A double-header of events today. In Brooklyn it was time for the Brooklyn Book Festival. Authors, publishers, booksellers and sometimes all three in one person were present in front of Borough Hall.
Across the river on the Lower East Side it was Apple Day. I spent so much time at the book festival I almost did not get to Orchard Street for a fried apple pie from Melt Bakery. If that pie looks familiar I ate the same thing last year.
Today was Pickle Day on the Lower East Side. There were lots of pickled items to sample and buy. I tried pickled cucumbers, spicy pickled beets, pickled turnips, vegetarian pickle chili, beet and lemon shrub, pickled lemon with pickled ginger, some sort of sheep's milk cheese that wasn't pickled, pickled shallots, apple and sweet pickle salad, and a virgin bloody mary made with pickle juice. In case you were wondering: beet and lemon shrub. It was very refreshing.
The apple and sweet pickle salad wasn't as disgusting as you might think. The salad was served by, and I got to meet, a historic gastronomist.
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Today was Apple Day on the Lower East Side. It wasn't much of a celebration but I did enjoy the fried apple pie that Melt Bakery was serving up.
Today was also the Atlantic Antic, which was a giant celebration. It is going to take a day or two to do what I want to do for that street fair.
Do you see them?
They sell pigeon spikes.
Romeo and Juliet
Juliet on her balcony
Secretly getting married
Mercutio meets his end
It is time once again for The Drilling Company to put on their summer production of Shakespeare in the Parking Lot in the municipal lot at the corner of Ludlow and Broome. Romeo and Juliet began its three week run last weekend. Much Ado about Nothing starts on August 2nd. I always enjoy these productions. Although sometimes difficult to hear over sirens and noisy trucks, you do get an intimate view of the play. My side of the audience got invited to "A Fair Assembly at the House of Capulet"!
Its also interesting to watch people stop as they walk by on there way elsewhere. Some just pause, others stay for the performance. As I was watching on Friday night a woman sat next to me. She offered to me that Romeo was "eye candy" and "a hottie". Then she fell asleep.
In a walk around town yesterday I found myself enjoying a turkey sandwich at Tiny's Giant sandwich shop on the Lower East Side. I overheard someone at the next table ask "Is that snow?". Sure enough, little white flakes were falling from the sky. Since it was nearly sixty degrees outside, snow was unlikely.
After finishing my lunch I headed down Norfolk Street, where the unlikely snow was forming drifts. The snow turned out to be pulverized styrofoam. The drifts were slowly blowing northward up the street. I headed south to find the source. The styrofoam bits in the first picture are in front of the Switch Building. There wasn't any construction activity at the Switch, but there was plenty of action at it's neighbor to the south:
Blue, everyone's favorite new construction on the Lower East Side! I didn't see any styrofoam flying out of Blue. Tellingly, however, there were no styrofoam drifts on the Delancy side of the building.
It's the battle of high-priced, hybrid baked goods! In a visit to the Doughnut Plant this morning I saw that they were now baking something they call a butterfly roll. I haven't been there in months so this may not be news, but it was news to me. Anyway, the butterfly roll is a buttery rolled yeast dough that's been sliced to look like a butterfly. The roll was weirdly like a cross between a croissant and a pretzel, with a little cinnamon roll style thrown in.
Finding the butterfly roll inspired me to stop at the City Bakery for their pretzel croissant so I could conduct a taste test. The City Bakery has three signature items: hot chocolate, tarts, and the pretzel croissant. The pretzel croissant is pretty much exactly what it's name implies -a cross between a soft pretzel and a croissant. It's one of the city's great baked goods.
How do they compare?
Taste: both are good, but the pretzel croissant is outstanding.
Price: butterfly roll - $2; pretzel croissant - $3. Much more dough for your dough at the Doughnut Plant.
Customer service: the guy at the Doughnut Plant is unfailingly pleasant. At the City Bakery service is inconsistent. This morning I had to listen to three people behind the counter discuss bathroom inventory issues in dramatically exaggerated tones before they took my order.
Atmosphere: Doughnut Plant is mostly take-out and is usually uncrowded. From late-morning on City Bakery can be a real zoo.
Drinks: Blueberry-lemonade at Doughnut Plant is awesome. City Bakery didn't have their much-hyped lemonade, which, frankly, I don't care for anyway.
Website: both are horrible in their own special way. Doughnut Plant's hasn't been updated in years and is mostly text. City Bakery's has lots of pointless Flash animation but precious little information (this is especially true for the pretzel croissant link above).
Travel: Doughnut Plant is a long way from Harlem. City Bakery isn't close to Harlem, but it seems much closer since I don't have to switch trains and the walk is less than two blocks.
Lismore Hosiery
Blue
Until this past week I hadn't been to the Lower East Side for a long time. Boy, have I missed some exciting happenings! A couple of the leg models have been moved in the scary Lismore Hosiery Co., window display revealling a dust-free spot. Somebody actually goes into the store. Very scary indeed. (More Lismore Hosiery photos from DavisMcDavis.)
Also scary, Blue is a luxury apartment building being built on the site of the now-defunct Ratner's Deli parking lot. Since the neighborhood has many residents who admire clever stickers posted on lamp posts, are the stickers part of their sales campaign? Or, since the neighborhood has many residents who place clever stickers on lamp posts, are the stickers a commentary on the building?
Unrelated: If any placers of clever stickers, or anyone else, knows where in town I can get rolls of holographic or iridescent, 3-inch wide mylar ribbons please email me.
Creepy may be a better word than scary. There's something very disturbing about this storefront at Ludlow and Grand with its perpetual fall display and leg mannequins. Is that the name? Leg mannequins?
The scariest part? The store was open when I walked by last Tuesday.
Unrelated, except that I was only a couple of blocks away when it happened: A hipster couple stopped and asked, "Do you where the Lower East Side is?" They looked disappointed when I said they were in the Lower East Side.
"No, the Lower East Side near the Williamsburg Bridge with all the cool bars and restaurants." they pleaded. It was tough not to point them toward Chinatown, but I sent them off to Clinton St. instead.
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