On the Contrary

Eygyption Ruins with the City in the Background

First event was Thursday night at the Chelsea Market with Bobby Flay.  This event used the Chelsea Market for food and wine tasting.  When Candace and I arrived at 8 p.m. the line for entering wound down the block.  But we were here so we dutifully got in line and commensurated with our fellow line members.  The line was slowly moving and we soon figured out this line was to turn in your tickets for a wristband, and then there was a line to get in.  But soon it got moving and when we entered the Chelsea Market, it was wall-to-wall people.  Maybe they heard there was free food and with the Market tanking, they were gorging for the long fast.  We decided to go to the very end and work our way back, only tasting things that looked really good.  That, sadly, wasn’t very much.  Most of it was what I call bail of hay food.  Lots of it, but nothing for your taste buds to do.  There were a couple of exceptions.  One was shrimp with galic grits and the other lamb parpaccio.

Now Bobby Flay was cooking hamburgers and that was obviously the place to be as his groupies were about 20 deep chanting Bobby, Bobby, and singing him happy birthday.  I don’t know about you, but I have never had a hamburger that was worth all that.  Okay so much for food, and I am sure there were some other fine tasting experiences, but standing in line, pushing your way to the front, ruins the enjoyment of it.

Okay what about the wines?  Well except for the wine being served in the Chelsea Wine Vault, they were fair to poor.  Candace asked several of the servers where the wine was from and they would say California.  Apparently appellation is not part of their vocabulary.  Generally the nose told me everything I needed to know and I could just toss it.  Interesting though, this crowd was obviously more sophisticated than I was because they were slugging this stuff down like there was no tomorrow.  However Samuel Adams was there and holding up the fort.  I never saw anyone really tasting wine, either experiencing its nose, evaluating its color and clarity, or swishing it around their mouth for mouth feel and tannins.  It went straight down the throat with very little time for savoring, which for the most part was a good idea.

Okay, there were a couple of good wines and as I said they were being served in the Chelsea Wine Vault by knowledgeable purveyors of their wines.  If you are a real wine drinker, you needed to go nowhere else and I commend the Wine Vault for providing a real tasting experience.  A couple I did enjoy were:
J. Vidal Fleury Cotes du Ventoux 2005 (Southern Rhone)
J. Vidal Fleury Cotes du Totie 2001 (Northern Rhone)
Artesa Pinot Noir 2006
Poggio al Ginepri 2006
Dinastia Vivanco Rioja Reserva 2001

I am sure there were others, but those are the ones I remember.  After about an hour we had all we could take of the crowds,so we  meet my daughter Serena, and headed for a nice little cozy Italian restaurant in Soho called I Sodi.

Inside the Metropolitan Museum New York

Our waitress was, I would say, in her late 20 to early 30’s but she had a palate.  I have very little knowledge of Italian wines so we told her what we were looking for and she brought each of us a delightful wine suited to our individual tastes and a wonderful antipasti plate of salami and cheeses.  Then back to the Mercer Hotel for a nightcap in the lobby before ending a very nice day.  The perfect end to a busy day.

Friday we went over to Broadway to Dean and Delucca for a nice coffee and muffin for breakfast and then it was off to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  What an experience.

The Metropolitan Museum in NYC on a Beautiful Friday

This place is right up there with the Louvre. I saw so many Van Gogh’s that I have never seen below, even in books.  It was truly a wonderful experience.  Probably what really caught my attention is that we walked into a large circular room that had a panorama of Versailles painted in a 360° panorama.  What amazed me the most as I stood there taking it in, was that back in June I had stood in that identical place at the real Versailles.  It made me smile and tingle all over.  Then we took a long walk through Central Park, caught a cab down to Greenwich Village and strolled through the area of beautiful brownstones and then ended up in South Soho at the Barolo, a wonderful Italian restaurant that has an outside garden.  We split a Caesar salad and crab ravioli with tomato cream sauce.  I had a nice Moretti beer and Candace had a nice rose.  It was delicious.  Tonight it is off to some restaurant with my daughter Serena and I will give you the review tomorrow.  Also on tap is the food and wine tasting so I will give you a full review.

I have been fully supporting the economy and as near as I can tell so are a ton of people here in New York City as the streets are packed with shoppers, strollers, and tourists in this absolutely beautiful weather.  You would never know there are mushroom clouds just a few blocks away in Wall Street.  Are we fiddling instead of hunkering down?  Maybe but life is short.  Carpe Diem