Day 2 began and I woke up around 7 a.m. Jimmy and I had time to catch up on things we'd been doing, such as travel and work. Naturally there was time to talk about wrestling. I left around 8:45 to head down to the Lower East Side to the Doughnut Plant. This little doughnut haven is absolutely unbelievable, I don't think I've ever seen doughnuts that are made quite as well and a shop with so many decadent flavors of doughnuts. They had everything from creme brulee to cinnamon bun to Mexican to peanut butter and jelly. I opted for a peanut butter and banana cream doughnut. It was a square filled pastry topped with a peanut glaze and toasted peanuts coated on the outside. I bit into it and inside was this creamy thick frosting infused with bananas. I'm definitely glad I had a full bottle of milk to wash it down with. And whole milk too, skim or 1% just wasn't going to work! But this doughnut was nothing short of incredible. Easily in the top two or three doughnuts I've ever had.
I had to take either the M or the F train 3 stops north to West 4th and Washington Street. Unfortunately, the trains were delayed in both lines and when I did get the to the village, I got lost trying to figure out the unusually triangular-shaped streets. I was almost late for the beginning of my walking tour of Greenwich Village. Thankfully, after some scrambling and running in 90 degree heat, I was able to find Murray's Cheese Shop, the first stop of our tour. The walls were lined with cheeses, pastas, sauces, oils, and vinegars. Not to mention their impressive assortment of cold cuts. We didn't eat there, but we had the overview. There were sixteen of us on tour, a family of four from Toronto, me, and a big church group from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Most of the group was comprised of older women, so they took it on themselves to adopt me for all intents and purposes.
The first stop was Joe's Pizza, a tiny business on Carmine Street. We each had a half slice. The pizza was incredibly thin, about as thin as a legal slice could be in NY. Great San Marzano tomatoes. The milky mozzarella comes from Vermont. One pizza company talks about its better ingredients. They need to go to Joe's first.
Next was an olive oil shop called O&Co. I learned so much about the manufacturing of oil, black truffles, white truffles, and balsamic vinegar. For instance, if the first ingredient in a bottle of balsamic vinegar isn't "grapes must," it is not the real deal. We also tried popcorn topped with truffle salt. The truffle salt enhanced the flavor of the corn, it didn't just make it salty. They even had an aged basamic vinegar on the shelf for $125. And believe me, it wasn't exactly a gallon size.
We had a lot of food outside on the street. The first example of that was Faicco's Italian specialty shop. The best rice balls I've ever had. The outside was incredibly crispy but really thin. Many rice balls are completely overwhelmed by the breading on the outside, and this wasn't like those. And the rice inside was still very moist and creamy, with a lot of seasoning. There wasn't any beef or peas or heavy cheeses or anything like that. No marinara sauce was needed. It was just a perfectly prepared rice ball.
We also had a sit down meal at Pesce Pasta on Bleecker St, which was a meatball with sauce. It tasted like mostly veal, it was a really tender meatball. The gravy was on the lighter side, but still held up well to the meatball. From there, it was onto downstairs at Cornelia street cafe. While they have a bar and restaurant, this was about the downstairs theater. We learned about some of the great performers who graced this tiny stage, as well as other celebrities who have purchased homes in the area. Let's just say I don't think l will be checking out real estate listings anytime this century.
One of the tour highlights was Rafele's eggplant rollatini. It had a light pink sauce with fresh basil and homemade ricotta. I enjoyed a glass of red sangria with it. With the heat rising outside, it really hit the spot. Thankfully, it wasn't too sweet, like a lot of sangrias are. Also, I sat at the bar next to a girl named Margaret, who was with the Chattanooga group. She lives in Atlanta and is a dietitian. We had a nice getting to know you conversation for about 20 minutes.
Then it was onto desserts. We went to Milk and Cookies. Now the whole group already knew I was not going to be eating chocolate. They knew this from the overview back at Murray's Cheese Shop. Our tour guide, Marie, asked who was the one person in the group who didn't eat chocolate. Sheepishly, with a smile, I raised my hand. Thankfully, I was able to have an oatmeal raisin cookie instead. And it was an excellent cookie, made with plenty of butter. It had crispy edges on the outside but was still incredibly moist and rich on the inside.
We spent the next half-hour looking at different houses in the area come in those sing the unique architecture and have the Villages of all over the last hundred years or so. Our final stop was at Rocco's for a cannoli. It was a fine cannoli, but to be honest, after having one at JP Graziano several days before with the Italian cherries on the outside, this one just felt like another cannoli. And besides this had chocolate chips on the outside, a major No-No for me.
With the three hour tour over, I took the 1 train down to Battery Park. I ordered a can of Victory Pilsner beer and sat on a bench for about an hour-and-a-half grabbing some sun and listening to music. Knowing that my new twitter friend Nicole was going to be late to the Mets game, I just knew I had a little more time to kill. So I decided to hop on the Staten Island Ferry for a free 25 minute ride each way. I knew that on the ferry, I could get some great photographs of the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline. And no doubt, I took some pretty amazing pictures. It was pretty exciting to be so close to the Statue of Liberty. I went there back in 8th grade, but now I have a little bit more appreciation for it.
At that point, it was time to head over to Citi Field for the Mets game. I took the 1 train back north to Time Square and then took the 7 train East to Stadium. When I exited the subway station, Pete McCarthy from WOR radio was having a Mets trivia contest. I was able to answer one of the questions correctly and won a prize. He asked about the Mets opening day in 2014. Stephen Strasburg was pitching for Washington and he asked what is a three-run homer against Strasburg. And I knew immediately the answer was Andrew Brown. I was always a big fan of his, even though he was a relatively marginal player. So I had my choice of a rally towel, a t-shirt, or a ticket to a future game. Both t-shirts looked pretty cartoonish, and living far away, a ticket didn't make much sense. So I happily took the orange rally towel!
As many Mets road games as I go to, it felt so good to be back in Citi Field. Being in the sea of orange and blue is just a beautiful thing for me. And even though the Mets had lost seven straight games, they wound up winning this one three to nothing. Jacob deGrom pitched seven shutout innings, including escaping a bases-loaded and nobody out jam in the seventh inning.
I got to meet my twitter friend Nicole at the game for the first time and we definitely enjoyed each other's company. We have similar interest in sports teams, tend to be a little sarcastic, and we do laugh at each other's jokes quite easily. I guess one of the main differences is she's obsessed with ranch dressing and I love tomatoes. Hopefully we can work through that. We even shared a quick goodnight kiss...
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