New York Trip Day I: Thursday

[gnomi]

ETA: In which we get to New York, see friends, see a show, meet not-really-family, and accidentally meet Martha Kent and Perry White.

-- Up at 5:15 AM (stupid someone's-pants calling our home phone), to South Station by 6:30, on 7:15 train.

-- Got to Penn Station around 11:00 (train was delayed 15 minutes due to track work)

-- Went to chaos_wrangler's work to get keys, as we stayed with her and G. for the weekend. From there, went and dropped off luggage at their place, then went back to Manhattan.

-- Friend with whom we were going to have lunch had to cancel due to family obligation, so we went to first of many fleishig (meat) meals, this one in midtown.

-- After lunch, went to see our broker. During the time we were there (about an hour total), the market went up over 400 points. Broker requests we drop by more often. :-)

Our Broker In his Natural Habitat Copyright 2008 Michael A. Burstein

-- From the broker's office, we wandered over to office of popfiend for a brief visit. Hugs were exchanged, conversation was lively, and visit was quite fun.

A Laughing Popfiend is a Good Thing Copyright 2008 Michael A. Burstein

-- Went uptown to Lincoln Center to pick up our tickets for the show that evening (Lincoln Center is under large quantities of construction, and we didn't want to be delayed closer to show time getting our tickets). Afterwards, hung out briefly in a Starbucks and then headed in the general direction of dinner.

-- Had dinner uptown near Lincoln Center rather than schlepping back to midtown for food. Limited restaurant choices, but food was *excellent*. Did not eat Bambi. Second fleishig meal of the day (*very* rare for me to have meat twice in a day; we did it three times this weekend).

-- Went to show. Show was *wonderful*. Absolutely magnificent. Words cannot describe the experience. Had eighth-row orchestra seats. Only downside? Clove cigarettes used in production (which we were warned about by signs in the lobby) made mabfan's and my eyes water.

-- mabfan and I had been invited to come to the stage door to meet Danny Burstein (the actor, not the brother) after the show, so we headed that way. On the way, we encountered a bunch of the male choristers heading off to go bowling, and then when we got to the stage door, Danny was already out of costume and waiting to meet us. We had a wonderful conversation with him and (after a bit, since he wasn't going bowling due to having other plans) his lovely wife. They were sweet and gracious, and Danny signed everything we asked him to. As we were leaving, I got hugs and kisses from both of them.

Danny Burstein (the actor) and Michael Burstein (the author) Copyright 2008 Nomi S. Burstein

Danny Burstein and Rebecca Luker Copyright 2008 Michael A. Burstein

-- While we were talking to them, another couple walked up to compliment Danny on his performance. The husband of the couple introduced himself to Danny as Michael McKean, and Danny subsequently introduced mabfan as "my cousin Michael." The wife of the couple was not introduced, but I later identified her as Annette O'Toole.

-- Took cab back to home of chaos_wrangler and G., and then crashed out around 1 AM or so, having been up for close to 20 hours.

Comments

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

How do you have the time to write this up? I need to write this up too, but maybe I'll link people to yours as a start.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Also: please try to warn me before you post these, so I can tag them for comments...

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

And what happened to the photo copyright info? We want to make it clear that people shouldn't copy and take these photos without our consent.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I'll add.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

You weren't around; didn't have good way to ping you.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Wrote it up a bit at a time. Will get to Friday-Sunday later (probably tomorrow).

[gilana]

Which fleish places did you eat, and how were they? Theater and meat are the main reasons I go in to New York, and I'm overdue for a trip.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Over the course of this weekend, we ate at:

-- Wolf and Lamb (at Madison and 48th)
-- Levana (Columbus and 69th)
-- A glatt kosher Subway (28 Water St.)
-- Grill Point (somewhere on Main St. in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens)
-- Mr. Broadway (Broadway and 37th)

[gilana]

Oh, I ate at Levana once. It was incredible.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

We'd never been; it was *magnificent* (if crazy-pricey).

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

Grill Point is on the corner of Main and Jewel, IIRC, down the block from Amazing Savings and across from a new dairy place.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Something like that, yeah. We walked from our friends' place on Main, so I lost track of what the cross-street was.

[chaos-wrangler.livejournal.com]

You recall correctly. *g*

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

As for how they were, the restaurants were excellent. Of those, I'd been to Wolf and Lamb and Mr. Broadway before; the rest were new to me.

And the Subway was, I assume, like all Subways, just glatt. :-) Quick, relatively tasty food, just what we wanted at 2:45 on a Friday afternoon. :-)

[popfiend.livejournal.com]

My God, I feel so hideous.

I did not realize my teeth were so big in that picture.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I think it's a lovely picture of you; I think it captures your joie de vivre.

I can easily remove it from the post, however, if you wish.

[popfiend.livejournal.com]

Nah.

I try not to tell people what to post. And it's me just being self-loathing.

Keep it up.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Speaking as a complete stranger, I thought it was a great picture.

[popfiend.livejournal.com]

*blush*

The subject was off, but the photographers were cool. :)

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

Fun times! :D

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

It was! We had a wonderful time all weekend. More to come.

[popfiend.livejournal.com]

Also, my head is quite shiny.

I know I shaved that morning, but whoa.

Must be the cocoa butter. :D

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

:-)

[sethcohen.livejournal.com]

The husband of the couple introduced himself to Danny as Michael McKean, and Danny subsequently introduced mabfan as "my cousin Michael." The wife of the couple was not introduced, but I later identified her as Annette O'Toole.

That is very nifty in my book. I'm a big fan of Michael McKean, and I've liked Annette O'Toole in everything I've seen her in.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

It was immensely random -- they were at the stage door to chat with another of the actors, and on their way out they took a moment to compliment Danny on his performance. Nifty, indeed, but random.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

You have a broker? Wow.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

We started with him a number of years ago when we did some investing, and he's been helpful with our IRAs and the like.