Izzy (and Mama) Eat: The Gourmand Grows up...

Tales of Empty Nesting ...The Next Chapter

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Thursday In The Park With Friends: Our Journey From Cafe Sabarsky To Grom With Plenty Of Park In Between

The fun all began on the East Side, with our friends D. and daughter T., at Cafe Sabarsky, the ideal spot before or after a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

It is just the right mix of elegance and comfort such that I am drawn to it whenever I am in the neighborhood. I find the spatzle and sausages irresistible. Izzy shares in my affection for the place as we have going there since he was three months old. We both ordered the aforementioned dishes, one for each of us and our friends did the same. They shared with one another but Izzy barely allotted me a forkful of his spatzle and practically licked his plate clean. Not only that but he seemed to have more than enough room for a large slice of quark cheesecake for dessert. At least I had the good sense to get my own dessert, Quark Strudel which seemed more rustic and eggy than ordinary strudel.


After spending so long at the table, the kids needed to go run and jump in the park, instead of the museum which was our original destination. Our stroll to the park turned into a day in Central Park. We stopped at a few playgrounds and wound up at the sailboat pond.


Izzy and T. managed to maneuver their boats while the moms were able to chat (we haven't seen each other in five years!).



Sailboats sailed, it was on to the rowboats.

At first I thought that I would be in charge of all of the rowing but when my arms tired out, D. took over. She managed with a bit of direction. Doesn't she look elegant?

After rowing our mission was Grom gelato, and T. and Izzy were clamoring for it. We got side-tracked on the way when we came upon this...



The Van Leeuwen Ice Cream Truck. All of a sudden we were in the midst of an ice cream tasting. Surprisingly, true artisanal American ice cream is harder to come by in New York than gelato so I was thrilled with our good fortune. We agreed upon six flavors from here, followed by a quick trip up to Zabar's and then back to Grom for some gelato.

It was a blur of ice cream and food shopping and we finally left our friends after six p.m., at which point Izzy was still hungry for dinner. And apparently my friends were hungry for more ice cream as they promptly returned to the Van Leeuwen truck to sample more, since they would be leaving New York and not have another opportunity. This ice cream is worthy of seconds and a detour!

Izzy and were exhausted from all of that walking and eating so we hopped in a cab and met A. for dinner but that is for another story.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those sausages look like Weisswurst (served with sweet mustard, which is also in the pic). Am I right?

Here in Bavaria, they are only served til 11:59 am. If you come at 12:02 and order them, you are out of luck (in the hard core Bavarian spots).

Izzy's Mama said...

I don't remember the sweet mustard. What is the meat inside? Is that considered breakfast food?

Monyca with a y said...

I really like Blaue Gans, same owners, I think it might be a little cheaper / casual. Anyway, it's on Duane St., not a far walk from the World Trade Center PATH. Definitely check it out - I love to order pretzels, sausage and beer at the bar.

(p.s. found your blog via jclist and love it!)

Izzy's Mama said...

We like Blaue Gans too. It is definitely cheaper and more casual. Wallse is my absolute favorite (albeit the priciest of the three). I guess I am in love with Austrian food.

Glad you like the blog..send it to your friends!