Best New York Lately

I've been home from Amsterdam like three weeks now.  Right now I'm on my second trip away from New York since getting back to New York.  Before I start to tackle these other two trips, why don't we celebrate the great city that I pay rent in with some stuff I saw in January and February?

Chinese New Year was in full effect in my neighborhood as it's basically Little Italy in name only.  Somehow I managed to completely miss the gigantic parade, though.

Oh no, Ghost Gang is moving into the neighborhood.

Making red beans and rice and sausage without the box.

Sounds like a company I'd trust.

This logo would make an excellent t-shirt.

I live just down the street from Parm.  Tried the famous roast turkey right before going to Amsterdam.  I'm more of a meatball sandwich kind of guy, I think.

You should see the other guy.

I've got a new place where I get my dumplings now.  I call it my secret dumpling place because I can't remember its name.  But it's two blocks closer than Vanessa's on Eldridge and a whole lot less popular.

While their dumplings are on point, their sesame pancake game is a little whack.

Less than 24hrs after returning from Amsterdam I DJ'd a regional dance with Chateau.  This is taken from the stage between the dinner and the dance really starting.  It went pretty well.  The chief complaint: Not enough Spanish music.

And a couple days later we had that Spelling Bee I told you about.  Here's another picture from the Pledge of Allegiance.

This photo is called "Broek and the Man in Silver"

I actually heard about Whitney's passing a few songs into the dance so I immediately played "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" as the news spread through the crowd's various twitter devices.  I tutor in Harlem and tributes abound up there.

Tutoring on Valentine's Day, should have rotated this one.

At the corner of 116th and Lexington there's this "new" taco place that will sell you two tiny al pastor tacos for $2, right off the spit.  And do you know what my favorite kind of taco is?  A tiny al pastor one, right off the spit.

I also finally tried BaoHaus for the first time.  Nice place, very friendly staff, good enough baos.  I'll be back, but not in a rush.  Left to right: Tempura broccolini bao, the haus bao, and the Jeremy Lin bao.

The angle is terrible, but I'm trying to show you here that I saw a garden-level apartment in Tribeca with a swimming pool.

New West Village APC looks interesting.

A lone abandoned McNugget.  One of the saddest sights I've ever seen at the subway.

Don't mind us, we're just filming Japanese Clothing Commercial.

What's this dog's name?  He must have a name.

The typical Saturday morning line to get into Supreme.  I don't know that dude on the right.

Same Saturday: the Big Cheesy Grilled Cheese pop-up festival (featuring the grilled cheese sandwiches of many a New York eatery) happened up the street.  I couldn't get in, it was too exclusive.  I don't know that guy on the right.

Crud!  Right during work.  Maybe I could go during lunch?

Seems a lot easier to say it in English.

In Tribeca it's Christmas year round.

New WTC by day.

A new addition to my trips to Jersey Loews: Hot dogs after the show!

New WTC by night.

And I don't know about where you live, but to me it was novel to see someone taking their pig for a walk.  I wonder what her coop board thinks about this.

Retired my Adidas.  They were nearly nine years old.  The problem was that rain was coming in through the soles.  Otherwise I'd have said they had a few years left in them.

Battery park sunset.  Didn't feel like crossing the street.