Month: February 2017

by ekuhns on Trip Report

NYC Day 3

This morning I had to head into the NYC office of my company for a meeting. So I got up a bit earlier and made my way down to Rockefeller center. It took me a bit to find exactly which building I was supposed to be in I quickly found my meeting.

After my meeting I was took advantage of my location and went to the Nintendo store. There were a ton of people checking out the huge, in-store demo for the new Zelda game, Breath of the Wild, on the Switch but I wasn’t there for that. I wanted to get a new 3DS game. I also decided to pick up some new coffee mugs. We used to have 2 Nintendo mugs but one of them went missing. I got a Zelda and a Mario mug. Then I headed back to get Maura.

Once Maura and I were ready to leave the hotel it was time to get something to eat. We decided to try Jacob’s pickles again. This time we had much better luck since it was a school day. The food was awesome and they cooked Maura’s bacon right.

Without any real plan for the rest of the afternoon we decided to check out Central Park.

In particular we wanted to see Belveder castle. It wasn’t as big as I was expecting but it offered some great views and I can people wanting to use it for Summer events.

We took a selfie or three.

We then made our way to see the Alice in Wonderland statue and passed through this cool underpass where there was a musician.

It’s a very large statue and people let their kids climb all over it.

After walking around for a bit we decided to go warm up and grabbed a beer. I located a place with some decent reviews and so we made our way to The Pony Bar. It was a good place but we wanted to change venues to be closer to our show after a bit.

We located an Irish pub near the City Center called Draught 55. They were pretty packed because of it being happy hour and the service seemed to not take notice of new people at the bar. We only had a beer and an appetizer then decided to get out.

Finally it was time for our show.

We got to the City center, found our seats and settled in for an awesome show. Most of the comedians killed it. Even Dave Attell got a laugh out of me. One of the cast members from Saturday Night Live was there and thought it was a good time to just wing it. Bill Burr killed it.

After show we had a bad moment involving trying to get an Uber. It thought we were on the other block and so we had to hustle around the corner to try to find it. Then I got a notification that it was canceled and their system wouldn’t let me order a new one. Maura had to order one and it took about 20 minutes.

We headed back towards our hotel and wanted to get something to eat. In particular we were looking for a slice of pizza. A quick Google search had us looking for Freddie & Pepper’s. It seemed to have great reviews but when we checked it out the pizza looked dried out and they were only selling old slices. We moved on.

While walking up Amsterdam avenue we came across the always good Insomnia Cookies. While not dinner food we grabbed a couple of cookies for later.

Feeling like we’re running out of options and tired of looking we stumbled upon The Meatball Shop. They were open and still serving food that was made then so we grabbed a couple of seats, a few beers and had some dinner. We headed to the hotel to watch some TV and eat our cookies and call it a night. The next day we had to drive back to Pittsburgh.

 
by ekuhns on Trip Report, Uncategorized

NYC Day 2

The morning began with my trip to Starbucks. It’s a brief walk just a couple of blocks away. I usually use the walk to check on the car. Especially if we don’t get a good spot near the hotel.

Once we’re we somewhat caffenated we headed out to find some breakfast. However, there was a wrinkle in our plan as it was a weekday and that meant street cleaning. In NYC they clean one side of the street one day and the other the next. This means that for a couple of hours in the morning the parking gets worse as it becomes half of what it was.

We had to move the car. So we got in and started driving around looking for a new place to park on the other side of the street. This unfortunate process ended up taking two hours. Two hours of driving up and down the streets in a 10 block area. It was terrible. I also learned that New Yorkers don’t believe in turning right on a red light as a guy yelled at me.

Driving for 2 hours can work up an appetite. We needed to find something and my first choice for brunch was packed with a 2 hour wait time. The other place that came up on my search was 5 Napkin Burger. They were right around the corner and sat us in 10 minutes.

The food was good and the place was pretty neat. The only downside was the amount of kids that were there. It was some holiday where kids weren’t in school so they were all out for lunch with grandparents and whomever.

We had awhile to go before our dinner reservations so we went to one of Maura’s favorite stores, Verameat. This time not in Brooklyn we went to their flagship store in the East Village. One of the goals with this stop was getting a Seinfeld pin that Maura had seen online.

Mission accomplished.

While in the East Village we decided to try to get into the speak easy that we missed our reservation for the previous year. They don’t open until happy hour so we had some time to kill and wanted something to eat. Near the speak easy is a coffee shop/cafe that had some good coffee called The Crooked Tree. It was a little hip spot and got out us out of the cold for bit.

After that it was time for us to go to our reservation. You have to call earlier that day and they give you a time to be there. It’s a very formal, strict policy. Which is odd since the entry way is through a phone booth in a hot dog shop. There was a line going out the door of people waiting to for their turn to use the phone booth. I wondered what the people that were just eating hot dogs were thinking was going on.

The line moved rather quickly and we got inside and a seat near the door. Please Don’t Tell or PDT as they like to shorten their name is a cool, underground bar that serves a nice blend of cocktails. I had two drinks and was feeling pretty good.

From their it was time to bust a move to Harlem. Our dinner reservation was quickly approaching so we hopped an Uber and shot north. There was another place I wanted to stop by as well while we were in Harlem. It had been on my radar for a couple of years and we just never came north.

I don’t remember where I heard of Mess Hall but I know that I liked the look and idea of it. A craft beer and cocktail bar in Harlem sounds like an interesting place to me. I had a beer and a pickle back. A pickle back is a shot of whiskey with a shot of pickle brine. Much better tasting than you would think.

Dinner time.

We thought we were ready for what the Red Rooster had for us. We weren’t quite. The food was amazing. The environment was alive and we were having a great time. It might be a new spot on our ‘must visit’ list. I know we’ll be back.

 

 

 
by ekuhns on Trip Report

NYC – Day 1

Another NYC trip. This time we’re off to see the Patrice O’Neal benefit concert. This is our 3rd-4th time we’ve gone to this annual event and we still enjoy it. We got up early as we always do and hit the road at 8:30.

I usually try to get to Breezewood before we stop. That’s a good distance to go and then we get a bathroom break and a snack at Starbucks. This time we also discovered that they have a cookie butter bar. This thing was delicious. However, Maura’s apparently had ‘elder hair’. There were these tiny, little, white hairs sticking out of her’s so she didn’t get to eat it.

Once we got to NYC we were staying in Manhattan at the Riverside Hotel. Since we were arriving on a weekday we were going to be dealing with a parking situation but I didn’t realize how long it would be. We drove around the blocks for several hours looking for a parking space before we finally found one several blocks away.

After we checked in we had to make our dinner reservation in Brooklyn so we ordered an Über. The best option we had was an Über pool. These aren’t our favorites as you never know who you’re going to be riding with. This time we got a driver that was apparently booked for more passengers than he could take. He got into a disagreement with the lady that had made that reservation. It was a bit awkward.

We got over to Brooklyn in time to make our reservation at Maison Premier. I was ready for an Oyster stout and some good oysters.

From there we made our way to a new place for us, Barcade Brooklyn

This was a pretty cool place. Maura and I and a bunch of quarters beat Final Fight which was something I never did on an arcade machine as a kid. After another round of beers it was time to call it a night.

 
by ekuhns on Trip Report

Brooklyn – Day 2

I woke up early and went to the hotel gym. No free weights of course. Just some dumbbells, machines and ellipticals. I did what I could with it. Then stopped in the lobby cafe to pick up some coffee. We weren’t in any real hurry this morning so we watched the snow and people out the window while we drank it.

We eventually ran out of coffee and then we decided to find some brunch. A few blocks from our hotel there are a number of restaurants. I found one that had a good reputation and rating. Myrtle and Gold was nicely lit spot on the corner of a building.

From there we made our way to the Brooklyn Flea. This time it was in an old bank. Unfortunately it was really warm winter day so with that many people in a confined space it was a bit too much for me. I didn’t buy anything but it’s always nice to see what’s around.

Maura found something she liked.

Of course a trip to Brooklyn would not be complete if we didn’t stop at the brewery.

After that we did some shopping. Maura went to Vera Meat where she bought this interesting necklace.

I stopped in the bookstore and was able to get the instruction book for my tarot cards I had bought a few years prior at the same store.

We had dinner reservations so we headed in that direction. Another staple of our Brooklyn trips is the delicious Maison Premiere. This is an interesting place with a New Orleans 1920’s atmosphere to it. We go there for the oysters.

From there it was back to the hotel and an end to our trip.