New York, New York
A couple weeks ago, I spent a few days in New York, and I thought I’d show you some photos of what I did - which was basically eat, walk, drink, walk, walk, eat some more. I also show-horned some culture in there (the Kandinsky exhibit at the Guggenheim, a trip to the High Line, a round of show tunes at a Village bar), but when life gives three glorious October days in New York, you don’t go hungry.
My friend Lee Ann got our rigorous schedule of pleasure started right away with Sunday afternoon cocktails at Dutch Kills, a sexy, wood-panelled speak easy near her apartment in Queens.
Bars in major cities are in the midst of a cocktail renassaince, and Dutch Kills is a stellar example of that done right. The drinks are inventive and fresh, and proud bartenders skilled in their craft. They care about things like the taste and size of their ice cubes (larger ice means it doesn’t melt as fast, and doesn’t dilute the drink). I started off with a Water Lily, a mix of Grand Marnier, gin, lemon juice and creme de violette, a very old liquor that only recently has become available again (not in NC, that I can find. Not yet). This is a stunning drink done right, striking just the right balance between sweet, tart with a slight medical tang. See below!
And here’s a drink Lee Ann had, something with tequila, lime, orgeat syrup - a milky almond syrup that Dutch Kills makes in-house - and a crown of mint and a float of red wine. It tasted like a grown-up horchata, that almond-rice-milk Mexican drink.
This is Dutch Kills from the outside. Very low-key.
Lee Ann and I then went on a whirl-wind eating adventure that included a semi-hidden sake bar where we feasted on Japanese bar snacks (pork belly, chicken meatballs, grilled squid, shrimp and soybeans hiding instead an egg custard), and porky, pig jowl pasta at a small Italian restaurant. Later dinners were at Becco, a Lidia Bastinich Italian restaurant with incredibly priced wine (a long list of $25 bottles, the one we had was a marvelous silky dry light red) and DB Bistro Moderne, a Daniel Boulud place (the best was my mom’s dessert - a basket of tiny, warm Madelines).
My trip also included a stop at Murray’s Cheese, that Greenich Village palace to things stinky and savory.
Look, they have Meadow Creek’s cheese! They’re in southern Virginia.
I also made it over to one of the farmers’ markets, possibly the most famous, the Union Square Greenmarket. Check out these mushrooms and cauliflower:
And to digest, a walk along the High Line, a former railway turned park. They have cupcakes up there! Maple-pecan.
