1. Faiccos Italian Deli
The first thing I did after landing in Queens and dropping our luggage at the AC hotel was to take the 1 train to Christopher Street, probably the last area in New York I'd ever want to be.
I paced through the freezing rain and met up with my ex, Jen. I paid 20 bucks for an Italian sub with Genoa salami, prosciutto, mortadella, fresh mozz, lettuce, tomato, and roasted peppers on a semolina seeded roll. There are no rolls like them outside of the New York metro area. And this sandwich had about three times as much meat and cheese as it did vegetables! Half a sandwich and I was good
We even saw they had the prosciutto bread, which is basically a meat bagel. That became dessert.
2. Dog Museum
I wanted to make sure I made a stop over here. There wasn't really a ton to it, mostly artwork, paintings, and sculptures. They had an interactive exhibit where I got to train a virtual Molly, I taught her to fetch a ball, to sit, to roll over etc.
I did see a lot of French bulldogs, and after taking care of my buddy Bruno back in 2019 for a few days, it of course got me going. Not so much for cocker spaniels though.
Museum admission was 15 bucks to the American Kennel Club. It seemed like an overcharge, but if some of the proceeds are going to help dogs, then it's with the price.
3. MLB store
It was a fantastic new store, lots of variety. I spent a full hour inside with my father, who spent most of his time lamenting how terrible the Braves merchandise looks. And at the end of that hour, all I bought was a set of wristbands for ten bucks. The best item was an orange and cream 3/4 sleeve Mets t shirt. Trouble was they didn't have a large size.
My shopping was widely disappointing. One of the purposes of my trip was to buy some good Jets gear for my local group.
I went to Target, TJ Maxx, Chammps, even a couple of discount stores. The only place I really had much success was Party City. It's pretty baffling to me that Manhattan has stores for MLB, NBA, and NHL, but not the NFL.
What a ridiculously great dinner, the first with both my parents since July 2017. This steakhouse is basically one of the few that gave from Peter Luger. We began with the baked clams oreganato, we hadn't had these kind of clams in years. They were so good we ordered an extra half dozen. And of course, the sizzling thick cut bacon, nearly a full inch thick, 8 bucks a slice. Take some of that bacon, their tomato and onion salad, and add a little of the house sauce, which was kind of like a cocktail sauce with slightly sweet tanginess, and every taste sense gets engaged.
And then of course, the porterhouse steak
Sliced into large pieces, served on a ripping hot plate, which was slightly tilted on the table so the steak juices and butter could accumulate at the bottom of the dish. Pure heaven, the most tender, perfectly aged Porterhouse.
And the sides. The hand cut steak fries didn't even need a dipping sauce. Crispy on the outside, tender inside, nicely seasoned. And the creamless creamed spinach, wow. This tasted like sauteed olive oil and garlic spinach but and the smooth silky taste of creamed spinach. I'm not sure how they did it, but I may have to work on figuring that one out. Bottle of Napa Pinot Noir was wonderful.
5. Joes pizza
We got our much needed pizza fix. And Joe's is about the best place to get it. Perfect large slice. Thin crispy and chewy crust, good quality sauce and cheese.
6. Phone fix
The strangest part of my trip was my cell phone suddenly failing on Saturday afternoon. It couldn't read my SIM card leaving me unable to text, call, or access the mobile network. In the middle of the Rangers viewing party, I excused myself and went to a local Verizon store, which got me nowhere.
So Sunday morning, after being unable to get a rep on the phone, not shockingly, we went to the Soho location. The store opened at 11 am, well, we were standing in front of the store by 10:30. And with 15 minutes, the guy had my phone working again.
7. Rangers viewing party
I arrived at McHales Irish pub around 2 pm and I was so ready to see some of these people I hadn't seen in over ten years. Thankfully neither my ex nor any of her family showed up, which Facebook indicated was going to happen. I drank a local IPA, and that was it. A few guys were even giving out free red bull and vodka and I took a pass.
In the raffles, my tickets weren't chosen. I had never heard of the wingspan concept, where someone spreads their arms out, the tickets are unrolled and they buy all the tickets that can be rolled out from one hand to the other. Right there I should have known I wasnt winning. But I was given a Bob Brooke card, and Jim even gave me a puck and pint glass. And we couldn't even celebrate a goal, as the Rangers dropped a frustrating game to Pittsburgh 1-0.
8. Meatball Shop
After the defeat, I headed to dinner. Of course, my phone was out by now and I had no way of telling mom since she wasn't checking Facebook messenger.
We went with the meatball sampler, Italian salad, and shrimp fra diavolo. All tasted very nice, though I could have done without the chicken bone piece in the chicken meatball. It's just a shame they had the f¡ag flying.
9. Off Broadway show
Saturday night, went went to a show. We wanted to see MJ, the show about Michael Jackson. But with tickets at over 140 each, we instead spent 40 each to go off Broadway to see The Show That Goes Wrong. It had a lot of physical comedy, and indeed it was very funny in spots. The annoying part was we had to wear masks for the full 2 and a half hours. The were even ushers holding up signs that said Mask up. I was so ready to leave. I can understand asking for vaccination proof to get in certain places, but masks while we're watching a show just seemed over the top, esp if we're required to be vaccinated. Oh that's right.... the masks are BS.
Afterwards we went back to the room, and finished off the four pieces of steak and the first piece of Junior's cheesecake, the pineapple crumb. So delicious!
10. Katz's Deli
We were both disappointed to be missing church but I knew I had to get my phone fixed. So after taking care of that, we headed to the best deli, Katz's. Mom asked for waiter service, which I didn't expect. For me, it's all about ordering a sandwich at the counter and watching the cutter do the carving.
But we waited 20 minutes online to get a table and we split two sandwiches. One was a pastrami with Swiss cheese and mustard, you can't come here and not get pastrami. We also got roast beef with dressing from a country in Europe and Asia that I won't identify, Swiss, lettuce, and tomato. Unbelievably great. I just wish the rye bread had a little more crust or some caraway seed.
The potato salad was creamy for my taste, but a little salt, pepper and mustard did the trick. With the pickles, I prefer the full sours, which is odd for me, I've always been a half sour fan. And the rye bread needed caraway seeds and crunch. I've seriously had better rye bread in LA.
Bonus: AC hotel
It was a nicely kept hotel with a strong European and Spanish influence with the design. But no coffee service, not much storage space, no dressers, there was a broken pump on the shower gel. And with one bar of soap that mom had used first, I was stuck with using shampoo.
And I have to say something about the people. There is way too much smoking going on and maybe that's the foreigners. But the streets smell of weed now. It's so bad I swear I'm in Jamaica and I don't mean Queens.
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