Last Friday, we walked around Greenwich Village looking for two gluten-free places that were on my list of places to check out. 

When we got to the intersection of Bleeker Street and MacDougal, we both looked to the right and saw it! Monte’s!

Monte’s Trattoria is where Marty and I had our first date back in January of 1985. I remember the day like it was yesterday.

Marty picked me up in his little white Alfa Romero. We parked his car at Metropark Train Station and jumped on an NJ Transit train. We pulled into Penn Station and walked around midtown. Christmas decorations were still up and it was cold out.

We went to the Hard Rock Cafe for an early lunch. We were seated next to the band Wang Chung, which was pretty cool. We walked over to Rockefeller Center and while we were watching the ice skaters below he kissed me. It really was one of those magical moments that happen once in a lifetime.

We were both head over heels and knew that we were meant to be together. Can you fall in love that quickly? 

I decided right then and there that I needed to be my authentic self with him; I was tired of trying to act a certain way so guys would like me. Our personalities and upbringings were completely opposite, so if this was going to work, I had to be me. 

Before things got too far and I let myself get hurt, I told him, “Look, I drink, I smoke, and I curse, so if you don’t like it, that’s too fucking bad.” He immediately shot back, “What are you doing tomorrow night?” 😂

We made our way downtown to walk around the “Village.” We both loved the village, and both had our favorite spots. We stopped for drinks at a few different places and ended up at Monte’s. I wasn’t familiar with it, then he led me down the stairs to the restaurant. 

Monte’s is a small Italian restaurant that opened in 1918. It was and still is the real fucking deal. We sat at a table for two. There was a man sitting directly behind me, alone at a two-top as well. I looked at him before I sat down. He looked businesslike and scholarly. 

He was dressed well, although I couldn’t imagine why he was sitting with a winter trench coat on since it was hot in the restaurant. He wore glasses and seemed well-groomed.

As we were sipping our drinks and enjoying each course coming out of the kitchen the man was having a conversation. A loud and angry conversation at times. The Maître d’ went over several times pleading, “Senor, please, quiet down and stop cursing there are people right behind you.” 

The man obviously didn’t give a shit who was around him; he had an argument to win. He must be a big-time lawyer or an NYU professor, I thought. While we were having our desserts the man got up and left. The maître d’ apologized again for the man’s rudeness.

I said to Marty, “That man must be rich to spend that much money on so many cell phone minutes.” I thought he had to be loaded to afford a cellphone back in 1985; they had only been on the market for two years.

Marty started cracking up and could barely breathe, let alone tell me what was so funny. “He wasn’t on the phone; he was talking to himself.” I was shocked, “You mean he was fucking nuts?” Marty replied, “Yes.” Sad, but very funny at the same time.

Dinner at Monte’s was one of the best dinners and nights of my life. I remember the food and desserts were excellent. Everything was made in-house; it was old-world cooking on an upscale level.

That was the last time we were in Monte’s until Friday. We were both so excited when we saw it. Marty grabbed my hand and he led me down the stairs to the restaurant. 

We walked in, and the place looked just as it had 37 years ago. It wasn’t dated after all that time; it was simple elegance. The bathroom had been recently renovated, probably during the pandemic shut down.

As I recall, Monte’s bathroom could have used a renovation. It is a one-person restroom that is now gorgeous with shiny white subway tiles, a new sink, toilet, lighting, and a huge mirror. I have a thing about checking out bathrooms in places I am in; I have done it since I was a little girl. I would report back at the table what the bathroom was like. LOL!

A few diners were having a late lunch. Two guys were sitting at the corner of the small bar, and a bartender was dressed like high-end, old-school bartenders do.

We sat at the bar and told the bartender that this was where we had our first date in ’85. He asked why we waited so long to come back. Lol! The two guys at the bar laughed at that one as well. We knew we were going to like this guy.

We ordered a couple of cocktails and sat talking to everyone at the bar. We are bar people and always feel more comfortable sitting at a bar instead of a table. We have met many interesting people at bars over the years.

We felt welcomed and at home there; that’s the vibe the place gave us back then and now. We didn’t eat because it was midday since we were still stuffed from the curry wurst and fries. 

The chef, Chef Mosconi, came out of the kitchen to say hello. He spoke in English but spoke Italian back and forth to a patron leaving and the guys at the bar. When he heard we were from Vermont, he told us his wife went to college at St. Joseph’s in Rutland, VT. She was a teacher. Marty told him he had worked in Rutland for years.

We also found out he was the chef when we were last there. He started “in the business” in ’83. He was very friendly and looked like what you would imagine an Italian chef to look like. His parents ran the restaurant beforehand; a black and white photo of them standing behind the bar is hanging up.

Chef Mosconi cooks food true to his Italian roots with love; he is passionate about making different kinds of stuffed pasta.

The walls in Monte’s are full of celebrities that have dined at Monte’s over the years. There are photos of currently famous people and all the biggies like Sinatra who frequented the place.

Monte’s is a neighborhood institution. It is on a food and history walking tour of Greenwich village. A tour group came into the restaurant while we were there. Ironically, I am going on a similar walking tour with my sister Jennifer in a couple of weeks. This had been planned long before Marty and I even knew would be in the city for Hamilton. I spoke with the tour guide, who may be my tour guide.

We finished our drinks and paid the tab. We thanked everyone and said our goodbyes. The bartender told us not to wait so long to come back. We all laughed. 

I told him the one thing I learned during the pandemic is you don’t get time back and don’t know how long you have. You have to do things and live life. You can’t keep on waiting as we did. I snapped a few photos and whispered to the restaurant, “We will be back soon.” 

Besides Hamilton, this was the highlight of the trip for me. I still felt like a young girl with this funny and handsome guy. I never imagined that night we would be back 37 years later. That’s Amore! 😍

I’ve been figuring out the best way to tackle our two-day trip to NYC. We packed in so much in under 48 hours it wasn’t funny. Getting back to the city was well overdue; now that we went, we will be going back again soon.

Rather than write about our trip chronologically, I will write about subjects. This will keep me from flitting from one thing to another, making the piece hard to understand.

Travel & accommodations

We started the night before our trip by going to our favorite Chinese place, Ala Shanghai, and spent the night in Albany since we had an early train to catch. Again, the weather forecast was not a pretty one with ice and mixed precipitation.

Our whole Amtrak experience was an excellent one! The ride was pleasant, comfortable, and quick. The trip into the city is less than 2 1/2 hours and went very fast. The train was sold out, picking up passengers along the way.

We stayed at the OYO Hotel, 800 ft from Times Square and a 5-minute walk to the Richard Rodgers Theater. It was a great location!

It was a small boutique hotel with only nine floors. The building was old but updated. Our room was on the 6th floor, small but modern, clean, and comfortable. It was perfect. The mattress was incredibly comfortable, and the two pillows seemed customized for me.

The only drawback was that the elevator was extremely slow, so we walked down the stairs to save time. We walked down, not up, since our legs and feet were so tired from all our walking.

Like the rest of the city, the hotel is under construction, which you did not see. It seemed like most of the city’s buildings had scaffolding around them, but this is good when it is raining like it was our first day. Scaffolding = staying dry.

We bought a Metrocard and took the subway everywhere for the rest of the trip. We were a little rusty at first, but we both got back into our NY groove and found the system as second nature as it had been years ago. The subway is the best way to get around the city quickly and affordably.

Ghost town

To say we were shocked and dumbfounded is an understatement. Times Square was empty. There were virtually no people. There is no traffic like it used to have since it is a pedestrian zone, but the were no people!

The usual touristy places like where the late show is filmed and NBS Studios were empty. I took photos to show just how quiet the streets were. It was a little creepy and scary; I can’t imagine how it was a year ago.

Many people are working from home so that accounts for some of the lack of people along with March not being a touristy time of the year.

The streets filled up more in the evening with theatergoers and other visitors, which was good to see. New York is struggling for its economy to come back; it felt good to support it.

Hamilton

We’ve been listening to the soundtrack to Hamilton for years. I’ve heard it hundreds of times and know most of the words to the songs. We lost track of how many times we watched the show on Disney + with the original cast.

Just seeing the Richard Rodgers Theater was exciting! We almost bought tickets right before the pandemic, but they were too expensive for us at the time. This was a major regret of mine during the shutdown of our country. It was sad that the lights went out on Broadway for over a year for the first time.

Sam chose good seats for us in the orchestra section, on the end, in case I need to “go potty.” 😂 Our seats were good; we could even see the expressions on the actor’s faces and close enough to hear their shoes squeak when they did turns.

I may be the only person to notice spin squeaks, but I did because the same thing happens when we do spins in belly dance when the floor is tacky from humidity. It was raining out, so maybe this was the case at the show.

When we got to our seats, I can’t describe how exciting it was to see the stage and be “in the room where it happened.” From our seats, I could see where the actors waited in the stage’s wings to come out and what props they had for the next scene.

I realize most people wouldn’t think to watch the wings of the stage, but I knew the show so well it was cool to watch what was about to unfold in person.

I was concerned I would be disappointed seeing the show live since the original cast is no longer in the show. I was wrong. The actors that night played their roles amazingly close to the original cast with the same passion, emotions, and expertise. Their voices sounded so similar, and their mannerisms on point.

The only character I was disappointed in was Angelica. The actress is excellent, I’ve seen her in other shows, but she seemed to be on stage just performing, not in character. The original Angelica played by Renee Elise Goldsberry made me cry every time she sang “Satisfied” and started the song “It’s quiet uptown.”

When Renee Elise Goldsberry played Angelica, she was Angelica. She was filled with emotion, and you could feel how heartbroken she was. When she was interviewed after Hamilton aired on Disney +, it was the first time any of the original cast saw the show for themselves; she said watching the show, she was a puddle of tears and felt the heartache all over again. She exhibited anguish and sorrow at every performance. The actress we saw had no emotion even though she had a lovely voice.

After the opening number, Alexander Hamilton, while the cast stood at the edge of the stage singing, I was so overwhelmed that I cried. Nothing can ever replace live theater and experience it.

Gluten-free food tour

After being disappointed with the lack of gluten-free food in Vegas, I did my research. I read blogs and followed dedicated gluten-free bakeries and restaurants on social media. I watched YouTube videos of gluten-free restaurant reviews. NYC didn’t disappoint; according to Hamilton, it is the “greatest city in the world.”

We started at Friedman’s, a Jewish deli where the phrase “there’s no such thing as a free lunch” was coined. We asked our server about gluten-free choices; he told us everything on the menu was or could be gluten-free except for the matzo ball soup.

We were in a New York Jewish deli, so we ordered a pastrami sandwich with herb-tossed french fries. We also had an order of potato latkes; again, in a Jewish deli, you get the latkes.

The food was delicious! It felt good to feel normal and order whatever we wanted off the menu without worry. We shared our meals so we could save room for more items to try.

Later that day, we headed up to the upper east side and went to a dedicated gluten-free Parisian bakery called Noglu NY. They have two locations, one in Paris, the other in NY. If I can’t go to a bakery in Paris, I figured I had to go to this one.

The bakery was how I imagined it. The website is in French, so I was relieved the staff spoke English. We had the most sexy-ass quiche I had ever seen or tasted! The crust was brioche-like; the wilted spinach filling was as light and fluffy as a cloud.

Marty and I split the quiche and one of their pastries filled with a caramel-like cream, topped with thinly sliced almonds. Holy shit, you guys, it was just like being in Paris. I was so happy we went.

The next day, we headed back uptown and went to a dedicated gluten-free bakery called Modern Bread and Bagel. I’ve read on social media their bagels are authentic NY bagels, and you can’t tell the difference. Could this be true I wondered?

First of all, unless you have had the real deal, an authentic NY bagel, you haven’t had one. Modern Bread and Bagel’s bagels were exactly as explained. We couldn’t believe we were eating real NY bagels! I almost cried with joy; it was that good.

The staff were friendly and explained the various cream cheeses and other “schmears” to us and their pasties. It was hard to make a choice, but we will be going back there again for sure; it took some of the pressure off.

Marty had his favorite sesame bagel with veggie cream cheese. I had a plain bagel; I wanted to try a plain one to taste the bagel and not the toppings with olive cream cheese. There were whole kalamata olives in the cream cheese!

We also found an everything bagel with housemade lox, cream cheese, arugula, and tomato in our bag by mistake. They told us to keep it and enjoy it. It was my first time trying lox; the sandwich reminded me of a BLT. The lox tasted like the kosher answer to bacon.

Next, we headed downtown to Chelsea Market, which we had never been to before. It is a foodie’s dream place with various food vendors and artisan shops. We stopped at Berlin Currywurst. We had to see if their currywurst was as good as those in Berlin, and yes, it was. It tasted just like my food memory. Everything at Berlin Currywurst was gluten-free except for the buns.

We walked off the currywurst while heading to the Union Square Green Market. It is a farmers market that is open 5 or 6 days a week. We knew a few vendors there and said hello to them. After hearing about this market for so long, it was fantastic to see it.

We also went to Washington Square Park to rest our legs and watch some street performers. It was sunny and warm; the magnolias and daffodils were in full bloom. Spring had sprung in NYC, which felt great.

We kept walking and stopped to check out two more dedicated gluten-free places. Senza Gluten and Posh Pot Bakehouse. Senza was closed for dinner until 5 pm, but we got to go in and see it anyway.

Posh Pop Bakehouse is a sweets eater heaven with over-the-top cakes and other sweets. The whole place is very girlie and all pink, which I loved. The staff was so friendly and passionate about their bakery. They were happy and proud to have such a purpose in the gluten-free community. If you love sweets, you have to go there.

Our last gluten-free food stop was a Thai place called Kati Shop. It was like a Thai version of Chiptoles where you pick your rice, protein, sauce, and toppings. Everything in the shop was gluten-free and delicious. The owner was very friendly and gave us samples of all their curries and explained the dishes in detail. We got so much food for under $25 and walked out of there stuffed and tired.

During the trip we also had drinks and other gluten-free bites in bars so we could sit down and use their bathrooms. Bathrooms are hard to come by since they are for patrons only or in fancy hotels or department stores. Marty found the “best place to take a dump” at the Moxy Hotel. 😂

We packed in so much in two days! We were exhausted while waiting for our train in the comfortable Amtrak waiting area. The train ride home went quickly and was restful. The hour-long car ride also went simple, hitting no traffic.

Tomorrow, I will be writing about how Marty and I went back to a place in Greenwich Village where we had our first date back in 1985. This post is long enough, so I figured I would do it justice and write about it tomorrow, giving us all a break. Lol.

Yesterday and today, I am relaxing because we are back to work tomorrow with so many orders that came in during our time off, which we are thankful for.

What a great trip we had! ☺️