Very happy customersI purposefully woke up early, put on workout clothes, tossed some brussel sprouts in the oven to roast and headed out for a run. I went down the main street one way, then turned around and headed the other way down Metropolitan, which then turned into Grand. Came back again and stopped into a cute little coffee shop. I then walked home, but started to see buildings that I didn’t recognize. I checked my hand iPhone and realized I’d walked right past Michael’s street. Called him to pull out the spouts and made it back in ten more minutes (I had originally thought I’d be back about 20 minutes earlier, so they were pretty much balls of ash at this point). Roommate and a few friends had come in late the previous night, so I was working in the kitchen quietly. Sliced the brisket and returned to gravy to cook low while we’re out. We shower and head out to meet Roger and Mary Ellen at a place I’d read as one of the top ten places in the country for fried chicken:
In case you can’t read through the glare, it’s Pies n Thighs. As I learn from the framed pages all over the bathroom walls, they have also won numerous rewards for their baked-fresh-each-morning doughnuts. We have as an appetizer a butter pecan glazed (cake?) doughnut and it is indeed incredible. Mary Ellen does the honors:
Breakfast is an assortment of fried chicken with grits (Michael):
the daily scrambled with a fresh biscuit and yours truly has a salad with spicy black-eyed peas and avocado. Roger, of course, gets what my honey would, fried chicken on the daily pancakes which have chocolate and banana:
And we end as very happy campers:
What’s that in the box, you ask? As I’m paying the bill, I remember something on the menu that we must taste: banana cream pie. Edmund wants me to, don’t you Ed?
Sated, we walk along the busy Sunday streets that are filled with pedestrians and tables of wares. We come across one that is filled with particularly excellent books and Mary Ellen buys a couple for Roger. The sun is out and it’s so beautiful. After a while, Mary Ellen and Roger head back to their car and Michael and I walk and sub it home, where we’re greeted by the smell of yummy brisket. That is removed from the oven, and Michael plays sous-chef while I whip him up (a Marilyn expression) a big batch of lemon chicken with capers (yes, Tay, it’s the same menu as when I visited you!). He bags and freezes the brisket, and when the kitchen is cleaned up, we retire to the bedroom to relax and nap off and on before our big night out.
We head out at 4 with all of my bags and sub it down to Times Square, where we hang at Bar Americain (a Bobby Flay restaurant) until Stacey and Jeff arrive a bit later. Michael throws my bags in the car and we are all seated. My first course is thinly sliced raw scallops with a chili vinaigrette, but the sauce is way too overwhelming for the delicate flavor or scallops. Stacey and Jeff’s butter lettuce with locally smoked bacon, poached egg and buttermilk dressing is better, but she says not as good as the last time she had it. A tough crowd!
Service is really slow, even after they said everything would be out in two minutes. This is definitely a “living off the rep” kind of experience and I do not recommend the place. We finally get our main courses and Michael has a winner with lamp porterhouse chops that are about 2 1/2 inches thick. We head out when done, and luckily the theatre is only a few blocks away. This is it! Finally going to see the biggest recent hit on Broadway:
Stacey has procured good seats for us and the theatre is packed. Curtain up on time and it’s non-stop fun, filled with sharp parody, catchy song-and-dance numbers and plenty of F-bombs to keep the most salacious temperament happy. People are cat-calling, whistling, clapping and yelling their approval. I have never been to a show where the audience is so enthusiastic and in love. Is is because the playwrights are roasting their religion? Is it because they are skewering someone else’s religion? Or is it just because of all the foul language and sex talk? Whatever it is, it works. The stars provide some great acting, with one of the main characters doing an incredible job of channeling a young Jim Carrey. We smile throughout and I laugh quite a bit – love the Star Trek, Star Wars and pop culture references. All in all, a job well done. We exit, enjoy the bright lights, and kiss Michael goodbye as I head to the green pastures of New Jersey for a couple of days.