Nobody 788

Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009
Nobody 788

Nobody Asked Me But:

Health Care

I cannot say this often enough or loudly enough. I totally agree with the late Ted Kennedy. Universal health care is much more than a political punching bag. It is a moral issue. A question of right and wrong. And our country disgraces itself when it allows the sick to go uncared for or forces them to bankrupt themselves to obtain medical help.

And when it comes to health care, there is nothing sacred about a private option, especially when it holds good health, and, yes, even questions of life and death, hostage to a healthy profit margin.

Neither is there anything sacred about bipartisanism when the opposition takes an immoral position. Let’s go Mr. President! Let’s go Democrats. Ignore the Republican naysayers. Twist Blue Dog Arms! Do the right thing! Pass a health care law that insures universal coverage and provides a government option!<<<

Did you know: That on the eve of WW II, London zoo keepers killed all their poisonous snakes lest they be released by Nazi bombing and become a threat to the population?<<<

BUT BACK TO NYC – THE BEST FOODS ON OUR TRIP

Steak at Peter Lugers - I already praised this porterhouse. So let me just add - I want more!<<<

Tomato soup and chocolate pudding at Sarabeth’s – These I also applauded last week, but I failed to tell you that we saw the lady herself (Sarabeth) in the kitchen of her Nabisco Building store.<<<

Prime rib hash - Keen's Steakhouse was a moderate walk from our hotel. We went there for the intriguing prime rib hash listed on their Pub menu. Good move! Great food!<<<

The rice dish at Zarela - Zarela, a small Mexican restaurant on 2nd Avenue, is a place we learned about on The Food Channel. It was the show on which several chefs choose their favorite dish, and one, Aaron Sanchez, picked his mother’s arroz con crema – rice with corn, cheddar cheese, chili peppers and sour cream. Well, Mrs. Zerela is his mother and his choice was an excellent one.

Everything else was as unusual and almost as good. I had a roast pork tamal and a spinach dish sautéed with tomatoes, pinto beans, and jalapeno. Barbara loved her Chilaquiles, crisp tortilla strips, sautéed chicken, sour cream and white cheese baked in casserole with ranchero sauce.<<<

Chocolate mocha coffee cake – While starting our stroll down Madison Avenue we saw this people-filled place at the corner of 92nd Street called Yura On Madison. Always willing to take a chance when it comes to food, we bought a slice of coffee cake – white with ribbons of chocolate and mocha. It looked just like the coffee cake we love and buy at Julienne’s in San Marino, but it was even better. I thought it was wonderful and Barb liked it even more – so much so that we took a taxi ride all the way up there on the morning we left for home so that she could get another piece, and I could visit the small Ciao Bella in the basement of a house across the street.<<<

Pizza - We went to John's in Greenwich Village for three reasons. (1) The restaurant has been there since the year I was born. (2) Their pizza was rated as one of the best in town. (3) It was where Muriel Hemmingway told Woody Allen that she was going to London in one of my favorite movies, “Manhattan.” I thought the pizza was excellent. For Barb it was merely okay.<<<

Aside: What I would call a NYC experience occurred while we were there, but perhaps that is unfair, because one can find obnoxious anywhere. A young instructor from (I assume) New York University, which is almost across the street, brought a small group in for pizza and a lecture. But the know-it-all in the booth behind us kept interrupting the teacher and “correcting him.”<<<

Ciao Bella –If you remember, we discovered this great gelato place in Corte Madera during our last trip to the Bay Area. So I was thrilled to find one of their NYC stores. And my dish of half Scharffen Berger chocolate and half coffee was as good as I remembered.<<<

Blackberry doughnut – Barb wanted to go to The Doughnut Plant, which is located on the Lower East Side. I said it was too far out of the way. We compromised and went. Another good move. Their doughnuts, also sold at Dean and Duluca’s and other spots, were delicious – especially the blackberry ones. And the owner was extremely nice even if he did try to convert us to Hinduism.<<<

Curried shrimp and corn chowder – There is a chain of soup places around NYC called Hale and Hearty. They are owned and operated by a New York chef. We ate at 3 of them. Every soup we tried was delicious. My jambalaya was a 10+ and the curried shrimp I sampled was even better. Too bad it was not one of their offerings on our return visits.

OTHER PLEASURES

The Apple Flagship store – At Fifth Avenue and 59th Street a marvelous clear glass cubicle the size of a small room marks the entrance to this architectural showpiece. Inside is a elevator and a stairway, both also clear, descending to a computer wonder world.<<<

Speaking of 59th Street, here is a picture of the famous bridge that left Simon and Garfunkel “feeling groovy.”<<<

New Jersey – To steal half a line from Spencer Tracy, we saw little of the state, but what we saw was choice. On Sunday morning, before the Yankee game, Gary and Abby (who is getting to be such a big girl) picked us up and drove us to their very cool house in West Orange – or was it East Orange – or South?? Sheena was waiting with coffee and the grand tour. Gary’s brother Jeff joined us for a cup, a bagel and good conversation while his daughter Danielle played with Abby.<<<

The walk down Madison Avenue – We walked this great street from 92nd south to about 60th with zigs to the Guggenheim and Met and a disappointing zag looking for a Ciao Bella that was no longer there. The Ralph Lauren Flagship store and LeSportsac were cool but it was the smaller shops that turned us on. And, no, we didn’t see any “Mad Men.”<<<

Stumptown and The Ace – We had heard great things about Stumptown Coffee (headquarters in Portland, Oregon) from Barbara’s brother, Tom, so we sought out its new Manhattan coffee shop, which is their only one outside of Oregon. We found it in the almost equally new and stunning Ace Hotel. The coffee? Excellent! And their café mocha was better than Starbuck’s.<<<

Katz Deli - We went past Katz several times by tour bus and taxi but never had a chance to go in this deli made famous in "When Harry Met Sally." That's right. It was here that Meg Ryan faked her you know what. We were told that the table is even marked with a plaque.<<<
Bitter End - We walked past and took pictures in front of this famous Greenwich Village spot where many performers such as Dylan, Baez, Cosby, Simon and Garfunkel and PP&M got their start.<<<

New York Times – One of my musts was seeing the building from which America’s greatest newspaper emerges. But in the meantime we needed to eat. So we headed for Schnipper’s on 8th Avenue. This was another Food Channel Restaurant. On Bobby Flay’s Throwdown, the chef was putting his fancy sloppy Joe up against Schnipper’s old fashion one. Flay lost, so as a huge fan of my mother’s excellent SJ, I wanted to check out the winner. I think that Schnipper must have copied mom’s recipe, because his was a taste of home. (Barb’s BLT and malt were also very good.)

What does this have to do with the New York Times? A lot. After eating, we walked out the front door, looked up, and found that the restaurant is part of the new and stunning Times Building.<<<

Dylan’s – This candy and ice cream store is owned and operated by Ralph Lauren’s daughter. We had a good hot fudge sundae.<<<

THE GRAY LINE TOURS – Before leaving home we bought a three-day pass that allowed us to get off and on at any stop. We only used two days, but it was well worth the expense. On day one we took the uptown loop catching it in Times Square and getting off after it completed its loop around Central Park. On the West-of Park loop we saw the Dakota Apartments where John Lennon lived and outside of which he was shot, the Langham, where Mia Farrow lives, both in real life and in “Hannah And Her Sisters,” the famed Riverside Church, and Union Seminary, both longtime centers for liberal Protestant theology. And we also saw the spot that answered Groucho Marx’s famous question – “Who is buried in Grant’s Tomb.”

On the park’s north side, in Harlem, we saw the Apollo Theater where everyone that’s anyone in Black musical entertainment, from Ella and Sassy, to Stevie Wonder and the Jackson Five, got their start.

On the downtown tour the next day we saw Ground Zero (an awesome, sobering sight, and the Wall Street bull.

TO BE CONCLUDED