Walkabout: NYC
A recounting of a Sunday in late July in New York City with Jack, Luke, and Anne Frances. Kathy was on injured reserve with a broken little toe...don’t worry, she's fine and will heroically appear later.
9am
LIRR to the city. Got okie-doked by the Sunday schedule, so slower than ideal. But all good.
11 am
Salt Hank...viral Canadian youtuber who makes monster comfort food sandwiches...opened a brick mortar place last year in the city. The hype is real, with a line down the block at opening, which we skipped via online takeout and ate in the park down on the corner. Truly excellent French dip with best-in-class ingredients.
3 pm
Bar Snack (recently rated the #3 bar in North America) in Greenwich Village...super casual hipster vibe, nice cocktails and a spice bag (chips, chicken, onions, peppers with spices with curry dip). Very good neighborhood spot with high level f&b execution. #3 in North America? Who am I to say. The salad negroni with nectarine and champagne vinegar notes was v good.
4 pm
Superbueno...#9 bar in North America...also GV...also casual but more distinctively and artfully branded. Excellent Mexican snacks including the best chips and guac since the last time I was in Houston. Great cocktails (no margs listed!) with very creative riffs off the Mexican flavor wheel, nice hospitality vibe. They had a clarified tomatini that I'm gonna make the next time I get together with friends and a blender.
5:30 pm
Couldn't get into Double Chicken Please (#35), but the line mistress recommended Citizen M hotel. Drinks were meh (she said they were), but a very cool view over SoHo (she said that, too).
7:30pm
Struck out a Grand Central (the Oyster Bar was on their Chik-Fil-A schedule but probably for different reasons; The Campbell had a private event; Palladino’s has inflexible rules). So, we went to 929, a Canto/Mando-pop themed speakeasy near the spot where the Avengers first formed up (Kathy now with us!) with a swanky vibe, vinyl music, and weird cocktails that didn't quite land for me...but I loved the place.
9pm
Dinner at da Toscano in the Iroquois Hotel. Tiny, pretty place with rich riffs on classic Italian...lamb ragu, bordelaise sauce over beef, great pastas...octopus carpaccio was stunning. Cool hotel lobby bar, too, with lots of old NY pics and vibes. Right next to the Algonquin, did not see Dorothy Parker.
11:30pm
Brian started the drive home (Kathy brought the car), Kathy finished it, thankfully.
We also went to Eataly and the Met in the afternoon. The museum was very cool (suits of armor!). Eataly (home of the now thoroughly dethroned former best sandwich Jack has ever had...porchetta at their roast meat counter) used to be cool. Time marches on.
The next morning
Pepto and war stories for breakfast.
Note: I will be in CDMX, where bars #2, 5, 12, 13, and 19 are on that "top 50 bars in NA" list in October for Dia de Los Muertos. 😉Also hit #6 and #21 earlier this year in Nola. It's a busy year. 🍸🍹🍶🥂
Cheers,
Brian