Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

On a tip we started at the Corner Bistro, an amazingly unrenovated bar a few blocks away. Lynda had a grilled cheese sandwich, la specialite de la maison, and I admired the pressed-tin ceiling, the pressed-copper panelling, the oak bar and floor and the beer-motifed stained glass over the bar. Just brilliant old New York.

From there, we took the subway to the (Solomon R.) Guggenheim Museum uptown, in a part of town known as the Museum Mile and not Struggle Street.

The museum was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright as a series of spiral ramps creating a cylinder wider at the top than the bottom. It's light, airy and looks futuristic in a retro way.

Outside, the street vendors sell a higher quality of art than usual and the gelati is - but of course - both Artisanal and Organic.

"

Inside - well not much. Despite spiral after spiral of wall space, there's only three side galleries of any substance and while we like the "Kandinsky in Paris" display and some early surrealist paintings, and a couple of really nice Picassos, there's not a lot to see. The James Turrell installation, including a colour show in the central atrium, was pretty dull for a light show imo. No photos allowed inside, and only a tiny fraction of the museum's collection on display.

I buy a nice hoodie and a T-shirt from the gift shop for Art's Sake.

We were motivated to have another go at visiting Serendipity3, a famous uptown eatery known best for its sundaes, and started to walk down Madison Avenue, noting the upscale establishments ...

... but then the clouds opened and that was the end of that. We took a cab to S3, but it was as full as, bro; the streets having emptied of people as ducking into an eatery - any eatery - was a major rain-avoidance strategy. I believe we'll get there. The rain seemed to be going on and on, so we took another cab home to West Village and - blue skies. The weather is much better in our part of the island :-)

As we missed lunch, searching online for interesting restaurants became quite frenzied, and I booked a couple for the next few days - L'Artusi on Saturday and Blue Hill (West Village) on Monday.

What's new

There are a couple of websites under heavy subway advertising - Zipcar and Seamless. Both are disruptive, Zipcar rents cars by the hour or the day, so you don't have to put up with "the sucky bits" of car ownership. Seamless allows you to order pickup or home delivery from nearby restaurants; not a new idea (it's been a long time phone service in most big towns) but this site is well executed - it says what's open now, and available ASAP to your address. So at 12.30am local time there are 28 instant options for me on Hudson Street and another 300 in my immediate area that are currently closed.

A pet products website offering overnight delivery in NYC is cleverly marketed. "Click the mouse to feed your cat" and similar jolly slogans. Pets.com famously failed in the dotcom days, so it'll be interesting to see whether pet owners find a single-purpose grocery website compelling. There are lots of pet parlours, pet daycare centres and specialist pet shops in NYC so perhaps they're on to something.

We haven't watched much television, but the medical adverts are a surprise - Big Pharma markets direct and cancer treatment centres are very competitive ("Results May Vary"). Generally the TV adverts have high production values and over-lawyered disclaimers.  

We've been surpised by the number of people walking around with casts and protective coverings on (it seems invariably) the right leg. Is there a risk to limb (at least) that we don't know about?

The mullet dress (short at the front, long at the back) is quite popular and will haunt memories for years to come. There's a boy's variant where the shirt is tucked in at the front but hangs out on the back and sides.

Colour coordination is exact, down to matching acrylic sunglasses and one-inch nails. Stretch pants are quite common, and often containing buttocks the size of volkswagons. Did I mention that obesity appears to be a soda-guzzling, cake-scoffing, fried and sweetened issue? Your humble narrator has in fact lost a few kilos walking around but only as a consequence of resisting temptation and supersized meals.

I've found a bunch of keen restaurants to try and will list them here as my checklist:

Redfarm - a no-reservations brasserie crossed with a dim sum restaurant.
Mas (Farmhouse) - modern take on French cuisine.
Frankies 570 Sputano - solid Italian nonna cooking with a modern twist.
Amelie - French and mixed European cuisine.
Perla - fussy nose-to-tail cooking.

fx: to the tune of "The Boy From New York City"

"Nom-nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom-nom..."

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

A trip uptown to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a huge monumental building on the western fringe of Central Park.

We'd arrived a little early, and queues snaked left and right around the block, however once the doors opened the line proceeded briskly and we were (as is our habit) on the way to the top floor to see an installation on the roof garden - a blood-red design by a Pakistani artist Imran Qureshi.

Abseiling down, there is a good collection of modern European artists - a room chokka with Van Goghs, and the tedious blousy Renoirs among the pillars of the modern art establishment. More interesting is the emphasis on "period rooms"- reconstructions of living rooms from American history from the austerity of the Shakers to the opulence and higher craft values of the wealthy colonials.

 

 

We spent more than five hours looking around, and were "museumed-out" before we'd seen all there was to see. Tough luck Greco-Roman art, the oriental art was too interesting and the exhibition on the Cyrus Cylinder from the Persian empire was a curious mix of history, myth and bible study.

 

A major installation was "Punk: Chaos to Couture" - examining the Summer of Hate from the standpoint not of the music, but the fashion. Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm Maclaren are therefore the leaders, not Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious - the punk acts relegated to models for the clothing. Meh, if you say so, fashionistas. There were $595 T-shirts on sale for the true believers.

This one was interesting - a sculpture by Sarah Bernhardt of her dead lover.

 

The installation on the art and photography of the American Civil War was ok for a quick look, but seemed to lack either the cohesion of a war narrative or a full snapshot of the art of the period. There were a number of awesome landscapes, seemingly exhibited just because they were painted around then.

This is an early model of the Statue of Liberty, used to fundraise for the construction of the Staten Island installation. 

The armory collection was pleasing - full suits of armour and (in many cases) matching shaffrons for the horses.

One level showed we were beated for the day - it's called the Visual Storage, and it's a series of glass cabinets completely full of all sorts of antiques, artifacts and curios. There's no way one could roam those tight corridors without being overwhelmed.

There's an admirable emphasis on sculpture too - several airy wings with sculptures and friezes, and in some cases facades from historic buildings or walls.

Frank Lloyd Wright has a couple of rooms dedicated to his interior designs, along with fellow-travellers like Louis Comfort Tiffany.

I really enjoyed seeing the original John Singer Sargent paintings, including the Madame X painting I have as a print in my office.

I wondered whether the Van Gogh Irises was the one that Alan Bond lost his shirt over, but no. The one here was a gift, the other is in the Getty museum in Los Angeles, still one of the world's most valuable paintings.

There are several good cafes and spaces reserved for members, and I can seriously not recommend the ground floor cafe left for the general public.

We stumbled out, too weary to even give the Met Shop a decent glance.

So, all that culture made us reach for the credit card - off to Bloomingdales historic department store on 59th Street.

As part of the CityPass, the store offers a somewhat surly 15% discount certificate which (while heavily disclaimed in this age of leased sub-stores) would be a better bargain if it weren't for the fact the store was extensively advertising 30-60% off everything in a sale commencing on July 4th. Yes, "don't buy today" was the compelling narrative, so we didn't. After a coffee on the sixth floor, we split up for just over an hour to see what was to see, but nothing so irresistible as to justify jumping the gun on the Independence Day Sale coming up in two days. Some nice kitchen porn; very attractive pots and pans and lots of gadgets we'd need a new kitchen cupboard to store (and a new kitchen to store the new cupboard in).

I quite liked the offerings from men's designers Hugo Boss, Ted Baker and a series of greens and greys from John Varvatos. Maybe Wednesday :-)

Back home along 14th Street, a quiet night in for the footsore. 

Daniel Restaurant

Uptown by cab to Daniel Restaurant, said to be one of the best restaurants in the world. The cab ride was intense, racing up 8th Avenue to Central Park and then crossing through the park on 65th Street. Because the consequences of patience may include missing several rotations of the green light, the cabbies turn the roads and intersections into Nascar fat-tracks where cars squeeze together in groups of four or more. I have faith in the cabbie - as Carlos Castaneda wrote it's a case of "having to believe", as in "I have to believe the chef washed his hands".


I'm pretty confident that the chefs at Daniel wash their hands. It's a very swish, art deco theme restaurant with staff falling over themselves - three greeters for example. On the walls are paper collages that are original art and the tables are well appointed with starched linen and antique-style silver cutlery. We were seated at a round table with N and W seating, the better to share the tasting plates and speculate about the other patrons.

Our waiter looked like Vladimir Putin with a strong, perhaps genuine, French accent. Many of the dishes were brought by another fellow of Latino appearance who was absolutely unintelligible to my Australian ears - as he explained the dishes' particular qualities or described the matched wines, we would nod and go "aha".

We went for the 6-course tasting plates - presented as a choice of 12, we decided to go with all the alternates so as to try everything. This generally involved eating 2/3rds of a plate and tasting a sample of the other, so we swapped plates a bit. Generally the matched wines were the same. The other tasting plate option was eight courses and wines chosen by the chef, which seemed to stray into excess and potluck. 

The bread board wasn't very interesting, but the rolls were nice - a multigrain roll and a cheesy one were tasty with the home-blended butter.

No food porn photos - the restaurant explicitly forbids photography and the snootiness is turned up to eleven.

This is what we ate:

SIX COURSE TASTING MENU

 

DUCK TERRINE WITH BASIL POACHED FROG HOLLOW FARM PEACH
Green Almond, Celery, Wood Sorrel
or
MOSAÏC OF QUAIL WITH PICKLED HON SHIMEJI
Muscat Grapes, Sherry Gelée, Purple Watercress Salad
Young Vegetables, Mustard Cream
Vollenweider, Riesling Kabinett “Goldgrube”, Mosel 2010

(The Riesling was spectacular; I who dislike white wines liked it very much).


SHIMAAJI “AU VIN BLANC”
Poached with Riesling and Celery Mustard Salad
Lightly Smoked Rillette with Green Asparagus
Tartare with Northern Lights Caviar
or
TRIO OF HAMACHI
Beet Cured with Chive Oil
Tartare with Wasabi and Northern Lights Caviar
Confit with Sorrel Coulis and Yellow Beet
Domaine Bailly Sancerre “Cuvée Chavignol”, Loire Valley 2012


BUTTER POACHED JADE TIGER ABALONE WITH SEA BUCKTHORN
Sake “Beurre Blanc”, Braised Escarole, Short Grain Rice Croquette
or
SWISS CHARD AND CLOUMAGE RAVIOLI
Oregon Porcini, Twig Farm Fuzzy Wheel Cheese
Lomo Iberico, Savagnin-Melilot Sauce
Jean-Louis Chave, “Céleste”, Saint-Joseph, Rhône 2010

CANTIMPALO CHORIZO WRAPPED MONKFISH STUFFED WITH LOBSTER
Wild Black Rice, Yogurt Braised Eggplant, Creeping Jenny Flower
or
OVEN BAKED BLACK SEA BASS WITH SYRAH SAUCE
Oregano-Zucchini Millefeuille and Tempura
Cipollini Onion Marmalade, Green Peppercorn-Potato Duchesse
Copain, Pinot Noir “Tous Ensemble”,
Anderson Valley, California 2010


TRIO OF MILK FED VEAL
Roasted Tenderloin with White and Green Asparagus
Braised Cheeks with Hen of the Woods Mushroom
Sweetbreads with Grilled Spring Onion and Piquillo
or
DUO OF BEEF
Braised Black Angus Short Ribs
Horseradish-Cauliflower Purée, Hen of the Wood, Broccoli
Seared Wagyu Tenderloin, Crispy Potato, Smoked Beef Tongue
Château Robin Côtes-de-Castillon, Bordeaux 2009

TROPICAL-COCONUT VACHERIN
Guava Gel, Mango-Vanilla Swirl, Meringue
Château Pajzos 5 Puttonyos Aszú, Tokaji 2003
or
WARM GUANAJA CHOCOLATE COULANT
Liquid Caramel, Fleur de Sel, Milk Sorbet
Domaine de Rancy Rivesaltes Ambré, Roussillon 1996

Coffee and petit fours were fine, without being dazzling. On the whole I preferred the food and wine at Bouley, notwithstanding that Daniel is more highly rated and a bit pricier.

Speaking of which, at the cab door the waiter remarked more in sorrow than anger that I'd under-tipped and had made him worried that our experience had been deficient. I'll take a hint from Richard Grant (*) and tip a bit more heavily in future. Sorry, Vladimir. 

(*) What about tipping? "I always tip because I was a waiter in Covent Garden and I know that's what a waiter relies on, and unless the service has really been pants, I feel duty-bound to over-tip, or to tip generously."

Rainy days and Mundanes

It's persisting down with rain, so much so that the weather bureau has issued a flash flood warning. The rain breaks for a few minutes every so often, so it's possible to get about with just a mild sprinkling but an umbrella is necessary for a walk of more than a few blocks.

Small trips for coffee aside, I spent the morning indoors. I visited the Human Rights Campaign site, one of the dozen civil society groups which had stalls at the Pridefest yesterday. HRC is campaigning across the country for law reform and I made a donation to help them make this country a bit more law-abiding. A bit of blogging; and some Uni work; and a bit of a read of The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell.   

Lynda has found a drop-in yoga class nearby, so is investigating that. We had thought of going to the movies, but there's too much and too little choice (just like the TV). We have an early meal booked at Daniel Restaurant uptown, so there's not much time to head out anyway and (being Monday) most of the art galleries are closed.

Pridefest and the NYC Pride Parade

The NYC Pride celebrations went over a few days, including a rally last Friday with Lady Gaga, a candlelight remembrance ceremony on Saturday and other events. We're fortunate to be staying right in the centre of the Hudson Street Pridefest, so it was literally outside our front door.

The street was blocked off in the early morning, and stalls put up along four blocks. There was a stage for music all day at the north end, with volunteers running a volunteer support stand (a bit recursive, but showed how organised everyone is). The Pridefest workers all had colour-coded t-shirts marked with their responsibilities and the corporates putting up the stalls seemed to be very much geared up for the day. One bank in particular had stall after stall offering face-painting and netbanking, and I also saw a Betty Crocker stand expressing cakey solidarity with all families.

Plenty of food carts for the jumping crowd, and several stalls giving away free samples of electronic "cigarettes" which were very popular. There's not that much smoking in public, and most buildings forbid smoking outside.

After having a quick perambulation up and down Hudson Street, we headed for 5th Avenue and the parade. There was a steady line of people sitting in camp chairs along 5th Avenue, almost everybody either dressed for a gay party or wearing a rainbow motif. Vendors were everywhere selling rainbow flags, ties, t-shirts and flags-as-capes. Hard to estimate crowds, but the city as a whole seemed to be enjoying the day. The police were in force, shutting off all the sidestreets from traffic (and carefully managing the occasional relief crossing of 5th Avenue for pedestrians and cars). The lady cops were getting smooched by passing lesbians and seemed to be pleased and blushing at the attention.

We got there early, so walked from the Flatiron Building to Barnes & Noble to have a quick look inside before the parade got to that street.

The parade started with the two top brass police cars, then women on motorcycles, followed by men on motorcycles (with a group of Harley riders really making some noise). Then the Grand Marshals - I recognised Harry Belafonte and Edie Fisher (the plaintiff in the recent Supreme Court case which struck down the Defence of Marriage Act).

Corporate "floats" - or at least vans - were common and several had people passing samples, beads or flags to the crowd. Wearing multiple beads a la Mardi Gras seemed to be a thing.

The parade seemed to thin out after a while - public services and unions were well represented, and several politicians took the moment to (ahem) parade their support for equal rights. To be fair, one was actually running on a GLBT platform, but Governor Cuomo was shameless in having a spruiker try to get the crowd to shout out his name.

We walked back to Hudson Street, recharged the batteries (as one must) and then went downstairs to the street party. The outfits continued to be outrageous, with lots of people putting in a big effort.

It started to rain so we ducked into Hudson Bar and Books. Very civilized bar, with its own brand of cigars and more whiskeys than I've ever seen. We had cocktails and a cigar, then I had a Glenmorangie Signet for the memory of my departed comrade Thomson, I.

Back home for tea - the lobster ravioli was not brilliant - and prepared for another walk to the piers along the Hudson River for the fireworks. We got there early and took a position on the waterfront. The mood was festive, not too much aggro, though we felt a little out of zone because:
* the crowd was 99.9% black;
* the crowd was 80% lesbian, and frisky with it; and
* the crowd was smoking a lot of pot.

There was a large police presence, but they kept well away near the main road. However, there were parks&rec people walking next to the paths to make sure people didn't sit on the grass.

Nonetheless, it was an amazing people-watching experience.

When the fireworks finally started a bit before 10pm it was a bit anti-climactic so we left before the finish to beat the crowds - such was the crush that the police were herding and moving on people to clear intersections. The first episode of season 8 of Dexter awaits ...