24 Hours in NYC

So our plane lands about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. We wait in line for a taxi which is the only time I can remember when the cabs were not waiting for us. We head to Mineta Lane where “our” apartment is. Well it’s actually my cousins apt. but we call it “ours” whenever we’re there. Look for the key in the hiding place and can’t find it cause she is already home from work. So we check in, catch up, have a cocktail then head out on our three block walk to the le Poission Rouge. This is where the Tuxedomoon show is happening. Gut Bucket opens the show and unlike their name they are not hard to listen to. Our roommate leaves soon as she works very early the next morning. She works on the Law and Order SVU television show and they start shooting early in the a.m. Stacey and I stick around drinking very expensive drinks and enjoy a very good show. I mean very, very good. Just as I expected. So about 2 a.m Thursday morning we leave the bar and head to Mamon’s, which provides us with the best falafel sandwich in the city. Mamon’s in on MacDougal St. about one block from “our” apt. We take our sandwiches and head to the benches on the corner of 6th ave and Bleeker street, which is about 100 steps form “our” front-door. Damn good sandwich and good place to sit at 2:30 a.m. in NYC. Then it’s to sleep and awake about 9 a.m. I run around the corner to the Cafe Reggio which has been serving coffee and lite fare since 1927, a quaint spot indeed. I grab a couple cups and back in “our” apt we plan our day. 11 a.m. finds us just a few blocks away at Ditch Plains enjoying brunch. Very good food and service. Eggs Benedict and a killer BLT. We then walk about 20 blocks or so grab a cab and head to MOMA. We hardly ever go to NYC without a visit to MOMA. Even on a 24 hour trip. We want to see the prefab houses that are on display in an empty lot on 54th st. There are 5 houses that have been trucked in and assembled for all the MOMA visitors to enjoy. Stacey and I have been looking at different prefabs for years, with dreams of building one on our lake property. Of course you can’t go to MOMA without a walk through the galleries, so that’s where we start. Tons of good stuff to view, some new to us, some we have seen before, but I never get tried of anything showing at MOMA. We have a coffee at the Museum Cafe and then head outdoors to the prefabs. These prefabs are fab. Two in particular would be prefect for us and something we could afford. Maybe a lake house is in my near future. We go to leave and decide to take a second look at a couple of the prefabs. After that we head across the street to an Irish Pud for a pint and to make a dinner plan. We drink and go through our NYC restaurant guides looking for the prefect place to end our visit. We decide on Artisanal. Artisanal is a restaurant that specializes in cheese and wine. It also has a full menu. We ate there years ago and always wanted to return, so we take the opportunity to do so. We decide to walk the 30 or so blocks from MOMA to Artisanal almost stopping at another restaurant we came across. Their menu is on the sidewalk and looks good, but we move on and I’m am very glad we did. We get to Artisanal and sit in the bar area and start scanning the menu. We order a glass of wine each, Snails and a Tuna Tatar for starters. It’s all so good. We eat slow so we can enjoy every bit of this dining experience, also we have plenty of time to get to the airport. We order more wine and decide to split the hanger steak with pomme fritts and wilted greens. This turns out to be a great meal, good food, drink and the perfect pace. I also had the perfect dinner companion. By this time it is 7:30 Thursday night and we have been in the city for 24 hours. So we pay the check, walk out the front door, I stick my hand in the air and as if by magic a cab appears and takes us straight to the airport for our 9 o’clock flight back to Atlanta.