Slices From the Apple

I have just returned from a great five-day weekend in New York City. The weather was great, the streets were bustling, the BBQs were aflame, and cocktails were flowing. Other notable happenings from a Memorial Day weekend in New York include:

• For the first time ever, more New Yorkers were sporting Mets caps than Yankees hats this weekend. This obviously speaks to the recent performance of the two teams, but also affirms a more important point: EVERY city is full of front-runners. Of course, there are exceptions, but most casual fans love a winner, even in New York where everyone has you believe that they are more die-hard than anybody else. Not quite.

• While having breakfast at one of our favorite dives, The Waverly Diner, in the village, I saw Philip Seymour Hoffman walking down the street with his family. This is actually the second or third time I’ve seen him. He looked tired or hungover each time.

• We had an impromptu dinner at the Spotted Pig on Sunday night. This place is sometimes written up in Page Six or other celeb magazines as a dining haunt for folks like Owen and Luke Wilson, and Jay-Z and Beyonce, so we wanted to see what the fuss was about. The menu is actually not too expensive and super casual. On the menu though were pig’s ears, and marinated faggots. Suffice it to say, I had a burger and Natalia had some gnocchi-type thing. Also, if you’ve never heard of Roquefort cheese, you may want it on the side and not smothered on the burger.

• Sunday night we had a great time partying with friends and actually went to this party (see link), but got there too late to hang with this fuzzy mascot.
  http://deadspin.com/sports/mr%27-met-will-steal-your-drink-and-take-your-girl/when-its-time-for-mr-met-to-party-its-time-to-party-hard-264416.php

• Like most couples, going to the movies is a favorite pastime. This weekend, we did not see a flick simply because there was not a movie that appealed to the two of us. Spiderman 3- I was kinda into checking it, but not the lady really. Pirates- No. The Namesake- Natalia already saw it. The Ex-not even in theaters anymore.

• A passed-out Lindsay Lohan made the cover of both New York rag newspapers on Monday. I mentioned to Natalia that I don't think even 9/11 made the cover of both papers, but a hammered Lohan is splashed on both tabloids. What a country.

Also, I wanted to add a quick story that happened to me two weeks ago. My buddy Chris was in town from LA for the weekend and we decided to hit the A’s-Giants game in Oakland. We get to the Coliseum and quickly learned that the game was sold out. Like any good baseball fans we began to look for scalper seats. After trying to talk down some scalpers to no avail, we wandered around the stadium asking if anybody has two extras. After a while, a middle-aged guy comes up to us and says, “Yeah, I got two extras. You look like a couple of nice guys. Here you go.”

Us: Sweet! How much do we owe you?

Guy: Don’t worry about it.

Us: Are you sure? Thanks. We’ll buy you a beer.

Chris: By the way, what’s your name?

Guy: Call me Homey.

Chris: That’s easy to remember.

Homey: Have fun.

(walking away)

Chris: (to me) I wonder how you spell that.

Me: No idea.

Chris: Well, Homey DO play that.

Nice! Free tickets! We proceed into the stadium and quickly learn that the seats he gave us are in his luxury box. Super Sweet! So we enjoyed a great game with Homey and his friends and family, had a couple beers and wings, and peanuts all for the bargain low price of ZERO. Good times.