72 Hours in NYC

will walk for local produce, good art, and (of course) donuts.
72 Hours in NYC.
(if we're not sleeping, we're probably eating.)

this is art.

 

Late November mother + daughter rituals. Pre-holiday southbound adventures.

A month's worth of walking, talking, eating, and museum going packed into three short days.  

Eat, eat, eat. 

Walk, walk, walk. 

Talk, talk, talk. 

Eat again. Walk again. Talk again. 

It's a trip from which we each need a full week of recovery.

It's the best of all possible traditions.

 

morning highline views.

through the tall grass.

layers.

broken rules.

 WHAT WE ATE (and drank), PART ONE:

Beyond Sushi, Chelsea Market

Mighty mushroom rolls (six grain rice, enoki, tofu, shiitake, micro arugula) with shiitake-teriyki sauce.

Crunch n' munch rolls (black rice, alfalfa sprouts, cucumber, tofu, kiwi) with white miso sauce.

Individual pieces: mango with jalapeno-wasabi sauce, snow pea with carrot-ginger sauce, enoki with shiitake-teriyaki sauce, baked tofu with chili-mango sauce, seaweed with sweet soy mirin.

Housemade blueberry and watermelon/basil lemonades.

Worth the headache that was Chelsea Market to get at this place. Ridiculous.

The pictures say it all. 

Le Pain Quotidien

Avocado Toast (with chia seeds, hemp seeds, cumin salt, lemon)

Layered vegetable tart (with parsnips, greens, carrots)

Lots of warm beverages

Plus some ridiculously good (and HEAVY) loaves of bread to go.

The perfect spot to thaw our frozen bones after an early morning trip to the Union Square Greenmarket.

Now, as a general rule, I consider paying for avocado toast in a restaurant to be idiotic. 

This is an exception.

Pay the money, eat the toast. 

Trust me.

greenmarket scenes.

radish, great heights.

OTHER STUFFS:

Union Square Grenmarket. An absolute favorite and worth braving sub-zero early morning temps for.

And yeah, that was me, completely frozen with snot dripping out of my nose, awkwardly hauling 20+ lbs of produce up fifth ave. at eight in the morning.

Wanna fight about it?

Piles of radishes and cabbage, plus new and interesting ways to eat garlic.

ROCAMBOLE GARLIC BULBILS!!

Pure garlic pearls from the bulb of garlic scapes. Ah-mazing.

Walking the Highline on a bright and sunny sunday morning.

A trip to MOMA to see the dreamy, magestic Matisse cutouts.

Plus a Cy Twombly and Bruce Nauman or two...

Rooms upon rooms of cubist masterpieces at the Met.

A late night trip to the almost painfully elegant Neue Gallerie for "Egon Schiele: Portraits".

One of my all time favorite artists-- get thee to this exhibit if you have the means.

Traveling uptown to see Xu Bing's "Phoneix" for the second time in as many years.

First time at MassMOCA, this time at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

Immense, stunning... all the feelings on this one.

A fancypants trip to the Barrymore Theater for a Saturday matinee of  The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.

A perfect production from beginning to end.

Funny, moving, challenging, remarkably well acted--

it's stuck with me for the last two months and I suspect it will continue to do so.

A post-theater trip downtown for pre-dinner shoe shopping at Moo Shoes.

DISAPPOINTING.

Sad face.

Not a single thing available in my size and a casually disinterested sales person with no concept of us/european size conversions. Um... what?

Though there was a shop cat and a vegan bakesale benefiting a local animal sanctuary happening inside, which tempered my crankiness ever so slightly.

chrystler.

empire.

moma interiors.

WHAT WE ATE (and drank), PART TWO:

Pure Food and Wine

I'm feeling shitty and conflicted about this one.

Our meal here was spectacular but, given the current labor dispute, 

I don't feel comfortable leaving a review.

What I will say is that the staff was outstanding during our visit- the whole dining experience was elevated by our servers'  remarkable attention to detail- 

and they deserve to be PAID IN FULL for their work.

Period.

Teany

Green teas, one hot and one cold.

A shared slice of vegan carrot cake, the best pre-dinner snack on the planet.

Also, my kryptonite, for those of you keeping track at home.

 

We first went to Teany way back when it first opened in the early 2000s.

I was pretty stoked to accidentally stumble across it on this trip.

Comforting to know it's still freakin' adorable.

there's cake in here.

La Verdure at Eataly

Insalate de radicchio

Fritto Misto- the most perfectly perfect tower of breaded

FRIED seasonal vegetables you ever did see.

Verdure alla piastra-- warm seasonal vegetables and farro salad

in a nebbiolo viniagrette.

wine, wine, wine...

Cinnamon Snail Food Truck

(THE HOLY GRAIL)

Lemongrass 5-Spice Seitan Sandwich

(curried cashews, arugula, sichuan chili sauce, wasabi mayo on a grilled baguette).

The Thanksgiving Sandoo (porcini seitan, rosemary-parsnip bread pudding, kale, orange-cranberry relish, roasted garlic aioli on a grilled baguette)---

god, I hope they bring this one back next year...

Pastries: cinnamon snail, strawberry glazed donut, maple bacon almond donut, fig crumble bar, something else delicious, the name of which I do not remember.

And some kind of ridiculously rich hot chocolatey drink- enjoyed whilst freezing our asses off, impatiently (but excitedly) waiting for sammiches.

Upon finding out that this truck would be parked only a few blocks from our hotel on the day we arrived, I literally squealed.

And did a little happy dance. 

A happy donut dance.

Till next time, NYC.

xoxo

yeah, but what are YOU gonna eat?