104 PERRY ST, DAY 2

So we get up Wednesday have coffee and hit the streets about 10:30 a.m. We are going round the corner to pick up a package we sent Fed Ex to ourselves. Sheets and towels and a few other things.
After that our plan is to go to the New Museum. It's a new museum of contemporary art on the Bowery. We are gonna walk, it's not to far and we enjoy NYC best on foot. You can take your time and stop if you want. You miss a lot in a cab. If we had not walked we never would have been able to stop at Murray Cheese Shop. Where we grabbed a small flat bread with cheese and meat. Murray's is a great shop and we didn't need to know what kind of cheese or meat was used, we new it would be good. The monger threw it on the grill for a moment and that made it even better.

We get to the New Museum, it's not hard to find. The Bowery is not surrounded by giant skyscrapers so it's easy to pick out the shiny new 7 story museum. We go to pay our $12 each fee and the guy tells us they have just been awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize for their shiny new building and to celebrate admission was free for the day. I thanked the man and ask how he new we were broke and on a tight budget. He said everybody was and also gave us two passes to join a tour of the building with one of the award winning architects. The tour was to start in a few minutes. Hell yeah, our lucky day.

The tour was the best part of our visit to the New Museum. The art on display was ok. Maybe we looked a few pieces that were interesting, but the tour with one of the guys who helped design this building was the best. This building that just won the Pritzker Architecture Prize. I think this is a huge deal. This is what I found on wikipedia.

The Pritzker Architecture Prize is awarded annually by the Hyatt Foundation to honor "a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture"

Above is a photo Stacey took. It shows the screen used on top of the sheet metal that was used to clad the exterior of this building. Like I said it was a seven story building and each floor is a cube set on top of, but not directly on top of, the cube below. From what we learned it was quite a feat of engineering. Lot's of weight that needed to be distributed all over the place.

Like I said, our lucky day. After the tour Stacey and I decide to go around the corner and eat, come back and take a second look around the New Museum. We knew Rivington St. was just a block up the Bowery and BaoHaus came to mind. BaoHaus is a small sandwich shop that sells nothing but Bao. A Bao is a small sandwich. You can choose from pork or beef. In this case the best pork or beef available. You should really click to their sight and read up on the product and Eddie, the guy behind it. Neat story.

Any way we are making our way to BaoHaus and come across Freeman Alley. I know don't shit about Freeman Alley except a thing I read in Gun And Garden Magazine about southern spots in NYC. Freeman's at the end of Freeman Alley at Rivington. Here is what I read in the magazine.

Freemans At the end of a nondescript alley on the Lower East Side, a mix of glam and hipster diners feast on Southern-skewed specialties like shrimp and grits and creamy corn pudding. The decor is part Victorian, part Southern sportsman, part colonial tavern, with taxidermy and antique regimental paintings given equal billing. Plus, it’s one of the only places in town that serve juleps in real silver cups. Try the seasonal blackberry variety. End of Freeman Alley; freemansrestaurant.com

This happened a few time this trip. We have a place on our list to find and all the sudden we are standing right in front of the place. That's how we came across Freemans.

So we had a beer and a little food at Freeman's instead of going on to BaoHaus. We had plans to eat at BaoHaus and see a burlesque show at Nurse Betties the next night any way.

We had a soup, Leek with a lemon zest. We had 3 cheese macaroni. With toasted bread crumbs on top. Good food, and a really cool room. I also enjoyed 2 Victory, Hop Devil beers. Good beer, gonna try and find it in Atlanta.

We return to the New Museum, we go up to the 7th floor and take pictures. We then walk down checking the art as we go. The tile in the men's bathroom was awesome. Take a look.

We head back to 104 Perry and rest for a while. We have a beer and drink some of the tequila left over from our last trip. Than it's back out. We are gonna go do a falafel comparison.

Mamouns is known as the falafel King of the West Village. We have enjoyed a falafel sandwich from Mamouns many, many times. They are deliouis and only cost $2.50. It's a walk up, small spot with a few seats. Most get it to go. You don't wait but a minute or two and they are open 11 a.m. til 5 a.m. every day.

The other falafel shop in our comparision was Taim. The lady who own's this spot worked for Bobby Flay, so I figure she's gonna do good stuff. Also, I have read good things about Taim.

Both Mamouns and Taim are in our hood. So we take a walk, get a falafel at Taim and eat it as we walk to MacDougal St for Manouns. After eating Mamouns falafel we decide Taim is best. It is also more expensive at $4.50 to Mamouns $2.50. But, Mamouns is good and open late/early.

There is a lot more to Taim other then falafel. They have no web site right now. You can read a bit about them here. I had a ginger lemonade that rocked. I'm gonna make some at home.

After falafels we walked around for about an hour and then crashed.

18$ Fed Ex Package

4$ flatbread Murray cheese

37$ Freemans

8$ six pac beer and 2 limes

4.50$ Taim falafel

2.50$ Manouns

74$ total spent on Wednesday.