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Looking north along Fifth Avenue from 74th Street. 2:20 PM. Photo: JH. |
Yesterday was a sunny very warm day in New York, the day before the Fourth. JH and I went to lunch and then took a walk in the Park to have a meeting of the minds and discuss business.
I was surprised -- although I shouldn’t have been -- riding in the cab down Park Avenue headed for the low 70s at one o’clock on a weekday afternoon, that I could count the number of cars as much as twenty blocks distant. There were so few. You see the avenues and streets when the moving vehicles are gone. You see the buildings of all sizes and designs dominating the moving skyline. In this form, its raw form, you get a glimpse of the awesomeness of the city.
Readers know this writer tends to stay in town on weekends. I’m not much for houseguesting because I need the unwind time to be alone, think, read – especially read – and nap.
As a result I’ve become a Big Fan of New York on the weekend. And this weekend, just judging from the paucity of cars when you look up or down on the avenues, promises to be a beauty.
JH and I went to lunch at Via Quadranno, the little Italian sandwich shop/restaurant on East 73rd between Madison and Park. Via Quadranno is the diner of choice for the rich, the chic and the shameless who inhabit this gilted (or gilt-plated) part of town. In this neighborhood of the rich – and indeed you almost have to be rich to afford the rents and the prices – Via Quadranno is this tiny, sliver of a place, almost a hole in the wall, with really great food at great prices. Great as in expensive. Nevertheless, great is great, and Via Quadranno has it. One thing about the rich – they go for the best given the opportunity. |
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Posing in front of the Alice in Wonderland sculpture (commissioned by George Delacorte in honor of his wife, Margarita). |
I split a tomato and buffalo mozzarella salad (with a leaf of basil) with JH. The waiter came by and doused our plates with balsamic vinegar and olive oil and pepper. Then I had a sandwich called the Orchidea which is ham and cheese and tomato with fontina, brie and goat cheese and a dash of Tabasco on a sliced baguette. I can’t remember what JH had but it was something similar, an exotic yet ordinary and very tasty sandwich. We each had two iced teas. That was it. 63 bucks plus tip. JH left another 12 bucks for tip. 75 bucks for a couple of sandwiches and iced teas. Not bad, no? Anyway, we did not leave hungry or disappointed.
I’m laughing because it sounds ridiculous. Except it’s not. It’s the way things have come to be. Oh, I know you can get a lot more for a lot less at McDonald’s, but you can’t get what Via Quadranno offers at McDonald’s, or a lot of other places up and down the avenue for that matter.
From lunch we walked down the block and into the Park. There were a lot of people in the Park by the sailboat basin. It was lovely and peaceful. Lots of people with their children, their dogs, their friends, their parents; strolling, sunbathing, picnicking, reading or just sitting and watching. You can spend the entire day sitting on a bench in the Park just watching and you will never be bored by the passing parade.
We took a seat on a bench on the walk just north of the sailboat basin and across from the Alice In Wonderland sculpture. We stopped there because there was a blues band playing al fresco around the sculpture’s oval underneath a shady tree. And they were good, really good. |
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| Click to watch a snippet of the Tin Pan Blues band. |
They call themselves the Tin Pan Blues band and they play early jazz and Americana. I think six guys. Just kinda sitting there jamming. While a dozen or more little kids were climbing the statue and all around visitors were watching and listening and taking pictures with their digitals (the digital is the cell phone of the Park).
The music was so good. The musicians were having a hell of a good time. The kids were slightly taken over by the music, and we were all very lucky to be there in that beautiful moment in New York City, the day before Independence Day in the United States of America.
It was down home once again and it gave me pause to think about who we were and who we are; what we were and what we are. I had a moment of what people would call optimism in these tricky and distracting times of the 75-dollar sandwiches and iced teas. But more about that some other day. On this day there was music everywhere. |
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