SoHo, Chinatown, Jacques Torres!

The next morning, we ventured off to the Greek run & owned corner diner, Tastee Corner on 30th St. in Astoria. This is located right under N & L's subway stop.
It's not a really big inside but it's the kind of place that probably knows all their 'regular' customers, where the staff already knows what you want before you even sit down.


TC's breakfast - scrambled eggs w/bacon & hash browns:
Bert's eggs with ham and potatoes:
My sausage & egg croissant sandwich:
Our orders came with white buttered toast:

A Greek Church next to...
this place...Euro Market on 31st Street. It was a pretty large supermarket filled with all kinds of imported foods from Europe. They had rows and rows of all kinds of pasta and sauces as well as a huuuge selection of European chocolates. I recognized some of the chocolates (I forgot which brand) because Bert's parents had brought chocolates from Austria and Germany. The store even had an olive bar! So cool! Plus an enormous display of cheeses, cured meats and the biggest selection of beers! I felt self conscious taking photos in there and the ones that I did take were blurry! I ended up buying a selection of chocolates here...The elderly lady, Maria, working the cash register seemed quite charmed by TC and threw in an extra chocolate for her! More stores on the block...
I really liked the iron work on this apartment building:


Heading round the corner back to our friends' apartment:
Here are the candies that I bought from Euro Market. These were chocolate "bananas", or rather, banana shaped chocolates. They were 4 for $1.00. They were from Greece and Macedonia. Some more candies. From the top -1) a Greek chocolate wafer bar, 2) a chocolate/hazelnut candy bar from Croatia, 3) the cartoon wrapped candy on the side is the free one that Maria threw in - it's from Macedonia! & 4) the 'Duplo' was a chocolate covered hazelnut candy (I forgot the country).
I got busted for taking these (blurry) photos at Dean and Deluca in SoHo. Dammit, I was taking a few pix of their cupcakes and...
their rugalachs when seemingly out of nowhere, this big bear of a man (6' plus) tapped me on the shoulder and told me straight up that photos were forbidden! I was kind of embarrassed but also kind of peeved as I didn't see the harm in doing so. But, to avoid being kicked out by the brute squad, I apologized for my transgression and hastily shoved my camera back into my bag!
This store Uniqlo is considered the Japanese version of H & M:
This location is their flagship store and is huge! Two floors of Japanese fashion plus a rainbow of colors in basic tees, tanks and polos. They also have a vast selection of printed t-shirts. I wasn't really into their women's fashions - not my style.
I liked how their store was spare and everything was in its' place:
After checking out Uniqlo, TC got hungry so we stopped by Miro Cafe for a quick bite (just her) -We got her a small tray of California roll sushi. Plus the cafe was air conditioned (a plus) and had a bathroom (gross though - it was unisex and reeked of urine! Plus I noticed many public bathrooms in NYC did not provide toilet seat covers! What gives?).
The mecca of all things Chinese and cute: Pearl River Mart
One of the streets in Little Italy

Mmm, maybe next time we'll try their food - Nyonya (a Malaysian restaurant):
Too bad this store was shut downv for good, I would have wanted to check it out - it was the Japanese version of a 5 & dime store:
They took us to their favorite Vietnamese place, Pho Bang:
We were seated all the way in the back:
My bun with grilled shrimp. No fried bits of pork fat, but satisfying nonetheless.
Our fried spring rolls - They were kind of skimpy with the greens (not enough mint or cilantro). The rolls were kind of small and stubby and too oily:
Mulberry Street in Little Italy. Too bad we were full from lunch. I would have wanted to try pizza at Lombardi's A banner near Little Italy:
Graffiti:
More graffiti:
and so on...
Too much glare, I know. Roasted ducks in a Chinatown window:
One of the fishmongers in Chinatown:
On our way to Jacques Torres, we stopped by Mariebelle , a chic (but expensive - aren't they all?) little shop that specializes in handmade candies and rich hot chocolate:
We were given a sample of their frothed hot chocolate in a tiny cup. The worker also gave us a sample of their passionfruit chocolate truffle (sorry, not pictured!): I eneded up buying one of their tins for Aztec Hot Chocolate ($22):
Our last stop was Jacques Torres near N's work:
Talk about chocolate heaven! Bert ended up buying a 12 piece box. We ended up eating it over the next few days - didn't want it to melt on the way back home!
Mmmmm - raspberry macaron! Unfortunately, there were only 3 left ($1.25 a piece) so I bought those and shared them with Bert & TC. Bert and our friends all had coffees as well. I think Bert had about 5 coffees that day (1 @ the apartment, then at Tastee Corner, a Vietnamese iced coffee, the one here and another one later that day)! I love the way coffee smells, but I don't really drink it. Unless that is, it's dumped with tons of sugar and/or creamer OR if it's Vietnamese iced coffee. The macarons here were smallish but light as a feather once you bit into the crackly crust. The raspberry jam provided the mortar for the two meringue halves that sandwiched the fruit filling.
Gone in 60 seconds:

We spent a lot of the afternoon walking around SoHo. While we were in Chinatown, I was on the prowl for cheap ass postcards. I found a place that sold 12 for $1.00. I thought that was pretty good - until we saw an even cheaper place a few days later near the Empire State Building ($20 for $1.00! D'oh!)!