Today I Did What I Would Have Done If I Lived Here.

Today I did in NYC what I would do if I lived here (times 20) and if it was a weekend.

I headed to Manhattan from Queens. It was a bit rainy and my feet are thrashed so I took a bus to the train. Got into midtown and just bummed around. I had to begin with a little chore however, A couple of you heard by now, I had some problems with my bank (entirely the fault of the phone tellers) so I had to go into a branch office to sort things out. It's a long story. Short version goes: I was stuck in NYC on Memorial Day with no cash and no way of obtaining any.

With that out of the way, I went to the Strand for a long time and walked around and around. I picked up a few books but not wanting to haul them around all day, I put all but one back on the shelves. It was a little collection of essays about food--forgot the title and author and don't want to dig it up right now just to tell you.

Book in hand, I head over to Bon Vivant Diner for breakfast. Cheese omelet tasted weird but not exactly bad, the potatoes and white buttered toast were good. I think coming off being on the road through the south, I have a higher threshold now for heavily buttered white breads. We went to Waffle House twice on our travels and I took to it pretty easily. I spent awhile in the diner reading the new book and trying to keep the food away from it; I'll probably give it to an Empirical friend.

From there I just walked around. I poked my head into shops. Picked up some used and new cds. Before I knew it, my friend/host was calling about lunch. Oh sure, I can meet you. I just ate a huge breakfast but I could eat again. Someone suggested Mario Batali's pizza joint called OTTO. Sounds fine and it's only a few blocks away.

At OTTO things got insane. At first I thought I'd just get a little margherita. But it escalated to Let's get the prosciutto one with the arugula! And it just got away from us.

Breakdown:

• Italian bread
• breadsticks
• one large bottle sparkling water
• Warm House Cured Olives
• Prosciutto Arugula Pizza(Tomato, Cacio, Mozzarella, Crudo, Arugula)
• Two glasses wine (Rosato Bastianich and a red)
• Trio of sorbetti (Creme Fraiche, Tangerine, Pineapple Prosecco)

Uhhhh...I don't even have my rebate check yet. I've never spent that much money...on a weekday lunch. I went exploring again after lunch and further stimulated the economy. Clothes mostly. So much walking.

Check out my photos (link)