Monday, December 15, 2008

Well, At Least It's Not Boring.

Years ago when I was walking through Chinatown here in New York, heading to my then wife's office on Lafayette Street, I found myself in a crowd of tourists. One woman with a southern or midwestern twang turned to her friend and said, "Well, if this is Chinatown, where is Japan town?" I was horrified at the question. For this woman, New York was like the Epcot center at Disney World -- just a collection of tourist attractions thrown together for her amusement.

I was reminded of that little encounter because today I was walking down Bleeker Street to meet a friend and I came out of my haze for a minute and noticed a man photographing a car. I looked around and realized that whole street was lined with 1950s vintage cars, including two green and black NYPD squad cars. Were it not for the photographer, I never would have noticed. The street was being prepped for some sort of film or television show shoot. Things like that happen pretty regularly around here. My lunch companion today pointed to a building and said, "that's the Puck Building." I looked at her blankly until she explained that they used that building for the exterior shots of Grace's workplace on the sitcom Will and Grace -- a mildly interesting tidbit.

Walking around these streets, it is easy to lose your sense of reality -- until something suddenly wakes you up. Walking back to the office from lunch today, we heard a woman screaming across the street at Lafayette Street and Houston. Running down the street after a man in a brown leather jacket, she yelled "that guy just stole my f*&%ing cell phone!" People watched in stunned disbelief. Running full out as she chased him, he made a quick turn down a side street. Although I didn't see the aftermath of the chase, I realized that the guy was running straight into the street that was blocked off because of the filming. I hope he was caught and they cuffed him against the vintage cop cars. Every once in a while you're reminded that Manhattan's not a movie set, but a very real place, and sometimes a dangerous one.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Something's Not Quite Right


I had lunch today at Freshco Burrito Taco on Sullivan Street around the corner from my office. It's a super cheap open kitchen take out Mexican restuarant catering to students. The food is nothing to write home about (or blog about for that matter) but is no better or worse than corporate-owned Chipotle. I had the chicken soft taco, of course (not pictured here -- Paullyblog lacks a staff photographer).

As I sat there, I began to get the feeling something was just not quite right. First of all, all of the staff was Asian, including the guy working in the kitchen. I'd never been in a Mexican restaurant where I might speak more Spanish than anyone else in the place. Secondly, it was set up like every Chinese takeout place I'd ever been to in NY -- pictures of the food on the menu over the counter and all. Then I started to think, well, maybe they're Phillipino or something -- hispano/Asian fusion? Then my eyes fell on something I had overlooked before -- a giant Buddah sitting on the countertop. I have a serious suspicion that this place was serving Moi Goo Gai Pan and General Tso's chicken not long ago, before the market demanded cheap tacos.

Years ago during law school, the local Mexican restaurant shut down. A few weeks later I saw the cook from the Mexican place working happily in front of a wok in the Chinese open kitchen at the strip mall next to Food Lion. I was amused at the time to see a Hispanic guy working in a Chinese restaurant. After today's experience, I guess what goes around comes around. God bless our melting pot.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Undergrad Speak


I found myself in an elevator this morning a two undergrads got on, a tall thin man, and short woman with wavy hair speaking a mile a minute.

She turned to the man and said, "... Yes, I have to go to the library -- slash -- I really need to eat something."

So I wondered, was she talking to this guy in some sort of instant messaging language: "I have to go to the library/I really need to eat something," or was her companion named Slash: "I have to go to the library, Slash. I really need to eat something"?

It remains a mystery to me.