My dad was a two job guy. We lived in a representative, working class
neighborhood in Brooklyn, which was to me, the paradise of the world.
Representative I learned years later meant not just Jewish people, like
us, but an equal mix of almost everything else. The working class is
obvious.
My dad worked at a brokerage house on Wall Street as a runner from 9 to
3. That was his first job. His second job was at the Morgan Annex
branch of the US Post Office, in mid-town Manhattan. He had started at
the PO as a teen-ager, and was in it for the longest possible haul, a
modest pension being the carrot at the end of his rainbow. His hours
on that job were 4 pm to mid-night. He rode the subway to work. He
never owned a car. Once in a long while he got driven home.
New York
New York
Prune, My Kinda Retro
The East Village is, was and always will be my hood in the big apple. Sure, I now stay on the Upper West Side and much to the dismay of my husband, I gravitate downtown. He will often say “downtown again?” My friend Peggy always lived on the Lower East Side and she was my friend-to-stay-with in New York. It was really seedy and exciting then, the 70’s. It’s been totally gentri-yuppie-fied in recent years. The Hells Angels owned the block – or maybe even blocks – around where Peg lived. And each day as I ventured out, one or another of them would ask me to fetch him something like matches perhaps from the corner store. So I did. Who wouldn’t? It was always more of a command – and I was to obey.
One hot summer night when Peggy and I were feeling playful and fearless, I actually hopped on the back of Mike the Bike’s Harley for a quick spin around Alphabet City. She was on the bike of another Hells Angel whose name I cannot recall; I only remember his toothless grin and his notoriety from the Altamont infamy of some years earlier. I am not the biggest adventurer – in fact, I’m not adventurous at all.
New York City Through a Foodie's Eyes
If you are a foodie visiting New York, you're probably planning on visiting Mario Batali's Eataly where
you'll wander the crowded aisles a bit dazed. Glass fronted counters
and small eating areas display the best that Italy has to offer,
including pizza, pasta, cheese, salumi, fish, local produce, prepared
food, pastries and candies.
You'll wish you'd brought a spare suitcase to cart all these great
products home. That's the temptation of New York. So many great
celebrity chefs and so much great, albeit expensive food, and so little
time.
But wait! Don't spend all your money on high-end restaurants and eateries.
Stick to the neighborhoods. Eat the way locals do. Find the small
restaurants and take out holes-in-the wall that feed New Yorkers as they
speed through their insanely busy days.
Everyone has their favorite places to eat in New York. On a recent trip,
I revisited my favorites and enjoyed myself all over again. Here's a
quick trip through half a dozen I think you'll enjoy.
A Night at Nathan's
My boyfriend and I have next to no private time. Much to our chagrin we both are currently back in our parent's houses and our date nights generally consist of holing up in his childhood bedroom trying to keep the TiVo at a reasonable volume. Then he got his driver's license. Although this freedom arrived for my suburban friends at around 16, as a native New Yorker being able to drive still seems novel. Clearly we wanted all of our dates thereafter to be road trips.
We thought for our first evening we'd venture out to Coney Island. I had never been, and it seemed there'd be an appropriate balance of kitsch and delicious hot dogs to make for a good time. Naturally our first stop was Nathans. After ordering what seemed like one of everything you can do with a hot dog we settled in at our counter. No sooner had we done this then a young boy who had been stabbed came running in to the open-air restaurant. Panting, he shouted that someone had "knifed" him and that he was being chased. I seemed to be the only one who wasn't aware that this was an everyday occurrence here in South Brooklyn.
Kyotofu Dessert Bar
OK fine. I'll admit it. I'm the person who studies the menu online before going out to eat. I devour every edible word and let the taste bud anticipation work its magic.
The moment I knew I would be meeting up with a friend at Kyotofu, a Japanese dessert bar in NYC, I quickly jumped over to their site to take a peek at their online menu of tea infused sweets. Within seconds the matcha green tea crème brûlée had my heart skipping a beat.
Although when the plate met the table, the ginger/pear sorbet seemed to steal the show. Let me just say that they were a harmonious pair. As I broke through the delicate, caramelized top layer, a vibrantly bright green mini pot of matcha creme stood before me.
The richness of the matcha creamy treat was balanced by the airy, refreshing bites of ginger, pear. Matcha crème brûlée was a down comforter on a chilly winter night, while the ginger/pear sorbet was linen on a summer afternoon.
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