Venturing Downtown

Venturing Downtown

I work in the Midtown area of Manhattan and live on its Upper East Side. I rarely venture South of 42ND street during the week unless work deems it necessary. Even at the weekends my only customary venture down to lower Manhattan is to take my youngest son to hockey practice early on Sunday morning. Even when we have breakfast after, we normally grab a bagel uptown on the way home.

I have nothing against going Downtown. I actually prefer the vibe and the restaurants there in comparison with the rather staid, some what snobby atmosphere of Uptown establishments. Downtown, its inhabitants are by and large trendier, they eat later and they dress infinitely better. Chinos and Polo shirts are rare sightings down there unless worn by an unsuspecting Uptowner.

Much preparation work has to be done in order to haul oneself past 57th street in a southerly direction on a Saturday night. Suitable clothing must be chosen and then rejected by the wife. "Please stop dressing like you are twenty five and trendy. You are neither," was the previous flattering comment my wife made to me as I stood in the mirror admiring myself.
Timing is also of the essence in organizing an evening out in the bowels of Manhattan. Eating too early is a downtown cardinal sin. They stray towards the European model of never eating before 8.30 p.m. Eating too late tends to encourage Uptowners to fall asleep at the tables of trendy eateries or catch quick catnaps in their bathroom cubicles.

The mode of transportation to get to southerly destinations is also quite key. I have elaborated already in previous blogs of my utter displeasure at taking yellow cabs for more than five blocks due to motion sickness. I prefer the use of the subway but may have to settle for a car service if my wife is running late. She hasn't been on time in the past five years, so the chances of us taking the subway are slightly less than the chances of me being the next Pope.

Our reservation has been made and we are meeting our fellow dinner guests at 8.30pm at the restaurant. If you think we have a lot of preparation work to do in getting to Downtown on time and looking the part, try being our friends who are coming in from Long Island. They live in a town that I have never visited , which I hear is in the same State as New York City even though they speak weird and have hairstyles that were fashionable decades ago. They need a valid passport and a visa that they applied for six months previous just to be allowed entry to Manhattan. However, once they open their mouths and talk they may be refused entry to the restaurant.