New York City, August 2024

On the last week of August 2024, we spent five glorious nights in New York City celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary. We barely scratched the surface of what’s possible to see in NYC, but here’s an outline of some highlights and wine opinions from the Big Apple.

Our hotel

We stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn Central Park, and we couldn’t be happier with the choice.

It’s the tallest hotel in the Western Hemisphere, and we stayed on the 62nd floor with a view of the Hudson and Times Square. It was magical.

The hotel is on the north end of Times Square (just outside of the chaos), a few blocks south of Central Park, and just one block off Hell’s Kitchen. So we were able to avoid the insanity of Times Square just by walking to 8th Avenue and using that as our main drag.

Plus, being a Residence Inn, the room was huge (by NYC hotel standards) and included a sitting area, large bathroom, a kitchen with a big fridge and dishwasher, and all the plates and silverware we’d need. This allowed us to bring home leftovers, buy a few bottles of wine, and stock up on cheese and charcuterie for the week.

The shower was glorious, the water pressure was excellent, the bed was firm and perfect, and we enjoyed a HUGE FREE breakfast buffet every morning, which helped keep our overall costs down. One morning we opted to skip breakfast at the hotel and enjoy the best smoked salmon bagel I’ve ever had at Pick-A-Bagel right down the street.

The hotel and the bagel shop are HIGHLY recommended!

Broadway shows

We enjoyed two Broadway shows during our week: Wicked and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Wicked was fun, but I didn’t know any of the songs. The production was impressive, and I had a great time, don’t get me wrong, but I doubt I’ll spend the money to see it again. I kind of wish we had gone to the new Back to the Future musical instead.

However, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was one of the most incredible performances ever. When it debuted in London, it was a two-part play, each part about 2.5 hours long. Now (outside of London), they have redone the script to make it one 3.5-hour performance with an intermission.

I was a tech theater geek back in the day, so anything involving sets, lighting, sound effects, special effects, etc., is my jam. I was also a hobby magician when I was young, so you can imagine just how much I enjoyed this. I won’t give any spoilers, but I will say that the front row of the first balcony is the perfect vantage point to get maximum impact for this show.

Anniversary day: Central Park, The Boathouse restaurant, and Charlie Palmer Steak IV

Tuesday, August 27th was our first full day in New York City as well as our 30th Anniversary. And it was glorious.

The morning was beautiful, and we walked into Central Park and found an important landmark: the Genesis rock. I’m a gigantic Genesis fan (especially their music in the 1970’s) and the iconic photo of the band on their first US tour was taken here.

I am channeling my inner Phil Collins!

We continued through Central Park, arriving at The Dakota to pay homage to John Lennon. Then, we went to Strawberry Fields to listen to fabulous live music and soak in the atmosphere of love and peace. The weather was perfect, and it was an emotional hour or so that we stayed to take in the feelings.

We didn’t have any lunch plans made, and quite frankly, after the breakfast buffet at the hotel, we weren’t that hungry. So we slowly strolled through the park and happened upon The Boathouse at Central Park. We saw nice little metal chairs and tables next to the lake and figured a burger would be fine. But as we walked toward the casual cafe, we noticed the much fancier side of things in the pillared building. Of course, we chose the fancy place (it was our 30th, after all). Upon telling the host it was our anniversary and our first lunch in NYC, she said, “I’ve got the perfect table for you and the perfect server.”

Was she ever right! We sat at the corner table next to the lake, and our server, Clay, a self-professed “wine and food geek,” was our guy.

It was one of the best meals of our life, not only because of the setting and the food but also because of the service and scenery. By the time we finished our lunch, the place was packed, and they were on an hour wait. Wine list details can be seen further down.

A HUGE snapping turtle kept coming up to our table to say hi. We love turtles, so this was a treat.

After the glorious lunch, we walked slowly back to the hotel to freshen up ahead of a pre-theater dinner at Charlie Palmer Steak IV. This was the fanciest place we went to during the week, and as expected, the food was delicious, and the wine service was outstanding. However, as I’ve been saying for a while, a dinner like this has become predictable in its perfection. Spending enough money will give you great food and wine in any city in the world, and they will be identical experiences. I’m not complaining, but more and more, I want a hyper-local experience that I can’t have anywhere else.

Birdland Jazz Club

I grew up listening to Charlie Parker on the family stereo, along with other jazz greats. So when my research uncovered the Birdland Jazz Club near our hotel, and a performance of “Bird with Strings” I jumped at tickets. Much like our lunch at The Boathouse, we showed up and were escorted to the best table in the room, on the corner right in front of the featured musicians. The show was amazing and we will never forget it.

Magic After Hours at Tannen’s Magic Shop

This is some insider info and is highly recommended.

On Wednesday and Friday evenings at 8pm, at Tannen’s Magic Shop (the oldest magic shop in the city and just steps down 34th from the Empire State Building), magician Noah Levine performs an intimate close-up magic show for only about 20 guests.

Some of the show was well known to me (i.e., the linking rings and some good coin work), but he performed precisely, and it was fun to see the audience’s reaction. But the last third of the show has me befuddled. He performed what is basically a three-part version of what magicians call “ACAN” (any card, any number), and I was the one he picked to choose the main card (I picked my favorite, the Jack of Spades, of course).

I can barely remember what happened because it was so entertaining and amazing, but at least three times, my free-choice card appeared while absolutely free choices were given to others. There was obviously slight of hand involved, but at one point a single, untouched, card was on the table while other free choices were given to other audience members. Long story short (and because I don’t remember the details of how it went down), that one card turned out to be my pick. You just gotta see it — I can’t explain it very well. It was as amazing to me as Kostya Kimlat on Penn and Teller’s show.

No spoilers, but if you’re heading to NYC, be sure to get tickets for this show, get there early for a front-row seat, and prepare to be amazed.

More info: Magic After Hours

Finding Mom and Dad’s first NYC apartment

My mom and dad left Minneapolis and St. Paul in 1962 to start a new life in the big city. Dad put all their possessions into a wooden shipping box and labeled it “Loren Kallsen, New York City,” and sent it off. Seriously, that’s all it said, and the post office held it at the main office until he showed up two months later to claim it. Those were the days.

They found their first apartment in Chelsea, off 20th Street and 9th Avenue. When my mom was at our home for hospice in 2020, I asked her for the address, and I immediately put it into my Google Maps: 401 West 20th Street.

Alas, when we arrived, we discovered that 401 West 20th wasn’t the elegant old building mom described (“the top floor of a fourth-floor walk-up on the row”) but was now a parking ramp.

I took out my phone and dug into the old family slides I had scanned years ago. There, I found a photo of my mom on the steps of their apartment in 1964! Walking up and down the block, we suddenly came across it: 414 West 20th Street! I had the wrong address. Angela posed on the steps, and we also found a spot where a picture of my dad was taken on the same day.

The open windows on the top floor were their apartment, which had one bedroom and two wood-burning fireplaces. My dad said in his obituary (which he wrote himself before his passing in 2017), “We needed both those fireplaces when the winter wind came in from the Hudson. We kept fires going all winter long.” Their rent? $60 a month!

Dad on 20th Street in 1964, and me 60 years later in the same spot. (It’s hard to tell it’s the same spot with the trees and scaffolding, but look at the scrollwork on the building on the upper right side of the photo.)

Chelsea Market

Chelsea Market is what every food hall in America aspires to be. We couldn’t spend much time there, but it’s worth at least a couple of hours (arrive hungry). It has been in business for over 25 years, yet as vibrant as the day it opened, this is a fun destination.

Check out the fat cap left on the dry-aged pork chop!

Pizza!

As a thin-crust pizza geek (I was a cook at Beek’s Pizza locally for nearly 15 years), I was in heaven in New York City.

The best slice I had was at Joe’s Pizza near Washington Square Park, where Peter Parker worked in the Spider-Man film.

Super yummy every evening on the way back to the hotel: Roma Pizza on 8th Avenue near 53rd Street. This was my go-to every evening for an end of night snack.

Best pie in Times Square: John’s Pizza of Times Square. The restaurant is in an old church, with amazing stained glass everywhere. A holy communion of pizza.

Museum of The Moving Picture, Queens

Of course, we went to MOMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but the top museum we visited was way off the beaten path in Queens, three blocks from the Steinway MTA stop in Astoria.

We were drawn to the Museum of the Moving Image due to their Jim Henson exhibit. We expected a small room on the side with some props and a few of The Muppets, but what we got was so much more.

Two beautiful floors showcasing the history of the moving image, including interactive displays, historical cameras and projectors, scripts, models, makeup, masks, and more. The Jim Henson exhibit was HUGE, chronicling his story from the earliest days of black and white advertisements through to his work on The Dark Crystal and The Muppet Movie.

Jennifer Connelly’s and David Bowie’s costumes from The Labyrinth.

That is the OG Chewy head from A New Hope!

They also had another wing, which was all about digital work and old videogames.

It was worth every penny of the admission fee ($20), but if you plan ahead, you can hit it on their free nights.

Wine lists around NYC

Below are photos of most of the wine lists we came across. The wine scene in NYC can be divided into two clear camps: restaurants and bars that buy big production wine from big distributors; and then eclectic lists where the goal seems to be “you’ve never heard of this, and you can’t find it anywhere.”

Another thing I noted was that outside of some Times Square hotel bars (such as Empire Steak House, below), the prices were reasonable and sometimes nearly a bargain. It wasn’t hard to find a good glass for $12 or an incredible glass for $16. This is something I can’t say about MSP at the moment, outside of a handful of destinations.

Empire Steak House, at our hotel. Overpriced and commercial wine list. Anything with Joel Gott = avoid. (Not that the wine is bad, it’s just soulless.)

John’s Pizza in Times Square. I’m actually fine with wine lists like this that don’t pretend to be anything they are not. We had a bottle of the Chianti and it worked. Whatever. We were there for the pizza. Interesting to note that J. Lohr is the only wine with a name on the list. I wonder how that happened.

At The Boathouse in Central Park. That’s a serious wine by the glass list. Arpepe Valtellina BTG? Are you kidding me?

At Aldo Sohm Wine Bar, one of the premier wine bars in New York City. Aldo Sohm is the lead sommelier at Le Bernardin, next door.

At Corkbuzz Wine Bar in Chelsea Market. Fantastic list!

Le Tout Va Bien, the classic French restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen. The few non-French wines stick out like a sore thumb, but overall a solid list with good pricing.

Vangard Wine Bar, just outside the theater after Wicked.

Summary

I was born in NYC (actually, Long Island, but my brother was born in Manhattan). I’ve always been proud of that, but I’ve never visited. The last time I was here was 1972! 🙂

What an amazing trip. I can’t wait to return and continue checking things off the list. For my first big trip to the Big Apple, everything fell into place perfectly. I still have about twenty wine bars on my list to hit, as well as ten pizza joints, but all in due time.

Do you have suggestions for our next trip to New York City? Put them in the comments below!