This Week in Its Briefs - Brand Spanking New
1. It's officially spring in New York when the Mitzvah Tank rolls into town! For all of you who don't live here, various groups in the Hasidic Jewish community own RV's, into which they pile a number of similarly togged and coiffed brethren and roam around the city, blasting Orthodox music through loudspeakers. They park in various places (today one group alit at Union Square), and hand out flyers. It's entirely possible they do other things as well (mysterious good deeds known as mitzvahs) but I wouldn't know - they always ask if you're Jewish before handing you a flyer. If you say no, they'll snatch away the offending page as if it (or you) were on fire. I've lived in the city twenty years with no bloody idea what a mitzvah tank is for.
2. Also, even if it's a little too cool at the moment, Spring officially begins when cafes and restaurants open their outdoor seating. New York has a plethora of sidewalk cafes, which offer some of the city's greatest spring and summer pleasures. Somehow even the most mediocre of dishes is enhanced in an outdoor setting. Screw privacy! Let's all just do it in the road!
Some restaurants, in an attempt to nab the surging hordes of clientele who yearn to dine a miniscule inch away from the gritty, grimy, glorious city, place their tables so close to the sidewalk pavements that pedestrians sauntering by can with ease swipe morsels from an unattended plate. Not that that's ever happened. Ever.
3. Harbingers of Spring can be also found in sandals and open toed shoes (I know! 65 degrees and the sandals are out, people!). New Yorkers, with our thin blood, will brave the chilly temps just to air the footies.
Until the next time, I remain your devoted, etc., etc.
posted by Miliana at 6:47 PM
4 Comments:
Stoic, I so enjoyed your comment on New York's desire for the al fresco experience. And shade is never a problem....because of the height and density of the buildings, you only get sun at high noon anyway.
The City and it's people are also rush eaters and strolling eaters, so finger foods like a slice of pizza or a Sabrett's frank from a corner cart, or any of a hundred other kinds of food are consumed on the go.
One of the best at street restaurants for pedestrians to steal food off a diner's plate is 57th and Central Park West - the St. Moritz. You can pretend you're in Paris with more noise and few French accents.
Alas, Stoic...the real comparison to a Paris Bistro ends with the hotel name and the traffic.
Not all the waiters are men, nor are they adept at opening the wine one-handed. Most unfortunate of all, the chair arrangement is terribly pedestrian (no pun intended.) New Yorkers are also adept at giving people the once over, but they never developed that blatant stare so endemic to the Parisian. (I remember my first visit to Paris; my fascination with REAL French windows and my double-take at those forward-looking 'tiers' of people in the cafes. I laughed and was chided for naiviete by my companion. After all, one must see every element of life, n'cest pas!)
Still...an glass of wine at the St. Moritz on a sprng afternoon...
what a pleasure.
ah....that, too.
Yes, but you both, darlings you are, have missed the grand distinction- New Yorkers don't dine outside to SEE, but to be SEEN. Their interest, sadly, is not to watch the pedestrian cross their way or the drama to enfold at the crosswalk but to be the person the poor sad schlub on the pavement must envision himself to be.
All the more that we should commandeer a table, turn it street-side, and order everything!
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