We name certain restaurants and establishments in some blog posts simply because we enjoyed them, not for promotional reasons.
“On the road” for six weeks
Olive’s Kitchen will seem more like a travel blog than a food blog for the next few weeks. But there will still be plenty of food and wine experiences to share. (One of them is covered in more detail in the next blog post when I am reacquainted with a strawberry blonde I came across in New York in 2002!)
We will start our travels in New York City then head north by car though New England and into the eastern provinces of Canada. We will then head to Cleveland via Montreal and Toronto. From there we will fly to Seattle and make our way to Victoria and then Vancouver, from where we will fly home to Melbourne.
Arriving in the US having avoided a scam
In February we applied for an ESTA for the USA, cost $14USD each, and an eTA for Canada, cost $7CAN each. Though we are always extremely careful, our applications were almost hijacked by scamming websites, which would have had us out of pocket by around $480AUD. Quick contact with our credit card provider meant the transactions did not go through even though we had received confirmed visas from the scammers. Checks with the embassies showed that indeed the visas had been approved. So, with all money “refunded”, our visas ended up costing us nothing, while it was the scammers who were out of pocket! When we landed in Los Angeles it was a relief to pass through immigration with our visas intact and everything in order.
Our flight out of LA was delayed by two hours so it was after 10.00 pm when we arrived at our New York hotel, the Washington-Jefferson in west 51st Street. It is not salubrious accommodation, but it is a hotel with memories for me dating back to 2002. It is in the Hell’s Kitchen quarter, one of the less flashy areas of Manhattan, but a terrific location for exploring New York. From JFK airport, all we had to do was take the train to Jamaica Station, then the subway line to 50th Street, just 200 metres from the hotel. We only discovered recently when talking with my brother that, strangely, he had stayed at the WJH just a few years after I had.
The street outside the hotel, between 8th and 9th Avenue, is a mix of small businesses, homes, and small restaurants and bars, rather than large shops and office blocks. Head in one direction and you are on Broadway and in the theatre district. Head the other way and you are in 9th Avenue, which is packed with all manner of restaurants.
A fortunate meeting with a barman
We had spent about 27 hours travelling from Melbourne, arriving the same day as we left. Even though it was late by NY time, we weren’t ready for bed so it wasn’t long before we were heading to the nearest bar, three doors away. We were looking for a quiet glass of wine and a snack. Behind the bar was Brandon. He struggled to meet our request for a wine made in the US and placed various bottles on the bar, the very first one being from Australia! Eventually we settled down with a glass of pinot gris from California.
Brandon later came back to chat with us and, on realising our keen interest in food, wrote out a list of nine different restaurants, cafes and delis we just had to try during our visit; several were in the immediate district. We would only have the chance to experience four of the nine, but those we did would be highlights.
The weather and getting around
While we have both visited other parts of the US in recent years, Rhonda was last in New York in 2015, while my last time there was in 2002. Before that year we had visited twice together and seen many of the key sights.
This trip the weather was very chilly, almost icy, and we really had to rug up well. Our first full day was a Tuesday and, despite the weather, we would do a reasonable amount of walking.
We were quickly reminded about one of the great features of Manhattan, that it is surprisingly easy to get around. The south-north avenues are only 200 to 300 metres apart, while the west-east streets are only 100 metres apart. Thus, on foot, you seem to get around in no time. And the traffic is so sensible, making the city very pedestrian friendly. For long trips you can easily use the subway or the bus system.
With only three full days, we wouldn’t get to visit every major attraction. We would revisit some, and check out some new ones.
Incidentals
Coffee and costs:
Those of us who have visited the US before know that the coffee is different to what we tend to experience in Australia, where practically every cafe and pub has an espresso machine and someone serving who knows how to use it. It is also not uncommon to hear from returned Australians that food (in restaurants and cafes) is so cheap in the US. But is it?
Our first breakfast was close to the hotel, in 8th Avenue, and we experienced our first US coffee of the trip. We would describe it as more expensive, lower in quality and less enjoyable than a typical equivalent coffee back in Australia. From that point on I have been keeping a spreadsheet to provide an objective comparison of costs and quality on comparable items, namely coffee (long black, espresso, cappuccino, etc), tea, pastries, hamburgers (not fast food ones) and wine by the glass. I will report the findings at the end of the trip.
Weight control:
At that breakfast, perhaps a little to the annoyance of the waiter, we ordered one item to share between us. We know that serving sizes in the US are big, so sharing one item will become a common feature of our travels in order not to over-eat.
Tipping:
We were soon reminded that tipping in the US is ‘optional’ but, in reality, ‘obligatory’. Restaurants and cafes will offer options on your bill of 18%, 20% and 22%, all calculated for you and giving the dollar amounts, though you can tip some other amount if you wish. In the next few days we had the confronting situation of being bailed up at the door by the waitress pleading that we should leave $1 more: it was an honest ‘mistake’ of ours to under-tip but it demonstrated how desperately waiters depend on tips for their incomes.
Wine and restaurant costs:
We would find that wine in restaurants is very expensive compared to Australia, with a glass of acceptable wine typically listed at $10USD to $18USD on the wine list. However, add on tax and service (say 20% combined) and that becomes $12.00 USD to $22USD. Allow for the currency exchange rate difference of almost 30% and a glass would be costing us somewhere between $15AUS and $28.00AUS. All in all, a great reason to drink less wine, thereby helping with weight control!
The same cost factors and conversions applied to restaurant meals as well. Thus after adding on tax, tip and currency conversion, an item listed on a menu or wine list at $10USD item would cost the equivalent of $15AUS, 50% higher. A main course listed at $40USD would cost $60AUS.
SIM card:
The first task after breakfast was to buy a SIM card for the iPad to give us some data coverage for the time in the US, particularly as we would be on the road a lot.
Cash and credit cards:
We tried to withdraw money from the ATMs in the foyer of the very bank (a US bank) which had issued our debit cards. The tellers/clerks couldn’t explain why our PINs would not work and said that we would have to sort it out online or ring Australia, which we did. As it was, we soon found that we were using our credit cards practically everywhere. Neither our debit card nor credit card charge incur foreign exchange transaction charges, which saves us 3% on credit card transactions and 3% to 8% on cash withdrawals, worldwide. It is worth checking around for cards that don’t charge for foreign currency conversions.
Researching restaurants and food outlets:
We are happy to eat across the board, from cheap to fine dining. But to consistently eat well, in interesting places, we try to be well-researched. Generally for a new location, we will have put together a list of recommendations from friends and food writers, we will have checked tourist and restaurant guides, and we will ask the locals when we arrive.
We find the Lonely Planet “Top Picks” reliably lead us to extremely interesting and worthwhile venues. However, other online sources we regularly consult are ViaMichelin, Fodor and Frommer. And we generally cross-check potentials against TripAdvisor.
As for asking the locals, the person behind the hotel desk is an obvious starting point, though they often direct you to a tourist restaurant. Staff at bookshops, museums and galleries often have tastes that match our own. In our case, with the recommendations of our barman, Brendon, we were overloaded with options for our three days In New York.
Tuesday, our first full day
With settling in duties out of the way, we started walking, photographing, window-gazing, shopping and eating.
While the coffee is generally far from great and a fast food establishment is generally only metres away, NYC has some wonderful food outlets. For quick bites, there are great alternatives to the well-known chains, including food trucks on many corners (serving, from all reports, delicious food).
We walked to the Brooklyn Diner in 57th Street and made a booking for dinner for 9.30 that night. We then headed to Carnegie Hall, 100 metres further on, to book a concert for 7.30. We then spent about two hours in MOMA (the Museum of Modern Art), the extraordinary multi-level museum hemmed in by skyscrapers.
We had decided to have a late lunch near our hotel. While Brandon had given us a number of suggestions nearby, Lonely Planet also had three of its “Top Picks” for NY within 200 metres of our hotel.
Thus we lunched at Totto Ramen, a Japanese-style noodle outlet in 52nd street. The tiny outlet in a semi-basement is so narrow and cramped that it can only seat around 20. Mid-afternoon, we only had to queue for 15 minutes before being given seats at the “bar” in front of the cauldron-like stockpots and the very busy cook.
Our concert at Carnegie Hall was in the recital salon, rather than the main concert hall. The tickets cost us just $20US each for a superb performance by a world class piano trio playing works by Schubert, Shostakovich and Dvorak.
After the concert we headed back up 57th street to the Brooklyn Diner for the strawberry blonde encounter!
