USA, New York, New York – Zabar’s

While in New York, I unexpectedly ran into a friend from when I worked at IBM in Austin, TX. While we were looking for a place to eat dinner, he introduced me to Zabar’s. Zabar’s is located right on Broadway at 2245 Broadway (at 80th Street), New York, NY 10024. Zabar’s Store Hours: Monday-Friday: 8am – 7:30pm, Saturday: 8am – 8pm, and Sunday: 9am – 6pm.

Zabar’s was opened in 1934 at their current location. The beginning found Zabar’s with a modest 22-foot wide storefront, today it nearly spans the entire block. As they say on their website:

The principles and practices of our founder and father continue to guide us: Respect the customer. Never, ever stint on quality. Offer fair value. And last but not least, keep searching for the new and wonderful.

Without question, this last point has accounted for some memorable moments. Back in the 1960’s, we introduced New York to Brie, in the ‘70’s we brought them sun-dried tomatoes and gnocchi, and in the ‘80’s, we got so excited about caviar – and wanted everyone to taste it – that our prices set off a so-called “Caviar War”. (Incidentally, we won.)

Over the years, the business kept growing, and today we span practically the entire block front. With our sons, daughters and their cousins, we’re still at it – hand-slicing meltingly delicious smoked fish behind our deli counter…offering tastes of the latest artisanal cheeses…setting out fresh-baked batches of rugelach (it’s our Bubbe’s recipe)…overseeing the roasting of our special coffee blends (we sell 400,000 pounds a year!)

You can find all sorts of things to eat at Zabar’s. They have a large bakery with all sort of goodies. They also have a wide range of fish, meat, and cheese. There is also a small cafe attached to Zabar’s and the second floor is filled with various housewares. In addition to what you can walk in and buy, they do a brisk online business, particularly at holidays. They have nice catalogs of both their food and housewares offerings.

For those who want to pick up something pre-cooked to take home, they have a great selection. I took my wife and granddaughter into Zabar’s the night after I was introduced to it and they loved it. We each were able to pick something appealing out of the ready-made counter (photo above) to take home for dinner.

We liked it so much we returned the next night for dinner again. We would have made three nights in a row, but it closed (it was a Sunday) before we could get there the third night.

Should I find myself in New York, hungry and near Broadway and 80th, Zabar’s will be where I go.

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USA, New York, New York City – New York Public Library (Schwarzman Building)

If you have seen other posts of mine you will know that I like book stores and libraries. While in New York we took time to visit the New York Public Library. Specifically we visited Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (476 Fifth Avenue (42nd St and Fifth Ave)
New York, NY) shown above. Included in that shot is one of the two famous marble lions at the front of the building.

The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building is renowned for the extraordinary comprehensiveness of its historical collections as well as its commitment to providing free and equal access to its resources and facilities. It houses some 15 million items, among them priceless medieval manuscripts, ancient Japanese scrolls, contemporary novels and poetry, as well as baseball cards, dime novels, and comic books.

The ways in which the resources of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building have been used are as diverse as the collections themselves:

– During World War II, Allied military intelligence used the Map Division for research on the coastlines of countries in the theater of combat.

– Television and print journalists first consulted the Slavic and Baltic Division when covering the changing political structure of the former Soviet Union.

– Authors of countless literary and nonfiction books cite the Library as a major resource in their work.

– Countless individuals have reconstructed family histories and located long-lost relatives through records in the Milstein Division of U.S. History, Local History, and Genealogy.

This is the largest and grandest library that my wife and I have visited so far. We were able to take a short time to sit in the reading room shown above an just read. We could easily have spent hours there.

If you like books and are in New York, I recommend that you take some time and visit the Schwarzman Library building.

References

1. About the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building

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New York City Trip 2017 – Day 3

NYC2017 – On my third day in New York we got a late start again, but after all the walking we did the first two days it was a welcome relief to have a much more relaxed day. About the only think we did of note was to have a very late breakfast at Kirsh Bakery & Kitchen.

Even with this being our “relaxed day” my Apple Watch recorded 6,724 steps.

USA, New York, New York – Kirsh Bakery & Kitchen

The Kirsh Bakery & Kitchen (located at 551 Amsterdam Ave., New York City 10024) is one of many bakeries you can find on the streets of New York City. During my week in New York, we ate at Kirsh twice and enjoyed it both times. It is modestly priced and enjoys a 7.9 rating on Foursquare and a 4 on Yelp.

I had lunch one day and breakfast the other, my wife having breakfast both times. The servings were large and very good. They do deliveries in their immediate area of New York and are open 7 AM to 11 PM 7 days a week.

The restaurant is actually divided into two locations – the Bakery on the left and the Kitchen on the right. The Bakery side is more for fast meals and take out, the Kitchen for traditional seating and longer stays.

This is a place I can recommend for breakfast or lunch.

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New York City Trip 2017 – Day 2

NYC2017 – On the second day of our visit to New York, we went again for a late but enjoyable lunch at Cafe Lalo. Afterwards we made our way over to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum complex. We spent a couple of hours wondering through the submarine and aircraft carrier on display.

When we left the Intrepid, we headed over to a near by bike shop so that my wife could pick up a New York bike jersey. The Toga Bike Shop was quite nice and she found a jersey to remember our trip.

We walked a lot this day. I racked up 18,126 steps according to my Apple Watch. Needless to say after all the walking and climbing on the ships, we were really tired by the end of the day.

USA, New York, New York – Toga Bike Shop

My wife likes to pick up a bike jersey from the various places we visit. While in New York, we dropped by a few bike shops but only Toga Bike Shop (http://togabikes.com) had a selection of jerseys. Not only did they have jerseys, but they also had a nice selection of very good bikes and equipment.

Toga Bikes is located at 110 West End Ave, New York, NY. Per their website Toga is “New York’s oldest and largest bike shop. Toga Bikes has a wide selection of mountain, road, triathlon, and hybrid bicycles at all price levels, a tremendous assortment of the latest, high-tech accessories and the largest bicycle clothing department in New York City & Rockland County. TOGA is THE BIKE SHOP in New York City. TOGA also has a large triathlon-specific department, with accessories, wetsuits, and much more. ”

If you are in New York and are interested in Bikes, this would be one place I recommend that you visit.

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New York City Trip 2017 – Day 1

NYC 2017 – I am in New York City this week with my wife. We are here doing a little site seeing while a grand daughter in involved in dance classes she won a scholarship to at Steps on Broadway.

While she is in class we have spend some time exploring the city. This first day we stopped at Cafe Lalo for a late breakfast, and were very pleased. From there we set out to visit a few bookstores, as we commonly do when on vacation. We were able to visit the Strand, Rizzoli Bookstore, McNally Jackson Bookstore and the Union Square Barnes and Noble.

We rode the subway a lot in our excursion but I still managed to complete 17,259 steps according to my Apple Watch. Certainly New York is a city of walking and subway riding. We passed a few parking lots and the daily rates was up to $50 and the monthly rates were over $500. If I lived here it would be an easy decision to do without my own car.

USA, New York, New York – Union Square Barnes & Nobles

I wouldn’t post about Barnes & Noble normally, but I thought that this was a unique location. This is their Union Square store (https://stores.barnesandnoble.com/store/2675), located at 33 East 17th Street, New York, New York.

We thought that this was a very interesting Barnes & Noble. It spreads over multiple floors and has one of the largest cafes I have seen in a Barnes & Noble. Located in the historic Century Building at 33 East 17th Street, this building was originally the headquarters of the Century Publishing Company in 1881. After many years of vacancy, the building was designated as a New York City landmark in 1993 and its facade was restored in 1995 to be a Barnes & Noble bookstore, it was later added to the National Register of Historic places in 1997. While this Union Square locale only measures in at 62,000 square feet (more than half the size of the 5th Avenue location), this noted store consists of four floors. [1]

While it may not have the same appeal as the independent book store, This is an interesting place to visit and browse the shelves or take a few minutes to enjoy their cafe.

References:

1 – The Five Most Interesting Barnes & Noble Stores in America

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USA, New York, New York – Rizzoli Bookstore

My wife and I visited the Rizzoli Bookstore (https://www.rizzolibookstore.com) recently. It is located at 1133 Broadway in New York, New York. As they claim in their website, this is an elegant book store. Per their website:

For over fifty years—twenty-nine in its previous 57th Street location—Rizzoli Bookstore has been widely considered one of the foremost independent booksellers in America specializing in illustrated books on architecture, interior design, fashion, photography, cookery, and the fine and applied arts, as well as literature, and foreign language books. Rizzoli Bookstore has been, and will continue to be a literary landmark in New York City, and a celebrated destination for important authors and book lovers from all over the world.

Established in New York in 1964 Rizzoli moved in 1985 to its 57th Street location—a six story townhouse exhibiting on its façade a sober classicism that belies the elegant interior within, where cast iron chandeliers, ornately decorated vaulting, and a luminous Diocletian window create a serene setting for book lovers amidst the rush of Midtown Manhattan.

While this is a very nice book store, it does not have many titles that are part of our interest set. However if your interests lie in the list of topics above, this is certainly a bookstore you should visit while in New York.

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USA, New York, New York – McNally Jackson Books

My wife and I like to visit independent bookstores when we are traveling. Recently we browsed through the McNally Jackson bookstore (http://www.mcnallyjackson.com) located at 52 Prince Street, New York, New York.

It had a wide selection of books, though I found the Science Fiction collection a little lacking. We were both intrigued with the on-site printing press that allows you to choose and have custom printed a wide variety of books. Their printing machine can also be sed to ‘self-publish’. They also have an on-site cafe that would allow you to spend some time reading in the store.

This is a nice bookstore with a wide assortment of books. If you are interested in books, you will like McNally’s.

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