We Blog

We’ve officially lived in New York City for six months. Not only have we survived, we’ve thrived (corny, yes, but that’s me). So I figured it’s a good time to hand out some midterm grades. Here’s our list of favorites so far:

Food

Meatball Sub: Pizza Plus
Specialty Food Market: Blue Apron
Produce: Fresh Direct
Hot Dog: Willie’s Dawgs (honorable mention: Crif Dog)
Pizza: Grimaldi’s
Cheese Shop: The Cheese Shop, Bierkraft (tie)
Bodega Hero: 12th Street Deli
Breakfast: Magnolia
Lunch Special: Bombay Grill
Early Bird Dinner Special: Agozar
Food From a Street Vendor: Red Hook ballfields
Random Find: Provence en Boite
Gelato: Colson Patisserie
Blueberry Muffin: Cousin John’s bakery
Late-Night Fix: 7th Avenue Donut Shop
Granola: Naidre’s
Health Food: Second Helpings
BBQ: Smoke Joint (honorable mention: Pioneer BBQ)
Pastrami: Katz’s

Drink

Coffee: Gorilla
Espresso: Cafe Sutra
Iced Coffee: Red Horse Cafe
Beer Bar: Blind Tiger
Bar/Lounge: ReBar
Wine Shop: Red, White & Bubbly
Place to Watch the Bears: Pacific Standard!

Other

Laundry: Green Cleaners
Local Garb: Sport Prospect
View of Manhattan Skyline: construction lot in Williamsburg by East River
Wi-Fi Hotspot: Cafe Sutra
Subway Station for a Transfer: Smith-9th St.

On Wednesday Brooklyn got nearly 3.5″ of rain in a little more than an hour. An F2 tornado touched down in Bay Ridge. Mass transit was flooded. When I got up around 10:30am and turned on the news, not a single subway line was running normally. As of that moment, I couldn’t get into the city by train. And information on where service was being restored was hard to come by. Buses were overcrowded and stuck in traffic. Many people walked. Fortunately by the time I went to work around 3, things were better and it took my normal ~30min to commute (although the trains were PACKED and there was no A/C on a 94 degree, humid day).

But it raised some serious concerns. In the worst weather, when we most need sheltered, quick transportation, me and many New Yorkers seem to be out of luck in terms of getting around. It brings to mind last year’s MTA strike, when we heard those horror stories of elderly people walking miles in the freezing cold. Our apartment is about 4-5 miles from work, which is certainly walkable, but not as easy under extreme weather conditions. I heard a lot of city officials say “New Yorkers are resilient,” so I guess I just cross my fingers and hope I’m enough of a New Yorker to deal with it when it happens again.

I hate to forget my impressions of things. I find initial feelings eventually get warped by bias, external factors and memory lapse, so I want to jot a few quick notes on Boston (which I was seeing for the “first” time, having forgotten any strong or continuous memories from childhood trips).

• The city looks clean and well-kept … very polished (at least the areas we saw).
• The T is nice, but it’s not convenient for travel over short distances.
• There seemed to be an inordinate amount of angry people. We overheard a lot of yelling matches while there. Odd observation, yes.
• They have the most charming alleys ever. The streets downtown are all crooked and winding, and it makes for some corridors that look like they haven’t been touched in centuries. Broken cobblestone, wide brick faces, street lamps and a dark, shrouded mystique.
• Locals are easy to spot and hear. In New York, the tourists are especially easy to pick out. In Boston, it’s the Bostonians who stand out. The accents are awesome.
• The history is inescapable, pervasive and is completely fused with the modern elements. The historic sites aren’t isolated within the city, they’re peppered in with all the rest of the buildings like there’s literally no room to break the past from the present.
• It’s a great walking city. It’s flat, central and seamless from one area to the next.
• There are Dunkin’ Donuts everywhere.
• Lots of homeless downtown.
• Lots of young people.

Overall we really enjoyed our visit. It was nice to have a weekend of dry heat, a welcome reprieve from this oppressive humidity. We also ate a ton of seafood, all of which was spectacular. We’re slowly making our way through our insanely long list of things to do and places to visit. Next? Hopefully Chicago.