At the shops

Chelsea Market is quite a place, with a history and a support organisation and everything; it's almost a study in upscaling the corner shopping centre. It serves in part as a cafeteria for the Googleplex across the road, with an area selling all sorts of unusual comfort food and raw uncomfortable food for those who prefer that.

(There's an Apple Store a little down the road. I saw a woman wearing Google Glass go in, walk all the way around and walk out. The Apple geeks looked a little upstaged, or at least less qool.)

There's an "Aussie Pie Shop", with meat and other pies; a sushi bar; two cupcake shops and a separate brownie shop; several bars and coffee shops and a variety of small eateries. The Lobster Place (q.v.) sells frozen, fresh, raw or cooked fish and other seafood; and the butcher next door sells cooked meats, hot food, cold cuts or the usual full window.





There's a clothing store, an Indian imports store, a kitchenware store and a pop-up shop (which was crockery last week and this week is selling knives). The greengrocers' store is well-stocked, and has pretty much all the food groceries other than meat and fish (or cupcakes and brownies).

It's quite a hike to the nearest supermarket, though, for non-food groceries. Best bet is the "drug store", a pharmacy on steroids; or a homeware store for lightbulbs and dishwashing detergent. The traders still divvy up the customers' needs like the old corner shopping centre even if each store is a megastore.

Saturday

My, almost a week. Today we ventured to Brooklyn, to look at the flea market on Lafayette Avenue and the borough in general. That part of Brooklyn is quite swish, and leafy - though the borough is historically a working-class district.

The flea market had vintage clothing, vintage and antique curios and some interesting food stalls. The vendors pay 2% of turnover to participate, and there was a nice atmosphere.

From there we had lunch at Cafe Lafayette - an older building with tin ceiling and a cramped style wholly consistent with the French affectations. I had the famous Lafayette Burger, with goat's cheese. The wait staff were excellent, and one was prone to singing the ingredients - at one stage chorusing "Wild Mushrooms".

We planned to make a bee-line for Grand Central Terminal and the Chrysler Building but were distracted by the stalls set up on 6th Avenue and attempting to find 666 Park Avenue (it's there, but as a new block 660-666 Park Avenue).

All along 6th Avenue were a string of stalls - T-shirts, food, Chinese antiques, hats, scarfs and handbags. After a few blocks they seemed to repeat, so it wasn't necessary to go all the way uptown to get all the offerings.



Taking the R train back, we arrived in Union Square and the remnants of the Occupy Wall Street Movement. There was a stall expressing solidarity with OccupyGezi, which I supported.There were also some Hare Krishna's chanting the name of the Lord to be free.

It's an interesting walk back to the apartment, and there were some landmarks like the fortress of the Salvation Army.

I took the time to photograph the window from the butcher's shop at Chelsea Markets for my son the butcher. 

At home, we streamed the Seinfeld episode from Season 9 "The Maid" to renewed amusement and made a mental note to see whether the Soup Nazi's lobster bisque would really make my knees buckle.

Bouley Restaurant

Suited up, I walked with Lynda down Hudson Street through SoHo and into Tribeca to dine at chef David Bouley's restaurant (ahem) Bouley. It was a near thing - a thirty minute walk under threatening skies and thunder; we got a little rained on but found and made it into into the restaurant before the downpour.

The restaurant is nicely appointed under a vaulted ceiling, antique-ish furniture and a fondness for large impressionist paintings and spring colours. We were seated at a table for two, me on a padded chair and Lynda on one end of a lounge which also served as two seats for the adjoining table. There was a little lamp to one side with a sparrow motif, which unfortunately would go out from time to time if the cord was kicked.

I didn't take photos of the venue nor the food; while there was no explicit prohibition, I guessed that the 1% don't embrace the concept and the general air of snootiness prevailed. We slack-jawed yokels hate to be spotted, we'd dressed up to pretend otherwise. There are pics on the website which suffice. The restaurant has been converted from something quite monumental, and extends downstairs for apparently private rooms nearer the washrooms :-)

We decided to go with what the restaurant refreshingly describes as a tasting menu, with matched wines. This disturbed the head waiter a little, because he could not bring us a bottle of wine to drink while we looked at the menu. The wine list wasn't that extravagent in the bottom range, though there were $1000+ wines for those who wanted them.

To start, we were served more than usually fancy sparkling water and two different warm dinner rolls with a silver pot of fresh, sweetened butter. Two amuse-bouches - a small dish of lobster in almond yoghurt and sweet sauce, and a crisp with truffled puree "to open the palate". Success.

The bread waiter then brought around the Normandy butter, saltier and better, and promised to bring the restaurant's 8 choices of in-house bread later.

For the tasting menu one chooses 6 courses from a list of more than a dozen, pacing from appetiser to dessert. I chose:

Forager’s Treasure of Wild Mushrooms
Sweet Garlic, Special Spices, Grilled Toro, Black Truffle Dressing
Porcini Flan
Alaska Live Dungeness Crab, Black Truffle Dashi
Organic Connecticut Farm Egg
Ibérico Pata Negra Ham, Wild Ramp Broth
Organic Long Island Duck
Organic Golden Nevada Dates
Hudson Valley Hand Milled Polenta, Brook Farm Organic Cherries
Chilled Rhubarb Soup
Santa Barbara Organic Strawberries, Homemade Almond Milk Sorbet
Bergamot, Passion Fruit & Pineapple Soufflé
Pistachio Melting Core, 10 Exotic Flavor Sorbet

Lynda chose four different dishes for courses 1, 3, 4 and 5:
Cape Cod Oysters
Chilled with Kiwi and Hyssop
Chatham Day Boat Lobster
Fresh Morels, Spring Asparagus
Pinot Noir Sauce
Organic Colorado Rack of Lamb “En Cocotte”
Soubise of Cipollini, Zucchini Mint Purée
Tangerine, Clementine, Mandarin Parfait
Lychee Sorbet

Chef also sent to the table another amuse-bouche of a slice of turbot over carrot puree with a shaving of "Australian black truffles - the only ones we can get in summer" before the "mains". Bread waiter also sneaked in with his bread cart, and I chose the hazelnut and pistachio bread. Before the two dessert dishes, Chef sneaked in a "White Chocolate Cloud" which looked like a small block of icecream, but melted into nothingness in the mouth.

The sommelier told us little stories about each wine, and why he had chosen that one to be matched to the food. I do not believe he just walked up with whatever was open in the kitchen.

Serving waiter and cutlery waitress worked hard too. The restaurant has plenty of staff and they all had one job to do. Cutlery waitress has a big tray of silver and bone-handled antique cutlery and changed our working tools every few minutes. 

Each of the dishes - smallish, in a unique dish or bowl - was exquisite. I got lost in some of the flavours, and the excitement of the meal grew as each course came out. I think the mushrooms and the egg souffle dish were the best, but the dessert souffle was the best too. Oh, and the duck was the best - apart from the petit-fours with the coffee - they were the best.

As we left, the greeting waitress gave Lynda a little bag with a sweet french cake in it for Ron. We walked about 5% of the meal off on the way home, with the skies now clear and all well in the world.

Kim and Lynda Cruise

I've been enjoying a new Veneto grappa, Sarpa Di Poli, which comes with a fancy stopper and inside a tin can, for the planet's sake. Subtle fragrant highlights; promotes sound, sudden sleep. It's Artisan, don't you know?

This morning we were tempted to visit a gallery of B&W photos curated by Alec Baldwin from a selection candid photos of 60s and 70s rock icons via Rock Paper Photo. The collection is online, they're hoping to sell signed works at a premium over the cost of the paper. I particularly liked one of Robert Plant at the peak of his powers, but the others were interesting too.

We were on a mission to the piers - as obvious as it may be to history and real estate, a city like New York (or Sydney etc) which was built up on being a good port finds in time that ports need to be in a cheaper place. The piers close down, infrastructure moves elsewhere and a myriad of trendy bars takes over the riverside.  A long walk along the Hudson River - it was amusing to see one considerable continuing use of the old piers and warehouses was the NYPD compound for towed vehicles caught for parking violations. There were lots, perhaps it's cheaper to throw away the car than pay the fine. 

We took up another one of the New York City Pass vouchers, the Circle Line sightseeing cruise, which leaves from the Pier 83 at the end of 42nd Street. It was a good day for a cruise, and we went most of the way around Manhattan and back again, with a detour for Staten Island and lots of snapshots of the Statue of Liberty.

There was a guide giving a continuing monologue about the important buildings, where celebrities alive and dead resided, and things of interest on the other shores - New Jersey, Queens and Brooklyn.

I got an explanation for the massive vertical nets at one former pier (apparently the pier from whence The Titanic unsuccessfully sailed). People practice golf there, and the nets catch the driven golf balls.

The current tourist trick is to line each couple or group in front of a green screen and take a digital photo on the way in to the attraction - we got it at the Empire State Building too - so by the time you finish there is a photo montage of said tourists in front of a vista, purchasable there or later online with even more options for photo-cups, fridge magnets and more more more. In the Natural History Museum, they offered to montage the family as if terrorised by pterodactyls or mauled by mandrills. All good fun and clever use of cheaper photography. However, we walked straight past the Circle Line photo stall since the online offers are capable of a more shrewd discernment.

Up 42nd Street, we stepped into a supermarket for the necessaries and the lols and both were in good supply.  For example, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in icecream form:

Yes, those are red-white-and-blue roses for the 4th of July.


We decided to walk back along 8th Avenue and past the New Yorker Hotel (I stayed there for a conference in 2003) and all the way home. Tonight - Bouley Restaurant.

Naturally

Now that we are subway veterans, we strode confidently to the C Train to 72nd Street for the American Natural History Museum. It's an impressive building to the west of Central Park, with a superheroic statue of Teddy Roosevelt out the front and much dedicated to his quotes, memory and commitment to the natural world.

Starting at the top floor, there were displays of dinosaurs to excite the inner 6-year-old, and interesting facts for any age. While it's not as charming as the Natural History Museum in London, there are some wonderful displays showing vistas of the natural world, and displays showing mankind's various attempts at civilization around the world.

We were footsore after 4 hours, so adjourned to Columbus Avenue for a Lonely-Planet recommended grill which now calls itself A.G's Kitchen. I had the Aussie Burger, which is a regular burger with caramelised onions and extra mushrooms. It was pretty good with a glass of Zinfandel.

Columbus Avenue is interesting, but for another day. Keeping up the momentum, we then went to the Empire State Building for adventures in vertigo and views from the 86th Floor.



While it's well worthwhile to see the 360 degree view of the city, the crowds and winds make it a less than totally satisfactory experience - so the Citypass offers a second glimpse after 10pm on the same day.

While uptown, a visit to the mega-crowded Times Square seemed a good idea. I saw Zumba dancing in public outside Macy's,  look -

There's a lot of construction, and the sidewalks are encroached by public bicycle racks and building works. Still, lots of pretty neon and a sense of excitement as all the lights are all so bright on Broadway.

Back on the subway to home turf, and another visit to the Lobster Place for some lobster for dinner. I notice for the first time that they're selling a range of lobster and crab ravioli, which is certainly going to get a run later.

After listening to Rachel Maddow on TV getting stuck into the Texan government's conjunctional assault on women's reproductive rights and voter ID registration, it was interesting to reflect on the comparative sanity and moderation of the Australian body politic.

Lightning and rain tonight in NYC ... and a threat of fog tomorrow.