Now that I have a few days of these posts under my belt, I’m seeing a pattern. They are all food and shows. That makes complete sense, though, because for me New York is all food and shows! Not necessarily in that order. So, I’ll continue as I have been and see whether the pattern holds in subsequent destinations.
Today, we went to the Bronx. I’ve never been before. So, now I’ve been to four of New York’s five boroughs. I guess I need to come up with a reason to visit Staten Island now.
The Bronx is far away. You know, relative to everything else here. We were headed there for, you guessed it, food. Specifically, it's a deli with the supposed best mozzarella in...I don't know, everywhere, I guess. The place is called Casa Della Mozzarella. I ordered a sandwich that I ultimately didn't love. The individual ingredients seemed great separately and it was good mozzarella.
For me, the real treat was Madonia Bakery around the corner from there, known for its cannoli. I just got a small cannoli that they fill on the spot. It was only $1.25. I expected it to be more expensive, especially once I tasted it. It was very good. Big fan. I'd love to have more of it, but seeing that it's very far away in the Bronx, it probably won't be an every-time-in-New-York treat.
We opted for a quick nap once we were back at the apartment and dinner after the show in lieu of dinner before the show.
Our show for the evening was The Band's Visit. Critics rave about it. The New York Times called it “one of the most ravishing musicals ever” and said that the “score feels as essential as oxygen.” The Washington Post said, “THE BEST MUSICAL ON BROADWAY!”
For me, it fell far short of such grandiose claims. That said, I did like it. I appreciated a lot of the melodies. The acting was great. It was very funny while being mostly serious. The best part is that the lead male role was played by Tony Shalhoub! He originated the role, but has been working on other projects and now only appears at select (and unannounced) performances. So we definitely lucked out. At the door, he was one of the only actors who came out and signed. He seems very nice!
For dinner, we went to UNO, a pizza (et al) place on the Upper West Side. I chose poorly again while ordering. My deep dish Chicago-style was decent, but I think I would have been much happier with different toppings. I still finished the whole thing.
By now, it was much later than by when we had originally hoped to make it back to the apartment, because tomorrow we have a 6:30 am breakfast and royal wedding viewing reservation. Once we were all prepped for the breakfast in the morning, which has a semi-formal to formal dress code, we had about two hours to sleep. The next day begins very soon.