Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Manhattan's Faux Suburbia-The Upper East Side

After leaving the cinema the other night, my friend and I thought we'd grab a cup of coffee and dessert. It was about 10 p.m. at night, and as we walked along the Upper East Side of Manhattan, I was blown away that, considering we live in "the city that never sleeps," everything was CLOSED, save for a couple of bistros. About the only place that was open was Serendipity. On a lark, we went inside, thinking we could get a table and some hot chocolate (it was a Monday night.) "There's an hour and a half wait," said the maitre'd. Hell with that, we said. Guess anyone else craving dessert went there, too.

We meandered around the city, now to find on the block next to Bloomingdale's a Home Depot with a fancy facade. Home Depot??? When I can see a few avenues down the Plaza Hotel? It was too bizarre.

After traipsing around some more, and having no luck finding an open place for dessert, we spotted a couple with ice cream cones and salivated. "Where did you get the ice cream cones?" we asked. "There's a Mr. Softee truck parked on Lex," the woman said. Mr. Softee!! on the Upper East Side. Works for us.

We grinned and fled to Lex to grab a couple Vanilla cones that cooled our palette and satisfied our quest.

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