Didn’t have much time to be a tourist this trip but I did go to a reception at Rosa Mexicana, which had good -you guessed it – Mexican food — near the gallery metro stop (and hotel Monaco, where my work meetings were). I also had a bowl of chili at the Reagan national airport outpost of the famous Ben’s chili bowl. Didn’t bowl me over. But it obviously lacked the more urban atmosphere of the original Ben’s.
I had hoped to go to the ramen noodle place, daikaya izakaya, my sister highly recommended, also near the gallery metro but ran out of time. Next trip.
Last night I made my requisite pilgrimage to Politics and Prose, a longtime favorite bookstore on Connecticut. Always have to buy a book there, every DC trip!
Category Archives: THE EAST COAST
ben’s chili bowl, rosa Mexicana : Washington, D.C.
Filed under Agritourism, Airlines, Washington D.C.
Coppi, Newt, 14th street, Amsterdam falafel : Washington, D.C.
At good wood in DC
I’ve been reluctant to go to Italian restaurants in the u.s. After two weeks of eating the real deal in Italy last fall but Coppi, a small neighborhood place in DC’s Cleveland Park neighborhood was excellent. My sister and I shared an appetizer sized plate of pasta with tomatoes, grilled shrimp, feta and then pizza. Also had an easy flight –direct– from Des Moines to DC — and this being Iowa, my fellow passengers included Newt Gingrich, his helmet-haired wife and lots of reporters who had been attending a conservative Republican gathering of possible presidential candidates in Des Moines.
Today my sister and I walked around 14th street, exploring the little boutiques and vintage stores there. had a very good lunch at Amsterdam falafel. (Excellent grilled eggplant side). Some good stores including: good wood, millennium, and home rule.
Went to a trader joes where the check out lined snaked throughout the store. I have never seen such a thing and apparently it’s routine on weekends (and not just because DC is bracing for a snowstorm.)
Filed under Washington D.C.
Even more reasons to go to Chicago in 2015: “the 606”, David Adjaye show at Art Institute
Just heard the Art Institute of Chicago will host the first show of work by British architect David Adjaye next September. He first came to my attention thanks to a profile last year in The New Yorker. He’s designing the new National Museum of African American History and Culture, on the Mall in Washington, D.C.
Also new next summer – “the 606” – the Chicago version of NYC’s High Line. It includes parks and trails along 2.7 miles of a former elevated train track connecting four neighborhoods (see the606.org)
And as always, some new restaurants to check out:
– Chicken Shop, which serves free-range rotisserie chicken at the new Soho House hotel.
– GT Prime (a meat place from the chef who owns GT Fish & Oyster)
– A Mexican food brewpub from Homaro Cantu (of Moto)
Thanks to the travel Mag AFAR for these suggestons.
Filed under Chicago, DINING, museum exhibit, Washington D.C.
Where to eat in Philly – Zahav!
I’ve been recommending this restaurant for about five years, ever since my son and I ate there during a college visit trip (and my son has since graduated from college) but I can never remember the name. So I’m posting it here for safekeeping (and because my stepdaughter, who is going on a weekend trip to Philly, asked for specifics.)
The restaurant is Zahav, serving Israeli/Middle Eastern fare, somewhat expensive as I recall but it looks like there’s some offshoots that may be less pricy.
See http://www.zahavrestaurant.com/ and for the interesting backstory about back story about how the chef had a drug issue see: http://articles.philly.com/2014-08-13/news/52732976_1_zahav-philly-chef-chef-michael-solomonov
Filed under DINING, Pennsylvania2
Finding my way around a place I used to live: Stamford
Stew’s
New England scene, Trumbull
I easily found the house I lived in some 28 years ago, although it has clearly been restored to its former glory (before five 20-somethings, including me, rented it). There it was, all tarted up on Interlaken Road, just off High ridge Road and exit 35 of the Merritt Parkway. But I was soon lost in downtown Stamford, whose skyline has radically changed since my days as a reporter there. I never did find the Stamford Advocate. I am pretty sure it is not where it once was. Oh well. I moved onto to SoNo (south Norwalk) and it took me awhile to get my gap bearings there too although I finally remembered Washington street was the old heart of the renovated area! which has now spread beyond to several other blocks.
Fortunately Stew Leonard’s, the mega supermarket/ kids funhouse is much the same and the place still makes me smile with its kitschy Chuckie Cheese-like figures dotting the food displays. fortunately the food looks as good as ever and my suitcase is full of bagels, bialys and a Cronut or two (part croissant, part donut). oh and two cans of bumblebee tuna, which I can’t seem to find anymore in Iowa. Myra and I had a good lunch at Valencia lucheria, a taqueria in Norwalk…I had an arepa with pork (sort of a deep I ate is called. it’s Venezuelan.
Ye olde house…Stamford
Filed under Connecticut
Good eats in New Britain, Fairfield, Monroe Connecticut
Fairfield beach with Myra
Work brought me to the central Connecticut city of New Britain but I arrived hungry and in a hurry after an early morning flight from Iowa. Looking for a place to grab a quick bite before a 2:30 pm meeting, I was prepared for something like Subway. Instead I got lucky and stumbled upon a terrific homey deli called Angelo’s where I had an excellent tuna sub, a safe and dull option given all the other good options (Stromboli sandwiches, loaves of bread slathered with pesto etc) but it did the trick.
In Monroe last night with BFF Myra and her lovely daughter Emma (shout out to Shane, are you reading?) We had a delicious meal on the patio of Tula...good sandwiches, pasta, salads, flat breads.) I had bucatini alla amitriana (sort of a red sauce version of carbonara with out the cream but with the bacon.)
The next night we picked up salads at Chefs Table in Fairfield and had primo seats, on the beach in Fairfield. Perfect night with old friends.
Beach picnic with Myra and David, Fairfield.
Filed under Connecticut
NYLO NYC a real find
I knew the NYLO hotel on NYC’s Upper West Side passed muster when I got a thumbs up email from my brother, who also decided to stay there and had arrived at his room before we did. The hotel turned out to be a real find, especially for $120 a night ($151 with tax). The room was small, as expected, but well appointed, huge bed, comfortable linens, edgy but not too edgy furniture, art, light fixtures, clean and streamlined bathroom. Not too noisy at night even though we ended up with a room overlooking Broadway when I had asked for a presumably quieter interior room (my brother’s room got no traffic noise). I found out NYLO stands for New York Loft and the Texas-based hotel chain has outposts in Texas, Warwick (near Providence) (RI) and soon Nyack (NY). Good to know!
Remarkably, the restaurant my uncle had chosen for dinner turned out to be connected to the hotel. It’s called Serefina and it had good affordable Italian food (I had good bolognese, pizza etc). Monday morning we went for coffee and pastries to Irving Farm, a little basement cafe on 79th just south of Broadway (there are several other Manhattan locations). After a quick visit to Zabars for bagels to take home to Iowa (I still miss H&H bagels) we walked across the park to meet my aunt at PJ Bernstein, a good deli on third ave near 71st street (that’s their cheese/meat plate above).
Our flight home from Newark went well despite a few stressful moments when we inadvertently left the subway station at 34th street and had to figure out where Penn Station was – above ground – and drag our suitcases through throngs of people at 5 p.m. At the airport, we somehow ended up again in the TSA pre-screened category but it didn’t make much difference this time around. We still had to stand in the same long line and take out our stuff and even take off our shoes (hrrummphhh). A guy in line ahead of me said that TSA pre-screened only really produces perks at Newark if you’re passing through Terminal C (we were in Terminal A). Whatever…I was just happy we made it to Newark with ample time to catch our flight – and it left on time and we got home on time! Love that direct flight!
Filed under air security, DINING, New York City, Rhode Island, Texas
Bye to Cape Cod
Our last day on Cape Cod was unambiguously gorgeous weather wise and no sudden downpours while we were riding our bikes through the dunes on the bike trails. It felt suddenly like fall, with crisp air, sharp sunlight, yellow and red leaves. Lovely. We ate again at the Lobster Pot, this time on the top floor with a spectacular view of the harbor, the curving stretch of tan sandy beach,and brilliant blue water with boats bobbing in the waves. Couldn’t resist the fried clams, again, at the Pot, but also tried fish and chips (we have eaten a lot of cod this trip. When in Rome) and the clam chowder. the fast ferry back to Boston was much easier on the stomach and head, with a lot less chop, thank god. From the World Trade Center we resisted the temptation to take a water taxi to Logan($10 per person) and took the silver line, which is an above ground bus to Logan. We figured out the transit system too late. We thought we bought a charliecard but instead bought a charlieticket and paid 50 cents more ride. Better explanation needed for tourists! Having recently used public transportation in Chicago, London, Berlin, Krakow, Prague and Washington DC I can speak with some authority on this. Anyway, great trip.
Filed under Boston, Massachusetts, Uncategorized
Provincetown lovely on a quiet October Monday
I hear this can be a wild and crazy and gay party town but not on a Monday night in early October. It’s still gay, of course. but quiet, almost peaceful, and I love it here. We are staying at a pretty old guesthouse, the Fairbanks Inn, a sea captains house from 1776 with pretty old furnishings, wide wood planked creaky floors, old fireplaces in rooms, pretty floral,wallpaper. We rented excellent bikes at Provincetown Bikes and set off on a sunny but increasingly overcast day on the terrific Eight mile bike trail through the dunes by Herring Cove and Race Point beach, past tidal marshes with wheat colored grasses blowing in wind and strands of pine and beech trees. A really lovely trail. IpUmfortunately about midday through it started to drizel and then it poured. We cowered under a tree but it didn’t give us much shelter and we got completed soaked. Then just as suddenly the sky turned blue and clear so we walked on lovely quintessential cape cod racepoint beach to dry off a bit.
Lunch was a shared lobster roll and fried clams, both excellent, at the Lobster Pot, an institution here, with good reason, with an excellent Harbor view. We had cold Portuguese french toast at the portugeuse bakery, oddly the only thing I remember about my last visit here 30 some years ago and a lovely dinner tonight at the classy but warm Red Inn (clams, cod, lobster-shrimp-crab cakes, a surprisingly light delicious cheese cake.The center of town is pretty tricky tacky but we liked the east and west ends of commercial street, which are more residential.
Our fast ferry was very bumpy, as we flew over massive waves but we made it. We went on bay state cruises which left not from long wharf, as we thought, but the pier behind the World Trade Center in, yesterday again, the seaport area.
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Filed under Boston, Massachusetts, Uncategorized
Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Seaport in Boston
I was somewhat relieved to find out that the seaport area where we have spent much of this trip in Boston did not look familiar NOT because of my rusty memory of living here 30 years ago but because it didn’t exist…at least in its current highly developed form. It’s a nice addition to a city that already has a lot to offer. We went to a wedding at Sam’s at Louis and then then next day to brunch at Miel in the Intercontinental hotel (excellent smoked salmon, cream cheese and bagel) and the new Institute of contemporary art (where we saw an interesting show of the work of Amy Stillman, whom i had not heard of but liked) all in the seaport area. it was easy to get back to Back Bay taking the Silver Line, a strange bus that goes underground in a tunnel more suited to a subway train, to the red line.
Earlier on Saturday, we walked from our friends fantastic apartment on Beacon Street through Back Bay and over to equally lovely Beacon Hill where we had coffee and pastry at outdoor tables at Cafe Vanille, on Charles Street and later lunch of thin crust pizza at Fig, the Todd English restaurant. Also managed to remember Louisburg Square, one of the loveliest old squares in the city with streets with large round cobblestones, paving blocks and red brick sidewalks. (See photo) Reminds me of London. We had a good Persian meal at Lala Rokh in Beacon Hill to celebrate a friends birthday.
Our first day in Boston, we took the subway blue then green) to Copley square and then went in reverse to north station where we got the commuter train to our relatives house in Swampscott.
Filed under Boston, Massachusetts, Uncategorized
TakeBetsywithyou 