NYC series no.10: restaurants

When I prepared a budget for the trip, I kept staring at the amounts I set aside for meals, knowing they were too low. Still, I never changed the numbers. We did, in fact, go overbudget on the meals, but my budget was padded in other ways and we managed to stay within our means overall.

Going out in NYC was almost twice as much for what I'd like to spend on family dining but it never seemed unreasonable. I had a good idea of what restaurants would be family friendly, which is taken pretty seriously on the Upper West Side, and we certainly knew that this was not going to be a trip for gastronomical indulgences. Typically, we look for entrees that might be split for the boys or sides that may serve as main courses for the boys, but in the New York restaurants it was apparent we had to rely on the children's menus they offered, and generally the prices for kid's meals were not unreasonable in the scheme of things. What I found humorous was that each restaurant we went to had its own take on the boys' favorites. You'd read the description and it would take you a moment to realize it was just basically a grilled cheese sandwich (Jack's favorite) or macaroni and cheese (Ry's favorite). Alternatively, Jack would eat hot dogs (which was on most menus, too) and Ry would eat spaghetti and meatballs. So they ate well in NYC.

We started off poorly with our first meal at Chicago Midway. I was going to save this for a separate blog on the airports but we found ourselves eating on the A concourse going to NYC at a place with pizza and pasta. It was really horrible and the prices were shocking. A bad start. There was a Ben & Jerry's in the food court that we stopped at both going and coming back. On our way back, we got a table at Harry Caray's in the food court and that turned out good. The boys played chess there, and Cyndi and I had a beer between flights. Our last indulgence.

Our first meal in NYC was with Ariel at La Bonne Soupe, where we had lunch Friday on our outing that started with the Lego store and proceeded up 5th Avenue. It was on 55th Street in Midtown. We arrived early for lunch, about 11:30, and for a brief moment we wondered if were arriving too early. It turned out perfectly. The only tables taken at that time were the two or three small tables on the balcony above the street. We were seated at a very nice table upstairs in the room just off the balcony, surrounded by colorful paintings. I had Soupe a l'Oignon, served with a salad and a glass of red wine. Cyndi and Ariel each had quiche and salad, as I recall, and this is one place where the boys had a cheeseburger (Jack) and a hamburger (Ry). We shared a chocolate mousse, a flan (creme caramel), and a chocolate gelato. When we left, the place was full.

That evening we skipped the Toys R Us flagship store in Times Square, after buying our tickets for Mary Poppins the following evening, and hurried back on the subway to meet Ariel and Chris at Isabella's. This restaurant was in our neighborhood, on Columbus Avenue at 77th Street, just across from the American Museum of Natural History. It was a pretty bistro, but not overly fancy. I made reservations sometime in the afternoon and we arrived just at the right time. I think it was after 9, and the room was busy, a popular place to dine on the Upper West Side. It had rained that afternoon and between the rain, the humidity, and our outing around Midtown, not to mention the subways and the walk to the restaurant from the station, we didn't feel very fresh. They seated us, and we stored our umbrellas in the corner. Ariel and Chris were about ten minutes away, so we ordered cocktails. With the ambiance, the cocktails, and the air conditioning, we were revived. The boys nibbled on bread and began entertaining the next table with some magic lights we purchased at FAO Schwarz that morning. It was very clear that children were welcome by both the restaurant and its patrons. Our neighboring table actually enjoyed our boys.

At some point the restaurant lights dimmed. I remember this because I couldn't read by the light of the tea candles and Cyndi loaned me her reading glasses. That was a first. The waitress brought the boys' dinners out quickly, without us asking. We ordered the least expensive bottle of an Argentinian Malbec. Ariel and Cyndi split a chopped salad and a salmon special. Chris had gnocci, which I remember because Ariel told us the story of him making the best gnocci ever. He thought the gnocci he had that night was comparable to his. And I had a tasty linguine dish. For dessert, the boys split a chocolate chip ice cream sandwich, Ariel and Chris split a brownie sundae, and Cyndi and I split a citrus vanilla creme brulee.

We caught up with Ariel and Chris. I don't think it was grilling, but I kept asking questions about what Chris was doing. It sounded fascinating, that's why I kept asking, and I was curious how their time might play out in Manhattan. As it turns out, there's some thought of going to David's school in Pullman where there is a research lab connected to the work Chris is doing now at Rockefeller University. We asked about his parents, too, who we liked and who are excited about a wedding next year. We parted at the restaurant. It might have been around 11, and we walked back to our hotel, past the brownstones on 75th.

On Saturday, we had a snack in the cafe at the American Museum of Natural History and a late snack at the theater, neither of them having any nutritional value. We also grabbed some refreshments at Trader Joe's and hot dogs at Gray's Papaya near our subway station, but due to my own failure we will not speak of those hot dogs again and consider it a do-over for our next trip to NYC. So the closest we came to a meal that day was in Central Park at the Loeb Boathouse. It's a pretty spot by the lake, with people rowing and even gondolas. We came upon it after meandering through the Ramble. It looked like a nice place for a brunch, which Ariel and Chris recommended as a very NYC thing to do. We had sandwiches overlooking the lake, behind a restaurant, at an informal cafe, before following the lake to Bethesda Fountain. The boys and I grabbed really good smoothies at a Starbucks next door to the Sony Wonder Lab later, and other than these our nourishment that day came from our refrigerator in our hotel room.

On Sunday, we had a good pizza at John's on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village. Half cheese, half sliced meatballs. We walked from the chess store, and I wondered what we would find. Would it be crowded? As we approached, there was a group of people standing outside. My heart sank. But when we got to the door, it was clear that they weren't waiting in line. They were just tourists on a walking tour of Greenwich Village. We got a booth immediately. The booth was covered with names scratched into the wood. Jack was a little turned off by the very old bathroom. The linoleum on the floor was worn. The people were great. We ordered a pizza and a pitcher of root beer. When I asked if I could add the sliced meatballs on half, I asked the man if that was good. He said, in good humor, that if I didn't think it was good they would get us one we did like. It was delicious. The crust was cracker thin. The boys struggled with the slices. I should have shown them how to fold them but wondered if they'd take me seriously.

In the evening we dined at Alma in Brooklyn, a favorite of Ariel's and Chris's. I mentioned this restaurant on my blog about views, since that was the afternoon Ariel drove us to Pier 6 for a ferry to and a bicycle ride on Governor's Island. Alma was close to their previous apartment, before they moved to Manhattan. It had a cozy neighborhood bar on the first floor where we waited for the prime tables on the covered rooftop with its view of Lower Manhattan. On the rooftop, we sat in the shade of early evening. There was a slight breeze. The food was exquisite. The company was wonderful. Cyndi and I had an anejo. I was intrigued because they offered an enchilada dish with what they said was New Mexico chile. I had to try it. It was presented exactly as how it would be prepared in New Mexico. The red chile seemed more complex than I would expect in New Mexico, perhaps more like a mole sauce. But it was delicious. I'm not sure what the others had this evening: we ordered some guacamole; the boys maybe a quesadilla; Cyndi maybe a fish taco; Chris fajitas.

(I just Skyped Ariel to ask what she had. Probably a favorite. She answered that she had the Poblano Relleno, stuffed with short ribs and gouda, served over a yellow mole sauce, topped with crispy yucca. Yum! And she reminded me that Jack fell asleep and had his half of the quesadilla when we got back to the hotel.)

On Monday, we had lunch at the cafe at MOMA. Once again we went early and beat all the crowds. We sat by a window, overlooking 53rd Street. The menu was mostly bruschetta and pannini. The kids' menu had mozarella panini (grilled cheese, although Jack couldn't eat the last bite of mozarella; it came with apple slices, too) and pasta with butter and cheese (yummy macaroni and cheese), along with a bowl of fresh berries and two cookies.

That night Ariel joined us and we walked down Broadway to Arte's Delicatessen, "a traditional retro 1930's New York delicatessen." This is where it was Rylee's turn to fall asleep during dinner, after an early morning wake up call for The Today Show and afternoon skateboarding. I'm sure I should have ordered a pastrami Rueben, but the brisket dinner sounded good to me. Cyndi had a large salad, since she was dying for something green, and Ariel had our favorite: The Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner. It was sensational--the stuffing, the turkey, the mashed potatoes, the vegetables, and the cranberry relish. Huge! Even after Cyndi and I helped Ariel, there was still plenty for Chris back at home. Ariel soon left us that night, to get back to her apartment on her bike. We would be up early the next day to head home.