Catching Up: Museums...

What better time to catch up on museum viewing than the holidays?  Too bad everyone else in NYC has the same genius idea.  I recently went to the Met and the MoMA with some friends and I thought I would write about my trips.

Metropolitan Museum of Art:  I went to the Met to see the Andy Warhol special exhibit.  (I love Andy Warhol's genius!)  I have to say I was kind of disappointed with this exhibit, because all in all there wasn't that much Andy Warhol.  It was Andy Warhol mixed in with a bunch of stuff from other people and you could always tell without looking at the description, which was Warhol and which was not.  I also feel like the Met doesn't really know how to present and explain modern art -- perhaps they should just leave it to the MoMA.  At the end of the exhibit, they had some. I also visited the rest of the modern art exhibit section at the Met, a small special exhibit on Klee (the later years), and a special exhibit on Matisse.

MoMA:  I prefer the MoMA to the Met actually, because I find the MoMA much more manageable to navigate.  The Met can be overwhelming at times.  I enjoyed this visit to the MoMA, in part because I went with my friends Priya and Deepak, however it was really crowded since we went on Sunday Dec 23rd.  As a result, I wasn't able to see a lot of the special exhibits since the lines were so long.  For example, I didn't see The Scream by Edvard Munch, or any of the other paintings on this floor (including Frida Kahlo), since the line for the The Scream was blocking entrance to the floor.  In any case, I had fun looking at more Warhol, Jasper Johns, Rauschenberg, and the photography section.  They also had a neat exhibit called shadow puppets -- you are never too old for shadow puppets!  I need to go back to see The Scream and other paintings!  I will also visit the MoMA PS1 in Queens and eat a SriPraPhai!

Visiting the museums is a good excuse to pick up cool and unusual postcards.  I have a friend in Berkeley who likes to My next museum trip will be the Guggenheim for the Picasso black and white exhibit.  Come visit soon Elizabeth!

Catching up: Nightlife

Making a list of the nightlife I have experienced in NYC.  Hope I am not missing anything!

• Peculier Pub (Bleecker St)
• Blind Tiger (Bleecker St)
• Death and Co. (East Village)
• Shoolbred's (East Village)
• Bourgeois Pig (East Village)
• Blarney Cove (East Village)
• Decibel Sake Bar (East Village)
• The Living Room (Lower East Side)
• Amsterdam Tavern (UWS)
• Cleopatra's Needle (UWS)
• Hi-Life (UWS)
• Pourhouse (UWS)
• Bier International (Harlem)
• Rudy's (Hell's Kitchen)
• Three Monkeys (Midtown)

I really enjoyed Death & Co. and the Bourgeois Pig, what can I say, I love speakeasies and all their champagne cocktails!  Not a fan of midtown and everything in it, so I didn't like midtown much.  I almost got into a fistfight with a woman at Cleopatra's Needle, so perhaps I should not go back there and show my face.  I'm kind of over Bleecker St. -- I'm too old to be hanging out on Bleecker St.  I know it doesn't look like it my dear readers, but it is definitely true!  The Living Room was really fun -- there was a singer by the name of Kiddo and I got her CD upon leaving.  I should check out more live music venues in the city!  In summary, I will visit these places again:

• Death and Co. (East Village)
• Shoolbred's (East Village)
• Bourgeois Pig (East Village)
• The Living Room (Lower East Side)
• Amsterdam Tavern (UWS)
• Hi-Life (UWS)
• Bier International (Harlem)

The beer selection at Bier International was amazing and I especially enjoyed the sampler flight.  I hope to visit Jimmy's 43 for beer flights!  (see a theme?  East Village + beer flights).

Vegetarian Restaurants in NYC

Being mostly vegetarian and having a lot of vegetarian friends, I have been to a lot of vegetarian restaurants, but not nearly as many as I would like.  Here's where I have been:

• Cafe Blossom (UWS)
• Cafe Blossom (Carmine St)
• Candle Cafe West
• Quantum Leap 
• Gobo
• Red Bamboo
• Hangawi 
• Pongal
• Tiffin Wallah
• Saravana Bhavan

The three latter ones are vegetarian Indian Places in Curry Hill (Murray Hill), but Saravana Bhavan also has a location on the upper west side.  The food at these indian places is usually quite good, but the service is usually lacking.  Why is the service inversely proportional to the food at an Indian restaurant?  The food at Saravana Bhavan might be a little bit too spicy for me, so therefore I am labelling Tiffin Wallah as my favorite!  I have eaten most frequently at Pongal, but I have had both good and bad experiences here.  Sometimes their dosas are amazingly crispy, sometimes they are soggy, but usually the food is pretty good.  

Hangawi is quite pricey, but I enjoyed it, so I will probably go back once more.  (Only once more, because I am not sure my wallet can handle more than once.)  The Blossom restaurants are good, as well as Candle Cafe, but not amazing.  I also enjoyed Gobo quite a bit; more so than Blossom and Candle.  These will definitely warrant future trips.  I think I wrote previously about how I was disappointed with Quantum Leap and will not be going back.  I probably won't go back to Red Bamboo either.  It was just okay in my mind -- my dish was less than stellar (a stir fry dish with seitan), though my friends dish was really quite good.  She got an eggplant parmesan sandwich with vegan cheese, so if you go there, order that!  

Here is where I am itching to go!

• Dirt Candy
• Angelica's Kitchen
• Lan Cafe
• Hummus Place
• Sacred Chow

I am most looking forward to eating at Dirt Candy.  I have reservations there on Jan 22, which I made in early December!  Can you believe it!  It better be amazing with all this anticipation!

Let me know if I am missing any of your favorites!

Catching up: Eating establishments

So until Jan 4th, I will be playing catch up.  To document all the places I have visited up until now, under the following categories: restaurants, bars/nightlife, coffeehouses and museums.  When I get back to New York on Jan 4th, I will start documenting my adventures one-by-one (hopefully with photos).  Okay, now to restaurants, here is a list of places that I have already been to. Let's see if I can remember them all:

• Cafe Blossom (UWS)
• Cafe Blossom (Carmine St)
• Kambi
• McCormick & Schmitt's -- Going here was not my idea!
• Candle Cafe West
• Cafe Frida
• Rosa Mexicana
• Quantum Leap
• Cafe Asean
• Pongal
• Sookk
• Thai Market
• Gobo
• Oceana
• Red Bamboo
• Meskerem
• Community
• Hangawi
• Cho Dang Gol
• Veselka
• Bali Nusa Indah
• Tsampa
• Queen of Sheba

Soon I will follow with a set of reviews, but for now I make a list of those worth visiting again:

• Cafe Blossom (UWS)
• Cafe Blossom (Carmine St)
• Candle Cafe West
• Cafe Asean
• Thai Market
• Gobo
• Community
• Hangawi 
• Tsampa 
• Queen of Sheba

I was on the fence about including Hangawi again on this list since it is very expensive for what it is, but it is definitely one of a kind in even NYC as a vegan Korean restaurant.  I enjoyed the mushroom stone bowl I got at Cho Dang Gol, but ultimately I think it is not too special for vegetarians, probably worth visiting for other restaurants.  My recent favorite was Tsampa!  I had never had Tibetan food before and I got some spicy noodes with shrimp and really enjoyed it.  Needless to say I will be going back to Tsampa.  I have negative opinions of Quantum Leap (how can any self respecting vegetarian restaurant not make their own veggie burgers?), Meskerem (easily the worst Indonesian food I've ever had), and Bali Nusa Indah (the service here was definitely lacking!  Ask my friend Paula).

Here goes...

A friend of mine recently suggested that I make a blog post of all the places I go to while in NYC, since I am here for just a short while and have made it my mission to explore this awesome city. So here goes! Too bad I didn't start doing this when I arrived in early November, but better late than never!