Well, March has come and gone. I think it flew by because I was waiting for my trip to NYC, and then when that was over, all-of-a-sudden March ended and April sprang forward. One of the memorable things I did before my trip was get a tattoo.
I couldn't be happier with it. The artist, Horishow, from Fukuoka, was visiting San Francisco and somehow he had time to do my piece. I went up to Seventh Son with Pooja around 6:15. After a consultation, he took the information and came back to the front of the shop about an hour later with this amazing 2.5" x 11" piece of beauty. I know it's different from what he normally does at Amitabha, but I couldn't have been more pleased. All of the attention he put into the subtle details really makes it shine. We were finished around 10, a little late I know, but it was well worth it. I hope you like it as much as I do.
On the 20th, I was greeted by Pooja who picked me up before proceeding to pick up Howard and take us to the airport. I was stoked. If you recall, this is peculiar because when I left NYC last time I didn't have the greatest time, but going back this time would be different—and it was.
Initially I had to get our seats situated on our flights because Delta had changed equipment and separated us. I went into an entire tirade about that on twitter (here and here). In any regard, it worked out and we were able to sit next to one another on the first segment from SJC to ATL. In Atlanta, we had enough time to have dinner, so we grabbed it at Houlihan's. We then had the pleasure of flying first class to JFK. We had a couple of gay stewards, so it was certainly more fun than originally expected. As it was late when we arrived to Moniera's, we just crashed and decided to tear up the city the following days rather than taking forever to commute to the club.
Saturday started with dim sum at East Manor with Howard, his dad, brother, and step-mom. I was happy with it, and pleasantly surprised as I had never been to Queens except in passing through on the LIRR to Long Island. After brunch, his dad dropped us off at Union Square where I felt back in my element. Listening to Cantonese for extended periods of time with little to no translation can make the mind wander.
We started off by doing a little bit of shopping and walking around Greenwich Village before meeting up with one of Howard's friend shortly followed by meeting my friend Katie. We traipsed down Broadway and into SoHo keeping an eye out for places where we'd like to shop in our following visits to the area. Time seemed to fly by, and before I knew it, Katie, Howard, and I were with his family again and on our way back to Queens for dinner at Jade Asian Restaurant. The food was amazing, and I had a great time. After dinner, his Dad drove us back to Moniera's where Howard and I got ready to go out.
The three of us (Katie, Howard, and myself) then headed into the city to G Lounge. I had a blast here. Originally Katie was going to have a couple of drinks and head home, but I talked her into staying with us for the night and going home in the morning. We also met up with my friend Roberto, and it was amazing to see him. I hadn't seem him in ages, and was pleasantly surprised he came to a gay bar to hang with us. We had a few drinks from the bartenders, actually I think it was 3 cocktails, shot of tequila, and a shot of SoCo with something, of what I forget.
It didn't take long for us to get the urge to start dancing, so we headed up to Mr. Black. Now, as you can tell from my yelp review, I'm still on the fence with this place, but I did have a good time here with everyone. There was more debauchery and, more importantly, dancing. The DJ was pretty good at the beats he threw down, but some of his transitions were lacking and downright pitiful. Regardless, dancing up in the cage with Howard was fun, even if I did about kill myself slipping on one of the steps. As the dawn grew nigh, we headed back to the house. Somehow, I made it to the subway with my over-shirts, yet when it came to pack for the trip home I had lost them. My suspicion is that I left them on the subway, ugh. Katie's summary of the night was "surreal" (from her having authentic family-style Chinese in Queens, to going to Brooklyn, and partying it up at 2 gar bars). I think I concur with her deduction.
After only sleeping a couple of hours, I woke Katie so she could head home and then to JFK to pick up her friends. I immediately passed back out though as I was exhausted. As it was Sunday, Howard and I slept in until we felt like we could function. When Sahithi called, we decided it was time to get up and go to brunch. Originally we had thought of going to Essex, but instead we went to Yuca, an amazing bistro latino with delicious churrasco. Having had brunch here with Sahithi, and two of Howard's friends, we walked through the East Village a little bit until we headed down to SoHo to continue our lackadaisical Sunday.
When we got to Soho, we wished everyone adieu, and Howard and I went in to get free facials at Bloomingdale's. It was a sponsored event, which turned out well for us. Afterwards, we took the subway up to 57th and started our stroll which took us through Central Park, along 5th Ave, through Grand Central, passed Bryant Park, and finally to Times Square. Although it was a little chilly, it was a good walk and we did a little shopping along 5th and in Times Square. I actually picked up a CD at Virgin since they were closing in 8 days; I really can't remember the time before last when I bought an actual CD.
As it was dark by this time and we were hungry, we ventured back to the East Village and ate at Ramen Setagaya. Their ramen is the best I've ever had, hands-down. It's authentic and is hand-crafted by actual Japanese chefs, so if you want to try real ramen, come here. For dessert, we actually walked up to Union Square to Max Brenner's. We split a chocolate cake with a white chocolate center, and had our hot chocolates to go as since we were headed to the Brooklyn Bridge. Finishing up, we hopped the train to City Hall and got out to walk the bridge halfway. It was windy and cold, although not as windy as in the city itself, but the skyline was incredibly beautiful. I love walking that bridge at night, there's something about it that I just love, and part of that is due to company. That night we decided to head home earlier than the previous night so we could get more stuff done during the actual day on Monday.
Monday was the "touristy" day. We set off for the Staten Island Ferry so we could ride it and see the Statue of Liberty. I was surprised to hear so much French on the ferry, but it made sense as we were looking at the Statue. Afterwards, we had a late lunch with Howard's dad and step-mom in Chinatown at East Boat Restuarant. I can't remember when I had so much delicious seafood, including sharkfin soup, and not only 1, but 2 lobsters. After lunch, we were then driven up to the Empire State Building, where Howard and I continued our touristy activities.
The Empire wasn't that busy when we got here around 4:30. I think we only waited about 10 minutes to pass through security, and then only had to wait behind 1 person to purchase tickets. If you come here, you need to go to the 102nd floor. The 86th floor does not do the city justice. I do realize it's an extra $15 to the $20, but it's well worth it. After purchasing tickets we went through the queue to the elevators and hopped a ride to the 80th floor. Then after walking through another queue, we took the next elevator to the 86th floor. This is where the main observatory is. You can venture outside and look out on the city in all 4 directions, but be advised it's cold and windy, or at least it was when we were there. After standing in the blasts of freezing air, we headed back inside to catch our final trip up to the 102nd floor observatory. The nice thing about this is it is not crowded like downstairs, and the staff up here is seemingly extra nice. They even took our pictures and pointed out sites for us. You don't need to shell out $5 for the map when you can come up here and have your own personal tour guide. I also found that the people up here seemed nicer and more considerate than those below.
After gaping at the sites for awhile and snapping dozens of pictures, we decided it was time to head back down and back out into the city to continue our escapade. We did so by heading to Otafuku in the East Village for delicious takoyaki as an appetizer before we met up with my friend Brian in the UWS. We then initiated our shopping spree, eying places we would want to shop on Tuesday and checking out any small boutiques.
For dinner, we met up with my friend Brian and ate at Vynl. It reminded me of Lime in SF, but enhanced with disco fever. Well, maybe not enhanced, but decked out in disco paraphernalia. The food itself was good, but I enjoyed the company more so. Afterwards, we were going to go to Therapy, but decided not to after we saw the line to get in (RuPaul was there promoting her show...). Instead, we went to Vlada Lounge and had a cocktail and reminisced about times past. I was sad to wish Brian farewell, yet even sadder when I realized I forgot to take pictures of us. This night ended at a decent hour as well, as the next day was dedicated to shopping.
Tuesday rolled around, and it was so declared shopping day. We started at Union Square and winded our way through the Village and SoHo, stopping at any boutique and store which caught our eye. I ended up buying a few things: desert scarf from Urban Outfitters; Superdry jacket from Century 21; jeans, shirt, and jacket from FCUK; and 3 nice shirts from Uniqlo. I think my Uniqlo and Century 21 have become my favorite shopping spots in the city. When we left Century 21, we hit up this pizzeria for NY style pizza, but it was a let down. I should have taken Howard to the Village or Little Italy for pizza. Anyways...
Dinner was had with Howard's friend and Sahithi. We ate at May's Place Sushi. As I mentioned in my review, the octopus was extremely fresh, to the point where it was strange. The food was good, but I still haven't decided what I think of the place. Afterwards, we hit up Veniero's Pastry Shop on 11th. The cannoli I had was amazing delicious, as was the cheesecake.
That night we headed back home to pack a little bit and get ready for a journey back home. We went through our pictures and reminisced about our times and talked about the fun we had. The trip certainly went by fast, but I was ready to head back home.
On the subway ride back to the airport the next day, I was a little sad to be leaving NYC, but I had a great time with Howard and left the city feeling like a little piece of me really did belong there, unlike my previous trip which you can read about on my other post.
So, with that, I'll leave you with some pictures.
Music of Choice: Altered State of Mind (Sunfreakz Remix) - Mr. Groove & Vergas (blip)
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