New York, New York

Matt and I were lucky enough to head to New York the beginning of May for a 3-year anniversary celebration. This trip was way overdue as New York is one of my absolute favorite cities and one which Matt has not has the pleasure of exploring. The only time he had been to New York was in mid-April for work but he did not have time to experience much. 

I had also been dying to go visit Dawn and Ben and meet their new little girl. We stayed with them for the first couple nights in their cute but tiny Upper Westside apartment then we headed up towards the Columbia University campus where we stayed for a couple nights in an apt subletted by some friends of Ben and Dawn's. 

Matt and I had a blast in New York essentially eating our way through the city. We were determined to find the best New York pizza joint and along the way discovering popular eateries. We tried many different places and here is what we thought.

As soon as we landed at Dawn's apartment she took us out for lunch at a little neighborhood pizza joint which kicked off our pizza craziness. I just love the thin crust goodness and if you know Matt, you know his neverending love for anything pizza. We hit up the popular Bleecker Street Pizza but were disappointed with how dry it was. My favorite pizza actually came from a place in the food court at Grand Central Station of all places. So random but so delicious! Matt's fave was little hole-in-the-wall joint by the place we stayed near Columbia University. For him he was won over by the fact that they were cheap, open 24 hours, and their slices were each as big as a normal whole pizza. Below are some pictures trying - just trying - to show you the scope of their pizza slices. You can see that our one slice is bigger than my whole head, probably bigger than my whole upper body.

I would have felt guilty about eating so much except we also did a lot of walking and Dawn had me out running with her and Ava through Central Park most days. We about did Matt in with all of the walking and after we all spent an afternoon in the park - Dawn and I running while Dawn pushed Ava in the strolled, Ben and Matt on longboards. Matt said his shins and calves felt like Jello after that. 

Dawn's apartment also happened to be up 3 flights of steep stairs with NO ELEVATOR! What the?! We took turns pushing eaching up the stairs after eating our way through our days.

After two nights of seeing the restaurant below outside of the window of the apartment near Columbia, Matt and I realized our silliness. This is Tom's Restaurant, known to many as Monk's Cafe - featured on probably every episode of Seinfeld. Matt also pointed out that the "doot doot doot doot" song  written by Suzanne Vega I like is actually written about this very diner. 

After realizing this, we of course had to try the food and actually really liked it. Not bad for a diner! I had to reel Matt in or we would have eaten there for the rest of the trip.

At the recommendation of many friends, we decided to try the Shake Shack one night but found it to be subpar of In-N-Out. We went back for a shake on our last night in town and loved that but thought the hamburgers and fries were too greasy. We'll stick with In-N-Out, thank you!

Me outside the Shake Shack (New York
s version of In-N-Out but in opinion, not nearly as good)

Between pizza tastings, we also threw down on some delicious desserts as well. Matt was adamant about trying a Magnolia cupcake which were featured in one of his favorite SNL skits, Lazy Sunday. After trying Magnolia's though I insisted Sprinkles cupcakes are better. So we headed to Sprinkles and Matt agreed.

But Dawn also introduced us to Momofuku's tasty treats. Their truffles were fantastic - like 10 steps up from cake bites which are already freakin' delicious.

After visiting the USS Intrepid and submarine next to it, we dropped in at the gift shop and bought some astronaut ice cream for Matt to try. And before we headed back the airport, Dawn would not let us leave until we had tried a black and white cookie - the quintessential treat. I really wasn't kidding when I said that we ate our way through New York!

Matt and Ava bonding :)

Having fun yet!

Me and Dawn

The absolute best part of our trip was getting to see Newsies: The Musical with Dawn. I woke up early one day and rode the subway for an hour by myself to wait in line and try to get us discount tickets to Newsies. Of course, I did and Matt volunteered to stay home and watch Ava while Dawn and I went to the show. I'm not sure if he was really not into Newsies - or a bunch of boys dancing around onstage - or if was looking forward to spending the night playing with Dawn's new, cool Google TV. But he was such a champ letting Dawn and I go out together. 

Dawn admitted she had not been away from Ava for a long time so we drove Matt crazy checking up on Ava but the show was so AWESOME!!! and it took all I had no to get up and dance around the theater singing "Carryin the Banner." I mean it was weird not seeing Christian Bale running around but I really like the changes the producers of the play made compared to the Disney video.

As soon as I got home, I ordered the broadway soundtrack from Amazon and I listen to it atmost once a day for a little pick me up. Check out the video below for just a preview of what we saw: 

Overall another great trip for KerMatt thanks to our wonderful friends :)