Make Mine Manhattan--East Coast Summer II

I love New York! It's like no place else in the world. Like its own country almost. People are uniquely, well, New York. My parents grew up in the Bronx, and though I never lived here, I feel like I fit in. During my East Coast summer, I made six, mostly short, visits to friends in Manhattan totalling over 2 weeks.

People walk in New York. The streets are filled with people of all ages, all colors, from all over the world, wearing all kinds of outfits imaginable, walking their dogs, pushing strollers, going about their daily business. You see fewer overweight people here, and I think it's because of all the walking. You walk to the store, the restaurant, the museum, the theater. Whatever kind of place you want to go, there's at least one in the neighborhood, probably more. I love all the walking. I'm not so hot for climbing the stairs to the fifth-floor walk-up, but I guess it's good exercise. A lot of buildings have just five stories to avoid the requirement to have elevators in buildings taller than that.

I watch the people I pass on the streets. I could sit in a cafe and watch people go by for hours and not be bored for a second. And you know something? New Yorkers are friendly. Maybe a bit louder and brasher, on the average, than, say, Californians. So? You got a problem with that?

I like walking in the park: the East River waterfront, Central Park, and the smaller neighborhood parks. I like visiting Greenwich Village and the Lower East Side.

I like the local cuisine. Where else can you get challah bread French toast or blintzes at any diner?

I like looking at the buildings. I don't have a particular interest in architecture, but the styles are fascinating, with different shapes, types of windows, and trim.

And the nightlife! New York has something we don't have in California--warm summer nights. There are plenty of things to do any time of the night. Unlike any other city I know, people are out and around at all hours, and you can always find a place to sit down and get something to eat or drink.

Quick Tips:

Best Way To Get Around:

New York City's public transportation is a joy, quick and efficient. I've never had to wait very long for a bus or subway. Luckily I was with locals who knew which ones to take. But you can figure it out yourself. The city is laid out methodically, and the system of numbered streets is easy to understand.

When you're in more of a hurry or not up for the public transportation, you can hail a cab on any street corner. It seems like almost half the cars on the street are cabs--more than that late at night. Of course, you should be aware that the subway may be faster when traffic's heavy.

If you drive into Manhattan, you're faced with the problem of where to park. Public garages can cost upwards of a day. Where I stayed, I had to pay , and of course give a good tip to the valet. (There's no self-parking.) That gave me good incentive to figure out how to do street parking. I won't give away the system, but there is one, and once I mastered it, I parked for free almost all the time.

Once you're parked, you'll probably want to stay parked unless you're leaving the borough and the subway's not good enough. Driving isn't bad. Once I got into it, I was passing cabs and buses, changing lanes with at least a few inches to spare. Kinda fun, actually. You should know that honking your horn is illegal, with a hefty fine. And that right turns are not allowed at red lights.

Beanocchio's is a neighborhood coffee house and hangout. The atmosphere is casual, and people seem to know each other. You can sit down with a cup of coffee (or any espresso drink) and read the newspaper, or you can get a full meal. You get your food at the counter; there's no table service. Prices are very reasonable.

There's a good breakfast menu, and a lunch menu of mostly soups, salads, and sandwiches. (If you're getting food to take out, there's a cooler filled with packed-up portions.) Or you can always choose from a large selection of pastries and savory snacks like empanadas. Try the risotto balls, with cheese in the middle—they are great! I've tried several kinds of their baked goods, and they were all very good.

Beanochhio's recently opened an ice-cream parlor a few doors down from the cafe. I haven't tried anything there, but it looks tempting.

This is the kind of place you find excuses to come back to again and again (I've developed cravings for the brownie bites and the risotto balls). I've been there two or three times and expect to go again the next time I'm in NYC.

Gobo serves fresh, healthy, and delicious vegetarian food. There is an emphasis on Oriental dishes, but the menu borrows from a variety of cuisines. Some of the combinations of flavors are unique. Two examples are the cappuccino french lentil truffle soup and spinach pistachio roll with jade mushrooms. All the ingredients come together well. The menu also includes a number of choices of smoothies and freshly made juices.

I've been to Gobo three times, for lunch or an afternoon snack. The seitan skewer appetizer is a favorite--I can't imagine eating here without getting it. Besides that, we've mostly had soups, salads, and appetizers, including edamame and pine nut vegetable medley with lettuce wraps. The quality of the food is uniformly good, and it's presented very tastefully.

The atmosphere is upscale and wholesome. Service is attentive and cheerful. Gobo is very nicely decorated. Large, beautiful pieces of wood take up much of the two side walls.

If you're vegetarian, Gobo is a must. If you're not, but don't need meat with every meal and appreciate creative cuisine, you'll also be glad you came.

H&H bagels are my favorite bagels in NYC, which says a lot. When I visit, I always stop here on my way home to pick up a dozen bagels for those not so fortunate as to live in New York.

If you come from somewhere other than the city, buying bagels at H&H is an experience in itself. The line may look long, but they keep it moving fast, and you have to be ready when they yell "Next!" You also should know what you want. The counter guys keep moving fast. One works the cash register and the others call out the amounts, which he punches in.

I get plain bagels and one or two egg bagels, which are yellow and slightly sweeter. They also have good challah bread and rolls. One thing about bagel places in NYC is that they all have non-dairy cream cheese. I get the scallion flavor; they also have plain, vegetable, and of course, several flavors of real cream cheese. You can order your bagel and filling as a sandwich if you want. Of course, they have lox, and there's also a small selection of deli items.

The bakery counter is filled with many types of cookies and other choices--very tempting, and I have indulged, and they're good. They have coffee and tea and a cooler full of the usual (and some not-so-usual) canned and bottled drinks. There are a few tables where you can sit down and nosh.

You can see and buy their food online at their website.

Lenge serves above-average Japanese food, with a large and varied menu. We sat down for a late afternoon lunch. The food was excellent! I had a steamed veggie plate with miso sauce. I didn’t have any expectations (steamed veggies are usually bland) and was surprised when the veggies and sauce were both amazingly delicious. It was a filling dish, with a variety of veggies. My kappa maki (cucumber sushi roll) was good too. My friend was just as happy with her seafood bento box.

Service was slow. It wasn't a problem for us, but was puzzling, as the place was almost empty. The waiter managed to seem snobby but also friendly. The decor was nice, typical Japanese restaurant. We sat at the window, so we used the extra time to indulge our New York people-watching hobby. You know, it's fascinating how many colorfully dressed and brightly made-up women in their 70s and 80s are out walking their dogs on the Upper East Side.

Midnight Express is your average uptown Manhattan diner. We had breakfast there about three times. The menu is extensive, but we stuck to the breakfast choices. Average Manhattan diner breakfasts: omelets, blintzes, toast, and potatoes. Once, we just got oatmeal and coffee. Nothing special, but we got exactly what we wanted, and it always hit the spot.

Service is good and unobtrusive. On our first visit, the waitress was a bit surly at first, but had cheered up by the time we left. On our later visits, we got to like her pretty well.

Sitting at the window, we did some people-watching, one of my favorite New York pastimes. It's a good Upper East Side location for this.

Odessa includes a restaurant and cafe/diner right next to each other. The menu and kitchen are the same for both. We went into the cafe because my friend had been there and liked the ambience. It was quiet, with a limited number of booths along one wall and the bar along the other. The decor is dark red and wood, pleasantly old-fashioned. The restaurant is much larger and, I hear, noisier.

The menu is giant. It includes burgers, omelettes, sandwiches, pastas, and all kinds of American and various ethnic foods. But Odessa (as indicated by its name) specializes in Ukrainian food. We indulged in a variety of Eastern European dishes, including a combo plate. We had pierogies, stuffed cabbage, potato pancakes (with both applesauce and sour cream, of course!), and blintzes. I appreciated that they had a vegetarian option for the stuffed cabbage--in fact, that's why we went there. It was good, served with a tomato sauce. Not like my grandmother's (nobody can beat that, or my vegetarian version), but it comes from a slightly different tradition and was fine for what it was. The pierogies and potato pancakes were also very good. I got a cheese blintz and a cherry one. They were good too, but the cherry one was filled only with cherries (canned, as expected); I would have expected some cheese too.

Service was friendly and efficient. The waiter was a bit eccentric, in that New York way, but that wasn't a problem. The prices are amazingly low. Hardly anything on the menu is over $10, and coffee or tea is just $0.75. The East Village location is convenient when you're sightseeing in that area. And it's open all night.

Imagine, a restaurant devoted solely to french fries, er, pommes frites. Actually, they call them Belgian fries. The fries come in a paper cone, in three sizes, from $4 to $7.50. They have about 25 different sauces, for $0.75 each. We tried a garlic mayo and a peanut satay sauce. Both were good.

You order and pick up your food at the counter. There are several wooden tables in the back, with holes to hold the paper cones. We had kids with us, and it was a good place to take them. The atmosphere is bohemian, in keeping with the East Village location, and not at all like a fast-food place. We sat there and slowly enjoyed our fries. The servings were generous, but we made a valiant effort to finish them. Very enjoyable.

This is one of the new franchise locations for the original Soup Man portrayed on Seinfeld.

There was no line when we walked in, so we didn't have to stand over to the side. The proprietor (franchisee?), who looked a bit like a younger Al Yegenah (the original Soup Man), was very friendly and let us sample a couple of the soups before we made our choices. My friend had a vichysoisse, which she liked a lot. I liked the borscht I sampled, which had a hint of ginger, but opted instead for the Cremilicious low-calorie soft-serve ice cream that this store also has. Chocolate and good.

The place is small, without only a couple of tables. We sat at a counter looking out the window, where there are a few chairs.

The soup was good and very reasonably priced. Each bowl came with bread, a piece of fruit, and a piece of chocolate. Salad, sandwiches, and smoothies are also available.

This is THE place to get knishes. They are head and shoulders above any knishes I've gotten elsewhere. Especially the kasha ones—I don't think I've ever, in recent decades, found a kasha knish that was at all good. But Yonah Schimmel's kasha knishes are delectable.

The counter holds a selection of types: potato, kasha, vegetable, etc. They also have a few other items: rugeleh, herring...that kind of thing. When you order your knishes, they ask if you want them heated up. There are some tables in the back where you can eat, but I've never sat down. I just buy my knishes and take them away.

I was surprised but happy when I found that the place is open on Saturday (the Sabbath).

You can also buy Yonah Schimmel's knishes online. See www.knishery.com.

Coney Island is a great place to bring the kids, which is what we did. It was a hour-long subway ride from uptown Manhattan. It was fun being on the subway and seeing the different parts of the city.

Unfortunately, it started raining as soon as we got there. We had to duck inside Nathan's, which is open to the street. As long as we were in there, we got hot dogs and french fries and sodas. There aren't any tables, so we had to eat standing up and holding the food.

By the time we finished, the rain had stopped, so we headed to the boardwalk. Of course the kids wanted to go on the rides. After only one ride, though, it started raining again. We ducked into an arcade and played Skeeball and other games until the rain cleared up. Then the kids got a few more rides. We adults joined them for the Haunted House, where you ride in the dark and skeletons jump out at you. Kept me laughing! The kids also did a balloon-popping game and won a stuffed animal or two.

There were plenty of people at the beach and on the boardwalk, but not very many at the arcade or on the rides. Some of that was the rain, but Coney Island does seem a bit rundown. In a way, that's part of its charm, but I'm sure it was different in its heyday.

The teenager wanted to see the freak show, so we did that. I didn't really want to, but it was excellent. Today's "freaks" are pierced and tattooed young people with a definite knack for theater. Too bad no photos were allowed. Four people did about eight acts, involving, among other things, swords and a beautiful, giant snake. It cost, I think, $4 each to get in, and we felt like we got our money's worth.

It was evening by now. The plan was to stay and see a free concert at a park a quick walk away from the beach. The B-52s were playing. We settled in on our blanket. But then the rain started. We waited it out for 10 minutes, it cleared up, and the opening act started playing. Soon enough, though, the skies opened up. The rain was pouring down about as hard as it could, and the lightning and thunder were right on top of us. Staying for the music wasn't a possibility. We ran several long blocks to the subway station, with a few hundred other people in the same predicament. Everyone was soaked through and through, and we couldn't do anything about it. People seemed pretty cheerful, considering--after all, it was an act of God. But I ended up chilled and bedraggled for the long ride home, not a happy camper. Oh well.

Central Park has provided an oasis of greenery in the big city for 150 years. It has trees, meadows, lakes, sculpture, and all kinds of attractions. My walk covered just a few acres, and I found the park enchanting. I plan to go back for more whenever I have a chance.

We walked into the park at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is an impressive sight, with a large glass wall. We walked around it and saw the obelisk, also called Cleopatra's Needle, which was made in Egypt in the 1500s and transported to the United States in 1879. Just south of that, we stopped to admire some unusual mushrooms that were growing under some trees. We meandered along, enjoying the warm summer day. We stopped briefly at the bronze Alice in Wonderland statue, which includes Alice, the Mad Hatter, the Dormouse, the March Hare, the Cheshire Cat, and several mushrooms, one of which Alice is seated on. Kids were climbing all over the statues, which I thought was in keeping with the playful theme.

We paused for iced tea at the snack area facing Conservatory Water, a small lake. Kids and adults were renting remote-control boats to play with on the water. It was a weekday, so the park wasn't very crowded, with tourists making up a high proportion of the visitors.

The walkway passed under a couple of very attractive bridges. We saw a couple of cops on small motorbikes. Their main function seemed to be answering questions for tourists.

We walked west around the large lake. Once past that, we reached our final destination in the park, Strawberry Fields. It is named after the Beatles song in honor John Lennon, who lived at the Dakota, which is nearby right across from the park. We walked on a narrow path that wound around among the bushes and trees. For a while, we couldn't see or hear anything but a bird. Consciousness-expanding! We came out at the edge of the park at the Imagine mosaic. A man was placing rose petals all around the mosaic, in memory of John, while his dog lounged on a park bench. A couple of stands sold souvenirs.

And then we crossed the street out of the park. We'd gone the full width of the park, from east to west, and covered not even a quarter of the length. Plenty more left to explore.