The temperature this past Saturday neared 90 degrees and the Caribbean-isc weather pointed my stomach in the direction of the nearby Havana Cafe in hopes of a seat outside for lunch and a mojito(s). Usually when I visit the place its on a Friday or Saturday night, and its generally packed each time whereas I'm forced to sit at the bar (not that its a bad thing). Going in the afternoon I figured it would be less hectic this time around, and possibly I could actually have a table outside for myself.
When I arrive there with the sun beaming down, its just as crowded as it would be on a Friday or Saturday night. Even all of the outdoor tables were taken. My dream of having having my favorite drink there, a coconut mojito, outdoors was gone, so I headed inside and followed my usual routine of hanging around the bar until someone vacated one of the bar stools. I ordered one coconut mojito while I remained standing and had to wait about twelve minutes before I was able to have a seat at the bar. The lunch options at the Havana Cafe outweigh the dinner plates, and I had only one choice on my mind which was a dish I tried several months ago, El Gran Combo. It's a Cuban breakfast consisting of a pancake, flank steak, scrambled eggs, and diced onions & tomatoes on top, I of course scraped off the tomatoes. Before the food came my drink had ran out, so I made sure to order another before digging in. Although the El Gran is now running at twenty-one dollars compared to about a year ago when it was only thirteen, it's still worth it. Before leaving I made sure to visit the decorative bathroom with the old-fashioned Bacardi ads pictured on the walls.
A few days later I was in the city for my job in which I went back to my old company on a part-time basis, and leaving for one afternoon I wanted to frolic around Union Square to check out a few places I previously passed by, but didn't visit yet. It had been raining all day, but luckily by the time I was done with work the rain had stopped. I was walking around there about two months ago and the three places I saw was a sausage snack place called Dogmatic, an Asian museum, and a Teamsters office. My plan was to check out all three of these places before taking the subway to go back home. I instantly remembered where Dogmatic was, on E.17th St., so I went there first. Dogmatic specializes in a variety in different types of sausages that are wrapped in crusted doe. There's several variety of sausages such as beef, pork, turkey, veggie, and lamb, I went with the lamb. After that, you select a sauce you want on it, I selected mint yogurt. There's side orders available and for some reason I was drawn to the mac-n-cheese. Initially I wasn't going to order a drink, but the lady behind the counter asked if I wanted anything to wash it down with, so I glanced at the menu on the wall and saw they served handmade soda. I'm not sure exactly how one could make soda by hand, so I plunged in to give it a shot and asked for coconut soda.
There's plenty of room to eat inside if one wants to, there's a giant table in the middle with pull-out seats people can sit at to face eachother, or there's plenty of single pull out seats along the walls. I only had to wait about five minutes for my order to be ready and it was excellent. The sausage was a little thinner than I was anticipating and the soda seemed a little flat, but the mac-n-cheese exceeded all expectations which made up for any blemishes. The only annoyance for me was the extent Dogmatic goes not to offend anyone. For example, on their menu they point out that their products are farm-raised, free-ranged, non-fried, etc. It's a small detail, but I never heard of a situation of someone balking at ordering a sausage because the parts inside wasn't farm-raised. One should be lucky the meat inside isn't raccoon and chick peas mixed together. Next on my hit list was going to be an Asian museum I remembered that was just a few blocks away, the only problem was I couldn't find it this time. There was one building that started to resemble a museum, but it turned out to be a hospital. I didn't worry too much about the museum because I had an even larger issue on my hand; I had reached into my pocket and couldn't feel my cell phone.
After going through my pockets hastily I realized my phone was gone, I went through my head where could it be. Did it fall out my pocket at Dogmatic? Did it fall out around Union Square and some crazy person picked it up? Or did I just leave it at my desk? I gave up on the Asian museum and went back to Union Square to ponder my next move. Should I go back to the office where the phone would likely be, or should I first visit the third and final destination on my afternoon itinerary, the Teamsters office? Unlike the museum, I knew exactly which street the Teamsters office was on, 14th st. I left the green park with it's pigeons and a whino sleeping behind a concrete flower pot, and made my way down to 14th street. I had already done a great deal of walking by this time and knew there was plenty more ahead, so I refueled myself with a mango-banana smoothie from a street cart and proceeded with my journey to the Teamsters. I paced across 14th Street where I remembered seeing the Teamsters office the first time, but just like the Asian museum, I wasn't seeing it. I went only as far west as 7th avenue since I knew I still had to walk back to my office for the phone, so I didn't go any further than that. It turns out if I had gone across 7th avenue and went the one extra block, I would've found the place, but the worry of my cell phone being lost was pulling me back to my office. I hurried back to my desk at my office and as soon as I opened the top draw, there was the cell phone. With my legs tired out, I hopped on the train and headed back home with the cell phone properly in my pocket.
For it was the cell phone that decided the Teamsters office would have to wait for another day....
When I arrive there with the sun beaming down, its just as crowded as it would be on a Friday or Saturday night. Even all of the outdoor tables were taken. My dream of having having my favorite drink there, a coconut mojito, outdoors was gone, so I headed inside and followed my usual routine of hanging around the bar until someone vacated one of the bar stools. I ordered one coconut mojito while I remained standing and had to wait about twelve minutes before I was able to have a seat at the bar. The lunch options at the Havana Cafe outweigh the dinner plates, and I had only one choice on my mind which was a dish I tried several months ago, El Gran Combo. It's a Cuban breakfast consisting of a pancake, flank steak, scrambled eggs, and diced onions & tomatoes on top, I of course scraped off the tomatoes. Before the food came my drink had ran out, so I made sure to order another before digging in. Although the El Gran is now running at twenty-one dollars compared to about a year ago when it was only thirteen, it's still worth it. Before leaving I made sure to visit the decorative bathroom with the old-fashioned Bacardi ads pictured on the walls.
A few days later I was in the city for my job in which I went back to my old company on a part-time basis, and leaving for one afternoon I wanted to frolic around Union Square to check out a few places I previously passed by, but didn't visit yet. It had been raining all day, but luckily by the time I was done with work the rain had stopped. I was walking around there about two months ago and the three places I saw was a sausage snack place called Dogmatic, an Asian museum, and a Teamsters office. My plan was to check out all three of these places before taking the subway to go back home. I instantly remembered where Dogmatic was, on E.17th St., so I went there first. Dogmatic specializes in a variety in different types of sausages that are wrapped in crusted doe. There's several variety of sausages such as beef, pork, turkey, veggie, and lamb, I went with the lamb. After that, you select a sauce you want on it, I selected mint yogurt. There's side orders available and for some reason I was drawn to the mac-n-cheese. Initially I wasn't going to order a drink, but the lady behind the counter asked if I wanted anything to wash it down with, so I glanced at the menu on the wall and saw they served handmade soda. I'm not sure exactly how one could make soda by hand, so I plunged in to give it a shot and asked for coconut soda.
There's plenty of room to eat inside if one wants to, there's a giant table in the middle with pull-out seats people can sit at to face eachother, or there's plenty of single pull out seats along the walls. I only had to wait about five minutes for my order to be ready and it was excellent. The sausage was a little thinner than I was anticipating and the soda seemed a little flat, but the mac-n-cheese exceeded all expectations which made up for any blemishes. The only annoyance for me was the extent Dogmatic goes not to offend anyone. For example, on their menu they point out that their products are farm-raised, free-ranged, non-fried, etc. It's a small detail, but I never heard of a situation of someone balking at ordering a sausage because the parts inside wasn't farm-raised. One should be lucky the meat inside isn't raccoon and chick peas mixed together. Next on my hit list was going to be an Asian museum I remembered that was just a few blocks away, the only problem was I couldn't find it this time. There was one building that started to resemble a museum, but it turned out to be a hospital. I didn't worry too much about the museum because I had an even larger issue on my hand; I had reached into my pocket and couldn't feel my cell phone.
After going through my pockets hastily I realized my phone was gone, I went through my head where could it be. Did it fall out my pocket at Dogmatic? Did it fall out around Union Square and some crazy person picked it up? Or did I just leave it at my desk? I gave up on the Asian museum and went back to Union Square to ponder my next move. Should I go back to the office where the phone would likely be, or should I first visit the third and final destination on my afternoon itinerary, the Teamsters office? Unlike the museum, I knew exactly which street the Teamsters office was on, 14th st. I left the green park with it's pigeons and a whino sleeping behind a concrete flower pot, and made my way down to 14th street. I had already done a great deal of walking by this time and knew there was plenty more ahead, so I refueled myself with a mango-banana smoothie from a street cart and proceeded with my journey to the Teamsters. I paced across 14th Street where I remembered seeing the Teamsters office the first time, but just like the Asian museum, I wasn't seeing it. I went only as far west as 7th avenue since I knew I still had to walk back to my office for the phone, so I didn't go any further than that. It turns out if I had gone across 7th avenue and went the one extra block, I would've found the place, but the worry of my cell phone being lost was pulling me back to my office. I hurried back to my desk at my office and as soon as I opened the top draw, there was the cell phone. With my legs tired out, I hopped on the train and headed back home with the cell phone properly in my pocket.
For it was the cell phone that decided the Teamsters office would have to wait for another day....
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