NYC - Rock 'n Roll, food & drugs

Just got back from a long week-end in NYC which was planned around the Eric Clapton concert at Madison Square Garden.

By some miracle I was able to use United Miles for the plane ticket and also cashed in Starwood points for our hotel - the "W" in Union Square.

Arrived late afternoon on Wednesday and immediately set out on foot to do one of our favorite things in New York - walk and explore. We headed south on Broadway and immediately stopped at Max Brenner Chocolates because it looked fascinating. For fuel, we had an dark chocolate orange truffle and a dark chocolate spiced truffle. They were delish - more on Max Brenner later.

Our walk took us through the East Village, NoHo, Astor Place and then back where we thought it would be good to have an appetizer and drink at the Union Square Cafe bar. It was 6:30 and the bar was already packed so we tried Blue Water. Same thing. Back to the "W" where the lobby bar was also packed but the Underbar with the "secret" entrance just for guests was available. The service was "leisurely" but the the Bombay Sapphire martinis were cold and we had a wonderful appetizer of polenta fritters from Olives, the Todd English restaurant in the hotel.

By 8:30 we decided that it would be nice to find a classic, New York, basement Italian place for dinner. About 5 blockd from the hotel we stopped at Novita, which sounded vaguely familiar, and they were able to seat us within a few minutes. The menu sounded better than the actual execution. Nothing wrong with the food, it just was pretty good, not great. We began with a Caprese salad. The Mozz was light but relatively tasteless and the tomatos pretty ordinary. Entrees were two fish specials, monkfish and halibut. Prepared well, but nothing to write home (or LTH) about. Dessert was something with chocolate, fairly forgettable. The bottle of "baby" Amorone from Veneto was excellent.

Thursday we decided to rent a car and drive up the Hudson Valley. We stopped for lunch at the Landmark Diner in Ossining where the Spanakopita was surprisingly excellent! Sue had a tuna melt - classic diner food. On the way back through Ossining we cruised past Sing Sing. I didn't see any signs offering tours.

Thursday night was the Eric Clapton concert and he didn't disappoint. He played a spectactular set for two hours ending with a long rendition of Crossroads. As entertaining as Eric Clapton was the audience which was of a decidedly older demographic. Two 60 something lawyers (we assumed) sitting in the row in front of us immediately lit up a joint and started passing it when the concert started. About 15 minutes later, two security guys in sport coats showed up and promptly ejected these hardened criminals. They never came back to the show. Bummer!

It was about 11:30 when we got out of the Garden and of course it was time to eat. At 11:55 we walked into Barca 18 for a light dinner of tapas and wine. The host told us the kitchen closed in 5 minutes, but we could still order. Our server was very nice and never made us feel rushed. We had four plates: Salchichon (Pyranees salami), chicken empanadas, olives and fried green peppers. Tempranillo washed it down. Everything was excellent and like I said, even though they were closing soon, there was no pressure on us to leave. Our server even asked if we needed more food even though the kitchen had "technically" closed.

Friday morning was at the Stage Deli where we had a cheese blintz and order of scrambled eggs for $35. When I'm NYC on biz, I've often had a bowl of matzoh ball soup there for lunch which I really like. But the price for breakfast was ridiculous. We then headed to the Intrepid for a last look since it was closing the next day for a two year makeover. By early afternoon we ended up at Brasserie Ruhlmann across from Rockefeller Center for wine and people watching. We snagged a great outdoor table.

Friday night we had tickets for Spamalot so it was an early dinner at Marseilles at 44th & 9th. We began with the Brandade appetizer which was good but not what I expected. It was so creamy it was like more like a cheese dip. I have had Brandade as a main course at Frere Jacques which is completely different and with more texture. My boullabaise was excellent with a very rich broth and four hunks of different fish. Sliced taters and some other veggies rounded it out. Sue's tartalle was good but not spectacular.

Spamalot was fantastic! We laughed for two hours. If you are a Monty Python fan and enjoy twisted humor, don't miss this show. Of course, dessert after the show was a must and this is when we revisited Max Brenner. At 11:30 on Friday night the place was pandemonium but the staff, although harried, was still in a good humor. We were seated within 20 minutes. Sue had Mexican pepper spiced hot chocolate which was great. Nice body, not watery. We also split half of a chocolate pizza. This was pizza dough that was topped with grated chocolate and marshmellos. It was a wonderful concept with excellent execution. Very unique. I had read mixed reviews on Chowhound of Max Brenner's but our experience was positive. It was a fun place with very good chocolate and several innovative sounding desserts.

W Hotel (Olives Restaurant)
201 Park Ave. South

Novita
102 E. 22nd Street.

Barca 18
225 Park Ave. South

Stage Deli
834 7th Ave.

Brasserie Ruhlmann
45 Rockefeller Plaza

Marseille
630 9th Ave.

In my mind, ABB, the consumate neighborhood old school Italian-American is Villa Berulia on E. 34th.


I have eaten there a number of times with a friend who also frequents Rao's from time to time. According to him the Vidka Sauce at Villa Berulia puts that of Rao's to shame. All I know is that it is so damn good that it nearly brings me to tears when I eat it.

They do a monkfish francese that is hard to beat in my opinion, and different from the preparation of a tilapia like fish in most Ital-American places.

Other than the Vodka sauce, the other specialty of the house is the Osso Buco which will just melt in your mouth.

There's also a passable dessert cart and plenty of Sambuca for an after dinner drink.

Villa Berulia
107 E. 34th Street
New York, NY 10016
212-689-1970