My sister Alison is spending the month doing an internship for SeriousEats.com and since New York is her favorite place in the world I figured she would be a good person to break me in. I arrived just before midnight and over the computer and phone she and I worked out the logistics of getting from Queens to Tribeca to go to breakfast together. It would be short visit, as I needed to catch the hotel shuttle to the airport at 1:00PM the next day.
My adventure began walking to Rockaway Avenue to catch the Q7 bus. Along the way I passed hoses similar to these:
From the bus I changed to the subway, which at the Rockaway station is actually an elevated train. It’s hard to find the subway when you’re looking down and it’s above you. Fortunately I figured it out fairly quickly and hopped on the next train. After a half an hour I got off and exited the subway station beneath this building at Canal Street. I sat on a bench in the little park in the picture, waiting for Alison. With the modern marvel of cell phones, we quickly found each other.
From there we walked haphazardly to the Locanda Verde, a restaurant that her editor considers perhaps the best breakfast in New York. Among its other claims to fame, it is partly owned by Robert De Niro
Here’s what it looks like inside—we sat at the table in the middle closest to the bar.
I ordered the Zucchini Frittata, basically whipped eggs with zucchini strips, roasted tomato, fiore di zucca (zucchini blossoms) and goat cheese. It was very tasty.
Alison had the Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with fresh blueberries and meyer lemon curd. Also excellent.
Afterwards we walked around through part of nearby Greenwich Village:
And passed by Washington Square Park:
With the time drawing short I my sister farewell and boarded the subway to return to the hotel. Now that I was fully confident in my abilities to navigate the public transportation system I naturally got off at the wrong stop, adding almost half and hour to my travel time. This had the unfortunate effect of delaying me past the time I was scheduled to leave for the airport. Yes, I cut it too close. All ended well, though, as I was able to get to the airport still with plenty of time to get ready for our flight back to Washington, D.C.
Next time I’m in New York with a halfway long overnight Alison most likely won’t be there, but I certainly intend to do some more sightseeing. Having seen the city so often in movies and TV, it was a little like walking around on a movie set. All in all, pretty cool. I’m not planning on moving there any time soon, but it was certainly a fun place to visit.
