Veritas et Venustas

Places to stop when driving to and from New York (updated)

THE LAST TIME I HEARD, the busiest McDonald's in the nation was the one on the southbound lane of I-95 in Darien, Connecticut. You can't get to it from the streets of Darien, but parents on the last stretch back into New York pacify their children with sugar there. Here are some better places:

Rosie's, New Canaan, Connecticut. First of all, unless you have to be on I-95, you want to be on the Merritt Parkway instead. To get to it you can take the Wilbur Cross from I-91 or I-95, or even Route 8 south from I-84.

New Canaan is a pretty, very wealthy small town north of Darien and just off the Merritt. When I was a kid it was full of executives who commuted to New York City. Now it has lots of Euros who come here for a year or two while they work at the banks and and Fortune 500 companies that have relocated to Stamford, Connecticut.

Take Exit 37 on the Merritt and head north on Route 124. When you come to the first T-intersection, where you have to turn left, park the car and walk. Rosie's is to the right, on the other side of the street. It has self--serve tables, a lot of take-out salads, meatloaf and the like, as well as a lot of fattening carbs. The carrot cake is reportedly the best in Connecticut.

Walk once around the block and you'll see an interesting New England green and some nice buildings. Before you get back on the Merritt, there are also two gas stations and two supermarkets in town. (BTW, I didn't link to www.rosienewcanaan.com, because Google says the site has been hacked by people who want to put malware on your computer.)

Express Stop on the Merritt: If a mile off the parkway is too far for you (even though the traffic to Rosie's is light and fast), take Exit 35 in Stamford and go south on High Ridge Road. Five-hundred feet from the Merritt is a small shopping center with an A&P, a large drugstore, a gas station and a Cosi. All of them open early and stay open late.

The Original Frank Pepe's Napoletana Pizza has been famous for decades (established 1925). It's on Wooster Street, right at the intersection of I-91 and I-95, in what could be called New Haven's Little Italy. The street is short, but it's lined with pizzerias and trattorias, some of which compete fiercely with Pepe's. If you want Pepe's you may find an hour-long line, but you can circumvent the line by ordering take-out, either in the restaurant or by phoning ahead. Nearby Wooster Park provides a great place for a picnic on a nice day. If you want to sit down, Pepe's biggest rival is the nearby Sally's Apizza, preferred by some.

When it's time to leave, if you're parked in front of Pepe's and want to head north on I-95, continue down Wooster until it goes under I-91 and becomes the I-95 onramp. To head south on 95, after Pepe's take the first right, then the first right and then the first left, which curves around and becomes the I-95 service road.

After the jump, 3 places in Bedford, New York, and a coffee shop in Princeton, New Jersey.

Rosie's, 27 Elm Street, New Canaan, CT (203) 966-8998
Table, 11 Babbit Road, Bedford Hills, NY (914) 241-0269
Near & Natural, 1 Court Road, Bedford, NY (914) 205-3545
Wm Nicholas & Company, 19 Edgemont Road, Katonah, NY (914) 232-1949
Small World Coffee, 14 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, NJ (609) 924-4377
The Original Frank Pepe's Napoletana Pizza, 157 Wooster Street, New Haven, CT (203) 865-5762

Table, Bedford Hills, New York. If you're driving all the way up or down I-684, there's a better way that also gives a good stop at a new local produce market in Bedford Hills, about 40 miles from New York City. From New York, take the Cross County Parkway to the Bronx River Parkway north, to the Sprain Brook Parkway to the Saw Mill Parkway north. The route is shorter than continuing on the Cross County to the Hutchinson Parkway and then 684, and more pleasant too. The Saw Mill ends at Katonah (another Bedford hamlet), where a new connector takes you directly to 684.

Bedford Hills is the hamlet before Katonah, and it's convenient to the Saw Mill (follow the signs to the village or use Google or your GPS to find 11 Babbit Road). A new market there specializes in local produce and sustainable agriculturel. The kitchen will fix you local eggs from John Boy's Farm, or make you a local salad in season. Of course there is also organic produce all year round, and things you would expect in a store like this, such as artisanal cheeses and healthy crackers. A communal table is available for sitting down.

If you stay on 684, Exit 4 will put you a mile or two from a similar store in Bedford Village called Near & Natural (go southeast on 172, turn left on 22 and follow 22 when it curves around the Green -- Near & Natural is on the corner of 22 and Court Road, the first right after the Green). Near & Natural is not quite as near to the highway as the other places I've mentioned, but Bedford Village is the most attractive of the three Bedford hamlets, and well worth a trip. The village and its surrounding area are about as close as you can be to New York with any illusion of being in the country. Near & Natural is not as ambitious as Table, which is partially supported by local subscriptions of $1,200 per year. (New York Times review here.)

The third hamlet, Katonah, has a good prepared-foods store called Wm Nicholas & Co that while not far from the Saw Mill has travel directions that are a bit complicated for those who don't know the area. The alternative is a short route that's simple but that strays into the land of the traffic engineer, whose dead hand is much in evidence. Going north, go to the the end of the connector between the Saw Mill and 684 and take the offramp for Route 35. Turn left on 35 and left again at the first street beyond 684. Go half a mile or so, take the first left again and Wm Nicholas will be on the left in the middle of the short block. (map here)

Once you get to the village, Katonah is a pleasant town that's worth a short stop. In the late 19th century, it was moved to make way for the New York City reservoir system: more than 50 buildings were lifted up and pulled along timber tracks by teams of horses. The site plan for the new town was designed by the Olmsted Brothers. Trivia: The John Jay National Historic Site and Martha Stewart's house are nearby.

Small World Coffee: The New Jersey Turnpike is one of the most boring and heavily trafficked roads in America. When we're driving north from Washington and we have the time, we avoid most of the Turnpike, and its tolls, by taking 95 to Philadelphia and then to Princeton.

Before there was a Whole Foods in New York we would sometimes stop at the Philadelphia Whole Foods near the Vine Street Expressway before continuing on to New Jersey. The last stretch into the center of Princeton is along a country road from Lawrenceville. You come into the pretty town of Princeton, with Princeton University on one side of the main downtown street. Perpendicular to it is Witherspoon Street, and on it is a good local coffee house named Small World Coffee. It's always a nice stop. Further down the main street (Nassau Street), is Hoagie Heaven, the last place with good hoagies on the way to New York. When there's time, walking around the campus is always a nice break. If you go, take a look at Princeton's newest Gothic residence, Whitman College.

The fastest route back to New York is Route 1, which is ugly but shorter than going back to the Turnpike. If you drive the whole route (Delaware to New York on 95 and US 1) without stopping it doesn't take much longer than the Turnpike, and it's less likely to have stop and go traffic.

More recommendations to come

The World's Best Starbucks?

THE STARBUCKS at Dupont Circle in Washington, DC is one of many early 20th century buildings in and around Dupont Circle designed by the architects Waggaman and Ray. There are more photos here.

A brochure about the Dupont Circle Historic Distric is here.

V&V: The Way We Live Now

Now that's what I really call good humor (with apologies to Bullwinkle)

http://twitpic.com/482s.jpg

Laboratorio del Gelato

The Way We Live Now

IF I GET OUT OF THE SUBWAY at Brooklyn Bridge - City Hall on my way to the office, I pass a Starbucks about 200 feet after I leave the station. In the winter, when the leaves are down in City Hall Park, I can see another Starbucks on the other side of the narrow park, about 400 feet away.

If I stay in the Subway until the next stop and leave the station at the southern end of the platform, there's a Starbucks as I exit the station, and another one 200 to 300 feet farther down Broadway.

When I get to the office, there's another outlet directly across the street, at the corner of Fulton and Nassau. Another Starbucks is a few hundred feet down Nassau, and from that Starbucks you can see one on the corner of Liberty and Nassau streets.

At home, there's a Starbucks on the end of my block, less than 400 feet away. Four hundred feet further north on Lexington Avenue is another. One block west and one block south is yet another.

When I was a kid in New York, most coffee outside home and the office came from carts and Greek diners, and it was usually mediocre. You never saw people walking down the street with large cups of coffee, as you routinely see now. What Starbucks calls a "Tall" cup, was the norm. Plain and simple, people drank a lot less coffee, and kids I knew weren't allowed much Coke, because of the caffeine. I don't think it's coincidence that Red Bull and all the other "energy" drinks came along after years of Starbucks changing our coffee habits.

Now, two blocks down Fulton Street from my "office Starbucks" is a new Italian espresso bar called Zibetto. It serves Italian-sized portions, which is to say half the size of Starbuck's "tall." Even the Italian sodas come in little Italian sodas. It's worth a trip to 102 Fulton Street.

Zibetto

Labor Day Weekend

SUMMER is about to end and the busy New York fall, a wonderful time, about to begin. We have having a delightful few days in the Berkshires, with Berkshares, Rubi's and local produce.

Yesterday we drove to Williamstown. Using the car navigator to stay off many of the main road, we found ourselves coming into town on a dirt road with this wonderful view.

One of the great things about living in New York is that one can so easily visit New England.

Finally, a use for Facebook

SUDDENLY, lots of people from one of my Harvard classes were joining Facebook, and then a lot of New Urbanists did too. But what do you do there?

Then last night, a friend mentioned in his "status report" that it was his birthday, and I managed to send him an email before the day ended (thanks iPhone). At the same time, someone else mentioned he'd had lunch at Momofuku Ko. It was 9, we dashed down to Momofuku for dinner, and it was great. My new favorite restaurant, and only $50 for two.

Facebook

August

The Best Coffee House in the Berkshires

The back room at Rubi's.

THERE'S a good coffee house just a block away (Fuel), but Rubi's is still the best place in the county. It's behind Rubiner's Cheesemongers, which is probably the best cheese store in New England. Matt Rubiner owns both of them, and he's made a nice home for them in an old bank on the main street of Great Barrington. Try the Rubiners (Reubens) and the grilled egg sandwich. As in many places in Great Barrington, you'll find a lot of local produce and products.

The Best Coffee in New York

I'VE BEEN to them all: Gorilla Coffee, Gimme Coffee, Gray Dog Coffee, Joe ... and I don't care what they say: the Madison Avenue branch of Sant Ambroeus has the best cappuccino and espresso in New York. A gourmet friend* with an apartment in Rome says their espresso is better than at all but five or six places in Rome.** When he's in New York he stays at the Carlyle just so he can walk across Madison for breakfast at Sant Ambroeus.

* While he's apologizing that he has "nothing for dinner" he's kneading the pasta.

** And that's saying a lot since we all know the best coffee in the world is at Sant'Eustachio.

Live from New York

It was 72º as the Stock Exchange closed for the day, and Stone Street started to fill up.

One hour later:

A father and son team own most of the restaurants on Stone Street, the oldest paved street in America (some claim). Private ventures joined city and state agencies in paying $1.8 million to rebuild the dilapidated, which once it gets warm becomes one big outdoor food court and drinking center.