Month: November 2023

New York, New York Day #3 “Our Final Day in the Big Apple”

by reissmd, posted in New York City

Today we headed out to have a New York treat, a corned beef sandwich on rye.  We decided to share a sandwich after our experience yesterday at Carmine’s.  The waiter at the Majestic Delicatessen (200 W 50th St, New York, NY 10019) asked if we wanted mustard to which I said “Of course”.  Patrice then asked if we could have Russian dressing.  I quickly looked around to see if anyone heard this sacreligious request. Luckily no one was nearby and apparently the waiter was used to dealing with people from California and said “No problem”. Patrice here: Maybe I don’t know what is the proper dressing for a corned beef on rye when eating in New York but I do know how to spell “sacrilegious”.

After lunch we headed to Broadway and saw “Neil Diamond, A Beautiful Noise”.  The show was a bit of a downer.  I didn’t realize that his life wasn’t just filled with love and happiness.   The music was incredible of course. Well, with the exception of the guy behind me who would join in at times. I guess he didn’t realize Diamond was a solo act. 

Neil Diamond’s life had so much more than mine in many ways. He created a myriad of successful records, earned millions of dollars, and attained international fame. But there’s one category he exceeded me in that doesn’t make me at all envious. Diamond has had 3 wives. I am happy with just one. Patrice here again: “He better say that!”  

After the show we headed to dinner. Patrice is in charge of dining selections when we travel and she always does a great job.  “Tonight” she said, “we are going to USC for dinner”. I said, “Fight On!, that sounds great”. To which she replied, “The Union Square Cafe”.  Patrice here again: Did I really think it out when this guy asked me to marry him?

We arrived early and they were happy to tell us that they would seat us promptly.   Promptly at the time of our reservation that is. I’d like to tell you that they had a comfortable place for us to sit and wait.  I’d like to tell you that but unfortunately that wasn’t the case.  Well, we had the option to take a walk around the neighborhood.  With the current temperature being 41º that would be a no.  So I decided to use my influence and told them “I’m Robert Reiss, author of REISSTRAVELBLOG.COM”.  The hostess immediately replied “What?”   So I repeated myself a little louder suggesting that she might not have heard me.  To which she replied “I heard you allright, I just never heard of your blog!”   I was duly insulted and told her that my followers will have a word of two for her. To which she replied “Really? All 12 of them?”   Ha!  Not only had she heard of my blog she knew how many followers I have.  

As it was she did seat us early.  See I am an influencial blogger. Patrice here again: “The person Robert spoke to must have been on a break because someone else led us to our table, 2 minutes early.”

The dinner was spectacular.  I think the restaurant might be trying to conserve energy in that three of the appetizers were uncooked (tuna crudo, steak tartare, and seared scallops). 

We shared a Caesar salad. 

They divided the Caesar Salad for us. Good not great (the salad, not the dividing).

Patrice had the trout.

Patrice said it was delicious.

I had the duck.

The duck was fantastic. At least I thought it was fantastic, I can’t speak for the duck.

We shared the Brussels Sprouts.

The plate was empty when we finished.

For dessert we had Baklava Sundae.

This was good but the name had me expecting something a little more special.

Overall USC, I mean Union Square Cafe was delightful. Very good food, excellent service, lovely dining hall, but prices to match.

We took a cab back to the hotel and I have a little travel tip here. Friday night we took a cab back to the hotel from Gramercy Tavern. The driver did not appear to take a direct route. Tonight’s restaurant was one block further from the hotel. When we entered the taxi I put on Google maps with the volume audible. I don’t know if it influenced the driver but tonight we took a direct route which resulted in a lower fare.

Tomorrow we will be waking early to head home. This was a short trip so I didn’t get a chance to collect a series of interesting photos for my final post as I usually do. So this is it. Not sure when we will be posting next but if you are subcribed to the blog you will be notified.

Ciao,

I mean sayonara,

I mean bye.

New York, New York Day #2 “Broadway Overdose?”

by reissmd, posted in New York City

Today we planned to get an early start. So at 12 o’clock we finally got our act together and entered Carmine’s Italian Restaurant (200 W 44th St, New York, NY 10036) for breakfast and lunch.  This is an NYC icon and famous for its “wow-size” portions. Sorry I was a bit absentminded and forgot to take a picture of our eggplant parmigiano before we started to eat it.  We both ate more than we should have and we still had enough for another lunch.  See below. 

This was how much was left after we both ate a ton. It was amazing.

We also had bread pudding. Loyal followers of the blog know that we are on a quest to find an equivalent to our definition of the perfect bread pudding which you can find at Masa of Echo Park Bakery and Cafe (1800 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026). On the “Masa Bread Pudding Scale” with 10 being best, the Carmine’s bread pudding rates an eleven. Yes, Masa has found it’s match. 

Carmine’s Bread Pudding. The picture does not tell the whole story. My mouth is watering as I type.

After breakfast/lunch (and possibly what might be our dinner tonight) we strolled down the street past Times Square and all the street performers.  As expected we saw Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Spider-Man, Elmo, among others.  Superman, Darth Vader, and Batman were absent. Someone said they were at a bachelor’s party for the Incredible Hulk.  Apparently the Hulk is marrying one of the Jolly Green Giant’s daughters. His parents only let him date women of their own color so it limits his field. 

There was one guy out there that I hadn’t seen before. Armed with a guitar, cowboy hat, and little else he billed himself as “The Naked Cowboy”.  See below 

We didn’t hear him sing. I was too cold just looking at him so we had to move on.

A few steps after seeing the Naked Cowboy we went to see “Six” a musical about the 6 wives of Henry VIII. It was a very energetic musical with 6 very dynamic women singing about each of Henry’s wives. The choreography, music, and singing were all very good. There were also some humorus moments. The production was based on historical fact but I think there might have been a few inaccuracies. For example as I recall 4 of Henry’s wives were not Black, were they? After the show we waited for the majority of patrons to leave so as to not get crushed as we exited. One thing we noted as we left was that we are not in Japan any longer. See below.

Blog followers will remember seeing Japanese baseball fans bringing their trash out of the stadium and disposing it in trash bags.

After the show we decided that we didn’t have enough of Broadway so we then walked a short distance and got tickets for tonight’s performance of “The Play That Goes Wrong”. We saw “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” with our son and his family just a few months ago and thoroughly enjoyed it so we signed up for its predecessor.

“The Play That Goes Wrong” was funny and enjoyable but I think I liked the Peter Pan version more. I guess seeing three of your grandsons giggling and having a good time makes the experience much more fun.

Enough for tonight. What’s on tap for tomorrow? Broadway of course.

New York, New York Day # 1 “I Love My New Job”

by reissmd, posted in New York City

As many of you already know, in January Robert “Fight On For Old SC” Reiss became Robert Reiss, MD employee of UCLA Health.  You are also probably aware that I am really enjoying my new work environment. The staff and doctors have been incredibly welcoming and making this old man feel young again.  I’ve been very busy seeing a full schedule of patients every day. Since many of my patients are new to me I frequently look ahead to get familiar with the medical histories of these new people.

Last weekend I checked my schedule for Wednesday and Thursday and saw a full line up. When I got to Friday my slate was blank.  No one scheduled to see me?  How could that be?  I checked the other doctors and their schedules were blank as well.  Hmmmm, I thought for a second and then immediately yelled to Patrice. “The office is closed Friday for Veterans Day let’s go somewhere!”  Patrice gave her usual answer by the time I said “Would like to go to …..”, she interrupted me with YES!   We gave it some thought and decided on a trip to New York.  

I quickly found a hotel then I looked for a flight.  Unfortunately the business class tickets were insanely expensive even if we wanted to use miles so being the travel snobs that we’ve become (flying business class for anything longer than 3 hours) we decided to just chill at home.  The next day I received an email from American Airlines promoting flights to New York.  It got my blood boiling again and we booked two coach tickets hoping we would get a complimentary upgrade.  So today we took off for the Big Apple but no upgrades were offered so we were seated in the back. The last time we took a long flight in coach I was seated next to a 17 year old kid who was bouncing his leg up and down the entire flight. This time I sat next to a guy who slept the entire way – a significant improvement. We watched two movies “Shortcomings” which Patrice would recommend but I would not and “Jules” with Ben Kingsley and Jane Curtin which both of us enjoyed very much.  

Much to my surprise they served us a meal on the flight.  We had a choice of three items all served cold #1. Waffle and yogurt #2. Oatmeal #3. Fruit and cheese.  Waffle and oatmeal served cold?   I opted for the fruit and cheese.  It was not bad and it satisfied my tummy for the duration of the flight.

The flight was smooth and uneventful other than when I spilled a glass of water onto Patrice.  She was very undertanding. I offered her my water so she could reciprocate but she graciously declined. No way would I have made the offer if I thought she would take me up on it.

Stepping out of the JFK terminal we were quickly reminded that we were no longer in Los Angeles. Temp in NYC 51º while back home it was 72º. We got in line for a taxi and were quickly on our way to Manhattan. The ride took over 1 hour for the 15 mile trip to our hotel.

We are staying at the Algonquin Hotel. The room is nice but incredibly small. The bathroom is even smaller than the one we had in Bologna in 2022. I didn’t think that was possible.

Small even by European standards.

We decided to look around the hotel and found ourselves in the fitness center. Patrice did some curls with some light weights. See below.

Patrice doing some curls.

I scoffed at her use of such tiny weights and tried to hand her something more appropriate. Unfortunately my eyes were bigger than my biceps. See below.

A weight lifter I am not.

After touring the hotel we headed off to dinner. Tonight we ate at the Gramercy Tavern (42 E 20th St, New York, NY 10003). We ate there for Patrice’s birthday in 2019 and we were just a few days late of repeating that event. If you want to review that post this link should take you there: https://wordpress.com/post/reisstravelblog.com/7631

The place was as spectacular as we remembered. It has a Michelin star rating and it is well deserved. We walked to the Gramercy Tavern because we knew the caloric intake was going to be extensive.  I remember the meal being amazing in 2019 and tonight was no different.  See below. 

Squash with sunchoke. I thought the waiter said Squash with “Sancho” and when I looked up Sancho all I found was an English Soccer player.
Next I had a salad that was delicious.
Patrice had the beets. Her’s looked prettier but mind tasted much better.
Corn Agnolotti followed for me. It was like a ravioli. It also had shrimp.
Patrice had the gnocchi which again looked beautful but my corn agnolotti was far superior.
We both had the sea bass with cauliflower and bok choy. Another taste delight.
The lamb followed and it looked much better than it tasted. Maybe our expectations were pumped up by the previous dishes.
Finally a little birthday gift for my bride.

The walk to the restaurant was enjoyable. The meal wore us out and we had to take a taxi back to the hotel. Now we will try to crawl into bed. See you tomorrow.

Halloween Away From Home 10/31/23

by reissmd, posted in Uncategorized

At our house halloween is very quiet. We live on a very dark street not far from the local bars. in the 21 years I have lived in this place I have not see one trick or treater. That does not include the drunk who tried to get into our place at about 2:00 AM on a November 1st. As our local police officer said to me (after the guy was in handcuffs), “Someone just really wanted to see our jail tonight”.

Although things are quiet at our place on Halloween it has been rumored that my son and his wife have a little more action at their place. So this year we decided to check it out.

Our daughter-in-law, Robyn, is a very smart, creative, and talented woman. When she decides on doing a project she becomes committed. Halloween at her place is not an exception. She has decided to make it an experience at their house and to this end she is committed. Although some might phrase it differently. They might say not only is she committed, she should BE COMMITTED. Yes the happenings here are truly off the grid.

First check out some of the surroundings.

I think the woman in the chair is someone I dated in college.
Local greeter at the event.
Another welcomer to the house.
Hearse in the front yard.
Aunt Annette in charge of giving out candy. One per child. There were 1,000 pieces to start and grandma Patrice was sent out on an emergency refill mission at 7:30!!!!!

Check out this video of a local witch.

A little outside greeter.
A quick tour of the haunted house before the hoards of kids arrived.

Finally the culprits responsible for this extravaganza, Ken and Barbie

Ken and Barbie aka David and Robyn

During all this mayhem I was assigned to take Charlie and a couple of his friends around the neighborhood so they could do some trick or treating. At one point we met up with another one of Charlie’s friends whose father asked me, “Have you been to the haunted house yet?” To which I replied, “We live in the haunted house”.