Upper West Side

This weekend, I didn’t so much have an agenda as in the past two, but I managed to spend most of my time in the same relative area and spread it out over the course of 3 days (Who doesn’t love long weekends?) so it also wasn’t quite as intense.

On Friday night, I went to see Zero Dark Thirty at what is quickly becoming a go-to theater (even though there’s one practically down the street from my apartment) near Lincoln Center. The movie was well done, and as expected, intense at times.  

On Saturday, after a day that was pretty much filled with a trek to Target in the Bronx, I went to dinner at Café Ronda, where I enjoyed an array of tapas and some delightful sangria (white and red, both tasty). I love tapas, and in fact, did a paper on them in culinary school, so I always enjoy finding a great place to indulge. This will be a place to get back to.

The next day, I made it back to Lincoln Center for a performance by the Budapest Festival Orchestra. My roommate had gotten free tickets at work, and who doesn’t love a chance to get a bit dressed up and experience some free music? It was both my first time at Lincoln Center and my first time seeing a live professional orchestra (though I’d seen plenty during my time at Ithaca – thank you, Whalen Music School). I definitely want to get back to Lincoln Center to check out an opera sometime this season and possibly even a ballet. Though, the ballet is a bit questionable since I didn’t love the one I saw in London and have since decided I don’t like ballets at all, but perhaps I should give it one more chance. Operas on the other hand are an automatic yes. Love them.

But I guess I digress – the BFO is one of the top ten orchestras in the world, and I certainly enjoyed the show. I don’t know much about music, admittedly, but I know what I enjoy. They played pieces from Shostakovich (my favorite), Bernstein and Rachmaninoff (the only composer I’d previously heard of), close to two hours in total. The selections from Shostakovich were very upbeat, reminiscent of a Disney score (at least I thought so), so to me, they were a great way to start. A bit unexpected too. The other composer’s pieces were more somber, but I enjoyed them as well.

After the orchestra performance, my roommate and I went a bit uptown to 84th and Broadway for dinner at 5 Napkin Burger. I had been craving a good burger for about a week and this seemed like a natural place to try. I was starving (not surprisingly), so I started with an order of onion rings. Perfectly crispy, I loved them. We both got the Original, which was topped with caramelized onions, Gruyere cheese and rosemary aioli. It was definitely tasty (and messy – hence the “5 napkin” concept), but I tend to like fresh/crunchy toppings on my burgers, so I’d probably get something else next time.

Yet another restaurant to cap off the three-day weekend – on Monday, I met up with a friend at Café Blossom for lunch. Caveat: It was vegan. As is probably pretty obvious (if not from knowing me then from the previously mentioned week-long burger craving), I love meat. I love cheese. I love all things non-vegan. Not that I don’t love veggies and healthy things too. I absolutely do. I just happen to love my healthy things with a side of meat, or dairy, or something typically animal-based. I’m sure this place is great for vegans (maybe a place to take my aunt if she ever visits!), and having looked at the menu, probably better for non-vegans at brunch. Nevertheless, I forged ahead and ordered a veggie grain burger, which was basically a patty made of lentils and quinoa (both of which I like) and topped with lettuce, tomato, pickles and hummus. The lack of color of the “burger” wasn’t doing it any favors, neither was the mushiness of it, but it was good for what it was. Thankfully the fries on the side helped to fill me up.

Andddd that’s it. I’ll definitely do more on the UWS in the future, since this wasn’t truly an exploration of the pretty big neighborhood, and more that everything I happened to be doing happened to be there. A good weekend nonetheless.