Why It's My Favorite Restaurant in New York City

Fifteen or so years ago my wife and I went into the City for the first time together. We had only been married for a few months and weren't going on our honeymoon until our first anniversary (I decided long ago that I wanted to make sure the marriage "took" before I spent gobs of bucks on a honeymoon. Practical of me, don't you think? She didn't.)

We had tickets to see Miss Saigon at the Broadway Theatre. I hadn't seen a Broadway show in such a long time, but I really wanted to see this particular show. I was part of the 60s-70s Vietnam era so to me a show about that war was appealing. Well, as appealing as a musical about a war that cost over 50,000 American lives could be. Nonetheless we enjoyed the show immensely.

As we exited the theatre that Saturday night at 10:30 it was raining. Not too hard, just hard enough to make it uncomfortable. The gentleman that I am, I gave my wife my sport jacket so she could stay dry. Gentle or not, the man that I am has never let her forget my chivalry that evening (and every time I remind her of it she calls me a cheapskate for not simply buying an umbrella.)

We walked a couple of blocks downtown as the rain continued, finally taking shelter under a canopied entrance to what looked like a bar, on 47th Street just off Broadway in Times Square. By now I was dripping wet, miserable, hungry and not much fun to be around. "Let's just go in here, have a drink and decide what we want to do." "Fine," she said. "You're buying."

And that was that. We had found a home.

We were in Langan's Bar & Restaurant. Had dinner. I had veal, or a steak, or something from a cow. My wife had, uh, something too. I don't remember the details, but I do remember what a wonderful experience it was. Past the crowded bar was a quiet, white-tablecloth dining area. The service was excellent. People were friendly. Food was great.

We stayed long enough for me to dry off. Long enough, too, to have enough glasses of wine to turn a planned 10-block walk back to our hotel into a cab ride, even though the rain had stopped.

We never fail to stop in at Langan's every trip into the City. It might just be for lunch, or for a nightcap, or just to say hi to owner Des O'Brien or manager Katherine. Regardless of what's going on in the City, or in the world, or in our lives, Langan's has that warm, friendly atmosphere that forces us to just relax. And eat well.

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Take my suggestion. Try Langan's on your next visit to NYC. You can even pre-purchase a prix-fixe dinner (tax and gratuity included)

here!

Mayor Encourages Streetwalkers on Broadway

Beginning this Sunday, May 24, the City of New York is closing Broadway to traffic in Times Square.

This is the first step in the City's experiment to make all of Broadway in midtown Manhattan a pedestrian zone (see Mayor Announces New Route for 2009 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for details).

So what does this mean for visitors? More room to walk! The sidewalks along Broadway in Times Square were always too crowded. Now, new pedestrian plazas from 47th Street to 42nd Street will ease the congestion, at least for walkers. For vehicles? It remains to be seen what effect closing a main artery for 5 blocks will have on midtown car, truck, bus and taxi traffic. Will it put an unmanageable burden on parallel-running 7th Avenue? I'm sure the City will be watching very closely.

It's on with Alexa Chung

OK, I'll be the first to admit for the umpteenth time that I have no idea who Alexa Chung is. But then again, I'm not in the 14-28 year age group, and haven't been since Chevy Chase made a living mocking Gerald Ford (if you have to ask who Chevy Chase and Gerald Ford are, then you are in the Alexa Chung age demographic).

But I did receive an email today from a casting director at MTV Studios in New York City's Times Square. She wrote, "We have a new variety show starting this Summer in our Times Square location called 'It's on with Alexa Chung' to take the place of our Total Request Live show. The show will feature musical guests, movie stars and comedians in a talk show format aimed for our MTV viewers (14-28)."

MTV is looking for 14-28 year-olds to fill their studio audience for the show. They contacted NYCVP because we send a good number of groups to the City, especially during the summer when the show is taping.

Interested? If you have a group who wants to attend the taping of "It's on with Alexa Chung" then send our Group Department an email at groups@nyctrip.com. Considering their first week's guests are Jack Black, Soulja Boy, Michael Cera, Kanye West, John Legend, High School Musical's Ashley Tisdale and Ryan Reynolds, it seems like it could be quite an experience for your group.

Let me know when the Lovin' Spoonful are on.

Top 10 Things You Won't Find in New York City

10. Tickets to the Oprah Winfrey Show – it’s taped in Chicago

9. Free parking – the City sold all it’s free parking spaces to Bismarck ND (for $500 and a block of ice, or something like that)

8. Peace and quiet in Times Square – this is where the “City that never sleeps” never sleeps By the way, there used to be a billboard in Times Square promoting tourism to Tel Aviv, Israel. I think they missed the boat by not saying “Tel Aviv – the City that never schleps”

7. A dull day – 75 museums, 3,000 retail stores, 18,000 restaurants, 100s of horse drawn carriages, 2 skyscraper observation decks, 50 sightseeing tours and one Statue of Liberty!

6. A dull night – 38 Broadway theaters, over 100 off-Broadway theaters, 10 comedy clubs, and millions of lights in Times Square!

5. Neighborhoods that you see on Law & Order and CSI New York – not in midtown Manhattan. It’s one of the safest neighborhoods in the country’s safest major city!

4. Questions like ones that were heard in New York 20 years ago:

"What do you mean the guy carrying my bags doesn't work for the hotel?" "Should a cab from JFK to midtown have cost me $600?"

3. Oceanview rooms

2. Cab drivers obeying traffic laws

1. A tourist who isn’t having a great time

You In?

It's a simple question. But it heralds, for some, the ride of their life.

Hailing a cab in Manhattan isn't hard. All taxis are the same color, all drivers are licensed by the City's Taxi & Limousine Commission and are required by law to pick up anyone and transport them to any destination within the City (and a few outlying counties as well).

For New Yorkers, taking a cab is almost an involuntary reflex. Need to get from point A to point B? Stick your arm out at a 45 degree angle and a yellow vehicle will appear. (Why are all NYC cabs yellow? If you really want to know, look it up on google. I did and the answer's not all that exciting. I do recall, however, escorting a group of travel agents through the top floor of the Doubletree Guest Suites in Times Square when one looked out the window and said, in all sincerity and naivete, "Why do so many New Yorkers drive yellow cars?")

Once in a lifetime, though, a magic cab appears. You get in, you tell the driver your destination, you buckle your seatbelt, and you hear a loud synthesized sound as disco-like lights surround you. The driver turns around and announces, "You're in the Cash Cab. It's a TV game show played right here in my taxi. I'm your host, Ben Bailey, and I'll ask you general knowledge questions until we reach your destination. Whaddya say, You In?"

Before you even notice the tiny cameras in the vehicle, you're riding through the streets of Manhattan answering questions (hopefully correctly) worth anywhere from $25 to $200 each. Three strikes and you're out, though, as Ben will pull you over and boot you out if you miss three questions.

Cash Cab is a Discovery Network show. I watch it every day. I love it not just for the game aspect, but for the New York City scenery as it rolls along out the cab's windows. It's just so New York, and most of the contestants are so New Yorkish. "Clear the meter please," one crotchety lady orders twice before Ben can finish his You In spiel.

Someday I'm going to get in the Cash Cab. I know its license number (I'm not telling you). I know what the cab looks like (it's yellow). I'll answer every question right. I'll get the Red Light Challenge. I'll even do the Video Bonus. I'll be so charming and intelligent that the Discovery Network will want me on full time. Ben Bailey will be my best friend. We'll hang out together and sign autographs and write books and make movies and be in a rock band.

Yeah, I'm in.

Why Sinatra Liked Patsy's Restaurant

(this article was published in the New York Times May 11, 2009)

When Frank Sinatra died on May 14, 1998, friends and fans just showed up at Patsy’s Restaurant in Midtown — arguably Sinatra’s favorite restaurant in New York City for decades. Salvatore Scognamillo, the chef and co-owner, remembered people saying, "I just felt I had to be here today."

It was a place that was strongly identified with Sinatra, who had a special table upstairs in the back. "After he passed away, we needed to celebrate his life," said Mr. Scognamillo, the grandson of the founder, Pasquale Scognamillo. On Dec. 12, Sinatra’s birthday, Patsy’s, a Neapolitan restaurant, now has a tradition of serving his favorite dishes like clams Posillipo, fusilli with fileto di pomodoro, and ricotta torte for dessert. Another one of Sinatra favorites was veal Milanese. "He loved it paper thin," Mr. Scognamillo said.

"We certainly wouldn’t be in the position we would be today if it wasn’t for him," Mr. Scognamillo said. Much of their high-profile customer base is like an exercise in six degrees of separation from Sinatra, he said. For example, he said, "Julia Roberts was brought in by George Clooney, who was brought in by Aunt Rosemary Clooney, and Rosemary Clooney was brought in by Frank Sinatra."

This year, to commemorate the anniversary of Sinatra’s death, Patsy’s is displaying a series of 15 photos of Sinatra, which have never before been publicly exhibited. The photos, which will be up until May 21, were taken by Bobby Bank on Feb. 16, 1977, during a recording session at Mediasound Recording Studios, which was around the corner from Patsy’s.

There was one example of Patsy’s level of customer service for Sinatra, also recounted in "Patsy’s Cookbook," that Mr. Scognamillo said sealed the singer’s loyalty to the restaurant. One November in the early 1950s, Mr. Sinatra was having a rough time both professionally and personally. His career was in a gradual slide that had steepened after 1948 and hit bottom in 1952. He had divorced and remarried into a tumultuous relationship with Ava Gardner, which was also in decline.

It was before his Oscar-winning performance in "From Here to Eternity," before reinvention as a cosmopolitan crooner of the 1950s from the 1940s starry-eyed boy next door, before he was immortalized in Gay Talese’s 1966 landmark profile for Esquire, "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold." "Before his comeback, he was down and out," Mr. Scognamillo recalled.

Sinatra was alone at the restaurant the night before Thanksgiving, and many of the other customers walked right past him without acknowledging him. "They are all my fair-weather friends," he said at the time, Mr. Scognamillo said. He said he wanted to eat Thanksgiving dinner at Patsy’s. Mr. Scognmillo’s grandfather did not have the heart to tell him that the restaurant was normally closed for the holiday. "He felt like he would have hurt his pride if he had done that, so he didn’t say anything," Mr. Scognamillio said.

So the restaurant made the reservation. And his grandfather called up the staff and told them to bring their families in for Thanksgiving. "They were moaning and groaning," Mr. Scognamillio said. But they understood it was for Sinatra. The restaurant also called in some other guests to fill out the restaurant — though not enough that Sinatra did not notice that it was somewhat emptier than usual the next day.

So they opened for Thanksgiving for Sinatra, who had a 3 p.m. reservation.
Not until years later did Sinatra find out that they had opened just for him, Mr. Scognamillo said. But no one ever said anything. And the lifelong relationship between Patsy’s and Sinatra was sealed, and Sinatra became the restaurant’s most prominent marketing force.

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Patsy's Restaurant lunch or dinner can be booked as an inclusion in any NYCVP Package with NYC TripQuote at http://nyctripquote.nyctrip.com/

John Lennon Exhibit Opens

An exhibit entitled "John Lennon: The New York City Years" opens today at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame annex in Soho.

Lennon lived in New York from 1971 until his death in 1980. He loved the City, as his widow Yoko Ono told The Daily News, "because it's the most culturally developed city in the world." "He was an intellectual," the widow says, "so he felt a part of that."

John greatly preferred the city to his previous home in London because, said Ono, "He's English, and English people are not so kind to local heroes."

His guitar, his much sought-after green card, original hand-written lyrics, photographs and artwork are among the items on display.

For more information and to purchase tickets to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame annex

click here or paste http://www.nyctrip.com/Pages/Details.aspx?TourID=394 in your browser.

Statue of Liberty

After last week's announcement by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar (first reported here) that the Statue of Liberty's crown will again be accessible to visitors, little has been released regarding the details. This we do know:

• The crown will be open to visitors on July 4, 2009 for two years, after which it will again be closed for work on a permanent safety and security renovation.
• Park rangers will lead groups of 10 up the 168 winding stairs to the crown. 3 groups per hour will be permitted.
• No system has yet been announced to determine who will actually be able to climb the steps to the crown.

In the meantime the base, pedestal and observation deck are still available inside the Statue for visitors. However guests need a ferry ticket and an advance reserved ticket in order to get inside. These reserved tickets can be difficult to get, particularly during busy tourist seasons in New York City.

Our recommendation is to participate in NYCVP's Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Escorted Tour, which departs daily through September 14 (Friday through Monday after September 14). Tickets to get inside the Statue are an included feature of the Tour.

The Tour leaves from a convenient midtown Manhattan location, close to all major Theater District, Broadway and Times Square hotels. Subway fare and ferry ticket is included as well.

For more information about the easiest way to visit the Statue of Liberty, click here or paste in your browser: http://www.nyctrip.com/Pages/Details.aspx?TourID=11

Crowning Glory

After being closed for "security reasons" since 9/11/01, the Statue of Liberty's Crown will soon be accessible to visitors, according to an announcement made by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on this morning's Today Show.

The Secretary told Matt Lauer that the crown will be open initially for about 30 visitors an hour on July 4. He said that there would be a lottery system in place to determine who would be lucky enough to make the 350-step journey up a narrow, winding staircase to the top of Lady Liberty.

As we learn more we'll keep you posted right here on this blog.

Creed!

I got all excited yesterday when I saw a post on cnn.com about Creed returning. Wow, I thought, is Creed Bratton touring with the Grass Roots again? Is he leaving The Office? Will he come back to Scranton?

Then I realized the news article was about the 90s Christian rock band.

They're playing Jones Beach in August.

Creed Bratton is playing Thursday nights on NBC.

Love in New York

This video won the NYC Region Award in the I Love NY short film competition:

Love In New York - NYC Region Award - The funniest home videos are here