Aristide in New York

This is my friend Giampiero Nadali's second visit to New York and Laura's first.  I was talking with them at dinner last night, getting their impressions of both NYC and the USA and making some observations of my own. 

They seem to be pretty impressed with the limited slices of America that they've seen, San Francisco and southern Napa and Manhattan (with a glimpse at Brooklyn from the other side of its bridge).  Well, of course, so are most Americans.  These are iconic places. 

They seem to be pleased with the food they've had -- again, in two of the most food-conscious cities in the country.  They loved the food at Barbone and last night they were favorably impressed by Houston's.  We went to the very close-by outpost of that chain, in the basement of the Citigroup Centre, which I chose because it seemed so American.  The decor is midcentury sleek, inviting with clean lines, lots of wood and mood lighting.  An excellent bar.  Crowds of mostly young people spending modest amounts of money for typically "American" food such as ribs, steaks, sashimi, Thai chicken salad, stuff like that.  A small jazz combo adding a great urban vibe.  A very pleasant place to pass an hour or two (much of it waiting for a table, since they take no reservations).  You can always go up one floor to the sprawling Barnes & Noble to kill time, which many do.

Giampiero didn't much care for the Dr. Konstantin Frank Finger Lakes 2005 Riesling.  Said it wasn't "typical".  No, but it passed muster and paired well with my sashimi tuna salad.  And the glasses they poured were enormous. 

Giampiero and Laura have done all the touristy things like go to the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Centre, Wall Street, the Apple store across from the Plaza, the southern fringe of Central Park, etc.  It's like when you go to Rome for the first time and you have to see the Coliseum, the Vatican, the Catacombs, etc.  After that you're ready for something a little more alive.

My suggestion to them was that next time they had to spend less time hanging out with Italians and more with people who live here.  (I volunteer.)  Hell, then they'll go to Queens and Brooklyn too. I reminded them that Manhattan is much smaller in population and ethnic variety than either of those two boroughs.

One gratifying thing they told me, and they weren't the first visitors to the Big Apple who have done so.  They have been astonished by the pleasantness, the politeness and helpfulness of the natives.  Very different from the image of New York you get from movies and TV, where everyone is depicted as being heartlessly ambitious or hysterically angry.  I suspect the writers of such nonsense are ex-New Yorkers who are pissed off about living in LA. Movie writers, like journalists, are nothing without their cliches and easy fall-back narratives.

Another gratifying thing: yesterday the temperature was in the mid 60s (18-19C) and Giampiero actually abandoned his scarf!  I was proud of the boy when he told me this.  He said that his friend Alessandro thought he was mad.  Dude, it was hot in that sun!

I don't get this scarf fetish at all.  Mummy seems to have told every one of them that they'd get a sore throat if they didn't strangle themselves with the damned thing.

Tonight GP is going to get another glimpse of New York as we crown Lisa Qiu official mondosapore groupie.  Of course he has to scamper away early to dine with yet more Italians.  Boh!  But for a while he'll experience a bit of Noo Yawk Yout' at Otto.

Comments

[Lizzy]

WOW!
Uncle Terry, your chronicle about Aristide's visit to NYC is "trooooppo forte!"
I'd like a lot to be with you, this night.
Have a GREAT CORONATION!
And then, I wait for you in Italy...in February, if my info are right...
;-))

Lizzy

[Terry Hughes]

Perche' troppo forte? La cosa degli sciarpettari? Di passare tanto tempo con altri Italiani? Ma noi Americani facciamo lo stesso, no? (A maniche corte pero'!)

[Lizzy]

What do you Americans do??
Do you talk with others Americand when your're in Italy??
Terry, in genere i primi turisti tedeschi arrivano sul Lago di Garda quando è Pasqua.
Io ho trascorso le ultime Pasque davanti ad un caminetto acceso...mentre sul Lago, i tedeschi si godevano i primi bagni di sole, in costume da bagno.
Questione di gusti (e di sensibilità alle temperature esterne..)!

L.

[Terry Hughes]

Lo so, gli Ameri cani (eheh) vanno a gregge multicolore, ma la seconda volta si deve aprirsi un po' eh?

Ma dico "paese che vai usanza che trovi" perche' sulla question della Sciarpa, gli Italiani avvolti di sciarpa anche quando fa un po' caldo sembrano quelli che parlano fra di se' e dormono sotto i ponti. Non scherzo, questa e' l'impressione data.

[Lisa Qiu]

Just Ameri cani? Questa e meglio... compared to the La Merde di Cani I heard people joke about across Italia. I would really have loved to take them to Brooklyn to the Galapagoes art space and Sea. Flushing is so much fun too! I always get my hair cut there for 12 dollars.

[Terry Hughes]

Flushing? Aside from the Nanny, I don't know anyone from there. I hear they're bipedal now.

[Fredric Koeppel]

You kids have a great time tonight, and don't stay out too late.

[Domenico]

We will FK and repent on the morrow.

Lizzy sai che sono un rompiballe.

[Terry Hughes]

FK, we had a great nite. Lisa is AWESOME. I got home at one. Is that late or not?

[alberto]

Well, don't you tell us what the nite was like? Or are there too many indecent things you cannot reveal? In any case, I'll get to know everything soon!
Was there at the Coronation even Domenico, the very nice fellow I met last year at Vinitaly? If you see him, give my greetings to him...
Your italian cousin Albert Hughes

[Terry Hughes]

I will tell you as soon as I've recovered.

Jeremy Parzen sent some great photos of La Groupie & me.

[Terry Hughes]

By the way, I told Domenico to go do his own thing. He was getting on me nerves.

[Giampiero alia Aristide]

Oh, Mr Terence The Ambassador, what a great honor you made with all this coverage about our visit to NYC. Thank you, thank you very much!
We are now leaving the Big City, more details on the Great Night in a few hours. Of course, on Aristide.biz.
Ciao!

[Terry Hughes]

Carissimi, you'd better come back when we can spend more time together. Didn't see you or travel round town with you enough.

Buon viaggio e tanti saluti calorosi.