2003-03-29 - 7:01 p.m. NYC, October 2002, Day 2 The best way to start a Sunday is with brunch, especially if you�re traveling. In support of this assertion, I hopped on the conveniently located #6 subway under my hotel and took it to Spring Street in search of the much hyped (and rightly so)Balthazar�I stepped out of the station and easily saw the red awning at 80 Spring Street and managed to snag a cute marble-topped table in the caf�/bar right before a huge crush of brunch hopefuls flooded in the door�Alas, due to their poor timing, most of them were turned away or put on a wait list for brunch in a few hours. I was torn between the brioche French toast with smoke bacon (($13.50) I am always tempted to order whichever dish on any menu that lists bacon as a key ingredient) and the sour cream hazelnut waffles with mixed fruit ($13). The only thing I was sure of was I had to have a glass of Nicolas Feuillatte brut premier cru champagne and a few cups of coffee to fuel the day�s aimless wandering and shopping. Unfortunately, since I was there at 11:40 a.m. that Sunday morning, I couldn�t have my champagne. No, it wasn�t some moral issue I had with drinking in the morning, or on Sunday. Rather, thanks to some NYC law, my waitress could not serve me my coveted champagne before noon. Imagine trying to get such a law passed in SF or New Orleans! I think you can even drink on Sunday mornings in Rome! I ended up ordering the very tasty hazelnut waffles. The �mixed fruit� ended up being a sauce of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. There may have been syrup served with it, but I certainly didn�t need it � my hearty slathering of soft sweet butter and fruit was the perfect complement to the sour cream richness that was the primary taste note for the waffles. There were a few hazelnutty crunches in the micro squared waffles for good measure, to balance out the sour cream. In case you�re wondering, eggs belladonna ($14), featuring poached eggs with polenta, pancetta and tomato, seemed to be the most popular item with the ladies who brunched while I was there. I scoped this out as I headed down the narrow staircase with its dark mahogany finish banister to use the toilette. Three very comfortable cognac-colored leather club chairs beckoned in the landing area, and an attendant was seated just inside the bathroom, yet the facilities were grimy and nasty! It�s amazing that ladies who�ve just spent $25 or more on breakfast will still pee all over the toilet seat. Very classy. The afternoon was spent strolling around Nolita which lacks the tourist throngs of SoHo and reminded me of Hayes Valley�s main drag. There was lots of cool, pretty graffiti (the red bug and daisy pieces I photographed were two of my favorites). I peeked in the window at Savoy (which some Slow Food folks had suggested to me) and confirmed it looks like a must visit sometime soon. The menu was full of organic/artisanal foods, and the rustic interior was quite inviting. It would be a good place to take a cute boy, and to sit next to the fireplace and sip wine. There was an amazing hand-blown glass shop on Elizabeth street that was closed, had no sign, and no hours posted. I stood peering in the window, and pouted. Thanks to the miracles of google, I now Know that it was Michael Anchin�s shop. I want to go back and obtain a small red bowl or vase from his shop� the colors are so lush. Sigh. Once I was back in SoHo�s shopping nexus, on Broadway at Broom or Moss, I was stopped by a gaggle of tourists who needed directions (NOTE: I always get off on being solicited for directions whilst on vacation) to l�occitane of all places. It�s a chain bath and body shop that even has a branch in SF�s downtown mall. I easily directed them to Spring Street (which is where they said it was located) � go me! It should be noted that a very dangerous, evil food shop lurks on one of SoHo�s busiest corners: Dean & Deluca. If I lived nearby, I would stop in every day after work to procure the sumptuous gourmand fixins� for that evening�s dinner -- and go broke in the process! Luckily for me though, I had a gift certificate from work, and the extravagant Michel Cluizel dark chocolate covered caramelized almonds rang up at $12 rather than the $21 as priced, so I didn�t do too much damage to my checkbook after all. I replaced my broken cheese slicer with a nearly indestructible cheese planer, procured a small bottle of anise extract for making cookies and biscotti, I also picked up a cheapie wine opener with a bell (like the one that worked so well at the hair salon prior to Maira-Rose�s wedding) to use at the following week�s Cal Italia wine tasting. I spent a long time in Yellow Rat Bastard, browsing through all the Yum Pop t-shirts (though they had far too few Emily t-shirts). I was tempted to bring home a gray t-shirt from �I�m ok you�re ok� with silver shopping carts silkscreened on it, but thought it would likely be interpreted as an ode to shopping, so I skipped it. I don�t need to get chatted up by shop-happy suburbanites. Perhaps my favorite shopping experience of the day (despite not buying anything there) was at Alice Underground. They had this big grouchy gray and white tabby cat (named Jeffrey?) who returned my affectionate chin and head scratches with some playful bites and scratches of his own, just like my kitty does. Of course, this made me homesick, and worried the shopkeepers who clearly saw me as potential lawsuit material (SHOPPER MAULED BY CAT -- SUES SECONDHAND CLOTHING STORE!) I stopped in at Gourmet Garage to ogle the groceries before heading off to Vintage New York for some wine tasting. Gourmet Garage reminded me of Trader Joe�s without the cool liquor/beer/wine selection and with more trendy gourmet snack food brands. Vintage New York wine shop merits its own entry. any comments? (0 so far) previous - next recently on almostgoldsf... in defense of an email box I came to do battle with SPAM - 2008-05-17 hello 2006 - 2005-12-31 Happy Thanksgiving - 2005-11-14 bon voyage - 2005-11-05 October already? - 2005-10-09