Thursday, July 17

Unexpected Pleasures

[Note: Having taken some flack about her "cool younger brother" in an earlier column about New York City, the writer this time swears to barely mention him, and if she does, it will by his real name and not by a descriptive phrase of any sort. – Ed.]

I just spent a long weekend in Manhattan, which is definitely without doubt the Greatest City in the United States and Maybe in the World. Since I can't very well move to New York right this minute, this week's column is a tribute to the unexpected pleasures I discovered there, formatted in Dave Letterman "Top Ten" style but in no particular order. Read on:

1. Endless Walking: That might not sound like a pleasure, but it is certainly so when there's something to see around every corner. After walking from the Whitney (at 75th and 5th Avenue) to my hotel (at 31st and Madison), my feet hurt – darned flip-flops! My mind's eye was thrilled to have seen Central Park, Tiffany's, Grand Central Station, and the lions of the New York Public Library, all in one walk. We don't have scenery like that here in central Maryland, that's for sure.

2. Bagels: Yeah, yeah, you go to New York expecting the bagels to be better than what you have at home. But until you bite into one of those bad boys, preferably festooned with scallion cream cheese and a slice of tomato, you forget just how good they are. It's a surprise to me every time.

3. Public Life: There's such an amazing amount of living going on everywhere you turn. People are sunbathing in the Park and breaking up on the sidewalk and eating dinner and conducting business and walking their dogs and singing all at once. Loudly. It's the best reality show ever.

4. The Real Sunday Times: Is there any greater treat for a newspaper-phile than the real, honest-to-God Sunday New York Times, including the classifieds and the obituaries and the ad pages? Jayson Blair aside: no, there isn't.

5. Cheap Stuff: I bought a tank top for $5.50, and it's cute, too. New York sucks money out of everyone's wallet, but there are plenty of experiences to be had economically: a free De La Soul concert in Central Park, two Papaya King hot dogs for $1.50, a big cone of French fries with the fancy sauce of your choice for $2.50. I had what was possibly the best cookie of the year – a cookie sandwich where each cookie was a half-moon of peanut butter melded to a half-moon of chocolate, and the two fillings inside matched the sides of the cookie – for $1.50. Beat that.

6. The Subway: No, I'm not a nut. If you compare the subway system in New York to the one in, say, DC, or the (non-existent) one in Baltimore, it's really amazing where you can go for the newly-hiked price of $2.00. I could ride from Wall Street to Yankee Stadium and it would cost the same as it would if I only traveled one stop. There's a simplicity to that system that I find delightful.

7. Delis: Many people complain, and perhaps rightly so, about the decline of the old-school Jewish delis in New York. I can't speak to the quality of the corned beef in the city, but I do adore all the non-Jewish delis – the ones with amazing salad bars, Chinese food, and beer -- that seem to be on every corner. I myself had a turkey, avocado and roasted red pepper hoagie at a "deli" that was quite fine even though the counterman wasn't grumpy. An added benefit is that those delis are great for late-night ice cream binges.

8. Celebrity Sightings: This time, it was Jennifer Garner shooting a scene for her new movie. I don't watch "Alias," and I don't really know if she's a talented actress, but it was exciting all the same.

9. Casual Versions of Extremely Upscale Restaurants: It goes like this: Tom Colicchio is the exceedingly well-reviewed chef at the Gramercy Tavern. He leaves to open his own restaurant, Craft, in which patrons pick which organic vegetables go with which free-range meat and what sauce to put on each item. Craft spawns Craftbar, where diners can get wines by the glass with pressed sandwiches and extensive antipasto choices. Finally, Colicchio opens 'wichcraft, and customers like myself can buy grilled fresh mozzarella and provolone sandwiches on country bread with tomato and olive relish for a whopping $5.00. Guess where I got the cookie mentioned in number 5? Next time I'm going for breakfast: Nutella and roasted banana on butter-grilled brioche. YUM.

Number ten? Number 10 is: getting to go to the Whitney with Sam, my brother-the-artist; or getting to go to Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill with Karin, the only friend I have who can match my love for Tex-Mex. It turned out that the biggest treasure of my time in New York was my time with my brother and my friend. Not a completely unexpected pleasure, but one with a beautiful city backdrop...and lots of wine.