Eating New York

Traditional, Modern and of course, Pizza

“Everybody ought to have a Lower East Side in their life.” ~Irving Berlin

When I think of New York, I think of an old city, at least old as far as the United States is concerned: its history, New Amsterdam, the immigrants of the 18th and early 19th centuries, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty. I also think of a very modern city when I think of New York: fashion, the rich and famous, Broadway shows, Wall Street, Times Square and all its lights, and the city’s magnificent skyline.

Maybe some of those things are both traditional and modern, but you probably understand what I mean.

I was in New York for Women’s Travel Fest. It was my first time attending, and part of my ever-growing commitment to seriously focus on my blog, and to being a better writer and traveler. 

New York, New York!

The fact that the conference would be in New York was a big incentive for me to attend, as I had never really been before. I had passed through, gotten a glimpse of Central Park and eaten some pizza at the Port Authority bus station once, but it wasn’t really a visit. I at least wanted the chance to experience a little more of what the biggest city in the United States had to offer. Or as much as I could reasonably do in a few hours each day for four days.

I stayed in a hotel in the Lower East Side, off Delancey Street. It was funny because I knew Delancey Street, although who knows how or why. Perhaps from a book, from some history class, maybe from a song or a movie or an episode of Seinfeld. Who knows. Like so many places and things in New York, I just knew it, or knew of it.

And yes, Mr. Berlin. I was glad to finally have a little Lower East Side in my life, even if for a short period of time.

My Ambition is Bigger Than My Stomach

Katz’s Deli was also one of those things I have known about for a long time. It probably was from seeing the movie When Harry Met Sally back in 1989, but it honestly could have been from reading about it somewhere else; regardless of when or where, it’s been on my food to-eat list for a long time. At least since 1989, anyway.

Another List?

To-eat list? You bet! That was another big incentive for me to make this trip.

I didn’t have much of a strict itinerary for my free time in New York. Besides attending the conference’s scheduled events, I had a rough draft of things I wanted to do and places/things I wanted to see/eat: visit The Met, maybe MOMA or the Guggenheim, eat a hot dog, have a slice of pizza, try a NYC bagel, find a good burger and maybe a visit to a restaurant I had been stalking on social media, and of course a pastrami on rye sandwich at Katz’s Deli. I also wanted a donut at another place I had been stalking on social media. 

That really is too long of a list of places and meals for one girl to tackle in a few empty hours in four days, (and I didn’t get to them all) but hey, as I’ve said before in another blog post, Brutus would have labeled me ambitious.  

Damn traitorous Brutus. 

The Traditional 

Katz’s Deli

“I’ll have what she’s having.” ~the lady from that iconic scene in When Harry Met Sally

Well, I didn’t technically have what she had, as nothing I had at Katz’s was fake. My cutter #5, Juan Carlos, first let me taste a sample, and then made me the most amazing pastrami on rye sandwich I’ve had in my life. No need to exaggerate or be dramatic here, but look, it’s the truth. The bread was good, the mustard was amazing and the pastrami was juicy and warm and perfect in every way pastrami should be. It just tasted like traditional New York to me. Was pastrami invented in New York? Maybe not, but it probably could have been.

Oh, it really was so good. You can’t always measure a place by its hype, but you can measure Katz’s that way. Besides the food itself, what I loved about sitting in Katz’s, was that I probably could have had pretty much the same experience fifty or a hundred years ago. Without my cell phone of course, and probably without the fake orgasm reference, but the pastrami would have been just as good. If I have better pastrami than I had last week at Katz’s, I’d wager that God himself would have to make me that sandwich.

Which I would welcome, by the way. 

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Shakshuka

A month ago, I didn’t know what Shakshuka was. But then I got the details of a pre-conference breakfast event and when I looked up the restaurant, Spiegel, http://spiegelnyc.com, I saw they were famous for it.

Wait, Shakshuka?

What is it? According to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakshouka, Shakshuka is a dish of eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, chili peppers, and garlic, commonly spiced with cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper, and nutmeg. Although the dish has existed in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern regions, its more recent egg and vegetable-based form originated in North Africa (Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia).

Sold! I knew I was ordering it.

And I wasn’t sorry I did. The eggs bathed in the tomato sauce with olives and herbs and spices were amazing; the soft pita squares used to get all the last bits of tomato sauce were the best pita I’ve ever tasted.

If New York is anything, it’s kind of like a foreign city in our own country because of the influence of so many immigrants. Shakshuka, while maybe very new to me, seems so traditional because it is so big city in that it’s one of those dishes in which you can taste a part of the world in the many neighborhoods that so many different cultures call home.

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Russ & Daughters

The big surprise of my visit was the amazing bagel—and the experience of ordering the bagel—at Russ & Daughters.

At over 104 years old, and the first business in the country to have “and daughters” in its name, it was a real treat just being inside the building.

But how did the bagel rate? Best this Texan has ever had.

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The Modern 

As for the modern, it was just as good. I ate and drank well. Damn well, in fact.

From pretty pink drinks and local beer, to artistic pastries with ingredients like lavender and honey, to a sloppy trendy burger that blew me away (hello, I am a burger fiend!) And who can forget the one and only black and white cookie that—for me, at least—was made famous on Seinfeld.

Traditional is always great and well, nostalgic, but modern can be just as delicious when you live in a city as modern as New York.

I Ate & Drank Damn Well…

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Then, There’s the Stalking…

When you’re a food blogger like me, or even if you’re just a food lover, you follow people and places on social media.

For years now I’ve stalked a few places in New York. One is The Doughnut Plant, which I didn’t get to visit this time. I have had one of their donuts before as a friend once brought one back for me during his own visit, but unfortunately I didn’t make it there on my visit. Next time, for sure.

Another place I’ve stalked is Jacob’s Pickles. Whether it was their biscuits that first got me, or their numerous photos of yolk porn, who knows. All I know is that I’ve wanted to try them for a long time.

Last week, I finally did. It was worth the wait.

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And of course, Pizza

When in New York, right?

Of course I got a slice of pizza from a small pizza by the slice place. Of course I did.

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But of course I didn’t fold it. I don’t do that.

One More Thing

New York. It was a great long weekend. I really had a great time eating and drinking, but also learning at the conference, making new friends and walking the streets and exploring on my own.

It wasn’t quite long enough to do or eat all I wanted to do or eat, but it was just long enough to technically fall into two separate weeks. Two weeks where the best thing I ate in each of those was somewhere in the photos above.

Can I choose which was really the best each week? Not really. Everything was so good.

Am I cheating by making my NYC blog post count as two weeks of my “best thing I ate last week” posts? Maybe. But I’m not lying.

Elda XO

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