NYC: Bagels and Cupcakes

Date: Friday, May 4, 2007

The Victims: Many. But mostly Bryan, Stacey, and Matt.

The Damage: Thank God for Amex.

I was a little worried about what I was going to do by myself on a Friday in New York. It’s weird to be within 35 miles of home, but not be "home" anymore. Heck, I was even staying in a hotel–the very excellent Westin Times Square–but how weird. And nearly everyone I knew was at work and couldn’t come out to play.

But you know what’s funny about not having set plans? Sometimes, no plan (or a tentative plan that doesn’t come to fruition through no fault of your own) is a GREAT PLAN. This would prove to be a continuous theme all weekend long.

I was up at the Crack O’Dawn and so were Bryan and Stacey so we agreed to meet at 56th & Lex at 10. (Which was not the crack-of-dawn, but I accomplished a lot between 5 a.m. and then, I swear.) I walked over along 5th and then along Park, and it was fantastic. I miss hot dogs (or dirty-water-dogs, as my cousin Kim calls them) and pretzels and knishes. And spring-y days like this.

Bryan and Stace took me to their favo(u)rite bagel place in town and it was absolutely fantastic. I had three bagels during the five days I was in NY, and the bagel from Tal Bagels was the absolute best. And you know what type I got? SALT!!! This may sound totally odd to some people, but trust me, if you get a salt bagel from a shop that knows what they’re doing, it’ s a revelation. Oh, and the cream cheese…it was SCALLION. When I was a kid, we had scallions in the backyard, and one of the best things to do was to chop some up into some plain cream cheese.

Tal Bagels
977 1st Ave
New York, NY 10022
+1-212-753-9080

This was a dense, firm, lovely bagel. As usual, I had to take off half the cream cheese, but that’s okay. The service was particularly nice…I love it when total strangers are so happy to see me…and give me free food. The guy behind the counter saw me eyeing the smoked salmon and gave me a little piece…he would have given me more (so he said–and I believed him), but his boss was right there.

Stace and I did a little shopping after our bagel experience. Number of pairs of shoes purchased by 12 noon on Friday: FOUR.

It was time to give Amex a break, so I headed back to the hotel for a quick nap and made plans to meet Bryan and Stacey and Matt in the West Village around 3 for more adventures that would be good for my food blog. Our meeting point?

Magnolia
401 Bleecker Street
New York, NY 10014
+1-212-462-2572

Maybe you know it? Yes, we stopped for a cupcake break. And it was good. And it was only 3:30 p.m. by this point. More to come…