Birthday Trip Report 3/18-3/22/2009

Came to New York for 4 days to turn 50 and see Fleetwood Mac!

March 18 (Wednesday) Arrived LGA at noon, debated cab to Chinatown or MTA, decided to try out what we’ve learned on Tripadvisor. We had landed with USAir so we had to go to the American Terminal to get a 7 Day metrocard at a Newsstand. Odd that only one stand had the card, but not really too much of a hassle. The M60 bus arrived in about 10 minutes and we boarded along with a number of other travelers – must be the economy. The bus was pretty crowded but we managed to keep our (reasonably small amount of) luggage out of the way and arrived at 125th and Lexington with little trouble. Subway was much less crowded. Went downtown to Grand Street with only one change. Turns out we could have gotten off at Spring Street but we didn’t know that yet. Total time from landing at LGA to Best Western Bowery Hannbee was an hour and a half and the two 7 day metro cards were less than the taxi would have been. We were happy with out decision, but if the bus had been more crowded it wouldn’t have been much fun. The hotel was one block from the station. We got to check in early and our room on the 7th floor (facing Bowery) was clean, bright and reasonably quiet. Seemed like an exceptional value for $89 and the location could not be better. After a brief pit stop we headed off for lunch. Great Vietnamese place , Nam Son 245 Grand Street, less than a block from the hotel – excellent Pho and Grilled Pork and Spring Roll vermicelli – I could get used to living in this neighborhood.. Weather was beautiful so we headed further downtown and looked at the Statue of Liberty and took the Staten Island Ferry for closer views of the Statue and of downtown. It’s amazing how many people fit onto the Ferry. Walked around the area near the Ferry Terminal and then went back to Manhattan and walked around to Wall Street and South Street Seaport. Lots of news crews in front of the Federal Courthouse –keeping an eye on l’affair Madoff. Checked out City Hall Park and then headed back to the hotel to freshen up (great location for that) and then hit the East Village. Based on recommendations here, we tried the DBA and enjoyed the large beer selection and the friendly atmosphere. Talked to a “local” who turned out to be a TarHeel transplant and got a dinner recommendation (we wanted Italian) for Frank on 2nd Avenue between 5th and 6th Streets. We walked past it at least three times before asking at a flower stand and learning that Frank’s doesn’t have a sign that says Frank’s but instead the door says Vera (Frank’s aunt we were told.) Great meatloaf and spinach ravioli, good wine selection , a little crowded, but very personable staff. Wandered around Solita, the Village, Chinatown, looking for a bar to turn 50 in (my birthday starts at midnight.) Ended up at Café Select 212 Lafayette St; nice laid back atmosphere. After the drink we called it a night.

March 19 (Thursday) Happy Birthday to me. And a rainy day to welcome myself into a new half century. Nice to have heated bathroom floors on this chilly morning. Dim Sum was on tap. Went to Jing Fong, 20 Elizabeth Street. Especially liked the shrimp ball wrapped in bacon and the Lotus leaf rice – excellent ground pork filling. Hot tea made the world warm and fuzzy too. Since the weather was miserable we headed for the American Museum of Natural History – great that you can enter right from the subway station and not have to venture outside. Spent two and a half hours investigating the peoples of Asia, Africa, and North America (strange there is no hall of Europeans, I’m just saying….), the Big Bang, some dinosaurs, and the poor old stuffed animals. Lots of kids there too, particularly around the naked Neanderthals, but they weren’t as concentrated as at the Golden Unicorn. About 3:30 the rain had stopped so we decided to walk across central park – hundreds of Snow Drops were in bloom which made the park somewhat magical. We stopped at Belvedere Castle for views and a geology lesson and then proceeded to Park Avenue. Bought a soda and some candied almonds from a cart and were well satisfied. I wish they had candied nuts and hot dogs on every corner in Chapel Hill, but I guess that is a good excuse to go back to New York. Took the subway back to Chinatown, had dinner at New Malaysia restaurant in the arcade south of Canal between Bowery and Elizabeth . Very crowded but quite good. I was expecting the food (Malaysian fried Rice and Wonton Soup Malaysian style) to be a bit hotter but some chili sauce took care of that. The main birthday event was Fleetwood Mac at the Garden – they gave quite show 2½ hours of mostly 70s pop-rock and loads of fun. Hadn’t seen that many people getting so very mellow since the70s though I thought indoor smoking was illegal in New York. Just saying. Took the train to the Village (West 4th,) and managed to get horribly turned around – ended up at Hudson and knew we had gone the wrong way on Bleeker. Must have been a contact high from the concert. Turned ourselves around and found the Slaughtered Lamb 182 W. 4th Street. If you lost your Teddy Bear the bartender found it. Last call was at the Bleeker Street Bar at 56 Bleeker Street for Budweiser and better beers too. An unpretentious neighborhood kind of place.

More to follow ....

Birthday Trip Report 3/18-3/22/2009

Rest of trip report ...

March 20th (Friday) Spring came to New York with snow flurries, but they didn’t last long. Snow? Spring? How about some dim sum? We planned to eat at the Golden Unicorn but there were at least 50 screaming school kids there for a cross-cultural experience, and that just wasn’t the Asian dumpling experience we were looking for. Looked at Dim Sum GoGo and were under impressed despite all the glowing reviews here, so we went to Ping’s Seafood and had a great meal. Great Crispy Taro Pork and very good Lotus Leaf rice. The har gow and sui mai were also quite well made. Wandered around Chinatown and then took a chance and headed to the battery to see about a trip out to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty – turns out that tickets were immediately available so off we went. Tickets to go inside the statue weren’t available but that didn’t really appeal to us anyhow. Enjoyed the boat ride, circumambulated the statue and then hoped the next boat to Ellis Island. That proved to be absolutely and unexpectedly fascinating: the exhibits detailed the personal stories and the tribulations of becoming American. We stayed much longer than we expected and took the last boat home. Walked around lower Manhattan again and then stopped for a quick take out meal of Bahn Mi and Shrimp Summer Rolls (Saigon Vietnamese Sandwich 369 Broome) and Pizza (Sal’s new door on Broome.) We ate this feast in the breakfast room at the hotel (so as not to pollute the atmosphere in our room.) I’d say this was the best Bahn Mi I’ve ever had, and quite the bargain – a full baguette filled with grilled pork and cilantro and other goodies for $4.75. The evening’s entertainment was God of Carnage – picked up tickets from Broadway Box (great tip from Tripadvisor) at 40% off. Had excellent seats in the second row of the Mezzanine – looked straight into Gandolfini’s face (not to mention Jeff Daniels, Marcia Gay Hardin, and Hope Davis.) The play was almost sold out and the acting and script were great – I would recommend this for people looking for a funny but thoughtful play – it’s also short which I appreciate. For après-theater drinks we stopped at Annie Moore’s outside Grand Central Station. Afterwards we took a stroll around the UN to check out the hotel we were originally booked in – the Beekman Towers. Looked nice, but the neighborhood around the Best Western Bowery has a lot more dim sum and pho. For our next stop we found the Tropical Bar at 128 Elizabeth, less than two blocks from the hotel. Great atmosphere and uber-friendly bartenders. Vines hanging from the latticed ceiling (loved the peaches) and water dripping to the rhythm of the jukebox between the bar and the pool room. Ended the night at Oro, a long narrow bakery/bar (you read that right!) at 375 Broome. Great wine selection, excellent Sangria (not your College mixer sangria either.) Engaged in deep and meaningful conversations with another traveler and Gigi the bartender until 2:30. Who ever says New Yorkers are unfriendly hasn’t been to my New York.

March 21st (Saturday) Decided to take a break from Dim Sum, so we went back to Nam Son for more Vietnamese. More Pho, more vermicelli, more happy stomachs. We thought of trying some place new, but why mess with perfection? One general observation, tea in Chinatown is a lot cheaper than Chinese restaurants in North Carolina. We’ve got one Thai place here that charges $2.50 for tea. In fact with one exception all the food we had in Chinatown was cheaper than anything we could get of similar quality here. There was a little place across Grand from the hotel (Good Dumpling House) that had Pork/Chive Dumplings 8 for $2 and Char Sui Bao (huge and juicy) for $1 each! We like Asian food if you haven’t figured that out yet. It was a beautiful day which was fortunate because we were off to do Accomplice the Village at 1:30. Met at the secret location in the West Village and had a most excellent time wandering around the Village, stopping in at bars and restaurants and making friends with the other Accomplices. I would recommend this to anyone who is outgoing and likes to play games. Some personalities would not mesh with this activity but all of us who were in this group had a great time. Actually ended up hanging out with some of the actors and the crew after the show ended and shared a few companionable beers and learned some secrets about the show. One of the actors gave us a recommendation for Indian in the East Village (we’d seen tons of places while looking for Frank’s on day one, and didn’t know which to choose.) She suggested Brick Lane Curry house 306 E. 6th Street and we loved it. The place was packed with trendy types all bubbling with good cheer and poppadoms. We had the Lamb Chop special and some samosas and found the meal to be quite acceptable. We’d had so much fun at Oro the night before that we went back for wine and oatmeal raisin cookies and Linzer cookies (it is a bar bakery after all.) Gigi (the bartender) greeted us as old friends. What a wonderful town. We sloshed ourselves into bed content with all we had done.

March 22nd (Sunday) departure day. Not too sad because we’d packed so much in, but also we’d left plenty for future visits. Things we thought we might do but didn’t included the Brooklyn Brewing Company, the Transport Museum, the African Burial Ground Memorial, and the Skyscraper Museum. Also, though we passed it numerous times, we never made it to J %26amp; R to look at unlocked cell phones for Europe. Oh well, they do have a nice website. Thanks for recommending it. To end our stay we tried dim sum one more time, unfortunately this was the one mediocre and overpriced meal we had. Went to Oriental Garden at 14th Elizabeth Street. Maybe it was expensive and uninspired because it was a Sunday? The wrappers on the dumplings were not well made and the fillings were no better than the ones you can get in North Carolina. The Lotus leaf rice was definitely the worst of the three we’d had in Manhattan this trip. And it ended up costing almost twice as much as either of the other dim sum meals we’d had. But, better to end on a low note than begin on one. And we know where not to go when we come back. Decided to return to LaGuardia by public transportation and had an even easier time than our arrival. Took the train from Spring Street to Grand Central, took the 7 from Grand Central to 74th St/Broadway in Queens and then took the Q33 bus to the airport. It was interesting to get to see some different neighborhoods in Queens from the train and the bus. And boy it was inexpensive. Can’t wait to come back. Thanks for all the great advice from Crans and QueensBoulevard and nywhiz and jhwanderer and BrooklynMel and all the others who make this place so cyber-special.

Birthday Trip Report 3/18-3/22/2009

Wow, great report! So glad to hear about some of the restaurants you went to--I love Frank, Ping%26#39;s, etc., etc. New York is in the throes of a bahn mi moment right now, with shops popping up all over town, but you definitely went to one of the best.

Thanks for posting!

Outstanding trip and report. Happy Birthday and come back soon! Now I%26#39;ll have to try your discoveries.;)

Excellent trip report and boy am I hungry now!!

Great trip report, thanks! Musta been the contact high from the concert....ya, right! LOL

Wow! You really know how to celebrate your birthday. (Note to self: Celebrate your 50th in NYC!) It sounds like it was a marvelous trip. Happy belated birthday! You made turning 50 sound like fun!! :D

I really wasn%26#39;t fishing for birthday wishes, but, I must admit, I appreciate the conviviality of you trip advisor folk and of the many New Yorkers and visitors we met along the way... I guess it helps avoiding the Olive Garden?

Awesome! Happy birthday and congratulations on a succesful visit!

Thanks for all the details, esp about the FOOD! Yum.

Please chime in anytime, esp about using the bus and subways.

Thanks for the happy recap!

Great Report! DBA %26amp; Frank%26#39;s are two of my fave places (I live around the corner). I never noticed Frank%26#39;s doesn%26#39;t say Frank%26#39;s -- I guess I%26#39;ve always know where it was so never looked that close.

And I too am hungry now. Saigon Bakery anyone?

Nice trip report, Thanks :) I%26#39;m eager to try the metro card from LGA to Hotel Penn. in May.

Congrats on making it to the big 5-0. Both hubby and I turned 50 within the past month too. We took a birthday trip to Vegas to celebrate and he got his first (and last) tatoo there to commemmorate the occasion.