I had a fun trip to the East Coast in May. On Thursday May 12 I met former college suite-mate Dr. Evan Flatow for dinner at the Grand Central Terminal’s Oyster Bar & Restaurant. It was great catching up with him on family and careers.
I first stayed at the Yale Club arranged by Mort Feinberg (author of “Why Smart People Do Dumb Things“) for one night. Normally I prefer to stay at my alma mater’s club, The Princeton Club, but I had meetings the next day at the Yale Club. In fact, Dr. Feinberg invited me to present some of my ideas for a ‘booksite’ (website for book content) on leadership I am planning to launch to some of his colleagues and clients. After that Friday the 13th briefing, I did some street shopping on Fifth Ave including visits to the Apple Store, FAQ Schwartz toy store, and the Steuben shop on Madison avenue.
Later I met my daughter, Tabitha Colie, at 21 Club. It is a great restaurant (one of my top 10 based upon food and ambiance) with a hidden cellar. It was originally a speakeasy during prohibition that fell out of good graces with the power elite. The mayor ordered it shutdown but they could never find the alcohol. One time the police came with drawings for the building to look for hidden rooms. Still no luck. Turns out they put the cellar under the building next door and had a hidden 2 ton door carefully balanced to open for access. Now the restaurant is well known for its decoration in the bar (airplanes, trucks, helmets, etc.). In year’s past, you could keep a bottle of wine with them for later consumption. Example of bottles owned by celebrities who have passed away include Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, John Astor, and Elizabeth Taylor (see my photo gallery). We started with Champagne, but had the Pouilly-Fuisse with dinner (one of my parent’s favorite). Tabitha had the Beefsteak Tomato Salad and the Dover Sole while I had Cornbread Crusted Crab Cake appetizer with the Open-Faced Lobster Ravioli. We also shared an Apple Crisp dessert. It was a great meal … too bad that Rich was still traveling back from his interview at Amazon.
I spent the next three nights in Brooklyn with the last night being at the Hotel Bleu. It is a great boutique hotel with convenience and good service. I like them and recommend them for those staying in the area. The place is ultra-modern something like an Aloft hotel. Incidentally, they have a nice booklet about Brooklyn in their hotel magazine developed for them by the Brooklyn Historical Society and others, which is reprinted here. We need to support businesses like this one.
The kids live in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn. The postcard view at the left shows the various Brooklyn neighborhoods and is done in the style of one of Tabitha’s Insitu posters. We met Saturday morning and took Buster to Prospect Park for a romp. Until 9AM it is an off-leash dog park and there were literally hundreds wondering around and playing. It was great fun and I enjoyed playing with Buster but also meeting some interesting dogs including a couple of ‘relatives’ of Angel and Pixie.
We then had Saturday brunch at Miriam, an Israeli restaurant. It was excellent, but it’s important to arrive just as it opens as it fills quickly. Rich went to study for his final final exam at NYU business school and Tabitha and I explored the annual Park Slope 5th Ave Street Fair. It was probably about 1.5 miles along Brooklyn’s 5th Avenue and was jammed with booths and shops. It was quite fun and I bought some art and gifts for Nancy.
That night we ate at Athena Mediterranean Cuisine on 6th Ave. enjoying some excellent Greek food. The next day we wandered around more, did more shopping, and ultimately had dinner at Fornino Park Slope for great Italian dishes.
It was great catching up with the kids, spending time with Buster, seeing Evan, and working with Mort Feinberg. I departed on Monday morning and visited with Alma Price, my mother in law, on the way to Philadelphia for conference. While in Philadelphia I stopped at the Franklin Institute and bought some da Vinci items for the Fountain Hills house.
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