Robin and I love to travel. Prior to going away, I do all the research on where to eat, what to see, what not to miss etc. I didn't think I had anything to learn, but I was wrong. Robin turned me on to Grey Line Tours. The second time Robin came to visit me in California, she brought her mom and aunt with her. They took a tour of LA and dragged me along for the ride. I can't say that I really enjoyed it all that much, because I fell asleep!! However, we've taken tours in San Francisco, Halifax and most recently NYC. The tour we took in NYC was a 2 day unlimited hop on/hop off tour. It worked out well because we never took a tax the entire time we were in the city. If we wanted to go somewhere, we figured out what part of the loop it was on and then just hopped off. The tour included uptown, downtown, Brooklyn, a night tour and a water cruise. We didn't have enough time to fit in everything so we missed the night tour and the water tour. On Wednesday, we hopped back on the downtown tour where we got out at the stop for the Brooklyn Tour. I was determined to eat pizza in Brooklyn. We enjoyed about 10 min of the Brooklyn tour until we got off at the stop for Grimaldi's( right under the Brooklyn bridge). The pizza was amazing..... and thankfully, we didn't have to wait for a table. The weather still wasn't fantastic, but it was better than Tuesday.
When I was growing up in S. Fl, my parents would bring in Pizza fairly frequently. We only ever got 1 topping on our pizza( Mushrooms). I still prefer my NY pizza with only mushrooms. Robin has come to see my way too. When we first started going to FL together, she wanted to load toppings on her slice, but she soon realized that in order to fold the slice in half, it can't be weighted down with toppings.
The seating in Grimaldi's is communal. The foursome next to us was from another country and they ordered their pizza with 5 toppings. It was so weighted down that I was sad for them. They could not enjoy the simplicity of the dough, sauce and cheese!! It was really hard for me to resist butting in, but I held my tongue and ate my heavenly slices. Ask me how much I want a brick oven in my backyard? The pizza only cooks for TWO minutes. Amazing.
After lunch, we went back to the bus stop to wait for the tour bus to get us. This time, we had a different tour guide than the one that dropped us off. This man brought the people off the bus to show them the bridge. As we were walking back to the bus, another tourist asked the guide where Grimaldi's was. He said( in a thick NY accent). That's garbage, I wouldn't feed it to my cat, total tourist trap. I kinda laughed and said " we just ate there and we loved it". He said " well, then you don't know good pizza". Hahahaha, I laughed at that.
I don't care what he said, it was great pizza and considering how expensive NYC is, a relatively cheap lunch at 22.00 a small pizza( 6 slices) with 1 topping and 2 diet cokes.
The driver took us to another bakery where I had the most amazing halavah ever. It was so fresh and tasty( another item Robin doesn't like).
Dinner was in Chinatown where we were accosted by little Chinese women whispering DVD, DVD, Prada, Gucci, Chanel in our ears as we walked by. We ate dinner at Joe's Shanghai( I forgot to take pics). We walked back to the World Trade Center Path station and took the train back to NJ.
On Thursday, we were left to our own devices for transportation. Robin quickly figured out the subway and we took it uptown to the Upper West Side for another self-led walking Foodie walking tour.
After checking out of the B and B, we took our luggage to Penn Station. If you have a ticket on Amtrak or the Long Island Railroad( to get to JFK) you can store your luggage for 4.50 a bag. This was a huge time saver as we originally thought we'd have to go back to the B & B to pick up our bags.
Our First stop was Jacques Torres. We shared a CCC. Honestly, I was expecting more. It was OK, but not worth the 2.50 price tag. Granted, I was still full from the amazing breakfast we had at Jersey City's Best Bed and Breakfast.
We had this amazing double choc. pb cookie at Levain. This was a great, very dense cookie. I could only eat 1 bite of my half( I brought it back to Canada and it was still good the next day).
We skipped Grandaisy bakery on 72nd and B'way because nothing there appealed to me. We also skipped Soutine Bakery on W 70th between Broadway and Columbus (closer to Columbus)and Silver Moon Bakery at Broadway and 105th. We went into those places, but I was so full that I couldn't not fathom getting anything.
We did hit Magnolia Bakery where I was sorely disappointed. I had the plain vanilla cupcake/w vanilla frosting( 2.50). It was sooo sweet and kinda dry. Call me a conceited, but I think I'm a much better baker than the majority of what I tasted.
We went to the much lauded H&H bagels where I was shocked at the 16.80 pricetag for a dozen bagels. I did buy 5 to bring home. We walked thru Fairway( amazing grocery store) and a few other shops.
Robin tried a Beard Papa. I'm not a big fan of Choux paste so I skipped that one. She enjoyed it.
I thoroughly enjoyed this gelato/sorbet I had at GROM. Omg, too die for. The lemon was so intense and the hazelnut gelato was amazing.
We had a late lunch at Viand. We both enjoy diners and this one did not dissapoint. Its hard to find good tuna salad in this area so I never order it when I eat out here. This tuna salad was good and a bargain at $6.25
Robin had a turkey burger that she enjoyed very much.
We headed over to Central Park to enjoy some much needed sun. Our last meal in NY was at JFK and it was so horrible, its not even worth mentioning.
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