Everyone's always aghast whenever they find out I've never been to New York.. I finally went for a couple days over the Easter holiday. I was lucky enough to have my loving New Yorker boyfriend show me around his hometown--what he affectionately always refers to as "The Greatest City in the World!" And yes, it's always with an exclamation mark (full album of "The Greatest City in the World", here). Hey, no complaints from this laid back California girl! We hopped around the city for 5 night and 5 days. I had to do a little of it on my own while he worked, but we managed to squeeze in a lot--it's really a city that never sleeps! Any attempts at going to bed early so we could start the day early somehow slipped from our fingers. It was always at least 2 or 3 in the morning by the time we though it would be good to call it a night. Oops!

So when I flew in Thursday night at 11pm (even with my flight being 2 hours delayed), we still got to hit two very important New York things.. Pizza and cheesecake! Even though there's a Joe's in Santa Monica, George simply loves this place and we both grabbed a few slices before heading off for drinks at the W Hotel bar in Washington Square for a drink or two. Yes, Joe's in New York really is better than the one in Santa Monica! Our rental was literally around the corner from Joe's--so that was the 1st of at least a few more trips to Joe's (at least for George anyway as I wanted to reserve stomach space for other Manhattan goodies). Already tired from my awful 4 hour layover earlier in the evening, I wanted to head back to the rental and crash, but what about cheesecake? Somehow George managed to convince me that I was still hungry and that we'd be driving uptown for cheesecake at Carnegie Deli. We shared a slice--I ooed and mmed about it's silky richness and we called it a night. 

Joe's Pizza

7 Carmine Street

New York, NY 10014

Carnegie Deli

854 7th Avenue

New York, NY 10019

The next day I head out by myself. I was though, of course, prepared (food wise) with a list of food places to try so I ran out for bagels. I grabbed a few bagels from Murray's Bagels, had a "breakfast" with George and headed out towards SoHo for some serious shopping. It probably the clausterphobe in me, but I had a near panic attack browsing in the H&M store on Broadway. It was a dark and cloudy Friday, but judging by the number of people out that day, I'd say it was sunny and cool (perfect walking weather). After an afternoon of shopping, I met back up again with George and we made a dash uptown to a Greek Orthodox church for Good Friday. The Greeks like to do church at night I suppose. After some quiet reflection at church and lots of standing, we grab some bagel sandwiches from Pick a Bagel down the street and I had my first "black and white cookie" experience. They're wonderful, cake like cookies covered in frosting. Sweet and wonderful! We had to scarf down the food before heading to a speakeasy called milk&honey at which we were already late to meet some of George's friends. He has friends that are members. I felt special.  They make prohibition era cocktails based on descriptions on what "you're feeling like." I'm not a hip, secret bar hopping kind of gal, but I loved those drinks. I forgot about pulling out my camera to shoot the beautiful drinks, but something is telling me our hosts there would not have been happy about that.

Murray's Bagels

500 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10011

Pick A Bagel

1475 2nd Avenue

New York, NY 10075-2292

We woke up the next morning (OK, so it was probably closer to noon at this point) and I was feeling arepas. There is this awesome Venezuelan areapas place in Santa Ana that I wanted to compare it to. So we took a several blocks long stroll to Caracas Arepas on 7th Street and First Avenue and got our grub on. We passed some pseudo ethnic eats and couldn't help taking a few shots of those things. "Gringo Mex" and "Taiwanese food cart!"

As for the arepas at Caracas, I can't say I can compare--their arepas are completely different than the ones I experienced in Santa Ana. One thing is for sure though, the fried plantain and guac and cheese appetizer absolutely rocked. Their cheese was also noticeably yummier, but I might have to go with the actual corn cakes from the Santa Ana arepa place on that one. This place was also perfect since they have a very veggie friendly menu--perfect for George on Lent.

Caracas Arepa Bar

93 1/2 E 7th St. 

NY, NY 10009

We spent the rest of the day hitting up some of the tourist sights (for me, of course). We took a round trip on Staten Island Ferry to get a view of the city.

Then we walked around the Financial District and visited the Ground Zero Memorial. We reflected.. 10 years later and there's still a gaping hole and those replacement towers are probably only 10% towards being complete? Ridiculous and just plain sad..

We headed back to our rental to get ready for (more) church in the evening. We snapped a shot with the Empire State Building in the background and I spotted Otto which was on my food list for gelato. Supposedly the gelato is awesome though admittedly I had no idea it was Batali's place until I walked in and saw a picture of his face on the wall. If I had known, I might have skipped it since we already have Batali on the West Coast. Anyway, the gelato was incredibley expensive and mediocre at best. I'll stick with Bulgarini Gelato in Alta Dena, thanks.

Otto

1 5th Avenue

New York, NY 10003

In the evening, we got ready for church again (Easter this time) and headed to Fairway Market to grab the ingredients for George's famous avgolemono soup. So, I had this whole big thing planned, where I was going to find out which Fairway Market Steve Jenkins worked at and have him sign my cheese book. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my book with me. We only had a few minutes, but I got to sample a little cheese and bought a small wheel of brie for our Easter evening "meal" later after church. It was pretty amusing watching George make soup after church at 1 in the morning and his friend falling asleep while waiting for it!

We went home and conked out immediately.

We started the next day (Sunday) at noon once again. And although George felt it sacrilegious, we went to a Jewish deli (Katz) for pastrami sandwiches. I venture to say that it was the best (albiet most expensive) sandwich (of any type) that I've ever had. It was thickly cut, succulent pieces of pastrami on rye. There was nothing wrong about it, only all right. I also wanted to throw in that it seemed like anywhere there was dirt to be found in Manhattan, there were tulips and daffodils blooming and cherry blossoms floating. Simply beautiful against the background of all the concrete. George didn't seem to think very much of the flowers--I guess this is a normal thing for Springtime in Manhattan.

Katz's

205 East Houston Street

New York, NY 10002 

Later that afternoon, we visited more of Geroge's friends who happened to live only a few blocks from our rental. We had Easter dinner/lunch (I'm not sure--it was 4 in the afternoon) with a bunch of Greeks. It was lamb, phyllo dough desserts, lemony soup and all things Greek. After an incredible meal--it was time for the afternoon nap. We woke up and I pushed for Times Square. It was actually quite beautiful in the evening from the rain in the middle of the night. And yes, there was yet another cheesecake trip at Carnagie's. Hey, at least I got strawberry this time. I went to bed uncomfortably full (yet again).

I was pretty much at "gorging capacity" by the time Monday rolled around. I had what I thought would've been a "simple" lobster bagel from Murray's, but it kind of just over stuffed me again. We walked around on Monday afternoon and visited ABC Carpet & Home. It's a 6 story furniture store George constantly talked about while I was doing all crazy home furniture buying.. Well, I'm still doing that so it was fun to see all the overpriced, beautiful furniture I could never afford there. As a consolation prize, George brought me to Shake Shack for a concrete (custard milk shake). Yuuummmmm that was GOOD! Again on a time crunch, we met a lawyer friend of George's for beers nearby later that day.

Shake Shack

(various locations--check out their website!)

For our last night in New York, George recommended doing the old school New York steakhouse experience. Probably the best restaurant steak I've ever had, hands down. The sides, salads and apps were all pretty solid (nothing extra ordinary, but still delicious). It was definitely all about the steak. We both had the filet--mine was on the bone and his was not, but was au poivre. The Old Homestead is located in the Meat Packing district (appropriately) and we walked around to peek at the trendy bars in that area. We didn't step in, it was a beautiful night and we took a long stroll back to the rental.

The Old Homestead

56 9th Avenue

New York, NY 10011

Tuesday was another work day for George. I did more strolling and spent the day at MOMA.. Of course not before picking up a sandwich from Murray's Cheeseshop and carrot cake from Amy's bread (both 20 steps from our rental). I wanted to visit MOMA, but didn't want to waste stomach space on (from what I was told) expensive, mediocre food in the area so of course I pack a lunch!

Murray's Cheeseshop

254 Bleecker Street

New York, NY 10014

Amy's Bread

672 Ninth Avenue

New York, NY 10036

Sigh.. And in a blink of an eye, it was off to JFK to head back home!

I took an extra long weekend in Nashville, Tennessee for 5 nights and 6 days (more like 4 days though because of all the flying). I'm not sure if it's the age, but I just can't gorge as I used to. Or maybe it's just because I'm a city slicker and the fine art of having a "meat and three" all days of the week is not something that can simply be honed over the course of a long weekend. I seemed to do quite well on only 1.5 meals a day. If I had a breakfast in the morning, nothing could go down past early evening. If I planned to have lunch somewhere, then I definitely was not going to do breakfast and a midnight run for Princes' Hot Fried Chicken was definitely on the horizon. Case in point, I only got a small sampling of eats in Nashville given the amount of time I had there though it was not for lack of trying. Anyway, on to the good (and not so good) stuff.

I flew into BNA late on a Thursday evening. George picked me up from the airport, we headed back to the hotel for some advice and were given a few options for late night dining at the concierge. Off to South Street we were. South Street has a large selection of seafood (which I find strange on menus in a completely land locked state) and BBQ. It was late and I just wanted something in my stomach--something you can't really go wrong with. South Street looks like a typical bar and grill so I'm always weary to try anything that might seem a bit too adventurous or that I could probabl find better elsewhere at a place that specialized in it. I went safe and got a smoked turkey sandwich (which they smoke themselves on site) with hush puppies on the side. Definitely not a disappointment. The somewhat spicy mayo (or whatever it was) that came with the sandwich was a great dipper for those hush puppies. The hush puppies were pretty much mashed potatoes with bits of corn and other goodies, shaped into a ball and deep fried to a golden brown. Given it was my first meal in Nashville--I was super excited about how perfectly fried the hush puppies were. The smoked turkey had a good smokiness though it didn't blow my socks off--it still fared well with that spicy dipping sauce. All in all, I was content after a beer. "This is going to be a good couple of days.." I thought to myself.

I spent the next day navigating my way through Nashville via their very convenient MTA. I checked out of the hotel and into our vacation rental near Vanderbilt University which would be our home for the remainder of our stay. George was working on Friday so I decided to pull in some touristy museum and parks visits. I perused the rather sad Tennessee State Museum (free admission) and I ended up at another rather sad Nashville's Farmer's Market near Bi Centennial park. While there were several stands selling bright and beautiful fruits and vegetables, there were barely any shoppers. I felt a little uncomfortable just walking through with vendors eagerly looking to me to purchase whatever it was I happened to pick up and look at. At the far end of the Farmer's Market was a food court--B & C (Bacon & Caviar) was there and it was on my "to eat" list. Don't ask me why they've named themselves Bacon & Caviar--it has nothing to do with their cafeteria style down home BBQ. Even though I was already eagerly anticipating the Jack Daniel's BBQ World Championships we'd be going to tomorrow, I still opted for the pulled pork sandwich and a couple sides. I had my first sweet tea (of many) here--you really don't need soda when you have sweet tea! I had initially set my sights on this place via a chowhounder that mentioned the "unusual, but delicious sides." More than the entrees, I love Southern sides (corn bread, sweet biscuits, mac n cheese, greens, and all that good stuff). However, there was nothing usual or exciting about the sides they had on offer there. Maybe I was there on an uncreative food day--I'm not sure. I opted for deep fried okra poppers, and mac n cheese (with shells) as sides to my pulled pork sandwich. The big standout was the spicy BBQ sauce. I'm not sure what it is, but they know how to do a mean sauce here in the South. It went perfectly with the wonderfully tender and flavorful pulled pork. That's two for two so far! I decided I needed to work up my appetite for later so I walked along Broadway which was still crowded even in the middle of the day and peeked into a few bars which were already open with bands tuning their gear inside. Watching them made me tingle with excitement about going back later in the evening.

Later that evening after George was done working, we headed for a quick bite at South Street again. However, I only had a beer--remember the 1.5 meals a day thing? I was still full from B & C. The rest of the night was a blur. We had a few gracious hosts that took us to Broadway to the honky tonks! Live music, bright lights, cheap beer, one or two or five too many shots of tequila and best of all, no cover or LA attitude! The have a completely different way of doing nightlife in Nashville and it was good. Very good. The only way I was able to force myself up that morning was the thought of BBQ at the festival we'd be heading to. I did a lot of squirming and whining that we had passed out in someones hotel suite (instead of our vacation rental) and that I needed my BBQ fix. A shower and a 2 hour drive through the country later.. We were in Lynchburg, Tennessee. And then the "bad food" portion of our tour began..

Before planning this trip, I had already made up my mind that we absolutely had to go to the "BBQ World Championships." I had dreams of fall off the bone beef ribs and tender, flavorful pulled pork sandwiches.. Sauces of divine intervention and sides that I would declare as the "best I've ever had."

Oh god how I had fucked us.

The festival itself was huge. It's probably one of the biggest (in size) food festivals that I've been to. It pretty much covered the entire downtown area of Lynchburg (population 5,000) and the festival itself I'm sure more than tripled the population for the two days the event was going on. We made our way to the main food tents--the ones that touted their several BBQ championship wins and got into the longest line (though they were all more or less equally long). Hey, that one should be the best, right? 45 minutes later we got our food. A beef plate and a pulled pork/beef ribs plate with coleslaw and potato salad. I had two bites of each and ended up throwing the entire plate in the trash. No exaggeration here. I had not eaten all day, waited in line for 45 minutes and I threw almost all the food away. I've never been so offended. How dare they?! I don't understand how a group from Texas which touted to win 5 or 6 championships could brazenly heap that nasty, grisly, fatty, yet somehow still dry ribs and pork onto my plate and try to charge me $20 for everything. We were duped. Everyone in line was duped. Not to the mention the sides came out of plastic store bought containers. OK, so they didn't have time to make the sides from scratch, but at least buy from a place that is half way edible. The coleslaw was easily comparable to the slaw at KFC and I don't even want to go into the potato salad. It pains me just to write this, but this mockery of BBQ from the Texas Rib Rangers needs to be shown in its true light. OK, let's step away from that mess. I would've left feeling jipped had it not been for the fun ribbons fries, beautiful country road on the way back and looking forward to my first country music concert at the Grand Ole Opry House back in Nashville..

After some Trace Adkins at the Grand Ole Opry House (along with a bunch of older country singers which could've been stand ins for my grandparents), we headed for some late night eats--Princes' Hot Chicken it was! I venture to say that this is the best fried chicken I've ever had. In our short little Nashville trip alone, George ordered fried chicken from 3 different places. Two out of two little piggies agree--Princes' Hot Chicken is the best! Not only is it the best, it's also uh.. In a really shady area of town which of course, adds to the delicious flavor.  Course, it might just be that the building is rundown and that the women behind the counter looked like she hadn't showered in a week--who knows.

Slept in on Sunday and went for a popular "Meat and Three" (one entree with three sides for us city slickers) at Monell's. I'm pretty sure Georges exact words after finishing every last bit of food on his plate were "Oh god. I want to vomit." Thankfully, he didn't. I ordered a lackluster pot roast, but it came with three amazing sides (roasted potatoes, mac n cheese and corn pudding). My favorite was definitely the corn pudding. George ordered the fried chicken with the mac n cheese, coleslaw and green beans. We had another "best I've ever had" moment with the coleslaw. Maybe it was the god awful slaw we had to compare it to the day before, but damn that was a crispy, delicate slaw. Coleslaw can be "delicate," apparently. I'm not sure if it's an Asian thing, but my mother has always been a big proponent of taking a walk after big meals and we needed a walk after this meal, badly. We went off to nearby Radnor Lake and took a short hike. I managed to do it in my cowboy boots, so it really was just a "short hike." Home for a quick shower and we were off to yet another country music concert; this time at The Fontanel Mansion for an outdoor evening concert. The Farm, Gretchen Wilson, some other guy I don't remember the name of and Montgomery Gentry were the main players for anyone out there who is a country music fan. These are apparently big time country guys; course all I know is that I was rockin' through the whole thing while a storm was brewing overhead. We left soaking, but with big cheesy smiles on our faces. Food that night was an afterthought. Cheap beer, hot dogs and nachos. Not important, except that I know if I had bought that at an LA Dodgers game or a movie theater in LA that would've cost me $20, but I was in Nashville so it cost $14 instead. Yay! Few extra dollars in my pocket!

I had Monday to myself again while the MotoMan crew headed off to Alabama. I had heard about the Pancake Pantry in Nashville as "the" breakfast to go so I went in around noon on  Monday not expecting a wait. Apparently the wait on weekends can go up to an hour. I still had to stand in line, but it took < 10 minutes. Yay! Breakfast! Fast! I stuffed myself with a stack of three pancakes, bacon, eggs and washed it down with a cup of coffee. And yes, I will immediately compare every pancake place I eat at to The Original Pancake House. I say The Original Pancake House wins by a teeny tiny smidgen, because their pancakes are a bit fluffier and I like their coffee better. Course my meal at the Pancake Pantry was also a few dollars less than what I pay for the same thing at The Original Pancake House. This post makes me sound like a cheap ass. Huh.

I did a few more touristy things during the day like heading to the Belle Meade Plantation (apparently the largest slave owning plantation in Nashville during its time). I lounged about the property and pulled out the ol sketch book. I did a little wine tasting as well and went home with a bottle of dry white wine. It wasn't bad; I mostly just wanted to support the preservation of the Belle Meade Plantation.

Back near downtown again, I toured Music Row and by toured I mean I spent an hour walking around that area after I got off the bus being lost thinking I'd manage to find the street that our rental was on. I found some guys jamming on their front porch (Isn't that fucking awesome? I've never seen people in my neighborhood just randomly jamming on their front porch.) and finally made my way back with a strained ankle from tripping over the sidewalk.

So our last night in Nashville, what do we do? Crew was back late therefore options were limited to trendier late night spots (most down home cooking type places close up early). We had heard about Cabana having decent food and being open late. This place was somewhat trendy--kind of like a not so glamorous version of The Cabana Club on Melrose. I wanted to insist on more Princes' Hot Chicken but at the same time wanted to try something new. I should have stuck to my gut on Princes'! Because of the great shrimp and grits I had in DC, I wanted to do shrimp and grits again. It's the South, they know how to do grits, right? Sure.. If it's covered in salt apparently. While the shrimp was surprisingly springy and sweet, everything else about my dish was a salty mess. I had a beer to wash down the lumps of salt stuck in my throat. We ordered a few so-so appetizers--a deep fried quail over sweet potato fries (which was something new for me and kind of reminded me of fried frog legs) and crab hush puppies that was more "hush puppy" than crab. I haven't had a hush puppy I didn't like in Nashville so far and thankfully these hush puppies did not end the streak. George of course had the fried chicken again which made me kick myself even harder not pushing it earlier. It was delicious, but still, Princes' was better. Back to Broadway we went. Wow. This place is quiet on Mondays. But I suppose we should have been happy there were even bars open. We took a few touristy pictures along the main street and called it a night.

We woke up the next (and last) morning.. Sigh.. One more meal left. I left poor George back at the rental to do work and me and the rest of "the crew" went to Loveless Cafe 20 minutes away. Loveless Cafe is the epitome of what I would think a Southern diner should be. Great food and amazing to die for biscuits. "Best biscuits I've ever had." "Best country fried steak I've ever had." Unfortunately, no biscuit mix to take back with me--according to their little history blurb on the place mat, it's a closely guarded secret. Not to be a fried ball of cheese (which I surprisingly did not have while I was there), but it was a "great end to a great weekend." The storm began to start back up on our way back to the rental.. We hopped in the plane back back to LA and I was finally full..  

From left: Tarragon, tall curry and chives.. All organic, of course. 

Edit: Figured I should at least talk put a blurb and let you guys know what MotoMan is all about.. Taken from their current home at CraveOnline:

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