I had two highly-rated food recommendations for New York, but they both turned out pretty disappointing. Yesterday my pizza from Caprizzi, on 9th Avenue, was cooked too much round the edges and not enough in the middle, with pieces of onion that were far too big - no matter what you're eating, onions should always be chopped finely. Today my kofta kebab from Mamoun's Falafel, in Greenwich Village, was pretty generic and the meat was a little too dry.
At least the cream cheese bagels in the hostel are done properly. And the one culinary triumph I've experienced when out and about in NYC is a tiny Haitian restaurant in the Upper West Side, near the corner of Amsterdam Avenue & 101st, called Krik Krak. That chicken was grilled so perfectly that I think even the chicken itself would have appreciated the technique. Sadly I didn't have my camera with me at the time, so the Edd vs Food series is no more.
On a still more positive note, my journey through the world of American craft beers reached a tremendously satisfying conclusion - and zenith - yesterday with a tour of the Brooklyn Brewery, whose wares I've been enjoying back home for some time now. During the tour and afterwards, I was able to try some of their less well-known beers which aren't generally available in the UK. Hopefully they will be, soon. For my money they're the best American beers you can buy.
(The Brooklyn Brewery logo was designed by the same guy who designed the famous 'I Heart NY' T-shirt. At the time the brewery couldn't afford his fees, so he settled for a share in the company and free beer for life. Now that's foresight.)
Anyway, there's not much else I can tell you about New York that you don't all already know. So perhaps it's best if I sign off with a few summary remarks about my trip as a whole.
This has technically been a round-the-world trip, but really it's better described as a road trip across America with a few stops in Asia and Australia tagged on beforehand. My total journey from Los Angeles to New York comprised 10 train rides, costing $477, and three bus rides, costing $111. That's $588 in total, or £387 at current exchange rates. Not bad value.
I forgot to mention it at the time, but there was one black gentleman on the Los Angeles-Tucson train who addressed me as 'Heathrow' for the whole of the journey; and I was reminded of a Dickens character (from 'Dombey & Son') called Miss Tox, who labelled a dark-skinned servant as the Native, 'without connecting him with any geographical idea whatever.'
Some miscellania:
HIGHLIGHT OF THE TRIP:
A close call, but really it has to be NUFC 0 SAFC 3, and being able to watch it with friends in Melbourne. (Sorry Libby. This time you didn't come first.)
LOWLIGHT OF THE TRIP:
Accidentally spraying ultra-sting deodorant all over some pretty severe thigh chafing.
BAD GUESSES FROM AMERICANS AT WHERE I'M FROM, BASED ON MY ACCENT:
1. Australia
2. Ireland
3. Germany
4. Wisconsin
WEIRDEST PLACE I'VE HAD A HAIRCUT:
Walmart
'PULP FICTION' BURGER COMPARISON:
Wendy's scores points for serving 'real' fries - you can see the unpeeled potato skin on some of them. But Jack In The Box takes the honours with a nicer bread bun, irresistible curly fries, and the option of two tacos on the side for $0.99.
NARROWLY-AVOIDED PUNS ON TRAVEL DESTINATIONS & FOOTBALL FIXTURES
Torontenham Hotspur
Saints Louis
Stoklahoma
MOST VALUABLE KEBABS:
1. Kebabalicious, Congress & 7th, Austin, TX
2. Soulard Gyro & Deli, 2022 South 12th St, St Louis, MO
3. Bucharest Grill, 2040 Park Ave, Detroit, MI
I've now spent roughly three months of my life in North America. I was a fan on day one and nothing's changed since. But no matter how friendly the people are, or how magnificent the National Parks, or how cheap the Subway footlongs, the fact remains that home is home and this isn't. In short, there's nothing to keep me here other than the cool, crisp, refreshing Brooklyn Lager sitting before me right now; and I can think of more than one place where I can get a pint of that.
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| Downtown Manhattan from the Brooklyn Bridge |
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| One World Trade Center, aka the Freedom Tower, nearing completion. |
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| City Hall |
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| A case of aces, done up loose for dealing A piece of island, cooling in the sea The whole of time we gain or lose, and power enough to choose: Brooklyn owes the charmer under me. (Walter Becker) |
