Friday Night... Just Got Paid

Ida and I decided to spend Friday night in Times Square and we began by visiting the Grand Sichuan again, (Times Square location). This one is tiny tiny, and sits hidden in Restaurant Row.

We began with tiny tiny spring rolls

which we paired with some tsingtao beer

My entree was a very hot (as in caliente!) cellophane noodle with cabbage and tofu soup.

It was okay - I expected the soup to be less... soupy. Ida had a chicken version of her chili beef plate, but that had a weird aftertaste. I was less impressed with this Grand Sichuan than with its sister on the East Side - I guess that in their effort to fit in with the rest of places in Restaurant Row they lost some flavor or something.

The funnest part, however, was opening our fortune cookies. The top one is Ida's.

After dinner Ida and I walked through the drizzle and the crowds to make it to Empire 25 where after some handwringing and some begging on my part we ended up watching the Footloose remake. First, we arrived early, but still the theater was emptier than I expected - it's Footloose people! I enjoyed it. The main actor guy, reminded Ida and I of a young Johnny Depp. The guy that play Willard was hilarious. Sarah Jessica Parker was replaced with a bi-racial cutie. It's the dance movie that defies all the rules of dance movies - which might've been why Ida didn't like it as much. But also because Footloose is less a dance movie and more a "teenage rebellion, but backed with sense." I mean, there's domestic violence, drug use, an awesome line where Ren tells the baddie that "only assholes say the word fa**got," religion freedom and respect, but also, some good dancing. Sure, it's just as campy as the original, but they took it seriously in my opinion: kept the parts of the original that everyone would've been angry if they had changed (Let's hear it for the boy - amiright?) but adapted it enough to the times that there were more black people around (not enough Asians and Latinos, but first steps, ya know,) and hip hop was included just as well as country music and the lovely 80's songs we remember singing along.

And that I did, with Ida just laughing at me as I danced my way out of the theater. I'm looking forward already to owning the "two in one" DVD where you get both versions. P.S. I'm glad Zac Efron pulled out of this thing: as much as I like the kid, I don't think he could've pulled this off.

Lily Comes to Town

You know what I like? Old Novels, where the chapter title is somewhat a summary of what will happen. "Chapter IX in which our heroine discovers a terrible secret." Just so y'all know.

So Lily and I finally get our act together and she comes into town for a one day visit. 4 hours is a long time to travel for just a day without specific plans, but we made it work. After running some errands with my mother, the day began with a stop at Gemini Diner in Kips Bay where we had chicken salad triple deckers, which I haven't had in ages and ages, it feels.

Not quite as delicious as I remembered it, but still the best chicken salad and cole slaw in the city. Afterward we went for a walk and searched Baskin Robbins for Lily's favorite flavor, but we couldnt' find it. What we did find:

Although the awning was brand new, the store looked closed, so we never did find out what they sell at insomnia cookies. We also bought ourselves some ice cream but you don't get pictures of those cuz we stuffed our faces and I forgot to take a picture, so there. (If you must know I had chocolate chip cookie dough.)

For the rest of the day we literally walked around the city, just enjoying the people watching and the beautiful weather. We did some shopping, watched 50/50 which we both loved, and a whole lot of walking.

We capped the day with the cashing in on a deal that Lily had at Alma 33, Argentinian restaurant in West 8th. Dinner had a weary beginning when the restaurant called to let us know that they weren't serving their full menu, but only the Tapas or Picadas part. We decided to still go. We began the meal with some red sangria:

some really hard bread that I didn't really enjoy but yet gulf down since I was starving

Our Tapas began with some Pintxos de Entrañas, which is just steak skewers with salsa chimichurri

followed with chicken and spinach empanadas

Patatas bravas

and Miga con Chorizo

Dessert was this pudin thing drenched in creme and what not. Make your assumptions at the fact that I can't remember the name.

I was terribly underwhelmed with this meal - the patatas didn't have anything brava about them, the entrañas were okay, and their chimichurri sauce did not deserve the name chimichurri, but that's mostly because I have really good connotations with that word and this sauce is not it. The best of the picadas was the Migas con Chorizo and that's literally a mix of chorizo and mayo spread on Migas bread. Lily liked the Entrañas the best. To boot the restaurant was a little hot, and it made us be very aware of the time we spent there.

Regardless, the company and the conversation made dinner a good affair, and we left with a smile. I won't be returning here, but I'm glad we tried something new. Lily and I made it back to my place, to do some talking, and some immediate falling of the sleep after a day of walking around in the City.