When the weekend rolled around, we were so tired from work and the events of the week that we did what we normally do at home on the weekends.  We slept in…like till mid-afternoon.  I know, what a shame to waste precious time in New York sleeping instead of exploring.  But, this trip is our third or fourth trip to NY together and frankly, we have done a majority of the tourist stuff already.  Really it was all good; we just did more eating!

Day 6:  LL recommended Caracas Arepas Bar.  OMG!  It was incredibly fabulous, and I think you have to try it!  Mouth salivating greatness!  Since we missed lunch, we headed out for a relatively early dinner for us at 6pm on a Saturday night.  When we arrived, it was a small place with max seating of probably 40 people.  Luckily, the hostess said that the people on her list were no longer waiting so she would be able to seat us immediately.  Score!  From their website, the arepas did not appear very large.  We were afraid that one each would not be enough food.  So, we ordered three arepas and a sidekick.  It was a bit too much food, but so YUMMY that we gobbled it all up!

La Surena: grilled chicken and chorizo, with avocado slices and the classic and always enigmatic spicy chimi-churri sauce.  In other words, yummy goodness in your mouth. $7.50

La Pelua: shredded beef with cheddar cheese.  The beef was tastily marinated and extremely tender; it just melted in my mouth. $6.75

They offer weekend specials that are constantly changing.  The night we were there it was La Dominguera: beautiful slow cooked short ribs with chunky tomato mojo sauce.  It came in a fancy dish compared to the red plastic baskets the others did.  Even though we were getting full, I could not stop myself from continuing to bite into this arepa.  $7.75

Tostones Mochimeros: fried green plantains topped with mojito mayo, a squeeze of lime and white cheese.  We asked the waitress to recommend a sidekick, and this is what she said was her favorite.  I could see why; it was delish.  $5.50

After recovering from food coma, we met up with some of Hubby’s co-workers at Cassidy’s Pub to celebrate a birthday.  Even though we stayed out till the wee hours of the morning, it was great because I was able to take a picture of L-O-V-E across the street from the pub.

Day 7:  The plan: Grimaldi’s pizza for lunch and then walk back via the Brooklyn Bridge.  Their website said that they open at 11:30am, but they do not actually open until 12 noon.  Good for us because we were running a little late and arrived at 11:50am.  We stood in line and were part of the first wave to sit down.  Lucky us!  We avoided a long wait in the freezing cold and threatening grey skies.  We ordered a large (18″, 8 slices); half cheese, half pepperoni and mushroom for $16 + $2/topping for a total of $20.  Good pizza, but not exceedingly better than other places we have tried in NY.

The only real touristy thing we did was walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.  It is something we have not done before, and I was really looking forward to it.  We made the trek across despite the drizzling rain.  It made the experience all the more memorable.

A couple of smart people, my bro S and his friend N, recommended that we walk the Brooklyn Bridge from Brooklyn to Manhattan because the view of the skyscrapers was better than the other way.  I am glad we followed their suggestion.  Oooh…pretty buildings.

One more week in the city.  Can you handle more food?

Caracas Arepas Bar – 93 1/2 7th St, New York, NY 10009
Cassidy’s Pub – 65 W 55th St, New York, NY 10019
Grimaldi’s Pizzeria - 19 Old Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Previous posts in the Big Apple series:
Getting There
Sleep and Eat
J’s Birthday