I’m currently in the Dallas, Texas airport, waiting to board my overnight flight to Santiago, Chile. While going through my blog, I realized that I never posted this second installment of my trip to New York City this past August. Until now. Enjoy!
I had two things on my agenda when I went to NYC, and shockingly enough, none of them involved shopping *gasp*. My main reason for going out to New York was to catch up with old friends and do the ultimate girly reunion. But ranking very high up there was the opportunity to eat.
I have to say that my trip was a happy medium of both.
My first days in New York constituted nothing short of a whirlwind. We partied, window-shopped in Manhattan, and partied the night away at Tillman’s, an eatery-slash-nightclub known for its killer mac and cheese. This day, my third in NYC, was a day for recovering and taking it easy. Besides, the evening’s festivities promised to be heavy, so we thought it most prudent to relax and hang out at our girlfriends’ apartment in Harlem during the day.
Never one to be completely sedentary, however, I rounded up the troops for company and dragged my derriere to nearby 125th street. This is Harlem proper: hip hop music blared from speakers positioned on the sidewalks, and people of various brown hues strolled up and down the streets, their presence striking and their style impeccable.
I had my picture taken in front of the famed Apollo theatre…
And perused the offerings of lacefront wigs at the local beauty shop.
I went into NineWest and saw shoes that I liked but was too cheap to pay for- after all, shopping was not the agenda. I then proceeded to window shop in a store called Rainbow. I grabbed about 10 articles of clothing to try on so as to occupy myself while my friends were doing real shopping. Then I realized that the store was not equipped with fitting rooms (huh?) so I promptly put everything away and provided moral support to my friends, who were doing some real shopping damage. (sidenote: do you buy clothes if you can’t try them on? I find that to be a counter-productive sales strategy).
That evening we planned to “do it up big” as our visit coincided with a friend’s birthday.
We had a small celebration at the bachelorette pad before heading out to a club to dance with reckless abandon:
But first, I had the difficult task of figuring out what to wear. Inspired by the hot little outfits my friends came up with, I put on a little blue number and commissioned my girlfriend to do my eye makeup. What do you think?
Getting a taxi to the club was what the French call a “mission russe“, an absolute royal pain. The original taxi that we ordered over the phone attempted to fleece us by telling us we were late for the reservation and would have to pay an extra $12 to ride. Hell naw! We hopped out of the cab and tried to flag another one, but not without great difficulty. We finally got into a black non-taxi-looking-taxi (my spidey senses aroused my skepticism but my friend assured me it was legit) and he took us to where we need to go. But not really. He let us out at the wrong place! In heels, we tottered around a bit, trying to find the club. Ten minutes later, we were there. After the fiasco, we wound up getting there too late for guest list and had to pay $20 cover. A regrettable occurence.
We took a number of pictures and danced the night away. I paid $5 for a Sprite. Appalling, but I guess it’s New York. Sigh.
At the end of the night my feet were sore, my voice hoarse and my makeup smeared. A great night, in my book.
The next day, I woke up late and was ravenous. Luckily, my appetite was to be sated. NYC is a great place to feed the literal and figurative soul. We decided on Amy Ruth’s, an establishment in Harlem specializing in soul food.
Now, I’m black and grew up in North America, but I have to say that my experiences with soul food are pretty few. As my family is Jamaican, I grew up accustomed to seeing and eating Caribbean food. My contact with African-American cuisine was thusly limited. I relished the opportunity to try something new, especially on an empty stomach.
My mouth salivated while looking at the menu:
I really wanted to try the “chicken and waffles”, which essentially is a large amount of fried chicken nestled on top of a better-than-Eggo buttermilk waffle. My friend ordered it. It looked amazing.
Knowing the finicky-ness of my stomach when it comes to fried food, however, I opted for the slightly-lighter option of sausage on waffles. It didn’t look half bad either….
After such a filling meal, accompanied by friendship and great fits of laughter, I parted ways with my ladies and did a bit of sightseeing, which I’ll chronicle in another post.
Have you ever been clubbing in New York? What are your favourite places? And have you ever tried soul food? What are your favourite dishes?
44 Comments
I have a photo in front of that exact mural! Nothing like Harlem in the summertime, that blue is gorgeous on you, by the way. I have a good friend who runs Harlem food and art tours so it's always a whirlwind for me in NYC. Those taxi hustlers always try to target women, I think the non-stop hustling is the thing I dislike the most about NY. What I like most is the all night long art and culture and energy. My favorite soul food restaurant wasn't Amy Ruth's, it was Jacob's, which is the newest soul food mecca. Waffles aren't a really traditional part of soul food so I like to have the classic greens (dasheene), fried fish and cornbread at Jacobs.
You are getting me so excited for NYC as I am planning to go there this spring 🙂
I LOVE chicken and waffles. Mmmmm…there is a famous place in LA that serves this, and it's everything it's cracked up to be!
Oh, and that blue dress is a hot little number! Lovely.
please tell me you bought (and no doubt rocked) that orange 'fro wig? 😉
You looked fab! That colour blue is fantastic!
O,
Love the photos!
Soul food faves? Collard/Mustard greens, Candied Yams—Peach Cobbler! I could go on and on and..
The last time I went clubbing in NYC was at SOBs during their Bhangra night and LQ, both were pretty cool, although the men in both clubs came on WAY too strong lol.
As for soul food, I tried Amy Ruth's (the fried chicken, greens, and macaroni & cheese). What I had was ok, but not great.
I have too many soul food favorites: sweet potato pie, pecan pie, peach cobbler, corn bread w/ greens, fried liver & gizzards, fried chicken, salmon croquettes w/ rice & gravy, Louisiana fried fish . . .
Oh, just wanted to post that your pictures look awesome! I can't get my crappy Canon SD780 to take pictures like that to save my life.
Looks like you had a blast! I've never been to NYC but want to badly!
Fav soul food that I grew up with include macaroni and cheese,collard greens (even though now, I prefer kale) sweet potato pie, fried green tomatoes, and hot water cornbread. Oh, and when down south (Arkansas is where my people are from) I would have my great aunt's from scratch buttermilk biscuits, a certain type of white rice (similar to jasmine)or grits with a certain type of syrup AND sugar. This was a breakfast dish.
Wow…this post is making me miss my city…..oh well!!!
I must confess, I HATE trying clothes on, and very rarely ever do. Did you ever see the 20-20 special that showed stores with cameras in the stalls…thats my excuse. If I end up with something that does not fit, it becomes a gift for someone 🙂
Loved your outfit. Shame about the taxi, I've got stories to tell..trying to get from Park Avenue to LGA or JFK while dragging a huge suitcase….had to walk all the way to Grand Central to catch the coach at the end!!!
Hey Oneika, Cute pics!… Harlem isn't too far from me actually..
(By the way, for the last 2 posts I've been using my sister's iPhone to take the pics! Crazy how good their shots come out, lol)
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Great pictures! Do you work out because you have a really awesome body.
It's always nice to see NYC through the eyes of a visitor. 🙂 I'm from NJ and I used to work in NYC, so it was my everyday hustle and bustle. Still love NYC though. There's no city like it!
@Fly Girl: I guess I can't knock their hustle because they are just trying to make some money, but I don't appreciate my time being wasted for foolishness! So frustrating. Will have to try Jacob's next time I'm in NYC!
@Ashley: Ooh, lucky you!! Are you talking about Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles? Thanks for the compliment!
@Deirdre: Sadly, no! But I DID buy my first wig when I went to Detroit a couple years back… I should do a post on that!
@Tanya: I need to try collard greens! I'm not exactly sure what they are, though!
@Afromorena: Thank you!! I'm using a Lumix LX5. It's a pretty decent little camera! I don't edit my photos or anything so I'm pretty pleased with the way they come out. And Bhangra night!? How cool!
@Leeann: Thanks! It was a great time!
@Mae: Ohmigod, don't start with the corn bread! That's probably my fav. There's this amazing place I went to in Detroit that had great cornbread.. Is it Magnolia?
@kuesooM: Oh lawd! I can't imagine imagine trying to schlep it between those two airports with luggage!! God bless you! LOL
@LORENA: Thanks! Wow! I'm really gonna have to upgrade my phone!
@Diana: Thanks!! I love cardio and working out so I try to go to the gym regularly, also because I love to eat!
Your photos of NY, esp Amy Ruths, has made me a tad nostalgic for the city that I've been away from for months and haven't thought about at all. Your blog's fantastic… and I've only just finished reading the first page. Great photos and commentary.
@Lettersfromval: Thanks so much!! Off to check out your blog right now!
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