summer streets nyc

I didn't anticipate logging any running miles this past weekend, but ended up with significant mileage (over 50K over the weekend) between a couple of runs and mostly walking. Spending a long weekend with my middle son has become a tradition that I hope continues for at least the next couple of years while he's in high school. Last summer, we enjoyed being cheesy tourists in mid-town Manhattan. We did all of the touristy things, including going to the top of the Empire State Building and seeing Wicked on Broadway. This past weekend, we decided to check out Brooklyn. Besides the 50K race that I did at Prospect Park last December and a trip to Vital climbing gym a few years ago, I have not spent any time in Brooklyn. Both of us really loved the vibe of Brooklyn. It is so much less crowded, quieter and there is art everywhere. We stayed in the Fort Greene area, which was very upscale at the Ace Hotel. The second we walked into the hotel, it felt very "Brooklyn". There was good lighting, the staff were funky, it was lively and there was art on the walls.

Of course, another huge incentive to visit Brooklyn is the plethora of excellent coffee. I feel like I could spend years living there and fail at tasting all of the good coffee.

Our first stop was the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. I didn't know how my son would react to it, but he ended up loving it. We also completely lucked out and had the best weather the entire weekend. With the heat wave over and overcast skies, we could wander around the garden and truly enjoy stopping and taking in the ridiculous diversity of plants and flowers in the garden. The highlights were the rose garden, because of all of the goofy names for the different varieties, the celebration of 100 years of Bonsai at the garden and the water lily ponds with all different colors of blooming water lilies. We also enjoyed the 3 bubbles at the conservatory which had desert, tropical and temperate plants. We spent a little over 2 hours in the garden, but could easily have spent more time. My son was tired and looking forward to chilling at the hotel, so we checked in and relaxed for a bit before dinner.

The only dinner reservation I made for the weekend was at Miss Ada, a popular spot near our hotel. I have to say, we were both kind of underwhelmed. I think that given all of the restaurants we have been to and the fact that we also cook a lot at home, we are critical when it comes to food. We got their signature whipped ricotta appetizer even though I don't usually eat dairy. It was good, but I wouldn't go back just for that. Also, it's something I could easily make at home. It was basically whipped ricotta cheese, drizzled with brown butter, honey and topped with some chopped rosemary, sage and cracked pepper. We enjoyed the hummus topped with Israeli salad, but again, it was nothing special. We were both disappointed by the crispy cauliflower. It seemed overly acidic and the batter was okay, but once you've had Gobi 65, it's hard to beat a crispy cauliflower dish. Probably the only dish that I wouldn't ever make at home was the hangar steak with green tahini. That was decent, but the brick chicken was super dry. The sauce was tasty for the chicken dish and we were so full by the time it came out that I packed half of the dish and had it for breakfast the next day. Post-dinner, we walked to Van Leeuwen's for ice cream. I had the vegan cookies and cream with caramel and again was not blown away. I also think that dialing back on mileage in general has affected my appetite. Whereas, I used to be starving all of the time, lately, I haven't been super hungry.

Whipped ricotta and hummus

Hangar steak with grilled lettuce and warm chick pea salad, with green tahini sauce

I have to give a huge shoutout to my colleague, Dennis, who lives in Brooklyn, for the insider information which made my weekend extra special. This weekend trip was basically my son's birthday present, so I didn't want to wake him up early, but also didn't want to sit around in the hotel. I ended up getting up early and exploring on my own both Saturday and Sunday mornings. Dennis told me about Summer Streets, which is this awesome program run by the New York City Department of Transportation. For a few Saturdays, there are streets that are closed to vehicles and set up for pedestrians and bikers with rest stops along the way with free giveaways. On Saturday morning, I was able to run across the Brooklyn Bridge and into Manhattan on quiet streets with just the energy of other runners, walkers and bikers. Since cutting back on mileage, I wasn't sure how far I could run, but the cooler weather allowed me to run comfortably and with a lot of joy. It was probably a once in a lifetime experience.

Running across the Brooklyn Bridge

Tunnel past Grand Central

I ended up running 6ish miles past Grand Central Station up to 51st Street and then figured it was time to get coffee so I found a subway station and mapped myself to the first coffee stop of the trip. Drip Coffee Makers is basically just a coffee cart in the Clark Street subway station in Brooklyn. I was excited to see their fun selection of coffees for pour over prep and eventually chose a Colombia Gesha by Superlost, a company I had met at CoffeeFest earlier this year. The coffee was excellent and it was really great to wander back to Fort Greene sipping it.

My second coffee shop stop of the day was at Coffee Project NY in Fort Greene, just around the corner from our hotel. Charlie requested a matcha, so I got one of their signature drinks, an iced strawberry matcha latte. It was delicious. I also picked up a bag of micro-lot of Chiroso coffee from Colombia.

Unfortunately, my son didn't sleep well, so he was kind of cranky for most of the day, but I was able to coax him to leave the hotel so that we could head over to Bushwick for a street art mural walk. It's funny that one thing my son really enjoyed was riding the subways to get around. It's super easy now, being able to just use ApplePay to ride and the announcements of stops and what stops are next. Bushwick felt a bit rough compared to Fort Greene, but I enjoyed wandering around and seeing the art. My son wasn't really feeling it. He was tired and it was a little hot in the sun, but we ended up seeing everything in what's called the "Bushwick Collective".

After a quick stop at Green Streets for a smoothie and an acai bowl, we got back on the subway and headed over to Cibone O'te, a store in Greenpoint with Japanese art (clothing, kitchenwares, pottery, stationary, etc.). I thought it was pretty cool, but my son was unimpressed. I don't think he was feeling very well. We didn't stay long and headed back to the hotel. I just let him chill for the rest of the evening and did a bit of shopping and then picked up food from Chef Katsu for dinner. Again, the food was underwhelming. We got a couple of rice bowls and my son said that the chicken teriyaki that I make at home is much better. We had fun binging episodes of "Friends" for the rest of the evening.

Sunday morning, on intel from Dennis, I was excited to check out the Brooklyn Mile. Yet again, it was a rare opportunity to run on some section of street with no vehicular traffic. I walked about 3 miles from our hotel to the race after picking up a strawberry matcha latte for myself. I was hoping to try a pandan latte, but they no longer had it on the menu at Coffee Project. I arrived at the race prior to the start so was able to run the course there and back under the Williamsburg Bridge while enjoying the several percussion ensembles and energy of those warming up for the race. I stayed for the start of the masters women and then headed back to grab coffee for Charlie.

I wanted to check out Devocion, a coffee shop near our hotel because of the ambiance. It was a really nice shop that had tropical plants inside. It seemed to be purely a coffee lovers place and had several coffees on the pour over menu. Unfortunately for me, it was way past my caffeine window so I couldn't try anything. I ended up getting an iced latte for my son and it was tasty. It was great to get back to the hotel and find my son in a much better mood. He had slept better and was ready to go explore.

Our plan was to get something to eat at the Time Out Market in DUMBO and then to check out the Brooklyn Flea. Time Out Market is set up in such a way that you can sit anywhere you like amongst all of the many food stalls and they will deliver your food. I had a tasty plate of drunken noodles with tofu from Wayla and Charlie enjoyed a burger and fries from Smashed NYC. We walked through Brooklyn Flea but didn't shop much. It was crowded and neither of us likes to be in a crowd. The highlight of the day was just walking along the Brooklyn Bridge Park Greenway, which was my son's idea. He was noticing all of the piers and actually thought that it would be a fun adventure one day to just walk along all of the piers in NYC. I had wanted to get on a ferry ride back to Manhattan, but I think my son was worried he would get motion sickness, so in the end, we walked through Brooklyn Heights and found a subway instead.

Pier 4 "beach"

Iconic view of the Manhattan Bridge

Perusing some art and other people's junk

Once back in Manhattan, we grabbed Kung Fu Tea boba slushies and caught a train home. To sum it up, an amazing weekend in Brooklyn. My son even said he would like to live there one day. We both agreed that it was so much more laid back and peaceful as compared to the hustle and bustle of Manhattan. It was nice to do some touristy things, but not feel like a tourist and be able to walk freely. We immediately noticed the horns honking, sirens and traffic once we got back near Penn Station. I'm sure there are nicer, quieter neighborhoods in Manhattan as well, something to check out next summer perhaps.