Day Seven (May 9th): New York City

1.- Roberta's Pizza

Over the past several months, I had come across at least a couple  mentions of Roberta's in the New York Times.  One had to do with one of their waitresses deciding last january to work one of her shifts in the buff. I am resigned to the fact that none of you will believe me when I say that this is not the reason I went there for lunch. The other article was about the restaurant itself and how, despite (or maybe in great part because of) it was hidden away in a warehouse district in Brooklyn, with no street front façade and only a small sign over a steel door, it was one of NYC's trendiest restaurant, with two-hour lineups and celebrity guests such as Bill and Hillary Rodham-Clinton.  To avoid said line-ups, I headed there for 11 AM, for pizza for breakfast.

The article was absolutely right:  if I had not known where and for what to look, I would not have known that the building was a restaurant.  It is larger than I expected, with several long communal tables and a terrace in an interior courtyard is shares with a local food-related radion station. The place clearly looks like it is a transformed warehouse, but in a good way: it has a comfortable, welcoming feel to it. I, of course, sat at the small bar (8 seats or so) at the back.  There are two kitchens: one featuring a wood-fired oven cooks the 8 or so types of pizza on the menu, the other prepares the other dishes, at which I did not really look.

I had the 'Bee Sting' pizza: tomatoes, mozzarella, sopressata and chili  with a sprinkling of honey on top.  Prepared on thin crust, it had the perfect balance of ingredients, not overloading one to the detriment of another.  The sauce/chili combination was tangy, with the sprinkling of honey acting as a nice counter-balance to the tanginess.  I would never have thought that honey should go on a pizza, but it worked.

In addition to a decent, affordably priced wine selection, they have five local beers on tap; I had the Bronx Black IPA (clearly local), which was remarkably smooth for a black IPA and the Peekskill Eastern Standard IPA, brewed somewhere north of NYC.

While there did not appear to be a queue to get in, the place did fill up whilst I was there; I would say it was fairly full from roughly noon to 1:30ish when I left.

Comped drink count: four.  I had a shot of amaro (Mario al Monte amaro) with the bartender; it is some sort of Italian version of Jagermeister.

2.- Iron Man Three

The weather was crappy, so I went to see Iron Man Three in Times Square.  It was not at all what I expected, in that Iron Man/Tony Stark is almost a supporting character in his own super-hero movie.  The movie did feature one of the better twists I have seen in a while.

3.- The Book of Mormon

A brilliant deconstruction of religion, what it aims at and what it represents, with, as is the case with Parker and Stone, brilliant use of profanity. I have one sore point is that the musical, especially in the first half, seems to in particular mock one specific an overweight, socially-uncomfortable, science-fiction-loving character.  That, to me, seems facile humour.  That the character becomes central to the second half and conclusion of the story somewhat makes up for that, however.

And, yes, I did buy a 'Hasa diga Eebowai!' t-shirt.

4.- The Ginger Man

Planning to return to Rattle 'n Hum, I ended up instead at The Ginger Man on East 36th, another great beer bar in the shadow of the Empire State Building. There are at least 72 taps, including three cask pours on the night I was there, a mix of mostly American craft and European brewers as well as  a Dieu du Ciel stout.  

(I noticed Dieu du Ciel, in bottles, at least at two other spots, Rattle 'n Hum and Gramercy Tavern I think. Nice to see them getting penetration in NYC.) The establishment  itself is large and gorgeous with solid wood fixtures and panelling.  I tried a number of IPAs, mostly from New York State (the Barrier Bitter Sweet sticks out; while it was not as hoppy as what I usually like, it did have an interesting sweet undertone), a Nitro ESB (not entirely sure what that is) and a Fuller's Bengal Lancer, a Fuller's product I had never seen before.

Yes, I  closed the joint.  And, yes, afterwards, I ended up across the street drinking with bar staff.

Comped drink count: five.  Bartender served me and a couple of others Bullitt Manhattans that had been prepared by error.