Susan's Blog - New York City Thanksgiving 2015 (Day 2)

Day 2 started at Ess-a-Bagel. We had been there before on our last trip as it was rated as one of the best bagel places in Manhattan. This time (thankfully), it wasn't a total zoo like it was last time we were there.

This is the General Electric Building on Lexington Avenue, originally known as the RCA Victor Building. Designed in 1931, the historical skyscraper is 640 feet tall with 50 floors. It is a Gothic tower of salmon-colored brick, with elaborate Art Deco decoration with lightening bolts, to show the power of electricity. The base contains elaborate, generous masonry, architectural sculptures, and on the corner above the main entrance is a conspicuous corner clock with the curvy GE logo and a pair of silver disembodied forearms.

Here is the NYC landmark description of the building:

Another historic landmark, the Corbin Building was designed by Francis Kimball, who was a pioneer in the use of ornamental terra cotta which you see here. It was completed in 1889 and is a predecessor to the steel-framed skyscrapers. It uses an iron frame and fireproof tile structural floor arches. The load-bearing masonry walls rest on inverted arch foundations.

We headed to Rockefeller Center to take a peek at the tree, which was still under wraps at the time.

I though this was a really cool doorway ... originally the East River Savings Bank (now a store).

We reached the World Trade Center area. There are a few things in this area that we wanted to see. The World Trade Center Transportation Hub is being built there, which will house the new PATH station as well as a retail complex. What is above ground is called the Oculus, which is the white structure (designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava) which looks like a bird. According to the designer, it is supposed to resemble a bird being released from a child's hand (I see the bird but not the hands). There are also 2 "waterfalls" ... one for each of the towers that came down. Each is set within the footprint of the original Twin Towers building and contains the names of all of those who died in the attacks. There is a museum there as well as an observation deck (neither of which did we go into).

More architecture .. this one is the old NY Mercantile Exchange on Broadway between Bleeker and Houston, which was built in 1882. Commodity exchanges began in the middle of the 19th century, when businessmen began organizing market forums to make buying and selling of commodities easier. These marketplaces provided a place for buyers and sellers to set the quality, standards, and establish rules of business. By the late 19th century about 1,600 marketplaces had sprung up at ports and railroad stations. In 1872, a group of Manhattan dairy merchants got together and created the Butter and Cheese Exchange of New York. Soon, egg trade became part of the business conducted on the exchange and the name was modified to the Butter, Cheese, and Egg Exchange. In 1882, the name finally changed to the New York Mercantile Exchange when opening trade to dried fruits, canned goods, and poultry.

A bit further north on Broadway is the Grace Church, which has been called one of the city's greatest treasures. It was built in 1846/1847 in a French Gothic Revival style out of marble (cut by workers from Sing Sing state prison).

We walked by this and just had to take a picture ... we joked that Tom has his own personal training place in Manhattan!

Lunch today was a Spanish Tapas restaurant called Casa Mono, which was near our off-Broadway play (next). Tom had read a review in the New York Times a few weeks before our trip and since it was very positive, near the theater, and was tapas (we love tapas!), it was a perfect addition to our itinerary! It was opened in 2003 by Mario Batali (and a partner) and was really the start of the "small plates" trend in New York City. For the seventh consecutive year, Casa Mono was awarded a star by the Michelin Guide, so of course, we had to go! It is quite small place with both a bar and tables. This time we did a table, but we thought eating at the bar may be interesting as well since it overlooks the "kitchen".

They started us out with bread and olives, and then we had the Pork Charcuterie and Terrine board with Spanish Cheese and House Pickles, as well as the Pan con Tomate (bread with tomatoes), which is very typical in Tapas places in Spain.

Then Mussels with Cava and Chorizo and Patatas Bravas. Last tapas was Tempura fried Hen of the Woods mushroom with Toasted garlic cream. Everything was really really good.

Interesting story ... we were seated next to a family of 4 who were French but currently living in NYC, and they mentioned that this was one of their favorite places to at. They switched seamlessly between French and English and it looks like they basically ordered 1 of everything on the menu ... the food just kept coming and coming and coming!

Next, we were going to see an off-Broadway play at the Union Square Theatre called 39 Steps. We had purchased rather inexpensive tickets and when we got there, they upgraded us to the 5th row! This was a matinee and what it seemed like to us is that they didn't have enough people to fill all of the seats on the main floor so they were moving everybody from the Mezzanine level down.

The play is set in the 1930's in England and Scotland and is adapted from a 1915 novel and a 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film. The play's concept calls for the entire play to be performed with a cast of only four. One actor plays the hero, Richard Hannay, an actress (or sometimes actor) plays the three women with whom he has romantic entanglements, and two other actors play every other character in the show: heroes, villains, men, women, children and even the occasional inanimate object. This often requires lightning fast quick-changes and occasionally for them to play multiple characters at once. Thus the film's serious spy story is played mainly for laughs, and the script is full of allusions to (and puns on the titles of) other Alfred Hitchcock films, including Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, Psycho, Vertigo and North by Northwest.

Just around the corner from the theater is Union Square, and every year they have a Christmas Market there (well, every year that we've been there!) They do a fairly decent job as far as Christmas Market's go although it tends to have more of what I would consider non-traditional Christmas Market stalls. We remember back to the Christmas markets in Germany (Munich, Nuremberg) where almost all of the stalls either had food or Christmas decorations.

Dinner was at Acme with Danish chef Mads Refslund. The reviews were all very positive, raving about his "New Nordic" cooking menu. Again, these are "small plates" that you order several of and can easily share amongst the table of friends.

We started with the Goat cheese ravioli with roasted butternut squash and pumpkin seed oil and Country Toast with pears, melted brie, and walnuts.

Next came a tuna tartare plate with kohlrabi, puffed quinoa, and apple. The presentation was really nice, with the kohlrabi/apple sliced very thin and laid on top. Tom ordered the grilled corn on the cob with salt and browned butter on the side as well as the Hampshire Pork Loin with charred onions, green apples, and seaweed mustard. I really liked the tuna tartare .. I'm becoming much more of a tuna tartare person!

For dessert, we shared a granita although I don't remember what kind it was (and the current menu has a granita but carrot and I can't believe we did carrot!). I had seen a few chefs on the cooking shows on TV doing these granita's and we thought we would try one. It is an Italian (well, Sicilian) dessert which is semi-frozen and related to sorbet and Italian ice. However, it has a coarser, more crystalline texture. When we see it done on TV, they make the base and then use a fork to create the coarse pieces.

Proceed to NYC Day 3