Summer in NYC

Assorted shout out and photos for H., T., and the lovely S. Cheers for good times and beautiful new found friendships.

Cheering on the Mets at Citifield
Take the 7 to Mets-Willets Point.
First Mets game for T. and S. The Mets may have lost 13-0 but the experience  of the beautiful stadium and lobster roll outweighed all of that.

Chilling with Comfort Food at Wonjo
23 W 32nd St. New York
http://newwonjo.com/
After a night of happy hour specials, I had the idea to get some good hearty food. While I’ve been to Wonjo for Korean BBQ a million times, I stayed from that this time. Cold noodles in beef broth was just the right dish for hot summer nights. I probably should have ordered the regular bibim bop instead of the cold veggie version (which was more like a salad with rice…) Made the right call to order a small seafood pancake for a group of four, just enough food to get people interested but not so much to get all greased out from them. We also ordered the tofu… (I still prefer BCD tofu house but found out they moved recently).

Waving to Statue of Liberty from Staten Island Ferry
White Hall Terminal
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/ferrybus/statfery.shtml

Midtown Night from Brooklyn Bridge
Look for the benches near the middle and enjoy the skyline and the cool evening breeze. There’s nothing quite like crossing the bridge at night. It’s a completely different experience from the day.

Walking together on Summer Streets
This is a NYC city sponsored event where an entire stretch of the city becomes car-free, and the streets are clear for biking, roller-blading, and walking. My two favorite sections of the entire walk were the roadway leading up to Grand Central and the entire downtown section (below Astor or thereabouts). First Saturday I took the entire route from City Hall to 72nd (around 2.5h). Second Saturday I went with T., H., and S. and we had a blast walking south from 51st to 23rd or so. We also tagged on other activities along the way.

 

Eating Brunch at Spoon
17 West 20th street (between 5th and 6th avenues)
http://www.spoonnyc.com/
Three of us ordered the Hungry Man Special, which consisted of two sunny side up eggs, blueberry pancakes with the best syrup ever, toast, bacon and shitake hash browns (the best!). While I didn’t realize this at the time, Spoon is actually my first proper Manhattan brunch after I moved into the city. I guess this is what people call one of the essential city experiences, hanging out with good friends and catching up over good food. I liked it even better since I didn’t have to wait in a long line or anything.

Browsing Books at the Strand and the B&N
Strand 12th Street and Broadway.
http://www.strandbooks.com/index.cfm
B&N Straight on Union SQ north side
http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/store/2675/

Lounging at Ginger Man
11 East 36th Street
http://www.gingerman-ny.com/
Every bar should have comfortable couches in dim-lit corners and 60+ beers on tap. Feel so incredibly spoiled! Before you order any bottled beers, read this wise quote we found at the entrance:



Walking up the steps of NY Public Library at Bryant Park

Taking a break with Ginger and S’Mores Gelato from Ciao Bella in GCT

Admiring the Cloud City exhibit of the Metropolitan Museum
http://www.metmuseum.org/en/exhibitions/listings/2012/tomas-saraceno

Obviously the complete Met experience also included American Wing, Egypt Temple, the Knights and Armor Room, Chinese Garden, and even sitting on the front steps. Pleasantly surprised that T. liked this museum as much as I do.

Just an appetizer from Ooki Sushi
1575 3rd Ave. New York NY 10128  ( between 88th - 89th Street )
http://www.ooki-sushi.com
I can definitely recommend the tuna tataki here (next time will try toro) and it impressed both people in the table next to us (awesome!)

New Stadium New Season

Yesterday I visited the new Mets Stadium with Fyrna. The NY Mets were playing against the Chicago Cubs. Yes, so this is the second season for the stadium but I didn’t make it to a game last year.

I liked the rotunda and the championship trophies inside the museum. My favorite spots have to be the two bridges (Shea bridge and another one that I forgot). If you visit the stadium be sure to walk around and explore! We got seats in the 504 section which is near the first base/right field area. A nice view actually. We actually saw the beautiful sunset.

Everyone’s been telling me about the amazing food selection and they do not disappoint. I thought I got to the stadium early enough for ShakeShack but the line was huge. Right next to it is Blue Smoke which had no lines! I decided to try the pulled-pork sandwich. It came on a nice bun with some thin slices of pickles. Delicious! Next time I may try some seafood at Catch of the Day though. A tip for foodies, if you want a place to eat, you may have to walk a bit. The small tables near ShakeShack and Blue Smoke are very popular. After eating our dinner we found a market where you can buy fresh fruit (crazy huh?)

We walk to seats and start to watch the game. After an inning or so I noticed something was missing: baseball commentators! If you watch the game on tv or listen to it on the radio, you know what I’m talking about! Instead I had to check the board to see what the call was for the pitch, as well as pitch counts. Funny enough, in the bathrooms they do have WFAN 660AM which obviously has the running game commentary. Some fans were smart and brought their little radios. I may consider it next time.

Another note to self: Don’t underestimate the cold evenings in April! Last time I went to an April game I had to buy a hoodie because I was freezing.  This time the hoodie and jacket still weren’t enough. I may need to wear a winter coat and carry a blanket next time. I blame it on the wind chill.

Just in case you thought I didn’t watch the game, I’ll do a bit of summary here. Both starting pitchers  (Santana vs. Gorzelanny) did really well so the game was scoreless for the first 5 or so innings. Luckily for us, the game started to pick up soon, and it was the kind of scoring I enjoy watching (the kind where people bat, run, and drive in runs as opposed to just solo homeruns). I almost wanted to leave after 6th inning but then the Cubs started catching up so we stayed for a bit longer (Mets went through 3 pitchers from the bullpen in one inning I think?) Anyway, K-Rod was amazing so I’m glad we stayed a little bit longer. In order to catch the train and avoid the crowd we ended up going home after top of the 8th inning (4-2). The final score was 5-2.

More Stadium Food related links
Serious Eats http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2009/03/first-look-at-citi-field-food-concession-stands-baseball-mets-shakeshack-danny-meyer.html

Feisty Foodie http://feistyfoodie.com/2009/05/05/citi-field-catch-of-the-day-toscarinos-burgers-fries-mamas-of-corona/

NY Times article http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/03/dining/03food.html

Citifield Guide
http://www.alldowntheline.com/nl/the-citi-field-insiders-guide/