I just had a chill weekend in NY and for the first time in my life - did NOT shop there! The only things I bought were "necessities" - a bluetooth earpiece for my BlackBerry, and a copy of "Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell. No shoes, no bags, no make-up, no clothes. A difficult challenge that I survived. And being on a budget, I strolled around and enjoyed cheap eats. Here are my highlights:
1. Dangerfield's Comedy Club (Upper East on 1st Ave. at 61st St.)
This was our biggest night out, and it wasn't cheap (with mandatory drink minimums and forced tipping), but worth the price. There was a great line-up of stand-up comedians that were all great. No amateurs, no bombs. All professionals with crowd experience. If you don't want to be made an ass of - do NOT sit in the front. The annoying LA valley girl in the front got slammed for her Paris-Hilton-esque annoying as hell voice. The only annoying thing was that each act that came up all asked the same thing to the people in the first few rows - "where are you from?". Some should remove this from their act, because hearing "LA", "Tallahassee", "Boston" - over and over and over from the 3 groups in the front is a little annoying. If you want to head there, print off the 2-for-1 coupons from here.
2. Taim Falafels in the West Village
My friend Dominic has taken a liking to cooking shows on the Food Network (god knows why since the only thing in his kitchen was saltine crackers and tuna). One of which is Bobby Flay's Throwdown, which featured this restaurant on his show. Since he's on a mission to do more sight-seeing in his own city, we went down to the West Village to check out this 4-bar-stool little restaurant for lunch. Great falafels and salad. Fresh ingredients, freshly made falafels, hot and crispy on the outside, tasty on the inside.
3. Top of the Rock
The big tourist outting this time was the Top of the Rock, on the 68th floor of Rockefeller Center - home of NBC Studios, Radio City Music Hall, the ice-skating rink. If you want spectacular views of NYC, this is a better bet than Empire State Building - since it's easier to see around (glass instead of cage). Great stop if you're on 5th Ave (it's between 49th and 50th St.), it's $20 to get to the top (no restaurants or anything up there, just the view and some souvenir shops), and you can get a $2-off coupon from the people in red jackets at the bottom of the building.
4. Observing the Recession First-Hand
Vancouverites are pretty sheltered from the US recession. When I was in New York in the fall, I felt the recession first-hand, as thousands of local people were suddenly out of jobs - having been laid off from Lehman Brothers and other fin services firms. But the hot restaurants were still full of trend-setters and money. This time, the friend that I stayed with was also not working full-time, and many of his friends were in the same boat. Consequently, the former spending crowd in New York - the ones with no kids and no committments - are cutting back and eating in, or eating cheap! It will be interesting to see in the next while, how many of those trendy restaurants and bars in New York actually survive.
5. Relaxing, relaxing, relaxing!
I actually had the time to get a mani/pedi (hmmm, maybe that wasn't in my budget), read, watch TV, and just chill out. Who would think that I would go to New York to do this, when I'm usually shopping till my feet are dropping!
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