A Grand Day in Manhattan with the NYC Nosh - November 14. 2010 (with pics!)

After a couple of misfires earlier this year, the NYC Nosh Tour came together on Sunday November 14, 2010.  Our first stop was at 10am in front of Murray's Bagels just outside of Union Square.  I made everyone pose for the requisite group shot before going in.  From left top right:  Matt, Heather (Karilyn's friends from MA), RFer Karilyn, Dayna (my GF), Michelle (Mrs. Tony Bad), RFer Tony Bad, his sister Margret and in the front Tony & Michelle's children, Christina and Anthony.

As is the case on most Sundays here in NYC, the place was packed but the line moved fairly quickly.  

Mmmmmm....fresh bagels!!

More.....!!!

I had been so excited to come here and already knew what I would be getting.  Unfortunately, the Everything bagels were still baking so I opted for a whole wheat Everything with Maple-Walnut-Raisin cream cheese.  When I told some in the group they thought it was an odd mix but for me the combination of savory and sweet has long been a favorite of mine.  My only complaint about this bagel is that there wasn't any salt on it and that would have really played well against the sweetness of the cream cheese.  That aside, this was a really good, fresh, chewy (without being doughy) bagel.  It made me so happy.  I think everyone liked Murray's and a few people picked up some to take home.
 
One thing to note about Murray's is that they do not have a toaster and therefore cannot toast a bagel for you.  They don't sell day old bagels either so everything you get was made that same day.  I have always maintained that toasting is CPR for bagels.  A way to breathe life back into something, if you will.  I do understand the textural appeal of toasting but if you come to NYC and you want to try a bagel, please do not ask for your first one to be toasted.  Try it as it was meant to be.

Our 2nd stop of the day was a short walk away to The Donut Pub on the corner of 14th Street & 7th Avenue.

Looking in the window display, you can see they also sell black & white cookies, red velvet cupcakes and Oreo muffins.  I've been coming to this 24 hour donut shop for a few years now and it definitely is a "mostly locals" kind of spot.  Stools at the well worn counter and a small staff on hand cranking out some tasty fried goodies.

What to choose?  What to choose?

Karilyn seems pretty happy with her Chocolate Ring.

Dayna picked up an Apple Fritter.  While the inside was most likely canned apple filling, the pastry itself was light, sweet and very tasty.  And she's not a donut person at all.

I had my usual, a Toasted Coconut yeast donut and a French Crueller.  Delicious as always and I could knock back about a half dozen of those French Cruellers in my sleep.  So light and soft yet crispy on the outside!  Everyone seemed to like the feel of the place, which filled up quickly, and the quality of the donuts.  On to stop #3...

Carnegie Deli!!!  This is the place that got the ball rolling for this tour.  Tony Bad and I had talked about getting lunch together and I had never been here before (despite having worked 3 blocks from here for almost 2 years!).  I really do like their exterior signage but there was scaffolding up on this day.  My apologies.

I love the saying on this menu!

I had every intention of ordering a pastrami sandwich but I went with the Woody Allen instead.  Dedicated Fresser?  No problem!  Famous last words...

Sours and half sours for the table.  They were alright but no the best pickles I've ever had in a deli.

Marisa took a group shot...  

...and then I returned the favor.  In this shot, left to right:  Michelle, Margaret, Marisa, Doug, Tony, Christina and Anthony.  I think Tony, Michelle and Margret split a Woody Allen and made short work of it.  The kids each had a foot long hot dog and managed to polish them off.  We spent a good portion of time trying to figure out who many of the people were in the pictures on the walls.

My Woody Allen Pastrami/corned beef combo.  I knew I was going to enjoy the pastrami when we first entered the deli and I was hit in the face with the sultry perfume of cured meat.  This was sooooo good.  Moist, tender and lots of flavor and for the first 3 or 4 bites I was all set to polish it off, but it is HUGE!  I ended up taking half of it home where it sits in my refrigerator as I write this.  Me? A Dedicated Fresser?  What was I thinking?  I did also order a side of baked beans, but in my meat coma I neglected take a picture of them.  They were outstanding.  I'm a huge lover of baked beans and these really reminded me of the ones at Mr. Bartley's in Cambridge, MA.  

A full on frontal shot (just for you, Ellen!).  

Marisa picked up a meat knish in addition the the Woody Allen that she and Doug split.  It was pretty good but I think I prefer potato knishes.

I called Carnegie a few days ahead to see about a reservation for 15 and they said that was a small number for them and to just call an hour before we arrived.  Well, I remembered that bit of advice as we walked up to the deli.  Good one, Billy!  A woman came out to find out how many in each party and they seated us pretty quickly.  We ended up sitting at two different tables (Dayna, Karilyn, Matt, Heather and our friend, Claude on the main floor).  This view is from the stairs leading up to our table in the back room.  The walls of this place are filed with head shots, most of whom many of us didn't recognize, although if you look closely, you can spot one of my favorite mascots, Alfred E. Neuman on the wall.    

And I just HAD to take this shot of the line-up of usual deli suspects on the way out.  Looking forward to coming back here soon!  A few things to note:  There is a charge for sharing, there is an extra charge for more bread for the sandwiches and the minimum order for adults is $12.95 (most of the sandwiches are priced around that or above).  I think I still prefer the cafeteria-style and counterman interaction of Katz's, but this place has got an awful lot of charm and great food to boot.  Touristy?  Hey, it's between Central Park and Times Square! It's to be expected, but I think it's worth walking through the masses.  And Dale, I'm sorry for not getting a shot of the cheesecake for you but after that meal I felt if I even LOOKED at a cheesecake, I may have exploded!

 
Six more stops to come! Stay tuned...!

Made me hungry ... Wish I were there.

Fantastic !!!!
 
Always a good report when you feel like you were there
Benzee

Billyboy
 
This is a great start to your trip report. I'll forgive you for not getting the cheesecake, the photos of the Woody Allen more than made up for it..
 
So I wonder where Tony Bad went to rent the wife and kids for the day?

Billyboy -
 
Nice report and pictures...makes me hungry just looking at it!
 
I didn't know you could rent a wife and kids for the day....

Wow-awesome looking food-looking forward to seeing more.

A+, Great report, fantastic pics, great, happy looking group, I wish I was there!

ChiTownDiner


 I didn't know you could rent a wife and kids for the day....

 
Yeah....that's right.....plead ignorance!

Wow, those sandwiches are more than I could handle. I would have to skip the donuts that morning just to fit one in.

Am really enjoying this...been to the Carnegie Deli...but never had the Woody Allen...it's now at the top of my list. Thanks!

I'm green with envy...more, please!    Chris

Gorgeous shots and great narrative Billy!  Dale, I would agree with you that it appears that Tony has both married and reproduced up.  :)

wanderingjew

 So I wonder where Tony Bad went to rent the wife and kids for the day?

 
They came with a frame I bought.

Sometimes, just sometimes, I wish I still lived in NY. This was one of those times.
Thanks for the memories, Tony.

Thank you Billy!!!!!  What a perfect day . . . good food, good people, good weather!  Definitely worth 7 hours of total driving time (hit traffic on the way home) . . . would do it again in a heartbeat!  Heading back to NYC tomorrow . . . cheers . . . . karilyn

The start & finish of my day would be the Carnegie Deli. I wouldn't be able to eat anything else before or after a stop there!

Awesome pictures and review. Almost like being there except I am not stuffed!
I spotted Alfred E. "What me worry" Neuman
Thanks!

When last we saw the Roadfood Superfriends, they were slowly making their way out of the Hall of Pastrami after a very tasty and filing lunch.  Doug, Marisa and Claude tapped out at this point (don't worry, ole Billyboy will train 'em good for the next tour!).  Tony and his family drove down to the East Village to meet us at our next stop, Gem Spa, for NYC egg creams.  The rest of us walked down Broadway past the Ed Sullivan Theatre (home of the Late Show) and made our way to the 49th Street station to catch the R train to 8th Street in Greenwich Village.

Our plan came together and we arrived at stop #4 almost at the same time!  I don't think this place has changed very much in many years.  It's not a restaurant or soda fountain, just a small shop that sells hats, smokes, newspapers, magazines, lotto tickets and happens to make a proper egg cream.  Really Billy?  Are there eggs and cream in it and you drink it?  Is it like eggnog?  Well, no on both points.  
 
An egg cream is a drink with three components:  seltzer water, ice cold milk and chocolate syrup.  A good egg cream really comes down to three key elements:  quality ingredients (water must be fizzy and not flat, milk must be ice cold and depending on who you ask, the syrup MUST be Fox's U-Bet brand), proper proportions (being that there are only three ingredients, too much or not enough of one can throw it completely off balance:  too fizzy, sickly sweet, over-abundance of milk muting the other elements) and finally, the right mixing technique (I had a caramel egg cream that wasn't mixed properly and all of the syrup was at the bottom resulting in massive separate doses of fizzy milk and then overly sweet caramel syrup).  When it comes to egg creams, balance and harmony is the name of the game.
As we all know, Roadfooding is about more than just the food.  It's the experience, the people we meet and share it with, the ones who make it for us and ultimately color our perspective and the overall atmosphere of the place in which it is served.  Almost everyone I have spoken to in NYC who is of my parents' generation has fond memories of sharing an egg cream with their "best girl/fella" at the local soda fountain.  I've been trying egg creams all over Manhattan in the past couple of years and while there are a few that are done right, the old soda shop atmosphere isn't as prevalent as it may once been.  Gem Spa may not have the ambiance of those places in days gone by, but the man at the counter has been making them for 20 years and from our conversation and watching him, he takes a lot of pride in what he makes.  

I think the gang enjoyed this rather light and uniquely New York stop.

They offer three flavors: chocolate, vanilla and coffee.  I went for the chocolate.  When he first poured the milk it looked really thick coming out of the container and for a second I thought it may have spoiled but it was just REALLY cold to the point that it was ice milk!  This is a good thing.  He swirled it around in the cup for a minute and broke down the ice crystals, gave about 3-4 pumps of chocolate syrup and then turned on the seltzer fountain and mixed his magic.  The end result was a nice white foamy head and chocolaty brown underside that was at turns fizzy, chocolaty (without being too sweet) and creamy.  After all of that corned beef and pastrami, this elixir was, in the words of Tony Bad and my friend Marisa, a Brioschi!

As we headed down to the Lower East Side, we happened upon Toy Tokyo on 2nd Avenue and just HAD to stop in!  

Change we can count!

You come in here, on the day of your Roadfood Tour, not asking me if I want to join in the fun?  You disrespect me, Billyboy! - Don Vito Corleone

Missing that elusive Godzilla or Mothra action figure that will just COMPLETE your collection?  Chances are they have it here!

This is just the tip of the iceberg of Star Wars collectibles they had.  Loved it!

And for the "Laugh Out Loud" award of the day.  While in the toy store, Tony and Anthony found these gems!  The Mr. T version said things like, "Shut up, fool!!  Grrr!".  Sarah Palin said, "You betcha!!"  I was really hoping for, "I can see Russia from my backyard!"  Anyway, the one to the left of Palin is a "Reservoir Dogs In Your Pocket".  Tony pressed a button and it spouted out, "Mr. Brown"? That's little too close to "Mr. Sh*t" rather loudly in the store.  Tony took a pass on pressing any other buttons.

After our brief respite from noshing, we made our way to Houston Street and Yonah Schimmel's Knish Bakery.  100 years young in 2010 and still going!

Michelle and Anthony picked up a chocolate cheese knish and had it warmed up.  I tried a bite and while it was okay it just didn't work for me.  Not sure what kind of cheese was in it but I would have preferred cream cheese.  The chocolate was very good though.  The dough was too heavy for me and I think a light, flaky pastry dough would have paired much better. 

Karilyn, Matt and Heather bought a classic potato knish.  I've had this one on a few occasions before and it was really god but today it seemed as though they had mixed the skins from the potatoes in the filling and their taste and texture seemed to distract from my enjoyment rather than add to it.  Still worth coming back though.

Sixth on the hit parade was an unplanned but very welcome stop to Economy Candy on Rivington Street on the Lower East Side.  I'd like to take this moment to publicly thank the Annabelle Candy Company for its decision to use my college nickname for their popular candy bar.  Ahh, the memories it brings back every time I buy one...    Next to See's Awesome Peanut Brittle Bar this is my favorite candy bar!

Yes!  Goldenberg's Peanut Chews are still on the market.  They are distributed by Just Born, Inc. out of Bethlehem, PA, the same as Chew-ets Peanut Chews.  Just Born acquired Goldenberg's in 2003, so I'm not sure if they are making the same bar only in two different wrappers or if there is a different formula for each one.  

A couple of harder to find classics.

Another fave of mine.

I don't ever remember seeing a DARK chocolate Clark bar and to be honest I really didn't see much of it once I got it disrobed from that bulky looking wrapper and quickly into something more comfortable...my belly!!

I love how compact and utterly, wonderfully cluttered this store is!  I feel as though I find something new every time I stop in.  Anthony found some really great candies, like a giant gummy bear the size of a softball and he regaled the group with his story of the time he ate the bubblegum from a pack of decades old baseball cards from here.  You, young sir, are a braver soul than I!!

 
Thee more stops (including dumplings, pizza and rice pudding) to the finish line.  Slow and steady eating wins the Roadfood race!  Til then...

Gregg, I'll be putting together another one after the new year or possibly in the srping.
Benzee, thanks man!  Hope you had fun at Pocono Downs.
Dale, glad I could be of service.  The Woodster almost took me out for the day.  I had to cry uncle early into it or I would have hit the wall!  Creative snap on the rental wife!
Oh, Nancy!!  
Tony, you don't miss a beat, good sir and I love it.  You were a true champion with that Woody Allen and I really enjoyed your recounting of your experience at Galatoire's in NOLA.  Made we want to go there.  
Karilyn, Dayna and I were so glad you could make it.  Really great meeting Matt & Heather too!  
 

 
 
billyboy,
 
As always, a great report. For me you hit the jackpot when you went into Toy Tokyo. There is no other store quite like that in America. I am a major fan of Japanese monster movies and I have never left empty handed from that place.
I am surprised that you did not show a picture of Pomme Frittes next door. You've been there enough, but the folks here always love to see the place.
Economy Candy is always fun too. A trip to NYC is not complete unless I head south and hit these places. It sounds like you will be finishing this report in Chinatown and the East Village. Cool.....
 
mark
 
 

Hey,love that candy store! Did they have the new Bonomo's turkish Taffee? It's hard to find. I've found the banana flavor only and that was great!

billyboy, Great report!  Everything looks really good.
 
I hope you don't think I'm being overly observent but, you list the names of eight people in the first photo.  I counted nine people.
 
 From left top right:  Matt, Heather (Karilyn's friends from MA), RFer Karilyn, Dayna (my GF), Michelle (Mrs. Tony Bad), RFer Tony Bad and their children, Christina and Anthony.
 
Did Tony bring his wife and his girlfriend? 
 
Serious though, a well organized trip, perfect weather and great people

joerogo


Did Tony bring his wife and his girlfriend? 

That is just so wrong....
 
I know who that is- that's Margaret- Tony's sister from the Brooklyn pizza tour from  3 1/2 years ago.
 
BTW, I forgot that free wife and kids come with purchase of picture frames....

BillyBoy, Great pictures, great trip report. The Cheesecake at the Carnegie is real good, next time order one piece and 14 forks......................The Carnegie deli is a place to go back too, you can only try one thing at a time.................so much to eat and so little time.........................The best, thanks .....................BillyB

leethebard


Hey,love that candy store! Did they have the new Bonomo's turkish Taffee? It's hard to find. I've found the banana flavor only and that was great!

Yes Lee! They had Banana and Vanilla, which is my favorite. It is as good as I remembered!

joerogo

 Did Tony bring his wife and his girlfriend? 

 
My wife never lets me bring my girlfriend...the unnamed person is my sister Margret, a veteran of hot dog and pizza tours of the past.

A fine meetup report, billyboy!  I'm going to put Gem Spa on my must-try list for NYC.  I used to get egg creams at the Liggett's (sp?) drug store soda fountain at 88th and Madison.

I'm really enjoying this great report Billyboy. Thanks!
 
One thing would have bugged me though. Egg Cream in a paper cup?? It just doesn't taste as good if you can't see the milk/foam dividing line in a cross section through a real glass.

Hey Big Hunk !!!
Great reports buddy keep them coming
Benzee

There is little to add after Billy tells a story, so I will add a couple of my pictures and just say that Bill is truly a wonderful person to spend a day with. Not only is he a wonderful tour guide but a fun and funny person to be around. 
 
Here was a place we didn't try, but one that had a classic name. 
 

 
A shot of my whole wheat everything from Murray's. These bagels scared me because they were rather fat, which often means that the bagel will go down like a hunk of lead, but they were light and airy inside, with a nice well done crust on the outside. 
 

 
Here were our groups donuts from the donut pub. Chocolate Dipper, Toasted Coconut, and Glazed. All very good. This place is more of a traditional donut place as opposed to the donut plant which makes what I call donut shaped pastries. Both good, yet very different.
 

 
My Coconut Creme donut somehow vanished before my camera could focus. We also took home some muffins and scones for Monday breakfast which everyone said were good.
 

 
The woman at the counter assured me this was healthier than a no fat bran muffin...
 

 
Here is Billy holding court in our little private room at the very back of Carnegie Deli...
 

 
Our perch left us with a unique view of the hustle and bustle of the place...
 

 
Some one else can do the tourist trap or not debate...all I can say is what an awesome sandwich...
 

 
Outside Gem Spa we had a hard time convincing Billy this was just a plastic prop and he would hurt himself eating it. This was taken just before Matt, Heather, and Karilyn wrestled him to the ground...for his own good.
 

 
One of my favorite items at Toy Tokyo was this DIY graffiti train...
 

 
No shots in Economy Candy, but I did find one of my old favorites, Bonomo Turkish Taffy, Vanilla flavor. Mmmmmmmmm...good! I also got some tootsie pop drops and charms candies. Also both as good as I remembered from years past.
 
 

Billyboy 
Looks like you all had a wonderful day.  I'm so jealous!! But very happy for you as well.  Can't wait to see the Dumpling pictures.
 
Please plan another one of these soon.

Doddydaddy, I did point out Pomme Frites, one of my favorite spots, but we were pretty stuffed from Carnegie at that point.  Perhaps it needs to be added to the next tour!  Close, we ended up on the Lower East Side and then Nolita (north of Little Italy).
 
Joe, good catch.  I updated the post.  Sorry Margret!
 
MiamiDon, I wonder if that soda fountain is still around.  Another great spot in that area is the Lexington Candy Shop.  I've had some good egg creams and malteds there. 
 
Ken, I hear you about the paper cup.  I was disappointed when I first went there a few years ago but it IS a mighty fine egg cream, well balanced and refreshing.  While it may lack the visual artistry, drinking one while walking the streets of the East Village is an interesting experience as that area is like a box of Forrest Gump chocolates (you never know what you're gonna get!).
 
Benzee, thanks man!  The idea for my pose with the Big Hunk was Tony's and I'm liking it more each day.  I made it my profile picture on the facebook!
 
Tony, thank you so much!  That is very kind of you to say.  I really had a wonderfful time with everyone and you and your family are a delight.  You and Michelle have a couple of great kids!  I forgot about that "Godfather" shot!  Classic.  Why did you deny me my burger, Tony!  WHY!!??  Graffiti your own train?  Start the kids early, I say!  Great pics and commentary, Tony!!
 
 

Two viewpoints of the same day!  I love it!

ChiTownDiner

I didn't know you could rent a wife and kids for the day....

And here I was thinking "WHY" would anyone want to rent a wife and kids for the day?  With all due respect to the Fake Mrs. Tony Bad and the Fake Tony Bad Offspring, one really needn't pay for someone to tell you what's wrong with you and not have sex with you.
 
Heck, even I can get THAT for free.

The Travelin Man

ChiTownDiner

I didn't know you could rent a wife and kids for the day....

And here I was thinking "WHY" would anyone want to rent a wife and kids for the day?  With all due respect to the Fake Mrs. Tony Bad and the Fake Tony Bad Offspring, one really needn't pay for someone to tell you what's wrong with you and not have sex with you.

Heck, even I can get THAT for free.

 
Yeah but yours are usually 14 and the law gets called as you leave a place too.

hey now, Tony's kids might be reading this, folks......chill

Tony, nice additions...wow that bagel looks like the real thing!!

Wow - so far, so great! Sorry we missed this, juts couldn't make the new date work, but will look forward to the next one! Waiting with baited (pun, I had to have an everything bagel this morning while I caught up on the report!) breath for the rest!

TnTinCT


Wow - so far, so great! Sorry we missed this, juts couldn't make the new date work, but will look forward to the next one! Waiting with baited (pun, I had to have an everything bagel this morning while I caught up on the report!) breath for the rest!

I agree all around! A great report, and am so sorry that I couldn't be there.  Billyboy, I am looking forward to your next excursion -- sign me up for Nosh 2!  Can the Carnegie Deli and the dumpling place be repeat visits??

Billyboy
 
This has been one great trip report so far, the food, the fun & the friends.  One of these day I have to come back to the Big Apple there is just SOOOOOOOOOOO many cool places to eat.
 
My favorites at the candy store would have been the cherry mash
 
It is very hard to find an egg creme let alone a GREAT one, you are so lucky!
 
Thanks for sharing the day

After getting our sugar on at Economy, we walked through the Lower East Side and came upon this sight.  I seriously hope that was a leftover from an episode of CSI:NY!


Our next nosh brought us to Vanessa's Dumplings on Eldridge Street.  I spend a fair amount of time in this neighborhood and since my friend Ian told me about this place a few years back, it has been a regular stop for me.  In fact, I go out of my way to come here, I love the dumplings so much.  

Cheap, tasty and filling and a pretty big menu, Vanessa's is packed most of the time ad finding a seat can be difficult if you have a big group.  Cash only, you get in line, place your order and wait for them to call your number.  Hold on to your receipt and they will use it to match with the one they have.  The soups, sandwiches and bubble teas are great too.

The sesame pancake for 75 cents.  Chewy, nutty, greasy and studded with scallions it's great on its own or as the base for a many a sandwich filled with duck, pork, beef, vegetables...  I'm partial to soaking mine in the sriracha/soy mixture I make for my dumplings!!

My pork & chive dumplings for $1.00.  What a bargain!  They let them get all fried and crusty on one side and keep the other side soft and chewy while the pork inside is filled with the aromas of chive, ginger and garlic.  Be sure to stoop over when eating these as they can be juicy and if you're not careful your shirt will become a map of where you've been!  This was a hit with the group and I think this little place tucked away came as a surprise and a gem to mant.  Some remarked how they would definitely come back with others.

Can make the weekend matches at the club in the Hamptons with Muff and Uncle Biff?  Stop on by the Lower East Side for some urban street polo!  I has seen these guys here before and it was a nice surprise for the group.  Always something interesting and fun happening in the city.



A shot of the Empire State building.  I never tire of seeing this when I'm walking around the city.

Michelle and I were noticing the old and the new and really liked this older building and its green trim and the way it cut a nice figure in the skyline.

Our second to last stop was Ray's Pizzeria on Prince Street.  The blur in this shot is a biker pedaling by.  It wasn't intentional but when I saw it later that night I liked how it came out.  A city constantly in motion, never fulling stopping lest it miss out on something.  There are many "Ray's" around the city and almost as many different stories as to which one came first and is "famous" or "original" as there are Ray's!  This one in Nolita (North of Little Italy) is my favorite and I have found it to be the most consistent of all the slice places I have been to.  As is the case with many pizza slice shops, freshness can prove to be a problem since the pies can be sitting out for a while.  I've walked in here before, didn't like the way the pizza looked and walked back out again.  Today, they didn't have any pies fresh from the oven right as we walked in but they did look good so I grabbed a slice.  Usually if you ask for a slice in the city you'll get a slice of cheese pizza.  

This, to me, is a great representation of a NYC slice.  Good balance of cheese and sauce, the cheese is browned and has some chew to it, the crust is cheesy and crackly and has flavor (thankfully not like cardboard as some places can be).  Karilyn, Matt and Heather said their goodbyes at this point as they had a long drive back to Massachusetts.  Thanks for coming down and spending the day with us and I look forward to the next one!!!

Tony asked if I was up for joining he and his family at the last (unplanned) stop of the night at Rice To Riches on Spring Street.  But of course!!  I forgot to take shots of the exterior and I was struggling with night shots at this point so these first four are stock photos that I have.  







One of my favorite elements to this place is that they allow you to sample different flavors before committing to buying anything.  This pumpkin was really good wth a pronounced pumpkin flavor and a healthy dose of pumpkin pie spices. Very autumnal.

The gingerbread was just okay.  The flavor of the gingerbread was too subtle for me.

This orange-cranberry, while very tasty, is a flavor that I will always associate with Thanksgiving relish and it's hard for me to appreciate it in a different context.

So I went with my go-to flavor, Man-Made Mascarpone.  The combination of the tangy mascarpone cheese, tart dried cherries and creamy rice pudding has ben drawing me in for over 7 years.

This actually DID make it home but not through the night.  And yes, I did share with Dayna!  We hung around outside eating our pudding and talking for a bit before we said our goodbyes and looked forward to the next tour. 7 train ethnic eats perhaps?  Another pizza tour?  Maybe tackle Brooklyn next?  Who knows?  Tony, Michelle, Anthony, Christina and Margret, I had a great time breaking bread (be it a bagel, donut, rye, knish or pizza dough) with you all today and I look forward to many more!! 

I thought I'd tack this on.  Dayna and I took the train to Union Square the day before the tour to see "The Social Network" and we were floored by the skills of these breakdancers who were able to work within the confines of the 4 train!  








Many thanks to everyone who could come: Dayna, Doug, Marisa, Claude, Tony, Michelle, Anthony, Christina, Margret, Karilyn, Matt and Heather.  Thanks for putting your faith in me to guide you around for some of my favorite eats!  
 
"Eating is an adventure, enjoy the ride!" - Billyboy, 2010

/clapping . . . excellent finish to an excellent report Billy!  And thanks to your contributors too!

Great finish! Those dumplings look amazing, I've made a note of Vanessa's. And while I'm not big on Rice Pudding, my wife still raves about Rice to Riches (she went with her sister last year).
 
Finally, those shots of the break dancers on the subway immediately brought to mind this music video from about 20 years ago, starting at about 2:00 on the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-h5ydMEfnJI
 
Thanks again for another great trip, I always find some new places via your posts.

Foodosaurus, hope you liked the dumpling pics.  I'll get on the scene with another tour (hopefully) soon!  If you're ever in the city and looking for some grub, drop me a line!
 
Nancy, Baah Ben and I did a "dueling banjos" style write-up a couple of years ago and I really like that style.  Tony does an awesome job and his pics are so crisp and in focus!
 
Speaking of which, Tony, what kind of camera/settings do you use?  The pictures of the bagel and the donuts just knocked me over.
 
Thanks TnT!  Definitely will put together another tour.
 
Ivyhouse, thanks!  Maybe repeats but also looking to mix it up with different stops each time.
 
CK, thanks!  I've had the Cherry Mash and wasn't a big fan, although for me any cherry flavored candy runs the risk of reminding me of children's cough medicine (I was a sickly child) so it's hard for me to really get behind a lot of cherry candies.  I was really happy that I could share that egg cream spot with the others and it's my hope to find 3-4 proper egg creams in different neighborhoods so if the craving hits I'm never too far away from one!  
 
Ken, thanks man!  I'm always floored at how busy Rice To Riches is every time I go there and that is all they serve...rice pudding!  For a place that serves just one thing to last this long in NYC is a rare sight indeed!  Thanks for the Ricky Scaggs video!  Great stuff!  I remember seeing that years ago.  I think they shot it in 1985 and the subways have all the graffiti that I used to see when I visited in the 80s.  Those break dancers were great!  David Keith from "Brubaker" has a cameo at the end as the guy in the tux with his date trying to meet Ricky in the station as well as former Mayor Ed Koch on the street.
 
 

Great report - as usual - Billy! The only time I got to NYC I was 12 years old and the Automat was the place for  tourists to visit! Love your tours of all the neat places that can be found in the big Apple!

Thanks to all for the great trip report.  
 
Hope I can make the next one

Again, THANKS for an epicure-iously wonderful day!!!!
Maybe you should redirect your talent to behind the camera . . . your writing skills are amazing.  You know how to work a camera too!  I have two sons working on their college essays . . . they could learn a thing or two from you!!!
Cheers!

Now that Billy has finished his story, I'll just add a few things.
 
The dumplings at Vanessa's were wonderful, but heed Billy's drip warning, and don't share with any one. I made the latter mistake and my punk kids ate them all while I was taking pictures before I got a taste.
 
When we went to rice to riches Billy pointed out his favorite "go-to" flavor. He then tasted about half a dozen other flavors before falling back to his go to flavor. My wife felt he knew exactly what he wanted and was just trying to score some free pudding by doing all that tasting. Billy is a wise man!
 
Here is a shot of Billy lost in his pudding. I think the store needs to make him their spokesman...although they may insist he lose the Red Sox lid!
 

 
Here was a funny poster...sorry about quality of shot...that sums up the funny theme of the store.
 

 
Great fun Billy! Hope we don't wait so long to do it again.