Day Six - E & Madz in NYC aka Gotham City, Cronut's Daddy and more Ramen

This entry now Thursday, and that means we only have 3 full days left in the city. Unlike the first 5 days, for the first time, we experienced a little bit of drizzle. Not a heavy downpour, but it was enough to get us a bit damp...not a problem since the drizzle helped keep the temp a bit cooler. The fam decided to wait for me to come home from work. They were able to sleep in while I attended a training class.

Joe's Pizza on Bleecker St 

I looked at my list of different pizza joints to try, and Joe's is one of them. There's actually a Joe's pizza in California located in Santa Monica, so we kinda had an idea of what it's like. But still, I decided to take the family here. We ordered the typical pepperoni and cheese pizzas, not too heavy, perfectly thin, and easy fold. The Greenwich Village institution did not fail to deliver! Here's a YouTube video that Eater NY did recently on Joe's Pizza. After watching this, it makes me want to run over to Joe's!

Dominique Ansel Bakery

The DKA

So yes, we've heard of cronuts, and have tried versions of it in California. As much as I've been going to the city quite a few times this year, I just didn't have the drive to try and catch one of the original cronuts in the morning. I've read that people have been lining up for 1-2 hours. So for today, since we arrived late in the afternoon, the cronuts were already gone.However, there was another line. It was for the Chocolate Chip Shot. I thought it was just okay, and i didn't see anything extraordinary about it....but it was the DKA or Dominique's Kouign Amman - caramelized on the outside, soft and flaky within - this really got me! I will come back for this!!! 

Matilda lottery                                                     

Remember the slight drizzle I mentioned, well that didn't last very long! YES!!! After leaving Dominique Ansel Bakery,we we headed back to the Theatre District. There was a lottery drawing for Matilda, so we decided to try our luck. Around 40 or 50 people showed up.....guess who was the first winner who got picked? MADISON!!!  So yes,...that means we're assured of 2 tickets so far. After calling 2 more names, the 4th name that got called, ETHAN. YES!!! Now 4 of us have tickets to the show. It was for $27 each, and we were seated on the 5th or 6th Row Orchestra (left side). We were just thrilled!!! We had over an hour to kill before the 8pm show so we decided we better eat.

Selfie inside our hotel's elevator

Gotham West Market and Ivan Ramen 

I've been reading a lot about Gotham West Market and Ivan Ramen. I'm a big foodie, and ramen is always a part of my foodie quest. As much as we love the theatre, we're not big fans of the crowded restaurants near Times Square. Thankfully, Gotham West Market was only 3 blocks away from the Theatre District. It's on 11th Street. First impression...new, clean, trendy, lots of choices. What did we order? One of their combo specials....Smoked whitefish donburi with salmon roe, sweet soy dashi, cucumber and scallion. Plus free Yuzu Lemonade, and of course, RAMEN....Tokyo Shoyu Ramen!!! It was wonderful.



This place has my vote, I'd go back here again!!! We stayed here for about an hour, and left just before 7:20 which gave us enough time to walk back to the Theatre District to watch Matilda, which by the way, an excellent, excellent show, especially for kids. Great singing and dancing, and message for the kids. Glad we were able to watch this show.

Well there you have it.....Day 6.....more adventures to be reported for our last 2 days. :-)

Day Five - E & Madz in NYC (2 Shows and a couple of good meals)

Day Five - Wednesday

Rocky on Broadway

Today was another thrilling day, more of a theatrical thrilling day. Since I had to go to an all-day training class today, this gave Nancy, the kids, and her college friends, Ommar and Rachelle, a chance to have a mini-reunion.  First, during the afternoon, Nancy's college friend, Ommar, bought them tickets to Rocky on Broadway(a matinee show at 2pm) playing at the Winter Garden Theatre. Yes, Rocky, based on Sylvester Stallone's movie. Yes, Rocky, as in Rocky Balboa....as in "Adriaaaaannnnnn!!! And no, Stallone was not in the show. Although the show has been playing on Broadway for quite a while now, I never really had the interest to try and catch the show. In my mind, "C'mon, a boxing musical?" I mean, what's next? Divergent, or Transformers, The Musical? Well, I was proven wrong. My family has encouraged me to watch it in the future. According to them, the set-up of the theatre was different, (there's a regulation-size boxing ring that puts the audience close to the ring) and the music and storyline was also good. For more, go here Rocky Stage Magic (Playbill article) I don’t even remember the actual movie anymore, but for my family to enjoy the show, that's good enough for me.  Maybe I’ll go see it in the future. However after a year of being on Broadway, the show will close this month, so maybe I'll catch it when it tours in LA. BTW, since this was a matinee show, it finished before 5:00 pm. And because this took place on a Wednesday, most of the shows on Wednesday have a matinee and evening shows.

Wicked luck

The family called me directly after Rocky ended. I was on my way home from the office, and was trying to make my way to NYC. They decided to try their luck at a nearby theatre with a lottery for the evening performance. Since the Winter Garden Theatre (Rocky) was close enough to the Gershwin Theatre (Wicked), directly after watching Rocky, they headed over to the Gershwin Theatre and joined the Wicked lottery. Drawing was at 5:00 pm and they made it there in good time directly after watching Rocky. Remember, last Saturday, Nancy's name was picked, therefore she was able to only get 2 tickets (she and Madison went to watch Wicked last Saturday). Tonight, by sheer luck, it was Madison's name that got picked! Yes!!! She was soooo excited to get picked. To be fair, Madison gave her ticket to Ethan this time. Ethan didn't get to watch Wicked last Saturday. Since I was still "trying" to make my way in to the city, Madison was willing to give the other ticket to me should I make it on time before the show. The issue though was the evening show on Wednesdays starts at 7pm. When their names got picked around 5:10, I was still driving around New Jersey back to the hotel. It was right before 6pm when I boarded a bus to Port Authority and as expected, the bus hit traffic in the Lincoln Tunnel. Ethan and I were in communication via text. I made it to the city around 6:40….and instead of walking nearly 10 blocks to the theatre, I took the E train to 50th Street (I had the unlimited train ride pass hahahahaha).  Fortunately, I made it to the Gershwin Theatre around 6:55 pm right before the show started. There was  enough
time to breathe by the time we entered the theatre. We were soooo lucky. Thank you, Madz!!! Front row…center orchestra, directly behind the conductor. BTW, these front row tickets were just $30 each...SCORE! You can’t get any closer than that (unless you’re one of the cast members) LOL!!!! This must’ve been my 5th or 6th time watching Wicked (and most of them were winning via lottery tickets). I can still remember the first time we watched Wicked on Broadway, it was June 2004 (exactly 10 years ago....Father's Day). Nancy and I were vacationing in NY.  We joined the Wicked lottery. Wicked was just playing in NY for about 8-10 months around that time. Again, by pure luck, Nancy's name was picked! What a great Father's Day treat for both of us. The only time I didn’t do the lottery was when Wicked first stopped in Los Angeles. Although I’ve seen it quite a few times, the energy of the show, the music, and the effects still amazes me. I am just so glad, although 4 of us didn’t get to watch this together in NY, however, 4 of us watched this show by winning the lottery. Wicked-mission accomplished.

Wicked hunger

The show ended around 9pm. While Ethan and I watched Wicked, Nancy was with her college friends Ommar, and Rachelle. They all hung out in a local Brazilian restaurant, got all caught up with their college lives, and their lives nowadays.

                        After the show, we all met up outside the Gershwin. Rachelle had already left the restaurant. By then it was time to say thank you and goodbye to her friend, Ommar, who lives in Staten Island. She was parked close to 6th Ave – not too far from the Winter Garden Theatre. While we were in the area, we also got to take pictures around the Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall. We’ve built an appetite around this time, and all we could think of was to eat chicken over rice from The Halal Guys. It was only a few blocks away near the Hilton Times Square. As expected there were long lines, but the lines moved so quickly that we got our food in no time. You can’t beat the deal. For $6, you get chicken or gyro or both with rice, pita, salad plus your choice of sauce (yogurt sauce and hot sauce). The portions were large enough to share. We ordered 2 plates and all 4 of us had more than our fill of Halal food…..sooooo good!!!

That’s it….Day Five in the city…..tomorrow….more theatre and of course good eats.

Day Four - E & Madz in NYC (Ramen Dilemma, Brooklyn Bridge, and Pizza)

Day Four (Tuesday)

It’s now Tuesday, and for the first time, Nancy and the 2 kids will venture out to the city on their own. Remember, I have to work in New Jersey, and for this visit, we’re all staying at a hotel in Secaucus (which is a 20 min bus ride to NYC). I’ve taught them which NJ bus to take to the city, how to get out of Port Authority, and how to understand the basics of the subway system. The plan is for me to join them around 630pm (after work).

Port Authority’s Au Bon Pain

They decided to have a late start to their day, what a surprise! HA! They were still tired from the previous days’ crazy adventures. From what I recall, the moment they arrived at Port Authority, they ate at Au Bon Pain. It became a good habit to eat here, have a little bit of pastries, breadsticks and/or soup. It also gave them time to strategize.

Fifth Ave

Sometime around 2pm, I received a text message from Ethan…”Dad, we’re on Fifth Avenue, we were able to take the bus from our hotel, and took the right subway, are you proud of us?” Yes!!! Definitely!!! So it looks like they decided to walk around Fifth Avenue without doing any majorcshopping damage. I can only imagine a lot of walking was involved again. They sent me pictures of them in Times Square (M&M store I think). They also found a bookstore where they hung out to read for a bit. It wasn’t long after that it was around 5 or 5:30pm. They tried their luck with Aladdin lottery, however, they didn’t win….that’s okay…we had lots of Plan B’s. I was leaving work at the time, and it takes a good hour to drive from work back to the hotel due to rush hour traffic. Instead of just sitting and waiting for me, I advised them to grab dinner, and Totto Ramen came to mind.


Totto Ramen Dilemma

My family is a big ramen fan, and there are lots of great ramen eateries in the city. I’ve been to Momofuku, Ippudo, and Totto Ramen during my earlier visits this year. It was Totto Ramen that stood out for me. There are now 2 locations in Hell’s Kitchen. It can get very crowded. By this time (around 5:30pm), I was already in my car in NJ heading back to the hotel in Secaucus, so I can take bus #320 to the city. I told them to go ahead and go to Totto, and if I make it, I’ll join them. If not, then it’s okay.

They were called to their seats around 6pm; by then  I was just about to board the bus. I had a feeling I’d be stuck in traffic going through the tunnel and I was right. I dozed off for a bit I actually enjoy this downtime whenever I take public transportation). After 20 minutes of dozing off, I noticed a text
message from Nancy... “They spilled hot ramen on Ethan…it’s on his right arm, the arm that was fractured earlier this year!" While it was an accident, I can just imagine the pain of hot soup spilling. I felt bad for Ethan. The restaurant apologized, offered to cover their meals, gave him a souvenir shirt (since the one he was wearing got wet), and provided us with a contact name and # for the management. While my kids continued to eat, Nancy lost her appetite and just waited for them to finish. After eating, they went to the nearest Starbucks on 8th Ave (our meeting place). I finally got there right around 7pm. It was still bright outside, and since we weren’t going to watch any shows,I suggested for us to try and have some good NY pizza. There was only one place that came to mind...DiFara Pizza.

DiFara Pizza closed on Tuesdays

I’ve always wanted to go to DiFara Pizza in Brooklyn, but I just never had the opportunity.
On this Tuesday night, I looked up DiFara, and with our luck, it was closed. Just great!!!! So we had to go with Plan B. Grimaldi’s Pizza near the Brooklyn Bridge.

Brooklyn Bridge
We made our way all the way from the Theatre District and took the C train towards Brooklyn.  and we got out of the High St. The ride was probably 20 mins long...not bad. The sun was still out as we ventured towards the bridge. We were able to take pictures with the skyline in the background. It was just perfect 83 degrees….not cold at all. One thing you'll notice when walking on the Brooklyn Bridge, there's a pedestrian lane and there's a bike lane. You (as a pedestrian) better make sure that you're in the proper lane. The bicycle riders (locals and tourists alike) mean business. They ride their bikes pretty fast. So we had to be careful as we took a dozen selfies. LOL! After exploring the bridge, we made our way to Grimaldi’s Pizza on Front St. It was a short 5-10 minute walk.


Grimaldi’s Pizza

Supposedly one of the best pizza’s near the Brooklyn Bridge, so we just had to try it. The host was gracious; he walked with us and sat us upstairs. Our waiter on the other hand was rude…..he clearly needed Customer Service 101. I asked what he recommended or what’s the most popular pizza that people ordered here. He answered in the most obnoxious way, basically did not give me any tip or advice at all. I didn’t push the issue and I just told him to forget it. I tried to keep my cool, and ordered the pizza toppings we like….pepperoni, mushrooms, sausage. As I mentioned, the pizza was wonderful, but it’s sad to say the service left me with bitter taste. Will I go back to Grimaldi’s? NO!!!

It was already 9:30 pm when we finished our meal. We walked back to the subway station and headed back to Port Authority. We were back in our hotel before 11pm, and decided to go to the Walmart across the street for some late night grocery shopping. What would we do without Walmart???

That’s Day 4 folks….tomorrow is Day 5…back to the theatre….lotteries, and more food!!!

Day Three - Ethan & Madison's First Trip to NYC (Summer 2014)

Day Three (Monday)

The time change and busy 1st 2 days started to affect us. We've been non-stop since Friday (Madison's promotion ceremony, and we flew the redeye to NY that same night). We were extremely exhausted from all the walking we did over the weekend. Since I had to work on Monday, Nancy and kids decided to stay in the hotel, and sleep in. They also decided to wait for me to come home from work and that we'd go to the city altogether.

"I'm lost, Officer"

Well, although not NYC-related, I just had to share this event. I was scheduled to visit one of our call centers in Hopelawn, New Jersey. My meeting time was at 10am, I decided to leave the hotel around
8:15 (it's about a 35 min drive to Hopelawn). Well, the drive to the area was not the problem but when I got to the area where the GPS kept leading me to, I, for the life of me, couldn't find our office. I circled around the area over a dozen times,  I called the person I was going to meet but she wasn't available. I even called my co-worker to help me figure out if I was in the right general area. Long story short, I made an illegal u-turn, and as luck would have it, a cop pulled me over. The moment he walked towards me, the very first thing I said was, "I'm lost, Officer!" He went through the normal routine of asking for my license and registration. After all the formalities, the officer asked where I was going, and he gave me directions. He told me about my infraction, but did not give me a citation. He clearly knew that (a) I had a California Driver License, and (b) I was driving a rental....definite signals that I wasn't from the area. So yes, I got pulled over...but was happy that I told him the truth and was not cited. Thank you!!!  :-)

After work hours - headed for NYC

After work, I headed straight to our hotel, and picked-up the fam so we could head to the city. From a theatre perspective, Mondays are not busy theatre days. We weren't that interested in catching the shows that were playing on Monday so we decided to sightsee again, and make our way towards Central Park.

Central Park

I've been here many, many times, and my favorite place to visit is Strawberry Fields which is a memorial dedicated to John Lennon. First of all, it's such an easy access to begin with, it's on the West Side between 71st and 74th Streets. While it gets crowded, with very heavy foot traffic, it's a great place to sit and relax, people-watch, and if you get lucky, get serenaded by one of the guitar singers. I've always enjoyed John Lennon's music, and do like listening to many of the songs sung by the Beatles. Ethan started to take piano lessons last year, and for his recital, he played John Lennon's masterpiece, "Imagine". During our visit, the guitar player sang "Imagine". It was just great!

American Museum of Natural History (AMNH)

After leaving Strawberry Fields, we decided that we wanted to make dinner reservations at Serendipity III. But before that, we made our way towards AMNH. It was a great walk, a beautiful late Monday afternoon. We didn't have much time to explore the museum, but I wanted to make sure the kids got to see the different sections that interested them. The best part of it all....we didn't have to pay in full...it was "pay what you can" so we gave a donation instead. After spending nearly 2 hours in the museum, it was time to head to Serendipity III, but we got kinda lazy, and decided to head towards Midtown instead. HA!!! That's the beauty of not having an itinerary - we were quite flexible.

Miracle on 34th Street (Turntable Mad For Chicken)

We took a subway (the B train towards 34th Street Herald Square). Once we left the train, we found our way inside a JC Penney. Madison was in need of a tank top, the weather was that hot. After JC Penney, I looked for Turntable Mad for Chicken (highly-recommended), supposedly known for great KFC (Korean Fried Chicken). While walking around 34th St, the kids got to see the Empire State Building, so we took pictures of them being dwarfed by its enormity in size. We found the address for Turntable, and was at first concerned that the outside looked "blah"...nothing inviting at at all. The restaurant was on the 2nd floor, and we had to take narrow steps to get there. But man, once we were there, it was nothing like I expected. It was vibrant! Energetic! Trendy! Upbeat! There was a soccer game going on that was playing on the big screen. So glad we went here instead of Serendipity III. We ordered KFC, Bulgogi Sliders, Fried Shrimp and Calamari!!!! All so good! That was my Miracle on 34th Street!

Bryant Park Summer Movie Series

After dining at Turntable, we walked a few blocks towards Bryant Park. It was their 1st night that they were showing summer outdoor movies....the movie that evening was "Saturday Night Fever"....the park was packed, thankfully, we found extra green chairs and sat towards the far right side. Again, it was such an experience to be there. We love doing the same type of picnic here in California. But being in New York watching outdoor movies, with the big buildings that were brightly lit added great effect to the experience. The crowd had a great time the moment John Travolta started to strut down in the opening scene. 

Times Square at night

Yeah, yeah....so Times Square is Times Square! But it was my kids' first time so we had to go back and take pictures "at night". It was a great evening...perfect weather...everyone just having fun! Took lots of selfies  :-P

So there you have it....that's Day 3...quite simple, yet very memorable, especially that u-turn incident!  :-)

Day Two - Ethan & Madison's First Trip to New York

Day Two (Father’s Day in New York City)

Our rising stars 

Not sure I mentioned this, but we didn’t really have an itinerary for this trip. Well, there were definitely key sites we wanted to visit, but because of my many trips to the city, I decided we’ll pace ourselves and just go with the flow. Sunday would’ve been another perfect “theatre” day, but we decided to sightsee instead. Why? This was the only day I'd be spending in full with them, the rest of the week, I'll be at work and they'll be on their own

Highlights of the day

First subway ride 

I’ve been telling the kids that only way we’d survive in the city is through lots of walking and subway rides. Knowing that we’d be in the city for 7 days or so, we decided to get the 1 week unlimited rides card for $30/each. Each ride is $2.50, but we knew we'd be riding over a dozen times. After purchasing 4 cards at Port Authority, we were off to Chinatown. 

Subway ride

Joe's Shanghai 

I took them to Joe’s Shanghai, highly recommended by the New York Times. I went here earlier this year, and enjoyed the soup dumplings. The difference this time….there was no snow. It was a gorgeous Father’s Day in the city (mid-80s)….so, so, so very warm!!! We enjoyed our lunch; we also ordered salt n pepper pork chops, and shredded pork noodle soup – delish! There’s always a line at Joe’s so be patient. If you have a small party, depending on their availability, they might end up having you sit with other customers and share a table with them….that happened  to me in Feb, I didn’t mind.

Justin Timberlake's Hairstylist

After lunch, we walked around Chinatown some more and turned to a small street/alley with quite a few barbers/salons. Ethan was in desperate need of a haircut. We saw a sign for a $7 haircut. The selling point? Justin Timberlake got his haircut here….well his picture was posted outside hahahahahaaha. So I dared Ethan to get his haircut….and he agreed! Haircut accomplished. Ethan brought SexyBack. Directly after getting his haircut, we needed to get something cold to drink and opted to buy boba.

Staten Island Ferry 

Since today was a major sightseeing day. I’ve read up so much re: the Staten Island Ferry, and for the 1st time, I tried it and took my family along with me. It was a gorgeous Sunday as I had mentioned, and the waiting room was filled with lots of tourists. We took the 4pm ferry, and when we boarded, we sat on the left side, however, the views of the skyline and statue are on the right side. On the left side, we saw the Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn, and Governor’s Island….not a bad side at all. The moment the ferry arrived at Staten Island, many of us rushed to catch the other ferry that was getting ready to leave and head back to Manhattan. This time, instead of sitting on the left and right side, the ferry, we stood in the rear side of the ferry (which gave us an easy opportunity to move from right or left side). We stayed on the right side which gave us plenty of opportunities to see the Statue and the skyline. What a great experience. We asked and offered the kids to take another cruise directly to the Statue of Liberty, but they said the ferry cruise was perfectly fine, and they were happy with it. Staten Island Ferry - such a great deal.

World Trade Center 

Nancy and I - Friday, Sept 7, 2001 (before the attack)

The new One World Trade Center

A little bit of a backstory. Nancy and I were in NYC a week before the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. I was in a training class. She and I were scheduled to fly back from JFK to LAX on the morning of 9/11itself, but we changed our flight, and left on 9/10. We just had Ethan then (9 months old) and we missed him so. We have this picture of us when we got to the Statue of Liberty, and we took a picture with the skyline in the background – the twin towers in all its glory (this was on the Friday before the attack). Although we’ve visited NYC as a couple since the attack, we’ve always referred to ourSept 2001 visit to our kids, and this time we were able to show them Ground Zero, the water fountain, and the new WTC. As expected, it was a solemn, peaceful kind of visit.

Katz’s Deli

After visiting the WTC area, we headed off to Katz’s Deli. I’ve never been here before; I’ve only seen it from a far when I ate bagels at Russ and Daughters (another famous bagel institution in the city). I had to tell the kids about this restaurant, but the pictures on the wall, and the energy

was more than enough to convince them about the popularity of this iconic restaurant. This was the same restaurant featured in Billy Crystal's and Meg Ryan's movie - When Harry Met Sally. Of course, I had to order their famous pastrami sandwich….cravings satisfied!

Father's Day greetings    While I spent Father's Day with Ethan, Madison, and Nancy, the other 2 kids we left at home made sure they greeted and celebrated with me somehow. They gave me their gifts prior to our trip and hugged me tightly before we left for New York. Daddy loves you, Caitlin and Evan :-)

That’s how we spent Father’s Day, another crazy good day that we will never forget. That's Day Two folks.

Day One - Ethan & Madison First Trip to New York (Summer 2014)

My family and I recently came back from our trip to NYC. I'm a frequent visitor due to my business travels. Nancy has been to NY as well. But it was a first for Madison (10 yrs old) and Ethan (13 yrs old). Back in Feb 2014, we had plans to go, but the snowstorm put a damper on our trip which ended up getting cancelled. We decided to try and go sometime in the summer instead. 

This trip was a vacation for the family and it coincided with my business trip to New Jersey. We stayed in Secaucus (Harmon Meadow area). Why? The Courtyard Marriott we stayed at was just across the street from the bus stop that took us to NY. Without traffic, that ride into the city is around 20 mins. With traffic, oh boy, it could take 1 hour. I could've stayed in the city, but didn't want to risk all the transportation issues that could happen in the tunnel or at the turnpike when I make my way to work in New Jersey. 

My goal for the weekend was to educate my family with as much as I could with using the subway, inform them of the difference between street vs. avenue, uptown vs downtown, Brooklyn - bronx...I needed for them to have a good sense of direction, so while I'm at work during the week, they're able to go around the city and use the subway with no problem.

Wishlist for this trip? Definitely visit lots of the popular tourist spots, watch as many Broadway shows (we're big theatre enthusiasts), and eat good, good food!

Day One - Saturday

Leaving LAX for New York (via Newark's EWR)

We arrived at Newark International Airport by 6 am, picked up our rental, and drove to Secaucus (about 15 mins drive). Our hotel check-in was at 3pm, but the hotel allowed us to check in earlier (thank you, Courtyard Marriott). Knowing that we were tired from the night before, we went to bed and slept, right???? NOPE. We dropped off our stuff upstairs, freshened up a bit, and caught the 8:30am bus to NY. As expected, for that Saturday, there was no traffic going in to the Lincoln Tunnel. We were in the city sometime after 9am. We were starved so we ate at Au Bon Pain inside Port Authority - it's like a hub for buses, trains, subways that connects you to NYC.


 Wearing our tourist uniform

After leaving Port Authority, we headed to 42nd St to New Amsterdam Theatre to try and score Aladdin tickets, but the lottery was scheduled around 12noon. So we made our way towards Times Square and because it was our kids' 1st time, you can imagine the dozens of pictures we took. We walked quite a bit, and on that Saturday, there was also an outdoor market on Broadway so that added interest to the already interesting views that Times Square had to offer. While walking down Broadway,

Ommar and Jonathan - Times Square

someone tapped Nancy, it was her college friend Ommar, and her husband Jonathan. They live in NY. Nancy and Ommar have not seen each other since they graduated in college back in 1992. They communicated via text and Facebook, and planned to meet up during the week....but seriously, what were the chances of accidentally meeting up in NYC, in the heart of Times Square! Small world, indeed!!! 

Foodie item #1

It was around 11am already and I knew that The Halal Guys was just around the corner on West 53rd St. We ordered Chicken over Rice, and the kids ate their 1st halal street food. Whenever I visit the city, I try and make it a point to stop by The Halal Guys. For $6, you you get this round deep dish filled with rice, veggies, pita, and your choice of meat and the most amazing yogurt sauce, and fiery hot sauce. Typing that just made my mouth water. Instead of eating next to the halal cart, we walked over to Starbucks, and we ordered iced tea. Our goal at this time was to eat, recharge our bodies, and phones. We headed to a Starbucks somewhere on 8th Ave, I think. 

Broadway shows at a discount

Since we are big theatre fans, and we planned on watching as many shows, we knew it wasn't going to be cheap. Regular tickets are priced over $50 all the way to $300 or more. There are many options to get discounts - via online, via TKTS booth, or you can rush or join the lottery. What's the difference between Rush and Lottery?

• RUSH TICKETS - typically sold on the day of the show, heavily discounted, and they'll sell whatever is available. People tend to line up outside the theatre's box office before it opens, sometimes in the wee hours of the morning
• LOTTERY on the other hand 



Front row orchestra - Wicked!!!

•  s a raffle drawing, a game of pure luck. There's a designated time when names will be drawn, typically 20 seats are given out, so if there's a lot of people, then your chances are slim, but you just never know. Tickets are even more discounted for the lottery, and there's an added thrill when your name gets picked.

Wicked Lottery

The Gershwin Theatre was close enough to Starbucks and we wanted to try our luck with the lottery for Wicked. Around 150 people showed up, the good news, Nancy's name got picked, the not so good news, only 2 tickets per winner. So Madison went (she's never seen Wicked), and Nancy went with her. She's seen it a few times on Broadway and in LA. 

Newsies Rush

Ethan and I then rushed to West 41st St to the Nederlander Theatre and got ourselves 2 rush tickets to Newsies - 4th row side orchestra...SCORE! It was $30 each....double SCORE! I saw the show in 2013 during another visit to NY, and I told the kids that they have to watch this show.

Prior to the Matinee shows

We had 1 hour to kill, and for some reason we got hungry again. I took them to Patzeria Perfect Pizza (on West 46th St)., the only pizzeria place I trust in the Theatre District. At 2pm, all 4 of us watched separately, and that was okay because we knew we were just taking our chances with rush and lotteries. Fortunately we are frequent theatre-goers in California so to miss a show wasn't a do or die situation for us. After our shows, we all met up at New Amsterdam to try our luck with Aladdin lottery, this time, we weren't that lucky. Since we are big on theatre, Madison asked if she could watch Newsies at night. Ethan enjoyed Newsies so much that he highly recommended it.

People watching - Bryant Park

Newsies and father/son bonding
For the evening show, it was Nancy and Madison at Newsies, again 
we paid around $30 each (this time they were give Mezzanine seats), I still think it's a great deal instead of paying full price. Ethan and I on the other hand walked away from Times Square, went to Bryant Park, and people watched. He had ice cream from Mr. Softee, and then we walked towards the nearest Barnes and Noble to read books and magazines.

Falafel with rice, pita, veggies - The Halal Guys

Mister Softee

Lo and behold, we found ourselves near the Rockefeller Ctr, and not far away was The Halal Guys, and guess what? We ordered Halal food again :-) We ordered extra for our girls. We all met up at the Nederlander (where they were inside watching Newsies).

Rockefeller Center

When we got to the theatre, the theatre manager came out towards the lobby, and asked if we needed assistance, and we told him we were waiting for my wife and daughter. Ethan told the manager that he watched the matinee show earlier and thoroughly enjoyed the show. Not long after, the manager asked us to go in the theatre, just stand in the back, and he allowed us to watch the last few scenes....very cool!!!!

Tired

It was now close to 11pm, and we've been on the go ALL DAY!!! It's time to head back to the hotel in Secaucus. Fortunately, the theatre was near Port Authority, and we made it to the bus in good time.

That's Day 1 folks..... :-)