In his magnificent essay “Here is New York,” E.B. White said there are three New Yorks—one for the native born, another for the commuter who works there and leaves each night and the third for people who come from somewhere else in quest of something.  I’d like to add a fourth—the visitor who feels like a resident.  In 1955, my father became a commuter New Yorker when the family moved to Hartsdale and he worked in the Graybar building above Grand Central Station.  In 2000 my wife and I became one-week “residents” of New York when we bought a time share across the street from Carnegie Hall.  So each time I visit the Big Apple I feel both the excitement of the tourist enjoying all the wonderful things to do and see and the comfort and confidence of a resident who knows how to use the subway system.

New York is always exciting, occasionally scary and sometimes emotional.  My wife and I visited the city two weeks after 9/11.  We had already booked our trip and refused to cancel it.  We smelled the acrid smoke that still drifted over lower Manhattan and saw the layers of ash on the sidewalks and buildings blocks away from ground zero.  Last week we visited the 9/11 Memorial.  It is both beautiful and sad.  Having been there right after the destruction, the pristine memorial fountain-pool and the soaring new buildings had a special meaning for me.

 

New York is more than the theater and museums we enjoy each visit, it is also eating.  As a professional food photographer who dearly loves consuming my subjects, I consider eating one of NYC’s greatest attractions.  For me, NYC is an enormous food court.  On this trip, I revisited some favorite restaurants and discovered a couple new ones.

Encore restaurant performances this trip included Robert on the ninth floor of the Museum of Art and Design and P.J. Clarke’s.  Robert offers excellent food and a fabulous view of Columbus Circle. We always visit the museum first.  Exhibits change often so there is always something new.  This time the exhibits featured advanced technology in art and I finally found out what 3D printing really is.

 

 

 

 

If you like classical music, the New York Philharmonic holds open rehearsals on Thursday mornings at Lincoln Center (go to www.nyphil.org for information.)  You get to see an actual rehearsal of the current performance for $20.00 at 9:45 a.m.  Just across the street from Lincoln Center is P.J.Clarke’s which I believe makes the best Reuben sandwich in the world.  I had it again this time.

 

Now to this trip’s restaurant debuts.  My good friend Phil Dorian who was my college roommate and is now a New York theater critic (www.sceneonstage.com) introduced us to Iguana (240 West 54th St.) and Etcetera Etcetera (352 West 44th St.)

 

Iguana is upscale Mexican where they make a great avocado dip at the table and offers perhaps the best corn chowder I have ever eaten.   Etcetera Etcetera is upscale Italian where my wife had a beautifully done Cornish hen and I had a perfectly creamy risotto (only Italians can make good risotto).  Sorry, I forgot the camera that night which is a terrible admission for a photographer.

 

Two friends I have done Community Theater with down south, Craig Mark Wells and Camrus Johnson, are now in New York aiming at bigger theatrical horizons.  They introduced us to one of their favorite hangouts, Patzeria—Family and Friends (311 West 48th St.).  We all got together for breakfast one morning and I must say the owner and staff were really like, well, family and friends.

 

 

Sometime we just come upon a new restaurant by chance.  After visiting the 9/11 Memorial, we went looking for a restaurant on the Bowery that a magazine said had great raw clams--one of my favorite things.  Unfortunately, after walking a half hour in the rain we found it and it was closed for lunch.  So another 15 minutes in the rain and we found Gemma, (335 Bowery) that looked like a trendy Italian eatery. My wife had butternut squash ravioli and I had a grilled eggplant sandwich (Italians also know how to do eggplant and we confirmed the chef is from Sicily).

 

Our biggest breakfast find was the Cosmic Diner (888 8th Ave.)  We wanted a big breakfast on the Sunday of our departure that would hold us until we got home late in the day.  We found it.  Our Cosmic brunch included three eggs Benedict and potatoes, a Bloody Mary or Mimosa, orange juice and coffee all for $17!  What a deal!

 

But, of course, New York does not exist by food alone.  It does have a great theater menu.   We saw five shows:  “After Midnight”—starring Fantasia.  Terrific music from the Duke Ellington, Cotton Club era and blow-your-mind dancing.  “Pippin,” an extravaganza where Cirque de Soleil meets Broadway musical, magic show and then some.  “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder,” an entertaining combination of Downton Abbey, British farce and Gilbert and Sullivan with an amazing performance by Jefferson Mays playing the part of seven murder victims. “Outside Mullingar,” from the playwright who wrote the gripping drama “Doubt.”  Very disappointing, boring, with an outcome you can predict in the first ten minutes and you don’t care how the characters get there.   “Machinal” a play written by Sophie Treadwell in 1928 but surprisingly contemporary.  Rebecca Hall gives an incredible performance of a troubled woman who murders her husband to set herself free from an oppressive hum-drum life. 

And finally the museums.  Two museums we always visit are the previously mentioned Museum of Art and Design on Columbus Circle and the International Center of Photography (1133 Avenue of the Americas).  The exhibits change often and this time the ICP featured Lewis Hine who pioneered documentary photography, covering early immigration on Ellis Island, child labor and the construction of the Empire State Building.  He did the famous shot of the workers having lunch on a girder high above the city. (Strangely, that shot is not in the show.)

Once you’ve seen all the dioramas at the New York Museum of Natural History you’ve seen them all because they don’t change.  A dinosaur is pretty much the same from year to year.  But the museum does special exhibits like the one we saw called “Poisons.”  Everything you ever wanted to know about poisons from Socrates to Snow White, snakes and spiders.  After a couple hours studying toxic substances (which included alcohol) we went back to our time share for cocktails. It was a great week.