Here's a picture of one of the many delicious sandwiches I consumed while in New York City last week. Salami on wheat with everything. Jaden and I stopped by Andy's Deli at Columbus and 86th on the way to the Natural History Museum. It was crowded with neighborhood regulars, a few cops, and a street sweeper all fixing their rapt attention on a small TV in the corner playing Game 2 of the Yankees-Tigers series. In fact we had to wait to place our order until Derek Jeter grounded out to end the inning. As a Yankees fan I have to say it was pretty awesome, kind of like a mini Stadium. Jaden declared his BLT "one of the best" he's had, and at only $3.85!
The rest of the week's eating was in a similar vein, as we were hampered by budget constraints.
On my last visit Munchie and I splurged on Les Halles for lunch (worth it), but this trip was all about pizza, bagels and more pizza.
The best slices we had were at La Rosa on Smith Street in Brooklyn, where we met old roomie BLDZR on a rainy night. It was decent, but no Apizza Scholls or even a Pizza Oasis, though the price was right, $20 for 6 big slices, 2 beers and a soda.
The best bagels we had were from Windsor Terrace Bagels on 9th near Bartel Pritchard Circle, where we usually retired with our boiled bread and beverages to feed the sparrows and converse with crazy people while we ate. One morning there were several hundred old baseball cards from the 70s and 80s scattered all over the circle. They were in terrible shape, creased and even folded, but J collected a stack and they were fun to look at.
We didn't make it to a lot of NY institutions I had planned on visiting, Katz's, Gray's Papaya, Patsy's Pizza, Ess-a-bagel, the Red Hook Ballfields, but we did meet J's buddy Perry for a late breakfast at his favorite diner in Greenwich Village...of course I've forgotten the name...it definately starts with an "Sh", maybe Shosicki's, Shesnicki's, I don't know, maybe one of our readers (there are at least 2, judging from the comments) can help me out. The menu was certainly memorable, so huge it was confusing, there were at least 50 different pancakes, 50 different omelettes, and some really wierd combinations. It kind of reminded me of Portland in some ways, patrons seemd to hang out for a long time, it was self sevice coffee and I was severely reprimanded for answering my cellphone.
On our last full day we had brunch at The Milagro Grill in Park Slope. I'm not always a fan of nouveau, semi-fancy Mexican places that are crowded with yuppies but I have to admit my breakfast burrito was exceptional. Full of delicious roasted red peppers, chorizo, potatoes, scallions and cheese with queso fresco on top and some really good chipotle on the side. Rich, thick and smoky at first with a building heat aftertaste, it made the dish for me.
On the way home we had the added bonus of a short layover at O'Hare around dinnertime. We almost wished our flight was delayed so we could venture into the city to see friends and visit La Pasadilla, Mr. Beef, El Taco Veloz, etc. As it was we made do with the O'Hare branch of The Billy Goat. I had a servicable Italian beef with hot peppers. It couldn't hold a candle to Mr. Beef on N. Orleans or even Michael's on Sandy and Ankeny in Portland but for airport food it was superb.
