So we are around midpoint in our New York stay. It may appear a little strange that I haven't waxed lyrical about the Empire state building, the statue of liberty, Brooklyn bridge and the Staten island ferry ( which is a free ride and worth doing when your feet are tired by the way). This is because I have been to NYC many times, this is probably around my 12th visit. I have done it in Spring when the weather is very nice, Winter when if you are dressed incorrectly you could die!. I recall arriving one Saturday evening in February with very light snow in the air, to wake up next morning to over 26" of snow on the ground. Get around in that stuff!! and now and previous summers where it is always hot, humid and prone to amazing thunder storms. I have even taken a school party that was February 2010. A wonderful experience which I would be more than happy to repeat.
So this is really about this trip. New York can be expensive to eat and have fun. But, it can also be very affordable and as such can get you in to some great places. (I will add hyperlinks so you can take a look yourself. A couple of favourite places for breakfast. Tick tock Diner. This is next to the lobby to the New Yorker hotel that you have all seen in just about every movie that New York has featured in. It is on the corner of 8th Avenue and 34th street. Across the road from Madison square garden with a great view of the Empire state building in an area known as Hells kitchen. This is a really busy restaurant which is great to eat and just watch the wait staff do their stuff. A big favourite of mine, Terrys and Pauls is Ellens Stardust diner. This place is great anytime. The food is good, the atmosphere amazing and the wait staff sing to you while bringing your food and do mini shows while you eat. Many of the "would be performers" get jobs here while looking for shows and doing auditions. They have a high turn over of staff as when they get in to a production they can't wait tables anymore. If you can't afford a Broadway show or just want to sit in and enjoy iconic piece of Americana this is the place you have been looking for. It is on Broadway around 50th street adjacent to the Iridium club where Les Paul, Yes the Les Paul used to have a regular Monday gig until his death in August 2010. ( I was in NY at that time but didn't get to see him as he was ill!!!)
Great places to eat breakfast, lunch or dinner and the buffet style cafes. These are all over the place. They look like a regular take away (if there is such a thing) with small supermarket fronts. You need to go in, go explore. When inside you will see rows of self serve food, Chinese, Greek, Italian, Burgers, salads, everything. You take a tray fill it with what you want, take it to the till and they weigh it. Take only what you want to eat because you will pay for every ounce.. This summer the going price was generally $6.99 per pound. Grab a drink and your cutlery and go and eat it at a table or take it to the park. Another great food in NYC is the pizza. by the slice or by the pie but be warned these things are the size of a dustbin lid so be hungry or be prepared to share.
The streets have lots of fast food carts serving everything from hot dogs to Falafel. There are Fruit stands everywhere as well. Paul loved the hot dogs Terry went for the fruit.
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| Drinks/Snack cart |
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| Falafel Cart on 5th Ave |
So this morning Wednesday 25th July we dined at Ellens. We hadn't really decided what to do but over breakfast I said I had never had a Nathans hot dog nor any other kind in New York as they all looked like that reclaimed pink crap in a skin that you can get from anywhere. If Nathans is famous it must be famous for something other than being first. Their first dog outlet was at Coney island so as I had never been there either lets do that. It was agreed. We took the subway to Coney Island.
A note on the Subway. It runs 24 hours a day, it is one fare anywhere on the system currently $2.25 and if you buy a metro card putting $20 on it you get $2 extra.
The ride out to Coney island took around 40 minutes. It is a bit like Cleethorpes without the charm. To be fair it is like any other semi run down seaside resort that has had its day. They do have a rather impressive board walk which seems to go on for miles. We had a wander around decided to have another mini busk. Where we sat down was reasonably quiet, initially. We went through a few tunes. The police approached and went past with a cheeky smile on their face. No permit issue this time. Folks again kind of lingered a bit listened some smiled and nodded approval. Very nice, until where we were sat was opposite a stage area which at this time decided that they were going to have a sound check for some performance af a summer concert that was on that evening. My god it was loud!! Hot dog time I think.
We had had a pleasant hour on the boardwalk. Terry under his brolly to keep the pounding sun off his now grey but still with ginger DNA head, but Paul was begining to look a little like a cherry tomato. I gave him my Bandana that I was wearing on my wrist for artistic and functional reasons not posey ones. It did until he bought himself a Brookyln baseball cap from as close to Brooklyn as you could get without being there. take that all you people with Brooklyn shirts from ASDA!
The "Famous Nathans Hot dog stand" is a brick built structure open on three sides dispensing their "famous hot dogs" to as many people as they could at one time. They had a range of dogs. The "famous" one, Chilli dogs, Cheesy dogs and others. Take a look at their website if you want more. But I was going to have the one that made them "Famous" with chips and a large beer. I was duly served, the beer was large 2 pints. The chips were made of spud, not the homogenized stuff a la McDonalds et al but proper potatoes from the ground. Crinkle cut and chunky. The "Famous hot dog" was reconstituted reclaimed crap in a skin. After all then Nathans are famous for being first. In summary The beer was good, the chips were chips The dog was a bit of a dog.
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| Dog Walker Washington Square |
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| Doggy Take away van |
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| Doggy Limo |
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