Website About Free Events

I was going to hear Audra McDonald and Liz McComb sing tonight in Central Park. In fact, I went to hear them sing with a tasty tuna sandwich and large bottle of water in hand. Then I got wet-very, very wet. I even had a random conversation in the middle of Central Park with a guy trying to protect his new IPod by standing under a tree. Given the amount of rain, this could not have been a successful approach-though I am not sure anything would have been. Anyway, even though I did not get to see the free concert, a conversation earlier today reminded me about an important website to have as a favorite when looking for things to do on the cheap, and by cheap I mean FREE, in nyc. It is http://nyc.freecityevents.com/. You should definitely check it out.

Mmmm….Shawafel

I know I said that I rarely get to eat meat because Kosher meat is so expensive, but I have now had meat three times in the last week. Mmmmm….meat! The most recent experience was at Chickpea (www.getchickpea.com) at the East Village location. Here’s why I love Chickpea. 1) They have Shawafel, so you don’t have to decide between shawarma and falafel. 2) The shawarma is hot and not too greasy. 3) The falafel is small, so there is an excellent ratio of crusty fried outside to chewy spicy inside. 4) They are super cheap. 5) The food is served super fast due to counter service. 6) The place is small but still has a reasonable amount of places to sit.

Kosher Eating in NYC: Wolf and Lamb

Tonight I went to Wolf and Lamb (http://www.wolfandlambsteakhouse.com/), located on 48th between 5th and Madison. Due to the fact that I don’t eat non-Kosher meat and Kosher meat can be expensive, I have not found many opportunities to eat meat since moving to nyc. Because I owed a friend a steak dinner as a thank you, I decided to treat us both to some quality Kosher meat. Mmmmm meat…. I ordered the Chicken Caesar Salad, and he had a steak. Dinner started with complimentary warm garlic bread. My salad was huge with very tender pieces of chicken and tasty portobello mushrooms on top. His steak was cooked to perfection. There is no doubt in my mind why this place specializes in steaks. The meat was cooked to what should be considered the definition of medium-not a second over or undercooked, and was well seasoned without being too seasoned. The steak came with a baked potato, portobello mushrooms and a vegetable combination.

The chocolate chip explosion is a must have for dessert. We were full. After the description, we ordered it anyway. We made the right decision-warm chocolate chip cookie base, hot chocolate syrup oozing out the middle and over the top, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. This is the second glatt kosher restaurant I have been to where the dessert has been absolutely phenomenal (the Top Hat dessert at the now closed Shallots in Chicago was the first). This always surprises me, given the limitation on ingredients. I would go back just for dessert, though I would rather go back for dinner too.

There were a couple strange things about the restaurant. The first was the fact that it seemed to be obsessed with portobello mushrooms. Both my salad and his steak had portobello mushrooms on top, and while tasty, they seemed really extraneous. Secondly, one of the waiters continuously did exactly the opposite of what we asked him. I ordered a ginger ale and when he brought it to the table, he gave it to my friend even after we told him I ordered it. Then he asked if we were done with our meals, we said yes, and he promptly walked away from the table without taking away our plates. By the end it was more amusing than anything else, but still very odd.

While not cheap eats, I would definitely recommend going to Wolf and Lamb when looking for some excellent meat in a relaxed environment.

The Little Pie Company: More Than Just Pie

This evening, I returned to The Little Pie Company (http://www.littlepiecompany.com/). I had tasted their pie before at the International Food Festival, where I chose to sample the famous Sour Cream Apple Walnut Pie. In case you were wondering, it is incredible-tart apples, surgery walnut topping, perfect crust with just the right amount of crunch-and I am not even a crust person. However, tonight I learned that this little dessert shop is more than just pie. Think chocolate…think chocolate caramel brownie. Soooo tasty. The caramel makes it extra gooey, and by not making the brownie too think, it is not too rich. Mmmm….

After ordering dessert (if in the Hell’s Kitchen location), you can choose to sit in a number of places-inside the store, at a table outside, or at the park just to the west of the store. I mention this only to talk about the ‘park’ that is next to the store. It is actually just the sidewalk with some benches. However, it is actually labeled a park, and it even has rules, such as ‘this park closes at midnight.’ Can a bench actually close at a specific time? Apparently, it can in nyc. Anyway, I find this ‘park’ incredibly amusing.

On a separate side thought, in case you were wondering, the Jamba Juice on 85th and Broadway does not have any tables whatsoever. Therefore, it is a good place to go to get a smoothie, but a bad place to go to get a smoothie and try to grade a stack of papers.

Best Book Store in NYC: St Mark’s Bookshop

I love St. Mark’s Books. Located at 31 Third Ave. (right near Astor Place), this bookstore is clearly the cream of the crop in nyc, and I recognize that there are a lot of choices. Added to its greatness is the fact that it is actually called St. Mark’s Bookshop (not Books or Bookstore), a fact that I just discovered this morning. I love this store because it is small, rarely crowded, has an incredibly friendly and helpful staff, a cool East Village clientele, and in my opinion the best book collection in the city. Particularly strong sections include travel, politics, literature and food. It may be impossible for me to enter this store without spending much more money than I originally intend (yesterday my total came to over $60), making the greatness the store’s book collection perhaps its biggest downfall.
Whenever I tell people that my favorite bookstore in the city is St. Mark’s, they tend to reply with the same question “have you been to The Strand?” As far as I am concerned, this question is ridiculous. I love books, so of course I have been to The Strand. However, as far as bookstores go, it is not the best place in the city. I will give you that it has a larger collection than St. Mark’s Books and that it even has more books on sale than can usually be found at St. Mark’s, but that is where The Strand supremacy ends. The Strand is the perfect place to come to when in nyc as a tourist, and has a lot of the elements of many touristy places in the city-it is crowded, it is large, it sells shirts that advertise for itself, and it is loud. Now, I do not want to spend this posting completely rejecting The Strand. The bookstore brings lots of people from all over to look at books, a big love of my life, and it has a huge collection, but when I want to sit in a bookstore and quietly browse or when I want to be tempted by a large number of books that I actually want to read, I always go to St. Mark’s Bookshop.