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Trip Report New York City April 2008
Reminder: I was not under oath when I wrote this.
At the end of BCR
#140, I had jumped ahead to Monday's lunch at
Gabrielle's..
Don't think of that as a hueueueuge blunder, think of it as
Tarantino-esque story telling.
Sunday
7 AM, the hotel phone rings. That's not good because...
A
nobody knows I'm here and
B anyone
who knew I was here partied with us till 4AM last night
and there's no way they'd
be calling this early, ...so WTF?
It was some secretary from the Vatican - the POPE
was calling.
Bart, ...you up yet?
Bart, come talk to me, I'm free until 7:45.
Let's talk
theology, Bart, let's talk Ecumenical Existentialism.
C'mon Bart,
it's only 7AM ...were you out late last night?
Maybe that was a dream...
So we turned Sunday into Downtown Pizza Day
We saw a thing on The Travel Channel about great
New York Pizza,
They said Ray's
on Prince Street had some really good pizza, and Lombardi's,
one block away, was great and it was NY's first
pizza, so we did them both.
Went to Ray's, got a slice, and we liked it quite a bit.
It was hueueueuge.
They must've had seating for 16 people.
They had pastas and stromboli and tons of stuff
I'd have liked to've tried,
but we had to go with the pizza because that's
what's in their name.
When our order was up, I asked Louigi for some
fresh parmesan cheese.
Louigi said, "Grab
some off of Booth Two."
Huh?
There were three dudes eating at Booth Two.
But the pizza was pretty good without the parmesan.
We have good pizza in K-Drag, some really good,
but no home run hitters.
We'd been to THE Ray's at 11th Street and Sixth
Ave back in 2001.
Had a slice of plain cheeze pizza that was
damn good.
Some people really liked our
first Trip to New York.
Among other things, I was physically attacked
by The Mob, seriously.
Walking the block between Ray's and Lombardi's, we found where Senate Democrats shop.
Then went to Lombardi's - which seemed like the Tommy's Tequila of New York pizza.
Everyone you see in the picture is waiting for their Lombardi's table.
It was so embarassing - the guy calling out names was from some Muslim
country (true, but still kidding)
and the name I'd given them was "Fred," because many Americans
can not only spell "F-r-e-d," they can
also pronounce it. But this fella's Farsi wasn't too clear,
so we had two false alarms.
Twice I went in and said, "I'd Fred - we're here," and he'd say,
"No, actually,
I just called for the Rubinowitz couple,
but you're right - that sounds a lot like Fred."
Smart ass.
Maybe we should invade Iran.
...just kidding.
So finally, we got a table and we ordered our best-pizza-in-New-York pizza.
We noticed that "real" NY Pizza wasn't too keen on cheese. We saw the
waiter walk by with
other people's pizza and there were noticeable squares of cheese on
the mostly red saucy top,
so we took the bold move of ordering extra cheese. Hey,
we're on vacation, right?
If I had any brains (should I bother to finish this sentence?) I would've
taken a picture of it,
but my IQ of 64 got in the way again, and I vowed not to make that
same mistake again this trip.
Then after a nap (I'm old) we met up with Frank and Lorn for the big boat ride.
The Boat Ride that didn't Happen
So we ended up at The Porterhouse Steakhouse in the Time Warner Building.
We were running, so I only had time to get this one shot Willie Mays-style, over my shoulder.
We got to the Porterhouse, ...and Frank had already
assembled the staff.
He was only 20 seconds ahead of us, but the staff
stood at attention like he was Patton.
He told them he wanted a nice table with a view
so we could watch the sunset.
They scrambled to make it so.
I wonder if he told them we were " 'A' Players?"
Of course, Frank started off with, "More
champagne, more red wine,please"
He ordered me a shot of tequila, perhaps a woody
yet fruity Patron Anejo..
Mrs Bart and I ordered the Cowboy Rib Steak,
Frank had the Short Rib Ravioli thingy, which
tasted great!
He insisted I try it, and it rocked the world.
Lorn had the filet mignon, which t-o-t-a-l-l-y
ruled
the world.
When me and Mrs Bart failed to finish our hueueueuege,
14-inch rib eyes
Frank finished them both for us and then ...it
happened again!
The Reverend Perry Sanders called from Louisiana!
How does he always know when we're in some fabulous
restaurant?
Funny, he only calls when we're in a restaurant we can't afford.
He told me he's busy writing his autobiography.
The latent hallucinogens in me
say that the Reverend Sanders said he was going
to include Ol' Bart in his book.
Sometimes the mind plays tricks, and you don't
know which parts to trust.
Let's just hope the Reverend Perry Sanders doesn't
tell all he knows :)
So we're talking and talking, mostly making sense
because despite the calls for
"More champagne"
it wasn't really the drunkfest it might've been on the cruise boat.
Not only that, but Lorn, that afternoon, had purchased
some radical lens for her digi-camera
that took extra-wide shots that didn't need any
light at all.
Gee, if only something cool would happen soon
that'd make us wish we had some perfect,
forever-lasting pictures because Lorn was in
a position to make things happen!
just
So the four of us, Frank, Lorn, Mrs. Bart and
me got to the Porterhouse at maybe 7:20 or 7:30
and I'm sure because the 7 PM boat was still at the dock when we left
- so we relaxed.
We drank and talked and told old stories - talked
about kids and ancient history, how we met
Frank and stories that will be in the not-started
Bartcop Biography - when will I get time to write that?
Finally, we noticed that the Porterhouse was
closing and we knew for sure because the employees
had stacked all the chairs in the restaurant
but ours - could it be a hint that it was time to go?
That figures - fabulous big-time steakhouse in
New York, closing at 10:30 or so.
(In Tulsa, the steakhouses stay open to at
least midnight) What's wrong with New York?
I had to hit the Men's Room before we left, and it was so cool, I took a picture.
That's some serious marble or granite or something - but that's
one damn bad-ass, fancy bathroom.
You can bet Senator Larry Craig (R) would
enjoy blowing some airport cop here.
Then came Monday - the day I took the big gamble.
??????????????????????????
Did Bart's big gamble pay off?
You be the judge..
Click
Here for the report about the Monday we won't forget.
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