A Brooklyn Based Itinerary: Day One

I spent Labor Day weekend in Brooklyn, New York for a wedding. I hadn't been to New York since I was in high school, and we decided to make a long weekend out of it. On my previous trip, I'd seen a fair bit of Manhattan, so we also decided to mainly focus on Brooklyn. I thought I'd give you a rundown of what we did each of our three days, and the things worth their time (and not).

We stayed at an AirBnB house in Park Slope. For those of you who don't know, AirBnB is a website based housing service, where people post rooms, suites, or full houses/apartments for rent. It allows owners to generate some income from their unused space, and it allows renters to find what amounts to a bed and breakfast in areas that may not have any of the traditional sort (although not all postings offer breakfast). I've stayed at an AirBnB listing four times now, in Puerto Rico twice, in Denver, Colorado, and in Brooklyn. I would highly recommend the service, but also recommend that you read listings and reviews carefully- they've always been accurate for me, but sometimes point out some quirks of the listing. I'm happy to refer you to any of the listings I've stayed at, if you're interested.

* AirBnB has no idea who I am, or that I'm posting this review. I was not compensated for this opinion, and all thoughts are my own. *

We predominantly used the subway to get around, and found that to be a great option if you're comfortable with walking. The few times that we were with people who weren't, it was easy and fairly economical to catch one of the green "borough" cabs (which do not travel in to Manhattan).

Our first day was the only day that we went into Manhattan. We did this for two reasons: a friend had recommended a sushi restaurant, and we wanted to see the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.

The sushi restaurant on our list was Karumazushi, a traditional Japanese sushi restaurant. Located in Midtown East, it's on the second floor of a building, above a Chinese restaurant. The space is small, but very serene. You will likely want to call for a reservation, and we recommend arriving toward the beginning of service to grab a spot at the sushi bar.

A quick note: I lived in Japan, and ate a lot of sushi while I was there. It's still one of my favorite foods, and while I'm not a snob, I do know a quality piece of fish, and a quality cut. I also consider Japanese sushi (predominately nigiri, and very minimal and traditional sauces) to be a different type of food from American sushi (predominantely rolls, often with creative suaces or toppings). Both can be good, but I go to different restaurants for each.

A quick preusal of reviews online will find you two opinions on Karumazushi: (1) it's amazing and very traditional; and (2) it's astoundingly overpriced. The friend who recommended this restaurant put it this way: it's not for amateurs. I think this friend is right. You can get a very good, very reasonably priced meal here, if you stick to the lunch special, or deluxe special. BUT, if you order without looking at price, or omakase ("chef's choice"), the bill is going to stack up quickly. This is really, really high quality seafood, and food of this quality is going to cost, especially when prepared so skillfully. Bottom line: this is the best Japanese style sushi I've had in the U.S., and would have been competing for the top of the list in Japan. I highly recommend a trip if you like sushi.

* Note: consuming raw or undercooked animal products does contain some risk. Use common sense. *

The second part of our day in Manhattan was visiting the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. I don't think I need to tell you what happened on 9/11, but suffice it to say, I didn't feel ok about visiting Manhattan without paying my respects at the Memorial.

 

I was really impressed with the Memorial. The picture above is one of two features- they cover the footprint of the twin towers, and are surrounded by the names of all those who lost their lives on that day. It's very well done, and a touching tribute. I highly recommend a visit if you are in the vicinity.

 

We followed our visit to the Memorial with a visit to the Museum. The Museum is very well put together, and includes a lot of detailed information about 9/11 itself, and the fallout after the attack. By far the most touching part for me was the audio sections, where recorded experiences were interspersed with audio from the towers and Pentagon. The Museum is wonderfully done, and I think it will be a good educational tool for people who are too young to remember what happened, and for the rest of us as we age. That said, as someone who vividly remembers watching the second tower get hit, and the coverage afterward, it was a bit overwhelming. We spent over 3 hours in the Museum, and I don't feel like we saw everything there was to see. It took a while to come back to a normal mental state after viewing the Memorial and Museum, and I recommend you build time into your trip to accommodate this if you decide to go.

 

We finished the day with a lovely Peruvian meal in Brooklyn, at Surfish Bistro. We chose it based on whim, but the food was delicious, and the patio out back was charming. I can recommend the pineapple tuna ceviche, mango salad, paella, tacu tacu, brussels sprouts, and tincho, which were all very good, and very distinct flavors. The paella is especially delicious, and rather large for one person. The red sangria and avocado salad weren't quite as good, though they weren't bad.