NY Stories...
October 25, 2008
Warm day and I was able to take a run along the river in my shorts and tank top, which was very refreshing. However, by the afternoon, it turned overcast and rainy with high winds. Rain is never a good thing in NYC - you can never get a cab, everything seems to run slower and people are a little less patient.
After a good kickstart with a coffee, I think it's called "hairbender" or something like this, from Ninth Street Espresso (www.ninthstreetespresso.com), which serves no ordinary coffee and is the opposite from the Tim's experience, which I like too by the way. This place started a few years back from one incredibly expensive espresso machine that they said made amazing coffee and where the owners/servers trained to be barristas with a capital B, taking the art of the coffee serving and milk frothing to a new level with different artistic designs created in the froth for each cup/person. Well, the popularity of this place grew and now there are three locations in the city close to each other. Besides making great coffee and a unique coffee experience, this is an independent and in the East Village and Lower East Side, below 14th street, the independent rules and is treasured and supported. There is a different vibe here in this neighbourhood where everyone is quite open and friendly, owners and dogs alike, and there are a lot of dogs in and around Tomkins Square.
We went shopping in the afternoon, but since the focus of this blog is food for the main part, I'll try to stay with that...
In the evening, we went to a vegan meal in Brooklyn, which I have been wanting to try for awhile. It's a run by a chef that graduated from the same school as I and has been running for about five years (www.4coursevegan.com). So, in the pouring rain and through incredible winds, we went to our assigned designation, which was a warehouse converted into a home, and for one evening every Saturday night, the main floor of this place is turned into a dining room for guests that reserve in advance and there is the kitchen beside the dining room that is semi-enclosed. You bring your own wine or beer and there are about 20 people that attend, at least that's about how many there were that night.
The setting is quite basic but the people that come to attend are warm, lively and interesting, and combined with the unique and delicious food, the experience is certainly out of the ordinary. Our table had mostly vegans and some non-vegans/vegetarians. It was very interesting for me to eat at a communal table with others to share the food experience and talk about the menu and food non-stop, in particular we had an incredible line-up of vegan/vegetarian places that were mentioned that were on the must-try list for us, which has been growing bigger day by day with our stomachs. Good thing we are walking miles and miles each day and we have a climb up the very steep long staircase to our apartment throughout the day. Since starting up my dinners I had always wondered what it would be like to be on the other side and here I was again. It felt a bit strange, but not too much, not to be cooking and not having to clean up afterwards and wow, I can't believe the chef for these dinners does everything himself, from opening the door, to cooking to the serving to the cleanup. I was just exhausted being a dinner guest. It's tiring work eating and drinking all that wine!
Warm day and I was able to take a run along the river in my shorts and tank top, which was very refreshing. However, by the afternoon, it turned overcast and rainy with high winds. Rain is never a good thing in NYC - you can never get a cab, everything seems to run slower and people are a little less patient.
After a good kickstart with a coffee, I think it's called "hairbender" or something like this, from Ninth Street Espresso (www.ninthstreetespresso.com), which serves no ordinary coffee and is the opposite from the Tim's experience, which I like too by the way. This place started a few years back from one incredibly expensive espresso machine that they said made amazing coffee and where the owners/servers trained to be barristas with a capital B, taking the art of the coffee serving and milk frothing to a new level with different artistic designs created in the froth for each cup/person. Well, the popularity of this place grew and now there are three locations in the city close to each other. Besides making great coffee and a unique coffee experience, this is an independent and in the East Village and Lower East Side, below 14th street, the independent rules and is treasured and supported. There is a different vibe here in this neighbourhood where everyone is quite open and friendly, owners and dogs alike, and there are a lot of dogs in and around Tomkins Square.
We went shopping in the afternoon, but since the focus of this blog is food for the main part, I'll try to stay with that...
In the evening, we went to a vegan meal in Brooklyn, which I have been wanting to try for awhile. It's a run by a chef that graduated from the same school as I and has been running for about five years (www.4coursevegan.com). So, in the pouring rain and through incredible winds, we went to our assigned designation, which was a warehouse converted into a home, and for one evening every Saturday night, the main floor of this place is turned into a dining room for guests that reserve in advance and there is the kitchen beside the dining room that is semi-enclosed. You bring your own wine or beer and there are about 20 people that attend, at least that's about how many there were that night.
The setting is quite basic but the people that come to attend are warm, lively and interesting, and combined with the unique and delicious food, the experience is certainly out of the ordinary. Our table had mostly vegans and some non-vegans/vegetarians. It was very interesting for me to eat at a communal table with others to share the food experience and talk about the menu and food non-stop, in particular we had an incredible line-up of vegan/vegetarian places that were mentioned that were on the must-try list for us, which has been growing bigger day by day with our stomachs. Good thing we are walking miles and miles each day and we have a climb up the very steep long staircase to our apartment throughout the day. Since starting up my dinners I had always wondered what it would be like to be on the other side and here I was again. It felt a bit strange, but not too much, not to be cooking and not having to clean up afterwards and wow, I can't believe the chef for these dinners does everything himself, from opening the door, to cooking to the serving to the cleanup. I was just exhausted being a dinner guest. It's tiring work eating and drinking all that wine!
posted by Caroline at 6:24 PM
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