(the optimistic ‘exterior exhibit‘ on the ‘new museum’ by ugo rondinone)
saturday dear readers, i figured you might be getting somewhat apathetic, what with all the haute cuisine and such. i mean a foodie can only eat so many fancy shmancy meals – before she needs a little… PIZZA!
(lombardi’s coal fired pizza on spring street)
ok, so do i have your attention again? good. more on this in a bit…
yve was on her way over to the hotel and then we were heading down to the bowery to check out the ‘new museum‘ which just opened at the very end of last year. we arrived early and so we strolled over to ‘rice to riches‘, a shop modeled after a gelataria, but with ONLY rice pudding – in flavors such as ‘take me to tiramisu’, ‘perfectly legal pecan pie’, ‘sex, drugs and rocky road’… you get the picture. i opted for a small bowl of ‘man made marscarpone (with cherries)’ after sampling the ‘almond shmalmond’ and the ‘fluent in french toast’. so you know, i’m totally not into this kinda kitsch…
but i stop there whenever i’m in the neighborhood, which is just about every trip and i’m getting more disenchanted with each visit – more cutesy than worth the calories. even cary commented last time that he felt it wasn’t as good as the time before. but the whole vibe right down to the bowls and spoons really is pretty damn cool in a japanesey sorta way… i downed about 3 bites and tossed the rest.
we headed back to the bowery and proceeded to do the museum from top to bottom. the exhibit is called ‘unmonumental’ – something about ‘crumbling symbols and broken icons’, and although the museum bills itself as contemporary, i believe this enters into the realm of avant garde, because one good look around and clearly you are NOT in kansas anymore… it’s kinda like eye candy on acid. so i opted to accept it at face value and move on with my life.
(loved the elevator)
(and the bathroom)
(the skin of the museum – an aluminum mesh exterior coating)
(7th floor – vistas and parties)
okey dokey. been there. done that. next… from the bowery we headed towards houston and i decided that in honor of both our lost youth and our fine heritage, we’d hit the jewish trinity.
(‘yonah shimmel’s‘ – a potato knish with mustard – 2 bites and tossed – loved the egg cream)
so, excuse me – but while we’re on the topic of knishs… i grew up in forest hills, queens, with the mother of all knish places -’knish nosh‘ and it KICKS yonah’s ass. (except jews really don’t fight – they just tend to argue because no one wants to risk getting hurt…)
. 
(‘russ and daughters‘ – the ultimate ‘appetizing store’ – just browsed around)
(and the king of all delis – katz’s. the place was a total madhouse so i asked a stranger if i could photograph his sandwich. it was yve’s idea… brilliant…)
and then we went for lunch… no really… minutes before i’d left my hotel room that morning i had gotten an email from maggie over at ‘eat boutique‘. she’d just written a post about the various pizzerias in the boston area and i commented that i was in nyc but hadn’t gotten around to pizza yet. her subject line was "my fave pizza in nyc" and in the body it just said ‘lombardi’s’. the timing was spot-on. i was right there and i’d never been, if only because i really like ‘pomodoro’s’ which is just across the street and down the block from lombardi’s.
we ordered a small pie – no extra toppings. i tend to like my pizza as i believe god intended it to be – plain. the crust was excellent, the cheese was freshly made and the sauce couldn’t be faulted. on another day i’d still happily go across the street and grab a slice at pomodoro’s. but we had to agree with maggie, that it was excellent pizza – and i’d definitely go back. but by this time we were in a time crunch – so we slammed down some of the pie, offered up the rest to our neighboring table – grabbed a gypsy cab and headed back uptown in a rush. i dropped yve at penn station where she made her train by less than a minute, and i went back to the hotel just long enough to get it together for the evening.
(iphone self portrait – in the cab on the way to lari’s show)
my mom and leonard met me at the algonquin’s oak room bar for dinner (competent but overpriced) and a cabaret type show written and performed by my friend lari white. it’s always pretty cool to go to algonquin and i hadn’t been there in as long as i can remember. it’s lodged the country’s most prominent writers and literary personalities for over 100 years – the famous ’round table’ being legendary since it held court in the 1920′s. but we were there for the music. and for those of you that aren’t familiar with lari’s album, ‘green eyed soul’ – well then click on over to iTunes and d/l yourself a copy NOW. she will blow you away. it’s motown meets nashville meets pop – but better. chuck cannon, her husband – also a brilliant performer and one of the best songwriters i’ve ever known (and i have known many) sat with us and well, it was a lovely nyc night.
(the al hirshfield suite, between shows)
afterwards, chuck walked me back to my hotel and i went upstairs and took a long hot bath.
5 perfect days and counting…
20 responses so far ↓
1 cary // Feb 24, 2008 at 6:42 pm
haven’t been in a cab in sometime…..my bad
2 claudia // Feb 24, 2008 at 6:44 pm
and my comment is, “no comment”…
3 cary // Feb 24, 2008 at 6:46 pm
rice pudding…now there is a reason to go to NYC
4 claudia // Feb 24, 2008 at 6:49 pm
what? you don’t like my rice pudding?
(please insert jewish accent)
5 Maggie // Feb 24, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Was Lombardi’s very touristy? I used to live a block away and dined there often. I’d love to do a pizza write up on all the amazing pizza in NYC. Perhaps we can do it together, Claudia, someday…
Looking forward to our virtual dinner party in a few weeks…
6 Robert // Feb 24, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Fret,
You need to go to work for NYC Tourist Development Commission.
This poor southern boy is foolishly beginning to think he might even survive there. Forget about being lost and clueless, that Corned Beef………..
7 claudia // Feb 24, 2008 at 7:34 pm
pastrami, robert… pastrami…
8 democommie // Feb 24, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Claudia:
When I was in Katz’s (about 19 years ago, April) it was empty at 6:00. I was thinking maybe they weren’t doing the business.
I was down in New Jersey with one of the two brothers who I was opening a bagelry for, north of Boston. Of course to make perfect NYC bagels that even a jewish mother would like, I got my training from a nice Puerto Rican baker in Blue Hill, NJ.
So, after we had made a couple hundred dozen bagels, we went into the city. We were at the Central Park Zoo and it was absolutely loaded with Hasidim, dressed to the nines, en promenade. I couldn’t figure out what was up, so I asked the doctor (since he’s jewish) what was up. He had no idea. All of a sudden it came to me–Passover. No wonder Katz’s was empty that day.
Thanks for the picture, that sandwich looks about the size of the one I got, for about $7 , back then.
9 Lesley // Feb 24, 2008 at 9:23 pm
I didn’t make it to Lombardi’s because I’d heard bad things about burned pizzas and crowds, so I hit John’s on Bleecker and was NOT disappointed. I’d kill for some of that pizza now.
10 Donald // Feb 24, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Claudia:
Yer killing me here. That pastrami sandwich had better had butter AND mustard on it! I know it wasn’t your’s, but still, I mean, we have Jason’s Deli, and my kitchen; the two best places in Atlanta to get a good sandwich.
(except jews really don’t fight – they just tend to argue because no one wants to risk getting hurt…).
This made me laugh so hard, my wine exited my nose. I haven’t experienced Jews (if that is a term okay for me to use) here in GA like I have back home. I sooooooo miss it. Your stories take me back.
Thanks.
11 Dan // Feb 25, 2008 at 8:12 am
You know, I also appreciate the glory of a plain pizza. Maybe a little shredded fresh basil before the put it in front of me, but not much else.
On the flip side of that coin, I went to the local gourmet pizza joint last week and had a black bean, jalapeno, white cheddar, pulled pork pie that was damn near exquisite. Delicious with a glass of Pinot Noir and some snarky good conversation between the bartender (a pal), myself, and the waitresses who love me snarking at him.
It was no Lombardi’s, I’m sure, but I was satiated. The smoked Norwegian Salmon, diced red onion and egg, and greens with an Old Bay Aioli to start helped.
Ooops, I think I just posted a kitchen geeking post in your comment section. My bad!
12 lucy // Feb 25, 2008 at 9:45 am
is that a chin-length bob i see?
and by-the-by; isn’t lombardi’s supposed to be like the first pizzeria in america ever?
13 Lauren // Feb 25, 2008 at 2:48 pm
i just gotta say, i love the bathroom shot in between the food shots. tasty.
14 nm // Feb 25, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Ohhhhh, Russ & Daughters. Now I want a smoked chub.
15 melissa // Feb 25, 2008 at 5:12 pm
“(except jews really don’t fight – they just tend to argue because no one wants to risk getting hurt…).”
AAAAAAAHAHAHAHA. fellow jew here. AHAHAHAHAHA! what? you don’t like my rice pudding? even better. ;P
I dig that exhibit at the new museum.
I also love the look of that sammich. *drool*
16 catherine // Feb 26, 2008 at 5:09 am
reading this was sooooooo much more interesting than what I am supposed to be doing this morning…..excuse me while I go find something to wipe away the drool….
17 claudia // Feb 26, 2008 at 10:26 am
demo – we need to make a movie of your life. i swear… you are a true renaissance man.
lesley – crowded yes? burned no… but pomodoro’s is a damn fine choice too in the same neighborhood but i like to try new places.
donald – did you say BUTTER on a pastrami sandwich? are you serious? donald – the jews don’t mix milk and meat as it renders it unkosher. but with alla that fat – butter is superfluous. the big joke is that the goyim (non jews) but mayo on their pastrami sandwiches. it’s how we spot you at katz’s…
dan – you say whatever you want in my comment section. anytime. !!!
lucy – nope. not me. still long.
lauren – leave it to you to point that out…
nm – look how you KNOW alla this stuff. amazing! russ & daughters is my brothers favorite place…
melissa – fellow jews are gonna get it on the deepest of levels. for sure.
catherine – CATHERINE!!! how goes it across the pond??? nice to see you catching up on me!
18 FireDog // Feb 26, 2008 at 11:18 am
Damn, I didn’t realize I was missing all the NYC trip! I got behind….
It really is kinda-sorta like being there through pictures and words.
Delightful!
19 Traci @ Soup of The Day // Feb 29, 2008 at 9:33 pm
I need some of that pizza. I’m not kidding. Here in Southern California you just don’t find good pizza places. Well, in LA you can, but I’m in Orange County. And we got nothin. I really miss it.
20 yveala // Mar 9, 2008 at 1:53 pm
HELL, YES..
i do wish you were here more
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