NYC WOW

My week long visit back East was tremendous. I didn't have enough time to see everyone---apologies---but then again, I had relatives visiting from the deepest boonies of S. Korea and so demanded attention. The weather wasn't unbearable but it was sticky: LA's spoiled me some. Went back to some of my favorite restaurants and tried some new ones.
BALTHAZAR: oh shit this place is still #1 in my book. Sure, it's a bit of a tourist trap, but whatever. I love the noisiness and the nicely worn in interior so much that I don't mind all the dirty hoes and greaseballs from Topeka so much. My brother and I split a dozen well chilled oysters and an evenly salted cote de boeuf for two. They do such nice work there and at a reasonable cost.
WD-50: tasting menu w/ wine pairing. Overpriced! Interesting preparation and ingredients but not necessarily delicious. Wanted a hot dog afterwards. Had an egg poached for EXACTLY 58 minutes at 337.15K, bathed in parmesan broth; beef tongue w/ fried mayo (some weird shit you'd think but it was pretty much agedashi tofu but with mayo); foie gras terrine with a bloody beet syrup center (like cutting into a huge piece of bubbalicious) atop pea "soil;" frozen milk (not icecream mind you) flecked with Kelloggs Frosted Flakes; seared hamachi over smoked banana; snatch foamed with passionfruit shampoo (that one's a joke har har)...the emphasis on texture was pretty remarkable and the care that went into the preparation unbelievable but in the end, it's like hanging out with kids w/ phDs, interesting for a little while but then my goodness get me the hell up out of the room and take me where them community college kids are at! Game over!
GRAMERCY TAVERN: Entree: BACON. The fattiest morsels of slab pork belly I've ever sunk my teeth into. Oh, I'd say 1 part meat 99 parts fat. Absolutely unhealthy but so is not being nice to people. A-1 delicious and unsurprisingly the cheapest thing there.
LOMBARDI'S: ARoss is so fucking wrong about where the best pizza in NYC is. He champions Grimaldi's, I say Lombardi's. They did some major renovations but the pizza's still the best.
PASTIS: 2AM after a birthday party at PM. What does one get at that hour? Why a steak sandwich of course!
PRAVDA: White russian profiteroles and a dirty martini. Not a great combination. Blech.
PEARL OYSTER BAR: more oysters and the lobster roll of course. Shit was tasty as usual but it could've used less mayo and could've been a little cooler to the touch.

I wanted to gain about 10 pounds but of course I couldn't. I thought drinking every night would've helped in that pursuit but all that did was make me pretty freaking incredibly constipated. Yow.

Thanks to Ellen for getting my cheap ass into the MOMA for free to see the Friedlander show, which as expected, made me want to give up the whole art thing b/c how does one even attempt to create something knowing that someone like Friedlander exists? Damning.

Saw two plays as well: DOUBT and HURLYBURLY. Get your fat asses into the theater and check'em out!

LOVE
ALEX