NYC with Halle and Angie

When your daughter and her BFF ask you to take them to NYC, the answer is always YES.  Angie was performing in her senior showcase in front of agents and talent scouts, and so Halle and I came to watch her.  It was Angie’s first time in the city, and it was so much fun showing her around, eating all the things, and cheering her on at her performance.  

We got here on a Friday and Angie was off to be with her classmates for a few days. The first night Halle and I wandered down to dinner at Tziki.  Greek fries get a 10! So good.  Wraps get an 8.  They were great and the pita was really wholesome–I’m just picky with my food ratings.  We didn’t have any real plans, so we just walked around, enjoying the city.  This trip I am on a mission to find a chocolate chip cookie better than this one.  Especially if you use Guitard chocolate chips.  It is exquisite.  Our first try was at Seven Grams.  FAIL.  Cookie was doughy in the middle and really thick and kind of flavorless.  3/10.  

We FINALLY made it to the Vessel!  It’s open after years of on again off again.  And it was really cool!  I don’t think it’s a must-see, but we had fun, and it was really trippy to walk up and down the stairs with all the honeycomb structures in your eyes.  

AND, we found Big Pidgen.  We declare it the best street art in NYC.  We are also on a mission to find Halle a graduation dress.  We think its a really fun full circle moment if we got her prom dress and now her graduation dress in NYC.  So we went to the Shops at Hudson Yards. Which was a bust.  It was mostly waaay too fancy for us, and even in the places we could afford, we couldn’t find what we were looking for.  

We got some late-night pizza at Pops (7/10) and called it a night!

Halle had recently changed out a piercing, and it was infected and sore.  We couldn’t get the earing out.  We made an appointement at urgent care for the morning just in case, and hoped that the swelling would go down enough for us to get it out.  No such luck. Halle’s ear had eaten her earring.  We could feel it buried near the back of her lobe.  Off to Urgent care we go!  Another NYC first!  Hooray.  It was actually a really seamless experience. The dr didn’t seem even a tiny bit surprised and knew just was to do.  She numbed Halle’s ear, made a tiny little incision, and pulled the earing through. We were in and out in 30 min, and Halle’s ear immediately felt better.  We walked across the street and picked up her antibiotics and then we were off to get bagels. Easy Peasy.  We waited in line longer for the bagels than we did at the whole dr appointment. 

But the bagels were so worth it.  Broad Nosh Bagels might have overtaken Tompkin Square Bagels as my favorite NYC bagels. We got an everything bagel with jalapeno cream cheese, and a French toast bagel with chocolate-chip cream cheese.  We took them over to a sunny rock in Central Park and tried to soak up a little sun, even though we were bundled up against the cold.  We enjoyed every bite.  We did a little more shopping for dresses with no luck, and then it was time for Angie’s showcase.  

She KILLED IT!  I loved learning more about the world of trying to break into the musical theater world in New York.  It’s so fascinating.  We loved being there to support her.  

After it was done I made Halle be my model at the Disney Store for some of my new ear styles.  We had a good time snuggling all the stuffies.  And I got a NYC disney pin.  

We grabbed sandwiches from All’Antico Vinaio. These italian sandwiches are on homemade ficcocia bread and filled with fresh mozarella.  Delicious.  9/10.  But our eyes were bigger than our stomaches. We should have shared.  How many times will we say that over the next few days?  We also found what must surely be the cheapest treat in NYC. $1.19 soft serve! We say 10/10–because it was cheap and good. And we finally had success with Halle’s graduation dress!  At TJ Maxx no less!  Kinda fun in NYC TJ Maxx has some designer dresses for reasonable prices.  She is going to be so darling. 

Earlier in the day we stopped in at the Great Gatsby box office to see if they had any tickets for that evening.  They did!  And this show was the surprise hit of the trip.  It was AMAZING.  The costumes, the dancing, the singing.  Loved every minute.  We were singing OH DAAAAAISSSSSSYYYYY for days.  Alex Prakken is the understudy who deserves the lead. He knocked it out of the park. Of course, we went to the stage door, and it was so fun–we had Gatsby, Jordan Baker (Samantha Pauly), Myrtle Wilson (Linedy Geano), and Meyer Wolfsheim (Eric Anderson) all come out to sign. Gatsby was in the Broadway Theater, which was exquisite. The lobby was so beautiful, and the chandelier inside the auditorium was so big and sparkly.

The next morning, we decided to try our luck at rushing Outsiders. And by try our luck I mean get there at 11am and cross our fingers. I asked some of the first people in line how long they’d been there and they said since 9:30pm the night before!!! Needless to say, we did not get tickets. Apparently, it was a leading lady’s last performance, so there were very few rush tickets that day.  But I did get a chopped cheese hero for breakfast 15/10. YUM. We walked over to see if Death Becomes Her had some reasonable seats, and they still had rush tickets! Yes, please.

We went to the Grand Bazaar on the Upper West Side to kill some time before the matinee. There was a lot of stuff there, but I just don’t have the patience for flea markets.  So much sifting.  Not enough finding. 

 We loved Death Becomes Her. Betsy Wolfe is a comedy genius. We laughed and laughed. The ensemble was BEAUTIFUL. Perfect bodies, perfect dancing. I know that’s the point of this show, but still–it was quite a sight to behold. 

Over to Soho/Nolita for some food we went.  First stop was Eileen’s Special Cheesecake.  This place has been on my list for years, but we can’t ever manage to get there during business hours.  We got a strawberry and a salted caramel.  Both were  good, but Salted caramel wins by a mile.  It had a top like creme brulee.  10/10. 

Dinner was cheesy pasta at Piccola Cucina Estiatorio. I cannot believe how many people they can squeeze in that tiny place. Those poor waiters had about 12 inches between the aisles. But they buzzed around and managed just fine. I’d go crazy. In addition to our pasta, we decided to be a little adventurous and get a lobster guacamole bruschetta. It was quite good, but didn’t blow us out of the water. 7/10.

We still had Reeve Carney that night! We had an hour or so to kill back at the hotel and our feet were thanking us.. Our Uber supposedly dropped us off at Green Room 42, but we couldn’t find it anywhere. We finally went inside a hotel to ask–turns out it was in the hotel. Up the elevator, down a hallway to our front row seats. It’s the cutest little intimate venue. Reeve was incredible, but turns out his funny facial expressions were not reserved for playing Orpheus. That man can make some interesting shapes with his mouth and eyebrows. His voice was beautiful, and it was fun listening to his original songs, seeing his process, and hearing him talk. At one point, he pulled out a kazoo. It made us laugh, but somehow he pulled it off. He was also wearing train conductor pants and suspenders. We sat at a table with the cutest couple from Indiana. Both of them were HUGE Reeve fans and had followed him all over the East Coast. 

We slept in the next morning before meeting up with Angie. Here’s where insane NYC starts. We had 2.5 days to see, do and eat it all. We started with a tour at the Old St. Patrick’s Basilica catacombs (not to be confused with the cathedral in midtown). There are only a couple of places in the United States with Catacombs, and it was really fun to hear the history and the stories of some of the people buried there. There was even a vault that had an original Thomas Edison light fixture! 

The night before Halle and I had seen a line that went down the street at Mimi’s Frozen Yogurt. We walked by again and there was no line. Naturally, we had to see what the fuss was about. And now we get it! We would totally stand in line for this! We got raspberry and chocolate, with homemade brownies and cookie dough and fresh fruit. DELICIOUS. 10/10. 

Since we were already close to  Spring Street, we thought we might as well drop by and introduce Angie to the cronut. This month’s flavor was banana pudding and pineapple. Not a combo I’d think of, and it wasn’t my favorite, but even still, a crount is always so yum. 

Lunch was one of my favorite foods of the trip. Nami Mori serves open-style sushi handrolls. We said they were like little sushi tacos. They bring the warm Nori paper to the table, and you slide your handroll into the paper. Loved it. Everything was perfectly proportioned. 10/10.

It was supposed to rain all day, but it never materialized. We had indoor activities planned, but it still worked out great because it was very chilly. Mercer Labs was just as weird and interesting as we expected. Our favorite exhibits were some kind of sound room where we lay on the floor and listened to sounds and vibrations. Angie said it felt like her whole nervous system was reset. Then a room where we got to color an animal and watch it come to life, scampering and swimming around the room. Then playing with a ton on kenetic sand while we watched a robot drag a rake through real sand in a pattern. 

I’d been excited for our next stop. A Pizza Off! L’Industrie and Mama’s too are two newcomers to the NYC Pizza scene, and we were going to decide which we liked best. At L’industrie we got a slice of pepperoni and sausage, one with buratta and prosciutto, and a bacon, fig jam, and mozarella. The sausage is spicy! Buratta and proscuitto was good, but we didn’t really want to finish the slice. The bacon and fig jam easily won here. The crust held up well to the toppings, but it was a bit too chewy. My jaw was tired at the end! 8/10

Now the rain started to come. We couldn’t snag a table at Mama’s Too, so we ate our detroit style pizza in a doorway in the rain. This pizza was GOOD. the crust was a thick ficcocia that was crispy on the outside and airy and chewy on the inside. We got pepperoni.. It’s not NYC style, so I’ll give it 9/10. I’d eat here again for sure. 

Arcoss the street was Marie’s Crisis, a show tunes singing piano bar that I had been excited to take the girls to. It was a bust. Well…we got there waaaay too early in the evening. But we were so tired! We couldn’t hold out any longer. There weren’t a lot of people there, and the ones who were were DIE HARD. Between the three of usm we thought we knew a lot of shows. We did not know one that they sang! We grabbed our Cokes and a little tiny table in the corner and looked up lyrics and tried to sing along for a bit. But our heart wasnt’ in it. We’ll come back at like 11 pm on a weeknight, and I bet it’s a great time. Off to sleepy night night. 

Tuesday was Midtown Day and also St. Patrick’s Day! We buzzed over to Ess-a-Bagel on the east side to see if it could knock Broad Nosh off its pedestal. News flash–nope. 6/10

It was the St Patty’s parade and I was excited to experience a little bit of it! It had an estimated crowd size of 2 million people, and 150,000 marchers! That number blows my mind. Especially because it didn’t seem unreasonably crowded. We were able to walk up and get a spot right behind the barricade fairly easily. We stayed and watched until we saw a few bagpipe groups go by.  It was especially cool to see the NYPD Pipes and Drums–they played at every single 9/11 funeral. The FDNY and PAPD also have Pipes and Drums, and between the three of them, they still play every single Wednesday at the 9/11 Memorial.  

After figuring out how to cross 5th Avenue during the parade we headed to Rockefellar Plaza.  We went to the FAO Schwarz store, and I think it might have been everyone’s favorite shopping experience.  We hilariously all came away with a stuffed animal.  Angie got a bunny, Halle bought me a JellyCat Koala (JellyCat is all the rage right how) and I bought her a rat draped in a pizza robe.  It’s amazing.  We also spent a fair amount of time reminiscing in the American Girl Doll store. 

We went to the NY Public Library and took some fun pics inside on the beautiful staircases, and also outside on the big steps.  We weren’t the only ones with this idea.  There were HS and College grads galore, along with a couple of brides.  

I had heard about a little branch of the library just across from the main branch, called Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library. It had the cutest little rooftop lookout.  I can imagine myself a New Yorker, bringing a book and and drink to catch some rays and a view on a nice day.  

We made a quick trip down to the Harry Potter store. Just across the street is Salswee.  They serve hyper-realistic fruit mousse cakes.  They are an instgram sensation!  And I can see why–they are so, so pretty.  We got the mushroom, cloud and mango.  Everyone agrees that the mango was our favorite. 10/10

Chess Time!!!  This was Angies very first Broadway show!  Starring our main man, Aaron Tveit as an eccentric, hot headed chess player; Lea Michelle as the love interest; Nicolas Christopher as the Russian chess player who defects to the UK and almost starts a nuclear war.  The story was a little slow but the singing was MAGIC.   Pure bliss.  I can’t think of three people I’d rather hear.  Afterward Lea Michelle came and signed playbooks, and apparently that was really rare.  We froze to death waiting, but it was worth it.  Nicholas Chrisopher also came out and he was so kind and cute.  He took his time with every single person.  It was really sweet.  

And what would your first Broadway experience be without Juniors Cheesecake?  We got dinner too, which we don’t usually do.  I had a delicious grilled cheese, Halle got a yummy burger and Angie got chicken tenders that were more like entire slabs of chicken breast.  They weren’t the best. 0/10.  We got Original Cheesecake with Strawberries on top, and a brownie cheesecake.  Both delicious, but that OG cheesecake really can’t be beat.  So light, creamy and fluffy!  10/10. 

Our feet and fingers were frozen and we happily climbed in bed at like 1am. 

Wed morning we were off to our third bagel tasting.  Pop Up Bagels is the latest sensation where you “rip and dip,”  They give you a massive container of cream cheese–I see no way in which anyone ever finishes that thing.  The concept was cute, and the bagels were tasty, but they were more like bread.  They didn’t have the dense, chewy texture of a good bagel.  6/10.  

We went and viewed the 9/11 Memorial, saw the Survivor Tree and went inside the St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, a STUNNING Marble church that just opened again in 2022.  It was rebuilt only about 150 feet away from it’s original location.  The art inside is unlike any I’ve ever seen.  It has a real Byzantine feel–the figures are very stylized and symbolical. It was really touching.  

Inside St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, every image carries meaning—St. Nicholas himself is often shown with a Gospel book and blessing hand, symbolizing both compassion and quiet authority as a protector of those in need. Surrounding him, traditional saints and prophets share space with modern heroes, including police officers, firefighters, and first responders. This blending of sacred figures with everyday protectors creates a powerful reminder that courage and service transcend time. It feels especially fitting in this place, where loss and resilience are so deeply intertwined. Together, the imagery tells a story not just of faith, but of sacrifice, protection, and enduring hope. (Thanks Chat GTP for helping me with that paragraph!)

We made a quick stop at Funny Face Bakery to try the S’more cookie  (huge disappointment 2/10) before crossing the Brooklyn Bridge. I love this every time I do it!  There is nothing in the world like those Manhattan Skyline views.  We did the obligatory picture with the Manhattan Bridge framing the Empire State building, and ate at Time Out Market.  Jacobs Pickle Mac and Cheese? 10/10.  Mini Donuts from Doughnuttery? A solid 8/10.  

Are you asking how we could possibly fit any more food into our stomachs?  Me too. But we needed to try at least something in China Town!  We took the subway from Brooklyn to Shu Jiao Fu Zhou. It was seriously 3 min from the subway in Brooklyn to our stop near Chinatown.  How did we go all the way across the East River that quickly???  Our $5 for 12 dumplings hit just right. 

I dragged the girls to my favorite chocolate shop, Stick with Me (always a 12/10) and then it was time for the main event.  The real reason we came to NYC.  HADESTOWN.  (For the 5th time for Halle).  We can’t get enough. For the girls college graduation gift, I got them front row Mezzanine tickets.  Angie was literally on the edge of her seat the entire show.  

Jordan Tyson, who was playing Eurydice, blew a kiss out into the audience at the end of the show.  Angie said, “she blew that kiss right to me!”  We laughed, thinking she was joking.  Then, at the stage door, Jordan came to sign, and when she took Angie’s playbook she said, “Hey!  You’re the girl I blew the kiss to!” Angie died of happiness.  No pics allowed with Jordan. Sad.

The next morning I had a little work to catch up on, so I sent the girls to the Museum of Natural History without me.  They had fun taking .5 pics of prehistoric creatures.  I also had two more cookies on my list. Culture Espresso and Hani.  And FINALLY!  We had some winners!  Culture Espresso was the best cookie we tried by a long shot. (And I think there are a few random deli cookies we also tried that I didn’t write about).  It had chewy edges, soft center, warm, melty chocolate chips. Totally worth the hype. 15/10.  Still not quite sure it beats my homemade cookie, but it comes darn close.  Hani was a solid second.  It was the most uniquely delicious.  It was thinner, but had massive chocolate discs and the perfect hint of salt. 9/10.

We ate our cookies while taking a quick stroll through Central Park.  And just like that, our trip was over.  And we are already dreaming of doing it again.