After having eggs in the house, I headed outside towards Manhattan and into a ton of rain. My destination was the NYC history museum on the upper east side of Manhattan. I had been wanting to visit this museum for a long time, but on a rainy day, this seemed like the right time.
The highlight was definitely the beginning of the tour. The exhibits that explained the history of the city and the videos were informative, well organized, and intriguing. But outside of that, most of the exhibits just didn't appeal to me. Activism, women's rights, street art, and silver? Sorry, just not interested.
However, they did have a hallway that profiled Martin Luther King's history of work in New York City as well. But one of my favorite things about this museum is that it takes an open and honest look at the problems currently facing the city as well as the problems that are expected to challenge the city in the future. Come to think of it, that's what I expect from New York at it's best, open to the people and addressing the issues honestly and head-on.
The rain was coming down harder and I decided to head back to the Bronx where my friend Gina was supposed to pick me up and take me out for pizza. But still being hungry and having an extra two hours on my hands, I decided to grab a couple of tacos from a small stand across from the 103rd St station at El Aguila. I ordered two tacos with carne asada and a cactus agua fresca. Fantastic. Plenty of juicy steak, fresh toppings, fresh guacamole, and a good spicy salsa. I'd never drank anything with cactus before, but I really enjoyed it. It's a little bit of a dive, but it is worth trying.
I waited for Gina to come back and she never did, so I said screw it and I went on my way. I decided to get an early dinner at the Meatball Shop, a place I've been wanting to try for a few years now. One thing I didn't expect was the dark, rustic atmosphere. They had a well stocked bar, that came across as very classy. I took a seat at the window so I could watch the street traffic. My server did a great job of explaining the menu and offered a couple of recommendations. I started with their special, which was a pork and lamb meatball, topped with their pesto sauce. Such a satisfying experience. I could really taste the garlic and fresh herbs in the pesto, and the olive oil was an excellent quality. The meatball itself was very tender; the pork gave it a traditional taste, while the lamb gave it that gaminess that made it taste so unique. I then got four traditional meatballs for nine bucks, along with spicy meat sauce, shredded Parmesan, and some foccacia. This was the dish that convinced me that this place will be a regular stop when I'm in Manhattan. The balls were fair size, but not overly large. they were tender and they still held together very well. The sauce was bright red, full of flavor; it tasted like my Italian grandmother's in Brooklyn, God rest her soul. The only issue was I didn't detect much heat. The crispy foccacia helped absorb any extra sauce. Also, the side salad was very light, with spring greens, some thinly sliced apples, and a lemon vinaigrette. Just a fantastic meal for a fair price.
I then headed into midtown at Times Square to the Opry City Stage. I had tickets to see Lee Roy Parnell, and I was surprised the venue was only about a third full. I took a seat by myself and drank a couple of Blue Point toasted lagers. Credit to them for having this beer on draft. I also had smoked wings for an appetizer, and I could really sense the strong smoke flavor. These are some messy wings, with a bold, heavy BBQ sauce. But they are still really good. If you're going to eat here, I'd recommend getting some kind of smoked meat, whether it's wings, ribs, etc.
The show itself didn't impress me too much. Lee Roy only played about three of his hits, and he could have played a whole lot more. And he spent most of the time flirting with Lisa Stewart, who's now his backup singer. She recently got divorced, so I'm wondering if he's a reason why. If it wasn't, well, they did a good job of hiding it. After the show was over, I went downstairs to Floors 2/3. They had a cover band called Nashville Attitude who would play 3-4 songs live, then they'd take a break and a few country videos from past and present would play on the monitors. I drank the Broadway to Broadway, and these aren't cheap cocktails, everything is $16. Thankfully, because I had purchased a ticket for the upstairs show, I got a 20 percent discount. The merchandise is pretty good, nothing that really knocked me out, but the management is doing a good job at making the OCS feel as authentic as possible.
I thought about a slice of cheesecake at Junior's, but at 12:30 in the morning, I decided to head back to the Bronx.
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