In February of 2013, Nor’easter visited New York City, and so did we. A few months before, we started planning a trip to visit our two friends Justin, one who lived in the Bronx and the other in Brooklyn. I’m guessing we chose February because it was good for our work schedule, and a lot cheaper than visiting in warmer months. We arrived on a Thursday afternoon and took a cab from the airport to our hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn in Chelsea. In 2013 ramen had just become the trendiest, so we checked out Momofuku Noodle Bar for lunch. I’m pretty sure we split some bao buns and ramen, but it was pretty unremarkable compared to other noodle dishes I had during the Great Ramen Craze of 2013. The High Line had been built not long before, so after lunch we made our way over there to check it out. As we had heard, it’s a beautiful park situated on an old elevated train track throughout Manhattan. An incredible architectural use of space, it must be wonderful for Manhattanites to have such a relaxing green space apart from the behemoth that is Central Park. The weather was cloudy but mild and we walked a good distance along the “tracks.”
Before leaving for New York, I had made an insanely extensive list of restaurants that I wanted to visit. Not knowing what exact plans our friends would have for us there, and not knowing what cuisine we would want each night, we decided to make a lot of reservations and let our cravings be the final decision makers. This decision massively backfired when, a few days into the trip, OpenTable saw that we were not showing up to several reservations and kicked me off their site for the next five years. Oops. We did happen to use a reso I snagged the first night at Gramercy Tavern, a restaurant in the Flatiron District that did not disappoint.
The next day we woke up to the news that a quite massive snow storm was heading our way. Not ones to let weather affect our travel, we didn’t think much of it and went on about our day as planned. That meant a late start, leaving our hotel in the late morning and being immediately hit in the face by an overwhelming smell of trash. I get that New York is not lucky enough to have alleys like Chicago does, but the way they pile up their trash on the sidewalk is so unappealing. Yet, it’s a tiny blemish on an otherwise beautiful setting.
For lunch that day, we took the subway down to the Lower East Side to check out another trendy spot, Mission Chinese. We had heard there was usually a long line to get in, so we were surprised to find that we could easily walk in, order, and be seated. We chalked it up to the snow that had just started to fall. We ordered the mapo tofu and kung pao, both signature items that are chock full of Sichuan peppercorns, enough so that we were not at all prepared for the mouth numbing that occurs after ingesting these. For a minute we thought we had maybe been poisoned until the waiter let us in on the secret.
By the time we left lunch, the snow had really started coming down. We made our way through Tribeca in the snow to our friend Justin’s office at the Paris Review. We toured around the office, met a few of his coworkers, and got a few happy hour drinks. As we were drinking, we were alerted that the city would be soon closing the subways to Brooklyn. Worried that they would also close the ones near his home in the Bronx, Justin understandably left us to make his way home. Thus, we were left by ourselves to brave the storm…and find some dinner. Being young and stupid, we started working our way through the city, stopping at bars along the way.
The storm was pounding down on us as we somehow stumbled on the Comedy Cellar and went inside for a drink. We assumed that tickets were sold out for that evening’s show, but the bartender said they had just gotten a few cancellations due to the storm. We decided to go for it, and it would turn out to be the first of several occasions when fortune played a hand in a comedy show we attended. While the show had no comedians we had heard of, we were lucky enough to see both Hannibal Buress and Aziz Ansari, both of whom showed up and performed surprise sets.
The next day, we had planned to meet our college friend Justin and my cousin Anne for brunch in Brooklyn. Happily, the subways were back running and we were able to get across the river relatively quickly. To be honest, I was hoping to play matchmaker to Justin and Anne, as both were single and I thought they might hit it off, but unfortunately we all just enjoyed a normal brunch, sans-romantic sparks.
We spent the rest of the day avoiding slush and shopping in the Williamsburg neighborhood, where Justin lived. After walking around in the snow, avoiding what seemed like a hundred abandoned umbrellas from the day before, pizza was in order. We headed to Roberta’s and while waiting for a table in their heated tent, ran into some friends, Tina and Nathan, that live in Manhattan and were out for the evening in Brooklyn. The wood fired pizza was delicious and it was a perfect New York day.
As often happens on our travels, the next day we had a taste for Chinese, and in particular, dim sum. Unbeknownst to us, it also happened to be the celebration of the Chinese New Year down in Chinatown, which we quickly learned when we arrived in the area and were surrounded by hundreds of people and remnants of the parade that had just ended. We enjoyed a crazy amount of food, unable to resist all of the delicious looking items on the carts as they rolled by.
After lunch, we wandered through the West Village and Washington Square Park. The weather had turned mild and sunny, and the snow from the past few days was melting quickly. We eventually met up with Kevin’s high school friend Justin at some speakeasy cocktail bar that I can’t remember the name of. If my memory serves me, dinner that night was at Minetta Tavern, where we had one of the best burrata appetizers I ever had. It brought me straight back to the Amalfi Coast in Italy. The night ended late at a Polynesian-themed tiki bar.
Feeling like we had only eaten and drank all trip, we were looking for some culture on our last day in NYC. We took a cab up to the MOMA and spent the afternoon perusing all of the modern art. We met up with my cousin Anne again for an earlier dinner at the Smith in Midtown, then ended up back with both Justins at the iconic PJ Clarke’s for after-dinner drinks.
On an outrageous senior trip to New York in 2006, we developed a truth-or-dare-themed drinking game entitled PCQ (long story). While at PJ Clarke’s, one of the Justins mentioned that he thought Gavin DeGraw, the musician, was drinking a few feet down from us at the bar. It was the perfect time to bring back the game. Kevin was given the task of “tickling Gavin.” Since the bar was crowded, he pushed his way past the group, lightly touching (tickling) the man who we assumed was the musician, while we giggled nonstop behind him. Good times. Our flight left early the next morning, ending a fantastic trip full of amazing food and great friends.
Recommendations:
- The High Line. New York, NY 10011. https://www.thehighline.org/.
- Gramercy Tavern. 42 E 20th St, New York, NY 10003. https://www.gramercytavern.com/.
- Mission Chinese. 171 E Broadway New York, NY 10002. https://eatatmission.com/.
- The Comedy Cellar. 117 MacDougal St, New York, NY 10012. https://www.comedycellar.com/.
- Minetta Tavern. 113 MacDougal St, New York, NY 10012. https://www.minettatavernny.com/.
- Museum of Modern Art. 11 W 53rd St, New York, NY 10019. https://www.moma.org/.
