Adventures in Tribeca
Last Saturday, the Boy and I decided to check out Tribeca. The Boy always thought it would be cool to live in a loft down there, and I thought it would be extremely cool to have a 10 minute commute to work.
It was well before noon when we exited Canal street off the C train and headed in the direction of Chambers street. First stop was Bouley's bakery shop/restaurant right across the street from Bouley where we shared a yummy soft shell crab sandwich and a buttery croissant under an umbrellaed table along the sidewalk. It would have been great for people watching if there were any people around to watch. Tribeca felt a lot different from our Upper East Side neighborhood. It's a lot more industrial looking, and things are more spread out. Compared to other places in Manhattan, it seemed relatively dead on the weekend. Personally, I like living in a livelier, more neighborhood-like environment.
Next, we sought out to find a famous soda shop to try an egg cream. The Boy watches a lot of FoodNetwork and explained to me that egg cream is a very New York drink. It was popular during the Great Depression when people couldn't afford a lot. It's made with a little bit of milk, combined with a bit of chocolate syrup and then sprayed full of seltzer water. The top is foamed up a bit so that it looks like egg foam. This was to fool people into believing that they were getting a nutritious drink with milk and egg, when in reality there was no egg and very little milk.
The soda shop looked just like what I imagined an old-time soda place would look like. There was a wooden bar operated by a soda jerk, and nostalgic candies to be sold in a dimly lit shop with wooden tables and seats. The Boy and I walked right up to the bar and ordered an egg cream. We wanted to see how the drink was made. We were expecting a lot of mixing and fancy foaming machines, but instead saw the soda jerk pour in a couple of tablespoons of milk, squeeze a few squirts from bottle of chocolate syrup (like Hershey's), spray in seltzer water and then mix the top a bit to create a little foam. That was it?! This is what the Boy's coworkers and the FoodNetwork raved about?
The Boy and I each took sips as we walked out, telling eachother that it was "not bad." We kept passing the drink back and forth as we walked around Tribeca until we couldn't stand it anymore, and each confessed that the drink was actually quite gross. Blech! Disgusting! It's making me sick! We tossed it out at the nearest trash can and then headed over to Chinatown to do a quick grocery run before going home.
I think we'll stay in the Upper East Side.
It was well before noon when we exited Canal street off the C train and headed in the direction of Chambers street. First stop was Bouley's bakery shop/restaurant right across the street from Bouley where we shared a yummy soft shell crab sandwich and a buttery croissant under an umbrellaed table along the sidewalk. It would have been great for people watching if there were any people around to watch. Tribeca felt a lot different from our Upper East Side neighborhood. It's a lot more industrial looking, and things are more spread out. Compared to other places in Manhattan, it seemed relatively dead on the weekend. Personally, I like living in a livelier, more neighborhood-like environment.
Next, we sought out to find a famous soda shop to try an egg cream. The Boy watches a lot of FoodNetwork and explained to me that egg cream is a very New York drink. It was popular during the Great Depression when people couldn't afford a lot. It's made with a little bit of milk, combined with a bit of chocolate syrup and then sprayed full of seltzer water. The top is foamed up a bit so that it looks like egg foam. This was to fool people into believing that they were getting a nutritious drink with milk and egg, when in reality there was no egg and very little milk.
The soda shop looked just like what I imagined an old-time soda place would look like. There was a wooden bar operated by a soda jerk, and nostalgic candies to be sold in a dimly lit shop with wooden tables and seats. The Boy and I walked right up to the bar and ordered an egg cream. We wanted to see how the drink was made. We were expecting a lot of mixing and fancy foaming machines, but instead saw the soda jerk pour in a couple of tablespoons of milk, squeeze a few squirts from bottle of chocolate syrup (like Hershey's), spray in seltzer water and then mix the top a bit to create a little foam. That was it?! This is what the Boy's coworkers and the FoodNetwork raved about?
The Boy and I each took sips as we walked out, telling eachother that it was "not bad." We kept passing the drink back and forth as we walked around Tribeca until we couldn't stand it anymore, and each confessed that the drink was actually quite gross. Blech! Disgusting! It's making me sick! We tossed it out at the nearest trash can and then headed over to Chinatown to do a quick grocery run before going home.
I think we'll stay in the Upper East Side.
posted by LANYTransplant at 7:13 PM
1 Comments:
Yuk. Egg cream sounds like cappuccino without the detergent.
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