Me and Giggles met Sunday at noon for food at Congee Village, an amazing Chinese restaurant that's not in Chinatown or Flushing, but the Lower East Side to fuel up for our search. When I arrived, the restaurant looked like a mish-mash of tiki hut type decorations, complete with bamboo, seashells and fake plants. However the waitstaff were all oddly dressed in plaid vests, more suited to an Irish/Scottish pub. While I waited for Giggles, I browsed the several positive reviews from numerous publications, including the Michelin guide, which were posted in the entrance and began to get excited for my meal. Giggles arrived soon after and we were seated immediately. We shared an order of the salt and pepper squid and Giggles ordered the congee with duck, pork and chicken, while I had the vegetable chow fun noodles. The squid came out first and even though I was a little scared by the oil soaked paper, the dish was surprisingly not greasy, but light and crisp and perfectly seasoned and bright green sliced jalapenos for heat.
Giggles's congee...
My veggie chow fun came out last and it was GOOD. I have had many a chow fun disappointment in NYC but this was not one of them! The chow fun noodles were fresh and not gummy, like those at some restaurants that use dried noodles, with lots of crunchy vegetables. I drank Diet Coke with my meal since it's absolutely not possible for me to eat Chinese food without it and sipped on the jasmine tea after my meal. During our meal I received a reply to a text had sent last night to my friend Brooklyn to see what she was up to:
"Hey girl, u was wasted and in bed by 12 :("
"I meant I was wastes"
"Wasted"
I replied:
"Dude are u still wasted? Lol"
I insisted she meet up with us later after recovering from her hangover. I had a lot of noodles leftover but had to decline packing it up to go since I planned to be out all day (I felt guilty, but assured our waiter that I enjoyed my food). Overall, Congee Village is a no-frills restaurant, that serves yummy food at really cheap-o prices. There are also apparently karaoke rooms available, which I saw no sign of on my visit.
We were on our way to find the magical courts when we discovered we didn't have any tennis balls! Giggles had blasted one into the Hudson River the day before and the other balls were dead so she threw them out and I forgot to stick a new can in my bag. So we used Giggles's new iPhone to locate a sporting good store and luckily there were two close by on Essex. At the first store, they charged $8 per can of balls. Ummm what? Have they been signed by Rafael Nadal? At the second store, we asked the salesman how much the tennis balls were and when he said $3 we were stunned. "I can charge you more if you want" he said. As we were leaving, across the street from the store there were.....
Tennis courts! These were far from magical courts with a worn out surface, net made of fencing, broken glass and children playing handball and basketball all around - but they would do. We hit for only a half hour since it was unbelievably hot in the direct sunlight and the heat was emanating from the concrete like an oven. We retreated to the shade and sat drinking our 1.5 liter bottles of water and decided to continue our search for the magical courts since they seemed so perfect that surely they must be nicely shaded too.
But first, we stopped to check out this artisans market next door filled with intricately hand-crafted jewelry, vintage and new clothing as well as a variety of tasty food options (Korean beef tacos and Thai chili macaroons looked interesting). I found a cool necklace and Giggles enjoyed a Taiwanese shaved ice treat piled high with cubed mango and mango sorbet. We also saw former MTV host Su Chin Pak filming something, dressed like a LES hipster in skinny rolled up jeans and Chuck Taylor's. She was in a stall with some strange photographs (I really just got a glimpse of one of some fat people on the subway) and spoke with a stoner-like drawl about how the markets are a good place to find cheap, local art and then said "It's NY, you can throw a rock and hit an artist." I seriously hope they edit that line out.
After walking beneath the Williamsburg Bridge and over the FDR, we spotted the magical courts. There they were, well maintained, a perfect shade of green with bright white lines. However when we got to the entrance there was an evil little man sitting around and checking for people's passes! Feeling rejected and sweaty, me and Giggles sat on a bench by the East River and took in some beautiful views.
From our bench...
We saw a couple get up from a bench closer to the water and Giggles yelps "It's the weird guy!" I was confused (I know a lot of weird guys) but then recognized the worn, navy blue Vans sneakers. It was vintage-y guy from last Sunday at the Hudson River Park tennis courts with the math book! And he was with his lady love from last weekend too! If we had run into Mr. Paisley Cuffs that day too, I would have taken it as a sure sign to move to a new city.
We finalized plans to meet Brooklyn in Union Square to see a movie and started to walk up that way. "Can we get a cab!" wailed Giggles, but I knew insisted on walking. As we made our way through Alphabet City, we spotted a community garden. Like a sanctuary in the city, the garden was full of flowers and greenery, a koi pond and several quiet spots to sit and just be.
We also saw this adorable kitty perusing the compost pile for his dinner...
As we carried on, me and Giggles walked through Tompkins Square Park where there was a jazz festival....
Me and Giggles finally met Brooklyn outside the theaters and saw The Other Guys which was hilarious - who knew that Marky Mark was funny! After, we had dinner at Rohm Thai. I ordered my usual meal at Thai restaurants - a summer roll and the green curry with tofu and vegetables with brown rice. I think they forgot the tofu in the summer roll so although it looked appetizing, it tasted like a salad wrapped in rice paper with a bit of sauce thrown on top. Giggles's duck roll was a much better option judging from her's and Brooklyn's reactions. I did not try this starter since I'm still not eating meat.
The curry was better though the sauce could have been more viscous and there were only four cubes of tofu (why are these people so stingy with the tofu!), but the sauce itself tasted good and had some decent heat! Giggles had the shrimp in basil sauce (she always gets the basil sauce) and Brooklyn had the mixed seafood that came with salmon, mussels, shrimp and squid in chili sauce that made her cough a little.
Dinner was good and all me and Giggles wanted to do was get home to our respective apartments and shower! Although the journey to the magical tennis courts was long and ultimately ended in disappointment we did manage to see some really cool stuff! The artisans market, views of the Williamsburg Bridge by the East River and the community garden are all examples of the amazing sites the city has to offer. Every weekend is an opportunity to see or try something new and sometimes the best way to find it all is completely by accident.
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