Jackie O, Moon, Otto.

[kickaha]

ginkgo and I got a wild hair today and went down to NYC - took a walk around the Jackie O reservoir in Central Park this afternoon on what may have been the *best* July 3rd weather up here you could imagine... high 70s, maybe 80, mostly sunny, with a wonderful breeze. Grabbed a deli lunch, had a short picnic, and then went to see _Moon_.

Which. Was. Amazing. Written and directed by Duncan Jones (David Bowie's son), starring Sam Rockwell, it's a fantastic little psychological piece set in an isolated moonbase. Currently playing in NY and LA, opening more widely soon, it's just beautiful. Check here for more info: http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/moon/

Blisters on ginkgo's feet from the walk around the lake prompted a stop by a store for some flip-flops - yay for happier feet!

Afterwards, we walked around the West Village and Washington Square people-watching for an hour or so before having an *incredible* dinner at Mario Batali's Otto Pizzeria. Three appetizers started us off: roasted beets with saba, figs agrodolce, and mussels with peperonata and mint. The last one was spicier than I expected, but the first two were nicely balanced, and the Campari and grapefruit cocktail I had finished things off. We split a mushroom and taleggio pizza, with a crust that was ungodly thin and crispy, covered with absolutely perfectly cooked mushrooms, and then topped it all off with gelato. Unbelievable gelato. One dish, three scoops: creme fraiche, olive oil and salted caramel. Yeah, I know, not exactly your normal gelato flavors, but holy crap. The creme fraiche was sweet and fatty, the olive oil was fatty and salty (it had small curls of salt in it), and the salted caramel was salty and sweet. Between the three, it was the sweet/salty/fatty trifecta of DOOM. Best part: all of that, drinks, dessert, tax and tip... under $60.

We walked back up to Grand Central, by way of the Empire State Building - and balked at the *ninety minute wait* to head up. Too bad - a crystal clear, warm but not hot night... it would have been nice, but we were getting tired, and just headed home. And now, to bed.

Comments

[meep.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's what I miss from living in NYC [before mobile kids] - Otto.

I usually ordered marinated mushrooms and the pizza margherita separately, and put the mushrooms on the pizza [there were only 6 pizza selections then, one being lardo, and mushroom pizza wasn't one of them...I guess they noticed what the customers had been doing]

The gelato combo sounds interesting.

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

It was *divine*. I could easily go there every night for a couple of weeks, order a different set of dishes each time, and I don't think I'd have a bad meal.