Colossal Waste: NYC, November 2010, Day 5

Today is our last full day in New York, and our day is predictably designed around meals with friends. For lunch we head to SoHo for Batlhazar with Peter, and for dinner we head to the Upper East Side for sushi with Mez. Toss in Barbie's appointment at the new Trump SoHo, and the day's agenda is set.

NYC Subway Candid. November 2010.

One thing about walking along Spring Street in SoHo, you know that you are going to make a pilgimage to the Holy Site of Chocolate, Vosges.

I would not be exaggerating to say that Vosges puts all other chocolate shops to shame.

Barbie browses in Vosges. After five years of wondering, I bothered to look up the origins of this store's name. It turns out that in France, the Vosges region contains Joan of Arc's hometown. I know this is a stretch, but let us just go with the idea that Katrina Markoff, the owner/chocolatier from Chicago who at one point studied at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, felt that Joan of Arc's story was particularly chocolaty.

This is a revelation. The Mo's Bacon Bar (dark chocolate edition) is basically my favorite chocolate bar in the world, and now they have combined this concept with pancake batter?

SoHo Tokidoki Candid, November 2010. I guarantee that I have friends who are more interested in tokidoki than in Vosges. And tokidoki might be the most fun word to say in the world. Say it out loud right now, and you will know this is true.

There are moments in urban America when you see just so many signs at once, you would be a fool to ignore them. That said, God's Love We Deliver is so grammatically ridiculous, so easily twisted into different meanings, that I feel comfortable absolutely claiming that this is found art.

The Trump SoHo. This picture is not in black and white.

A view in the living room of one of the Trump SoHo's two bedroom suites. In color, the pool balls jumped out too much, which necessitated a conversion to black and white. Needless to say, this suite is swanky as all get out.

The view of New Jersey from a Trump SoHo suite.

The view of the Lower East Side from the same suite.

After checking out several suites at the Trump SoHo, it was time to head over to Balthazar.

Balthazar NYC Candid, November 2010.

The Onion Soup Gratinee at Balthazar, New York. This soup has been my favorite onion soup on the planet for quite some time. I am not sure why, but this visit, it did not blow me away like it has in the past. Tragic, I know. The curse of high expectations.

After a great visit with Peter, it was time to head back to the Andaz.

Across the street from the Andaz sits the New York Public Library. We thought that we should check it out, as long as we are here.

Our room is right THERE. Just in case the dark finger in the foreground pointing out our room is too difficult to spot, I added some visual aids.

We did not know it, but the New York Public Library currently has an exhibition titled, Three Faiths: Judaism, Christianity, Islam. They did not allow photography inside, which means that you do not get to see any of it here. It was a very thoughtful and somewhat provocative look at the similarities and differences of the three Abrahamic religions. Considering we began this trip with an unplanned visit to the site of the Islamic Cultural Center which became the focus of controversy for a few news cycles, it was certainly appropriate that at the end of this trip we made an unplanned visit to an exhibition focused on interfaith education.

You might look at this picture and think that I wanted to show you the beautiful interior of the New York Public Library. Or you might look to the far left and think that this is a picture of a picture being taken. You might even think that I took this picture as an homage to Sex And The City 2. It is all these things, and more. Look closer, up on the stairs.

In fact, this is a picture of my beautiful wife at the New York Public Library.

Self Portrait at the Andaz window.

After some work and such, it is time to head to the Upper East Side.

Grand Central. Its forty four train platforms make it the largest train terminal in the world. And consider this; this train station is in the center of Manhattan, with all the tracks running underground to get here. In most other cities, the main terminal can be a beautiful building, but the tracks leading out of it make for one serious eyesore that stretches for a mile or so. This beautiful building connects to some insanely complicated network of train tracks that feed into it like the roots of a tree. I bet a 3D model of this complex would fascinate me for hours.

Just East of Grand Central sits the Chrysler Building. What really makes me love this picture is the crosswalk signal to the far right.

We arrived at Sushi of Gari for dinner, and while we waited for our table I snapped this pic. When pretty much every organization that rates food has given a restaurant a sticker or plaque, you are allowed to set your expectations high.

One of the better teacups you are going to ever find.

Moments after sitting down, Mez said that he likes to go with Chef's Choice here. Since we are in his neighborhood, at the restaurant he selected, I think you would agree that it would be pretty stupid to not take that last step and let him order.

Now... since we went with Chef's Choice, this meant that instead of ordering off of the menu we were going to experience the waiter bringing plate after plate of food to our table and briefly telling us what we are about to eat. And since I really was not going to type every dish name into my phone as I asked the waiter to repeat the name of each dish eleven times, you are going to have to settle for pictures with almost no description.

(Foie Gras.)

The waiter brought food until we had to ask him to stop. And even though we were full, we ordered dessert.

Banana Bread Pudding made with, get this, almond flour.

This was easily one of the best sushi meals we have ever had. After a great meal and a great conversation with a great friend, it was time to call it a night.

I am not even sure I would call this graffiti. I think the accurate term is commentary. Yes, some New Yorker found himself in the subway, staring at this movie poster, and just had to express his or her feelings about Harrison Ford's career path. Beautiful.