What I/We Ate in New York City, Part One: As A Family (March 30-April 1)
Don’t you love how damn exciting it is pre-travel? Like, from the moment you know you are really going somewhere until you get there? I LIVE for that time — because a plane ticket is an in-hand guarantee that you’re going to get to see things you don’t normally see and eat things you don’t normally eat. Now, don’t get me wrong; I fuckin love my daily oats — I am seriously in a love affair with swapping out various toppings and experimenting with various stir-ins (read: peanut butter powder, cocoa powder, chia seeds) and I love my current lunch menu (lots of potatoes, vegetarian ‘sushi bowls’ and egg sandwiches) — but I also love shaking things up. I spent weeks before NYC just thinking about what I was going to ingest — and what I was planning to buy for Ollie and watch him ingest and what I was going to suggest for my dad and hope he would ingest.
I should have known/remembered that Ollie is not so little that I am allowed to decide what he eats anymore. He has his own mind, taste buds and ideas about what he will like. I had located a bagel shop and a donut shop near our hotel with menus that made me weak in the knees. I was so excited; certain that he would love to breakfast at both of them. But Ollie took one look at the cellophane-wrapped treats for sale on the counter in our hotel and became entrenched with the desire to eat an Otis Spunkmeyer chocolate/chocolate-chip muffin. Nothing we said could dissuade him. He did not stop whining/asking/demanding until he was seated at a table, unwrapping that preservative-filled muffin, his fingers and cheeks covered in chocolate.
We did not make it to the bagel shop or the donut shop, and we only ate a proper meal all together once per day. Here they are, in chronological order.
Prix Fixe Taco dinner @Tacombi
This place was “located in the empire state building” which really just means on the same block but obviously that did/does feel like the place would be a tourist trap and maybe it was? but it was also affordable and somehow possibly the star meal of the trip. The Prixe Fixe involved one appetizer and two-tacos-per-person, along with either one alcoholic drink or up to three aguas frescas.
The reasons this dinner was so great? Read on.
#1 All of the tacos [that we tried, collectively] were good — and there were tons of options.
#2 The guacamole was both chunky and smooth, not spicy but also not boring and was PLENTIFUL. Which was imperative, due to the hefty scoops that Ollie and my dad took with every chip.
#3 The aguas frescas were like drinking summer in a giant clear marbled plastic glass. They knocked all of our socks off, but were so pleasing to my dad and Ollie that merely watching the two of them drink theirs, while exclaiming to the heavens How fresh! How delicious! How juicy! How fresh! was enough to make the whole meal.
They were so delighted by the aguas frescas that they each ordered their limit of three — they drank like their thirst had never been quenched at any other moment in their lives — like they were stranded on a beach, burning under the bright sun, and were just handed their first sip of refreshment in months. They were insatiable; their chins dripping as a result of overzealous cup-tipping, and Nic and I could not stop looking at each other, then back to them, then back at each other, with stupid amounts of love and an odd sort of admiration in our eyes. To have no confines on your level of enjoyment: now that is freedom.
La Pizza Margherita (& Salsiccia) @Daniela Trattoria
Our second day in the city, we were walking when we suddenly realized we needed to: 1) pee 2) eat 3) hydrate and 4) stop walking for a minute and SIT down. Furthermore, the restaurant was indoor/outdoor so we weren’t worried about potential covid issues. We ordered two small pizzas, and they were not the best-ever but who needs best-ever, especially when you’re talking pizza? Most (all?) of the time, we need to be satiated and given cold glasses of free tap water and sit down on our butts in chairs with an open breeze. That’s all we need.
Afterwards, Ollie and I walked across the street to buy some gelato (my flavors: yogurt & pistachio) Ollie: salted caramel and dulce de leche.) Neither Nic nor my dad opted to have any gelato, which haunts me to this day.
Later that night, Nic took Ollie to a bar for dinner while I was at a show with my dad. It really must have made an impression on Ollie, because the second he woke up in the morning, he sat up in bed and and reported — very loudly, “Mom….DAD TOOK ME TO A BAR…!” It was kinda like he was telling on Nic but you could also hear a certain pride in his voice. You know, just a couple o’ bros having burgers and beer out on the town. (Nic actually did have a burger and beer; Ollie had mac & cheese and fried ravioli with ginger ale.)
Middle Eastern Feast @Lava Shawarma
And on our final day in the city, we had a very late lunch with my friend Elizabeth. Once again, Ollie and my dad just really flipped out over their love of things. My dad had never eaten anything on the menu before and was open to trying everything. Ollie too. We filled the table with shared foods and watched them experiment. Baba ghanouj: THEY LOVED IT. Hummus: THEY LOVED IT. Some insanely briney olives: LOVED THEM Falafel: LOVED. I sat at the head of the table-in-a-tent-while-it-rained-all-around-us and felt my whole body reverberate with joy. Ollie, on a bit of a soda bender, picked up his can, offered commentary to the group about the rainbow of flavors he was experiencing — and watched us watch him with love in our eyes. We lifted and lowered pita in and out of bowls, trying to keep an eye out for Ollie’s double-dipping tendencies, feeling grateful to have been partially shielded from the weather.
And then we didn’t eat again. We were cold and tired after walking for about 7 hours with improper outdoor gear and we all took warm showers and laid in bed like zombies and went to sleep. And at six o’clock a.m., Nic, my dad and Ollie all left. I will never forget watching Ollie roll his little suitcase up to the Uber in the dark of early morning, and then hearing him say, “Here we go…just the guys…” He relished being with Nic and my dad so much; you could see him practically beaming when he stood between them, looking up at two of the figures who will imprint directly onto him — who will pave the way for his personal definition of the word ‘man.’
Note: Ollie also had his first taste of Biscoff cookies on the plane. He had one pack on the outbound flight, three packs on his return flight (*the flight attendant told him he could have TWELVE if he wanted hehehe) and two packs from me when I got home a few days later. Which means that — if you asked him — he’d probably recall two things as his ‘greatest NYC foods’ — both of them being manufactured sugared items wrapped in cellophane: Biscoff cookies and an Otis Spunkeyer muffin. And this is why we don’t travel with kids. :)
