Spring has officially sprung in New York – finally. It’s been a long and harsh winter for New Yorkers. Work had me back in New York on Tuesday for all day meetings on Wednesday and Thursday. Thankfully Diana was able to join me on Thursday evening and then Denny and Anne joined us both on Friday.
On Tuesday evening I undertook some scouting for the weekend visitors. My first stop was at a speakeasy style bar and restaurant, Employees Only, in the West Village area. The craft cocktail movement first started here in the early 2000s, with bar-tending care not seen since the roaring ’20s. The bar, and more particularly the highly skilled bartenders, feature in the documentary “Hey, Bartender” that details the rebirth of craft cocktails. The name comes from the owner’s desire to create a place that was welcoming and catered to folks working in the bar-tending and restaurant business.
I arrived a few minutes before the 6pm opening and there was already a short line – on a Tuesday night? Very popular and small place. I was fortunate to get a seat at the bar and enjoyed steak tartare (custom mixed for me) and a wonderful Manhattan. The verdict – put it high on the list for the visitors – I think they’ll really like it.
After the enjoyable stop at EO I was ready for a coffee before heading to a jazz show at the Village Vanguard. Fortunately, New York has a locally owned coffee shop on every corner – something I really miss in the Dallas area – that and being able to walk to so many great spots.
The show at the Vanguard was by Linda Oh and her quintet. Oh was raised by Chinese immigrants in Australia and was taught classical piano from the age of four. When she was 11, she started to play the clarinet and at the age of 13 bassoon. As a bass guitarist she started in a high school band; and in 2002 she attended the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, where she picked up the upright bass. Her thesis was on the classical Indian music rhythms in Dave Holland’s solos. She moved to New York in 2008 and released her debut album “Entry” with her own compositions and a cover version of the Red Hot Chili Peppers “Oztrax”.
I enjoyed the show which had a pretty modern edge but was strongly rooted in classical jazz styles. The saxophone of Ben Wendel was a highlight. My favorite pieces were “Lucid Lullaby”, “Fire Dancer”, and “Speech Impediment”(the most modern/avant garde of the group) and Linda’s descriptions of the inspiration behind each (in a strong Australian accent) really increased the enjoyment.
After a full day of meetings with 200 of my IT friends on Wednesday, I took my boss and buddy Mike to Bobo in Greenwich Village to try some more of the menu before the trio arrived for the weekend. We did a good job of sampling the dinner menu and I chose scallops on a bed of pureed celery root as my entree – there’s something very delicious about that combination. I was able to make a Saturday brunch reservation and a plan was coming together.
I texted a picture of the dessert menu to McD to see if she could pick what I 
would like – she didn’t have to think about it – rhubarb or bread pudding in the description and I’m sold.
After dinner, we caught about 30 minutes of the show at Mezzrow basement jazz club across the street. Uri Caine was on the piano and Mark Helios on upright bass. We sat right next to Uri which offered a great view of what he was up playing. Mike studied a year of classical piano at Texas Tech and so really enjoyed the view. The 
music was very improvisational and we were amazed when the two would join each other in perfect unison out of what seemed to be a completely free form improvisational journey. Caine is a classically trained pianist and has released 16 relatively well known classical recordings. I would not have guessed this from the free form abandon he brought to his jazz playing.
Another day with my 200 IT friends culminated with a nice team building 
activity – we assembled bikes for foster children. A representative from the organization “Together We Rise” gave a quick talk on the challenges of foster care before we began building. The statistics he quoted were pretty staggering – only 3% of foster children attend college and it gets more disturbing from there. The usual amazing view from our office is being encroached upon by the continuing explosion in new construction. Speaking of construction – I was impressed by the quality of the graphics as I tracked Diana’s arrival at La Guardia airport which is severely under construction just now and for the next 3 years.
I changed hotels and met up with Diana to attend a performance by Curtis 
Stigers at Birdland (conveniently directly across the street from our hotel). Stigers is an American jazz vocalist, saxophonist, guitarist, and songwriter. He achieved a number of hits in the early 1990s, most notably international 1991 hit, “I Wonder Why”, which reached No. 5 in the UK and No. 9 in the US. Diana and I both commented that this was probably the best show that we’ve seen this year. The first song he played was Randy Newman’s “I’ll be Home” and he had us hooked in the first few bars.
Later was another fantastic Newman song, “I think it’s going to rain today”.
We enjoyed the show so much that we opted to stay for the late show which featured quite a different selection of music and finished up with the song that captured us at the start, “I’ll be Home”. Diana had a good chat with Curtis after the show.
Denny and Anne arrived in time for lunch on Friday after an early start in New Orleans. Oops – I forgot to mention earlier that this trip was another part of Denny’s extended milestone birthday experience. We had lunch at BXL – the Belgian mussel restaurant that I discovered a few weeks ago. $20 got us an appetizer, 1lb of mussels with choice from 10 sauces, and a drink – amazing value for New York.
After lunch we rented bikes and made the circle through Central Park. The weather was perfect for riding and the course not too challenging – just one extended uphill section. The spring blooms and blossoms on the trees provided a great backdrop.
After all the exercise we stopped at Tavern on the Green for refreshment. Then it was back to the hotel to freshen up for a light dinner before our evening shows.
Dinner was at Bar Centrale, another speakeasy style establishment hidden in a brownstone with no sign or indication it’s not a residence.
We saw the musical “Waitress” while Denny and Anne went to the Highline Ballroom to see a funk music show by “The Mummies”. Waitress was very well done in a classic Broadway musical style. The music is by Sara Bareilles who initially played the lead role (the Kerri Russel part in the movie). Kathryn McPhee of American Idol fame is now the lead and did a great job. The comedy acting was excellent and I did laugh out loud on several occasions.
Saturday began with brunch at Bobo in the West Village. My scouting wasn’t off target as we ordered a second helping of the steak tartare and all enjoyed our brunches.
After brunch we began what ended up being an extended walking tour of the area. We walked a short part of the Highline path and then had a brief stop at “Fig and Olive” which served delicious spring cocktails. It also has a crostini and martini special on Wednesday nights that I’ll need to try on a future visit.
From Fig and Olive we walked to the Chelsea Market where the ladies did some quick shopping while we enjoyed coffees. Then more walking through the village – down Bleeker Street, through Washington Square park and ultimately back over to Employees Only for dinner (with a brief stop in a sports bar to see how the New Orleans Pelicans were doing in the NBA playoffs). Along the way we snapped a picture of the birthday boy at Cafe Wha? where Bob Dylan played his first concert and tried to recreate the classic Bob Dylan album cover – we needed some vintage cars to finish it off correctly.
Dinner at Employees Only was a highlight of the trip for me. The cocktails and everything we ate were delicious. The chicken liver mousse on the charcuterie plate was an early favorite, then the octopus with squid ink risotto and then the absolute highlight – Butterscotch & Mascarpone Cheesecake with Sea Salt & Nut Brittle. I’ll be back just to have a cocktail and that yummy dessert.
In my excitement about that dessert I forgot to mention the bone-marrow pastry dish that reminded me of vol-au-vents that my Mum makes – a very unique dish.
Another quick freshen up at the hotel and then up to Jazz at Lincoln Center to finish out the trip (we thought) with the Christian McBride Big Band at
Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola. Christian Lee McBride is an American jazz bassist and record producer. He is considered a virtuoso, and is one of the most recorded musicians of his generation; he has appeared on more than 300 recordings as a sideman. He studied at the Philadelphia High School for the Performing Arts and then Julliard. His wife is the singer Melissa Walker and she performed a couple of songs with the Big Band – thankfully Denny didn’t leave at that point (he’s not a fan of jazz singing in general). We all enjoyed the show and the gorgeous venue with the view out to Columbus Circle. I enjoyed the upright bass solos very much.
On the walk back to the hotel (subway wait was too long) we experienced a classic Denny and Anne occurrence – Denny looks into the window of an establishment and they both agree they have to go in. In this case it was a Cuban restaurant, Guantanamera NYC, with live music. The music was excellent and we had a good late night snack while the ladies danced. Nicely done Denny! I first heard this song on the excellent “Buena Vista Social Club” recording by Ry Cooder – highly recommended listening.
A quick stop at the Rum House to say hello to Vincente and Jay at the door and the trip was winding down. Thankfully our flights weren’t too early on Sunday.
Whew – what a very busy few days – I’m worn out just writing about it.