Trip to NYC

[Matt]

Nice shots. How does the food compare to the "real thing"? Is the "authentic" really authentic?

I hit several restaurants in search of Sichuan food. Chinatown, Manhattan is a disappointment. It's more of tourist place than a culture center. Sichuan was basically spicy food. I couldn't recognize any peppercorns or chilis used. I call these places "Brown Sauce restaurant." They order brown sauces that come in regional flavors (Hunan, Szechuan, Cantonese) from a wholesaler and just add them to poorly prepared approximate ingredients.

Flushing is where all the real stuff is. The dumpling place in Flushing has a cuby off to the side where I watched two ladies making the dumplings fresh. Just like I saw in China. The taste was spot on, but they were a lot smaller than the meal-sized ones I got in asia. When I found the Sichuan place in Flushing, it was just like being in china. walking in,I could smell the spices. Taking a first gulp of noodles and my mouth got an electric sensation form the peppercorns.

Speaking of Sichuan Peppercorns, here's an article on why they are so awesome : http://news.sciencemag.org/brain-behavi ... zz-peppers


The tibetan cafe I found in Manhattan was delicious, but more nepalese than the Tibetan stuff I ate.

[hobkyl]

What's up with the parking structure?

[Matt]

I saw a few of those. They are machines that stack the cars, because there's no space to park anywhere.

[Kelly]

I looked at these a couple of days ago on my phone and was anxious to see them on a bigger screen. Finally got a chance. Very interesting. I always enjoy your food photos! And the night scenes are really sweet!
As much as I enjoy visiting and exploring big cities, living in one wouldn't be for me......

[hobkyl]

I was wondering if that's what it was, the future is here.

[Mikell]

Catching up on posts, Matt...and what a treat to look back at your first trip a few years ago...I never saw those either...so many great shots of that wonderful city....brought back some memories for me...visited for the first time last fall and I all I wanted to do was take pictures forever...it's the city for that, for sure. thanks for sharing all these.

[Matt]

I had trouble finding historic markers. Maybe I didn't research enough. Maybe they just don't exist much.

This cool map would have swayed me to certain neighborhoods.

It's the age of every building in NYC.
http://bdon.org/2013/09/12/building-age-nyc/

[Matt]

On my last venture to NYC I visited Chelsea Market, the epicenter of hippie organic, raw... designer food that's overpriced in a dark, overcrowded refurbished factory.

Chelsea Market is an enclosed urban food court, shopping mall, office building and television production facility located in the Chelsea neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan, in New York City. Built in the former National Biscuit Company factory complex where the Oreo cookie was invented and produced, the complex fills two entire blocks bounded by Ninth and Eleventh Avenues and 15th and 16th Streets, with a connecting bridge over Tenth Avenue. In addition to the retail concourse in the structure east of 10th Avenue, it also provides standard office space for tenants, including media and broadcasting companies such as Oxygen Network, Food Network, MLB.com, EMI Music Publishing and the local New York City cable station NY1. Also, more recently, Google has moved into some of the second and fourth floors.

My rant about it:
Although it features a few bakeries, cafes, a grocer, and a restaurant or two. It's cute. But overrun with the organic, raw, natural, ridiculously wannabe chic food that it is just tiresome. Organic finger puppets? seriously? People are turning this organic thing into a ****ing joke. That's great that you have a RAW foods "Bakery" but take down the signs claiming it's healthier (because it's not) and certainly don't use the word "bakery" (dumbass). The gelato was cool, but I have had better, not only in NYC, but in Manhattan, and actually the best was just down the road. Also, I'm pretty sick of bakeries using fondant on cakes and cupcakes. That's great that you can make an Angry Birds cake for the people that haven't outgrown that game yet, but as a baker you probably should have figured out that there's not a single person out there that enjoys a cake made out of sculpting fondant. Give it a rest.
Oh.. and there's an Italian foods import shop that was hands down the best one i have been in. I picked up some fine bakers chocolate there. I resisted the awesome selection of imported nougats. There's also a neat kitchen supply shop. They didn't have anything you couldn't find online for a fraction of the price, BUT there's nothing better than seeing it all in one place, handling it, and seeing what matches. Then scan the UPC of what you want and buy from some place not ripping you off.

Photography was tough... it's dark and too many people. But here are some pics.