Minetta Crack Pie and I Don't Care

With just around 48 hours in New York City to catch up with my parents and brother and get my big city fix, I'd planned only one meal and one retail stop. What I didn't plan on was everything between.

Day 1: 15+ hours
5:45am - arrived at JFK after a red-eye where I got no shut-eye
6:45am - got to the hotel. Mom and Dad already awake and ready for breakfast
7:15am - ate breakfast at the hotel. Standard fare: cereal, tea, toast
8:15am - took a quick shower and made plans for the next several hours
9:00am - snuck out to Kalustyan's with Dad to pick up some goodies: black garlic, Bergamot Turkish Delights, mahleb, and loose tea. Hijacked and forced to eat 3-item platter of butter beans and mujadarra. Dad gets reverential and says he is having a religious experience.


10:15am - back to hotel, waiting for Bro to arrive
11:30am - everyone present, we hoof it to Chinatown
12:15pm - Big Wong for noodles and won tons

1:00pm - shopped for peeled gingko nuts and dried fishies
2:45pm - after walking from Chinatown to the E. Village, shopped for tasties at Chikalicious Dessert Club: S'mores cupcake, banana cupcake, and rose macaron. Banana cupcake was my favorite.

3:00pm - ate dessert 'meal' at Chikalicious, 3-courses including an amuse (white chocolate mousse with kiwi granita), an entree (Darjeeling panna cotta with Cara Cara sorbet and frosted pistachios), and petit four (chocolate sable, toasted coconut marshmallows, and soaked lemon cake.

4:15pm - walked back to Murray Hill to our hotel to rest before dinner. I skipped the rest and...

7:00pm - stumbled to dinner, where I nearly face-planted into my bowl of tagliatelle with braised shortribs
9:00pm - passed out after 36 hours without sleep

Day 2: 22 hours
12:00am - 6:00am - too intoxicated to sleep, I'm up every few minutes drinking my way through a gallon of water to prevent a massive hangover. Plus Mom's snoring keeps me up.
6:30am - finally get to sleep after the rest of the family heads to breakfast and the Statue of Liberty crown climb
11:30am - headed to Battery Park to pick them up and check out the waterfront

12:30pm - borscht at the Olive Tree on MacDougal
1:15pm - indulged in a Recession Special at Gray's Papaya, complete with orange drink

1:45pm - walked through the remodeled Chelsea Market, checking out all the rising dough at Amy's Bread, the chocolate displays at Jacques Torres, and dry goods at Buon Italia. Came home with salt-cured anchovies, pistachio powder, chocolate and gigantic sunflower seeds.

2:45pm - sent Mom and Dad off to rest at the hotel so Bro and I could walk to Momofuku Milk Bar
3:00pm - scarfed down Red Velvet softserve at Momofuku Milk Bar. Bought crack pie, compost cookies, and cornflake cookies.

3:30pm - walked back to the hotel to get ready for dinner
5:15pm - left for Minetta Tavern, where I'd managed to secure reservations 30 days in advance after calling 32 times before 7:00am. Got stuck in the subway, had to run the rest of the way or they'd give up our table.

6:00pm - arrived at Minetta Tavern for our long-awaited dinner. It was impossibly dark and I couldn't get a photo, but we ate appetizers (roasted beet salad, pan fried sardines, mesculun salad), entrees (Black Label burger, 2 Minetta burgers, olive oil poached halibut, and trout Muniere), and desserts (warm hazelnut crepes in brown butter and a lemon tart).
7:30pm - tea and catching up with my Bro and my friend Bill at Caffe Reggio

9:30pm - hit the hay

Day 3: 18+ hours
6:15am - rise and shine
7:00am - breakfast at the hotel, which includes sampling the crack pie. Dad declares it 'tasty.'

9:00am - send everyone off to the airport
9:15am - take a turn at Grand Central and get on the subway to have brunch with Bill and Jose

9:30am - 10:45am - discover my 15 minute express train ride to their condo is thwarted by construction and backtracking. It takes 90 minutes and 5 transfers to get there.
11:00am - brunch at Bill and Jose's, where they promptly load my coffee with Bailey's and fill me full of bacon. Such good friends.
2:00pm - got on the plane to Seattle and watched bad Steve Martin movies the whole ride back
4:45pm - arrived in Seattle a full hour ahead of schedule

• Add new comment
• Printer-friendly version