NYC : 10/29/21. The Big Apple Still Feels Like Home!

After quick breakfast, we headed out together to meet old friends of mine (Mike and Dorie Greenspan) at Odeon in Tribeca. We walked part way and taxied part way. We were pleasantly surprised to be able to spend a short time with their son and daughter-in-law and their toddler (about 15 months old I think). As you can see the family is very photogenic.

Mike and I have known Mike and Dorie for decades and it’s always nice to connect. Dorie is a cookbook writer with a new book out just a few weeks ago, so she’s busy on the book tour circuit (although much of it will be done remotely this time). Good lunch and good conversation. Carol left the lunch a bit earlier to connect up with some people with whom we would have dinner later that night and I spent a bit more time with Mike and Dorie. Mike and I will meet up with them in Paris in January on our way home from our Christmas trip to Geneva.

I then walked from Tribeca to the hotel to freshen up and to get a little exercise given that this would be a non-stop eating day. In any case, I still love to stroll NY in spite of the fact that I’ve probably walked these same streets hundreds of times. Somehow there’s always something new and fresh to see. This time, I was able to marvel at the creativity of the outdoor eating parklets that have been created and are now being “winterized” to stand up to colder and wetter weather.

Eventually, I strolled to the dinner restaurant where I met up with Carol and her friends. They selected Daniel Boulad’s Le Pavillon at One Vanderbilt Avenue (literally just across from Grand Central on the south side). There had been a previous version of Le Pavillon from the 1940s to the 1970s. Naturally, I had never been to that one as it was way too upscale for a starving student in the 70s. But here it is, recreated (in concept I suppose) in a phenomenal space that is overrun with huge plants and walkways as well as spectacular views of both Grand Central and also the Chrysler Building. It’s a three-course meal where you make your own selections from each part of the menu. I started with wonderfully prepared roasted octopus with some kind of tiny peas, followed by duck breast with turnips and plums, and ended with a poached pear. It was a very elegant evening although not as over the top as some places. By the time we finished dinner, it was absolutely pouring outside and we arrived back at the hotel totally drenched…despite Carol’s valiant attempt to use some kind of transparent rain thing that folds into a pocket-sized envelope. I’m sure that after one use, there is no way to refold it.

October 30, 2021

For Saturday, my plan was to give Carol a royal tour of Brooklyn [We had a car rented which I planned to pick up in Soho, drive over the Brooklyn Bridge, head for breakfast in Vinegar Hill, then on to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade for great views back into Manhattan, then drive through or stroll some of Brooklyn Heights and then on to Carroll Gardens and to Fort Greene where we could walk the Pratt Campus; then to Park Slope and Prospect Park, and on to Borough Park where I grew up (it’s now a totally Hasidic neighborhood), a quick look at where I spent my early years, and then on to Coney Island Avenue to drive all the way to Coney Island (through an incredibly changing set of ethnic neighborhoods), a stop at Nathan’s and then walk the boardwalk with a stop at one of the many Russian restaurants that now populate the boardwalk. Then it was to be a drive through Sheepshead Bay and eventually wind up on Flatbush Avenue and head to Grand Army Plaza and then Bushwick which is now home to some amazing murals; eventually we’d wind up in Williamsburg for dinner.) But alas, the weather prediction was for rain and that just didn’t seem like a good way to see Brooklyn. So we switched gears.

I quickly made reservations at the Bryant Park Grill for brunch.. so that we could go into the Main Public Library which often has good exhibits. And they had a good one – “The Color of a Flea’s Eye” – an overview and history of the New York Public Library’s Picture Collection, which began about a century ago. It’s an unbelievable resource that has been used for very diverse reasons over these many years. The Library’s collection is totally amazing and they did a good job of summarizing it. Romana Javitz started the collection in the 1920s and she really created its ethos and also a way of cataloging the millions of images. Just think –– all of this was before the Internet and computer. The categories include things like “People on Streets,” “Handshakes,” etc. They are all hard copies including original photographs by everyone from Diane Arbus to Walker Evans to Weegee. 

Since nothing was planned for this day (other than the cancelled Brooklyn trip) and we were trying to be indoors to avoid the rain, we then headed to Alphabet City to visit the Museum of Reclaimed Spaces (which I knew would be pretty funky given its location on Avenue C!) Frankly, I thought it might be in someone’s apartment. But it was a storefront and clearly a hangout for young people to create posters and conceive tools for protest demonstrations to try to ensure the preservation and creation of public spaces, especially urban gardens. The “exhibit” is in the basement, down a stairway that clearly would not meet any city code. But it was fun and they are doing good work. We strolled a bit and then stopped for a snack at Wayland, an unexpectedly good little place. We had something they called Milk and Honey – Burrata on 7-grain homemade bread/toast with honey drizzled.. A perfect snack. Then we walked through Tompkins Square Park and back to the hotel to freshen up for yet another meal.

One more email to wrap up Saturday night and Sunday morning.. before heading back to California –

All the best –

Fern