Lombardi’s Pizza
32 Spring StreetIs there anyway to go to New York City and not overindulge in pizza? I know I can never have enough and I wanted to find at least one quintessential New York Pizzeria.
Our day had already been pretty full with a stop at the Carnegie Deli, Lindy’s, and a taping of the Late Show. After Letterman, we still weren’t really hungry, but didn’t want to go back to our hotel. If we did that, we both knew we would get lazy, lay down in bed, and grudgingly find something for dinner in the area.
Instead, we decided to keep exploring NYC. J needed a new case for her iPhone and we saw the Apple Store was within walking distance of the Ed Sullivan Theater, so that’s where we headed. It was ridiculously packed on a Tuesday afternoon, but we got what we went for then headed next door to FAO Schwartz. After resisting the urge to buy everything in the store for our nieces, we decided it was time to start heading towards dinner.
Lombardi’s Pizza is on Spring Street in the Nolita neighborhood. It’s a short walk from the Spring Street-Lexington MTA subway stop which worked out perfectly. Almost as soon as we made it back to street level, the skies opened up again and it started to rain pretty hard. Read more…
Lindy’s
825 7th Avenue- New York, NY 10019
- (212) 767-8343
- No Known Website
- Menu
After picking up our tickets for The Late Show, we had to find someplace to kill time. It was raining and muggy so an indoor stop was definitely something we needed to find.
Earlier in the day, we ate dinner at the Carnegie Deli and wanted to try the cheesecake, but the sandwiches were too much for us. We passed on cheesecake there and I told J we would find a place to get a slice before the day was over.
On our way from the MTA station to the Ed Sullivan Theater, we passed Lindy’s on the corner of 7th and 53rd in Midtown West. Since it’s only a block or so from the theater, I suggested we head back and get that piece of cheesecake. Read more…
Ed Sullivan Theater
1697 Broadway- New York, NY 10019
- (212) 975-4755
- Website
When J and I started planning this trip to New York, there was one thing I really wanted to do. I wanted to see a taping of the Late Show with David Letterman.
I have been a huge Letterman fan dating back to his NBC days. I was still pretty young, but when my parents did let me stay up, I would be glued to Johnny Carson hoping it would end soon so I could watch Letterman. In the late night wars, I have always sided with the former weatherman from Indiana.
Unfortunately, Letterman tickets are hard to get. Two months ago when we decided to do this, I put the ticket request in almost before I booked the hotel and plane tickets. I didn’t hear anything until a week before we left. Somehow, I missed a phone call from the audience coordinator.
I was crushed. I figured we were out of luck, but they left and number and I called back and left a message. The next day, I was working in an environment where I couldn’t take a phone call. Of course, they called and I couldn’t take. I texted J and asked her to call the number, say she was my wife and see if they’d give her the tickets. She did…and got a voicemail.
She too left a voicemail and an hour later, they called back….but it’s not just the easy. They don’t just give Letterman tickets to everyone who gets a phone call. You have to answer a trivia question. Read more…
Carnegie Deli
854 7th AvenueOur second day in New York was one I was really looking forward to. The big plans of the day were a Letterman taping, but before that, we needed to find lunch. We were both still pretty exhausted and chose to sleep in a little. We needed to be at the Ed Sullivan Theater by 1:00 to pick up our tickets, so I wanted to find something somewhat close for lunch.
The Carnegie Deli is a New York landmark. It’s on 7th Avenue between 54th and 55th Streets. The business dates back to the 1930’s when it was opened next to Carnegie Hall. The outside of the building has a long red awning and there’s a neon sign spelling out the letters in the Carnegie name.
J and I trudged through the rain after getting off a subway stop right around the corner. When you enter the deli, there is an active deli counter immediately to your left and a cash register immediately to your right. You then walk down a long hallway to get to the hostess. She then pointed us through the first dining room and down another hall where a second hostess picked us up and took us to a table for six in this back dining room area. Read more…
Figaro Pizza
1469 2nd Avenue- New York, NY 10075
- (212) 963-2883
- No Known Website
- Menu
With the price of food at Yankee Stadium, there was no way in hell I was going to something to eat there. Besides, we wanted to see more of New York.
Our original plan was to head back to the Upper East Side and go to The Stumble Inn. It’s a bar that has great reviews and is right up our ally as far as food goes. Good plan except the Jets were playing Sunday night football. The place was packed. We couldn’t find a table and didn’t want to wait out the game to see if it would clear out. Defeated, we started to walk back to the train station still incredibly hungry.
On our way back to the 77th Street Station, we passed a small pizza place that’s open late and does pizza by the slice. At this point, cheap and quick were two words we both wanted to hear so we stopped in.
Figaro Pizza is on 2nd Avenue in the Upper East Side between 76th and 77th. It’s nothing fancy. Just a small space with a counter full of pizzas and a few tables. They also have a Mexican menu during the day and you can order full pizzas if you want, but we just wanted a couple slices. Read more…
Yankee Stadium
1 East 161st Street- Bronx, NY 10451
- (718) 293-6000
- Website
How cool is it to have a wife that not only agrees to go to a baseball game on our anniversary but actually suggests it?! I have to admit, I was a little surprised when J said let’s go to New York and go to a Yankees game. I’m not a Yankees fan or anything. I’m a die-hard White Sox fan, but I love going to ball games anywhere and like every guy, my fantasy is to visit every Major League baseball stadium.
Three years ago, my sister-in-law bought my brother tickets to a game at Old Yankee Stadium but she had no interest in actually going, so they gave the other ticket to me. My brother and I made the trek to New York (first time for both of us) and got to see a game in the old stadium before it was tore down.
I’m really glad we got to see it, but once was more than enough. I’m not a fan of old stadiums. I hate them. I get the nostalgia and would like to experience it once, but that’s it. The concourse areas at the old stadium were so tight there was barely enough room for two way traffic…then throw the concession stands in there and forget about it. We had pretty good seats and still had to deal with obstructed view. The cool thing about the day was getting to see A-Rod hit his 500th home run. That made the whole trip worth it. Read more…
Bar Americain
152 W. 52nd StreetIt’s been one year. One year since J and I got married and one year since we abruptly moved to Kalamazoo. Once again, things are happening in our lives that are pretty big for us (seriously, I’ll tell you next week…don’t want to jinx it.) In the middle of it all, we made plans a few months ago to take a trip to New York for our anniversary.
Like everything we do, the entire trip was planned around food.
We landed at LaGuardia right around noon. We were actually early. Our flight went really smoothly which has never happened to either of us. No waiting on the runway. No holding pattern in the air. Our bag even almost beat us to the baggage claim.
All of that would be great except we couldn’t get in to our hotel until 3:00 and they wouldn’t really hold our bags. They offered to let us leave the bag in the lobby, but unattended and not secured, so we didn’t really fell 100% comfortable.
Since we had to lug our suitcase around town, we needed to find a place for lunch that was big enough that a large suitcase wouldn’t be a hassle.
When my brother and I made a pilgrimage to old Yankee Stadium, the only thing I said we had to do was eat at Bobby Flay’s restaurant. At that time, we ate at Mesa Grill. J said at some point on this trip, she wanted to go to a Flay restaurant. When we landed I checked to see what their brunch menu looked like. Read more…
MacKenzie’s Cafe & Bakery – Portage
7083 S. Westnedge AvenueJ and I have a little trip coming up (don’t worry, you’ll be jealous and you’ll read all about it when we get back), so I had to run a couple errands in preparation for our little excursion.
J decided to come with me because she figured we could just pick up lunch while we were out. Neither of us were any help when it came to actually picking a place. I didn’t have a taste for anything in particular and neither did she. After thinking about it, I suggested Culver’s and she agreed, but as I turned out of the mall and back on to Westnedge, I remembered a cafe that we saw a couple weeks ago.
MacKenzie’s Cafe & Bakery has three locations in the Kalamazoo metro. Two of those are in Kalamazoo while the third is in Portage. That’s the one we went to.
The Portage store is in the strip mall next to Sam’s Club on the corner of Westnedge and Romence. It sits right next to a sub shop which was tempting, but I thought going to a local bakery would provide us with a better choice of sandwiches. Read more…
Water Street Gelatoworks
138 Water Street- Benton Harbor, MI 49023
- (269) 925-5545
- Website
- No Online Menu
Oh how I love gelato. I was so excited to hear that one of our stops before heading back to Kalamazoo was going to be at a gelato shop in Benton Harbor.
Water Street Gelatoworks is a very cool shop near the corner of Water and Hinkley Street. While the gelato shop on it’s own would be cool enough, it’s more than that. They share the building with Water Street Glassworks. It’s part of a revitalization process going on in Benton Harbor right now.
The building that houses both businesses are located in the historic Hinkley Building in Benton Harbor’s Arts District. The building was built in 1898 and it’s first use was as a manufacturing center. There’s a very cool history of the building on the Water Street Glassworks website which you can find here. Read more…
Schu’s Grill & Bar
501 Pleasant StreetNow that I’m working regularly, I don’t have to depend on the freelance stuff like I did for the last couple of years. That doesn’t mean I still don’t like getting that phone call. Those jobs always pay so well.
A couple days ago, I got a call about a job in St. Joseph for today. I jumped at it. It was a fairly easy, yet time consuming and physically demanding job.
When lunch time rolled around, the group of people I was working with, who live and work in the St. Joseph/Benton Harbor area, headed straight for a corner bar overlooking Lake Michigan.
Schu’s Grill & Bar is on the edge of downtown St. Joseph on the bluff overlooking the Big Lake. It sits right on the corner of Pleasant Street and Lake Boulevard. St. Joseph has really done a wonderful job building up their downtown. It’s full of shops, restaurants, and boutiques which means parking is a little hard to come by. There are a few lots scattered throughout the downtown area and if you’re there on a weekday or on a day that the beach is not full, you’ll have no problem finding street parking. Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 