges.  He asked if I really wanted "buttered pasta."  I said yes.  He made sure we all knew who they served that to (wise people, obviously).  I kept asking when he was bringing it.  We talked about food in Rome (pasta is a theme) and he told us how to make our homemade carbonara better. And gave us a tip for brunch tomorrow. 

There was a dessert with a candle on it for Bing.  No singing (that's from Spamalot! :))!  It had a pistachio base and a vanilla foamy frosting (Gabe seems to like the foam effect). 

Okay, tired.  Overfed.  Cold.  Not sure about tomorrow's plans, beyond brunch.  We talked about a show, but no matinees we wanted to see.  They are seeing Merrily We Roll Along tomorrow night...merrily.

But let's look on the bright side of life.  Right?

Together Again: Food Porn & Juliet

 We're in New York City for "3" days with Bing and Dorothy...the pair who started all this back when as traveling companions a la Hope & Crosby's "Road" movies and my take on the title -- Road to Sonoma (it was, at one point, the end of one of our journeys...sort of)

This is our first trip since before Covid.  Sad that it's been so long, but yay that we are.  And fell right into the old routine.  We got Bing's classic "I have an apple and can live on it forever" line less than hour after we got into town and their hotel.

Let's start the food porn with this classic from the sucky free breakfast at the Hampton Inn in New Jersey. 

We stayed last night in NJ because the weather was supposed to suck.  It did.  It was snowy this morning.  We left the car at the hotel and Uber'd over to the NJ commuter train and zipped (relatively) into Penn Station. 

Our first place (on a busy day) was a trip to the Met (Museum of Art).  I was told that I "zip through museums" (which I take to mean my lips don't move as I read the signs), but I consented to slow down and even went and stood in the interminable coat check line TWICE to...not "zip."

We were there essentially to see an exhibit of Matisse and Derain "Fauvist" paintings from 1905-6, when they summered (bummer that it would be) on the French Riviera.  I decided I'm not a fan of Fauvism (who would have guessed?).

Here's the picture of my favorite from the day.

Then taxied to dinner -- an hour early.  It was 4 o'clock.  They all ordered wine.  I was driving, so I had sparkling water. 

It is restaurant week here, so it was a very good Italian place with a prix fixe menu.  My ragu was great, and we looked around and no one had left a scrap of their meals.  

Bing had the veal scaloppine.

RR (who needs new identifier as she's no longer "recently") had the saltimbocca.

And Dorothy had the carbonara.

There was also a choice of tiramisu or cannoli.  

We ate early because the musical started at 7.  We walked the 5 blocks (I remind you, if you don't know, that all blocks in NYC aren't created equal).  

Yes, the "play" (my road buddy Bing only corrected me twice that it was a fucking musical 😂) was called "& Juliet," as in the last 2/3rds of the Shakespeare play.  The music was written by the "Shakespeare of Pop," and "it" contained an abundance of his hits, from "I Want it My Way," "I Did It Again," "It's My Life," and a Celine Deion song.  And ended with Eye of the Tiger.  He has written a bunch of hits.  

The premise was put forward by Ann Hathaway (not THAT Ann Hathaway, a joke they made at least twice) that Juliet didn't kill herself at the end of the play, so what happens to her.  She and Will played back and forth with the plot.  There were a lot of good singers -- the lead could really belt it -- and it was a packed house.  Somehow they even worked in a song with a "boy band" 🙄...

Despite the weather, it was a fun day.  It was great to have the old foursome back on the road.  Tomorrow we split up in the early afternoon -- they are seeing Jimmy Fallon and we are seeing another musical (I told Ken that I was being accommodating and he just laughed 🤷) and then we are doing serious food porn -- a one-star Michelin place.  

I promise more jokes tomorrow, but I admit to being tired.  Long day.  Tomorrow will be better.