A Day in Brooklyn and NYC: Visiting the Waterfalls

Yesterday was the opening of the new NYC Waterfalls, a temporary art exhibit that will be on display from June 26^th to October 13^th.

The four waterfalls are located in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, and were created by a Danish Artist Olafur Eliasson. They are quite beautiful, and highlight that New York is a very special island. More information can be found at http://www.nycwaterfalls.org/.

My wife, son (19) and I decided to take advantage of this new exhibit to spend a day of food and fun in the city.

We decided to start out in Brooklyn, and headed to Grimaldi’s for some Coal Brick Oven Pizza. We had never been to Grimaldi’s and have in fact never spent much time in Brooklyn although I was born there—it’s a bit of a foreign planet for me. This area is called DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), and is a great area of New York to visit with cobblestone streets, great views of Manhattan, interesting shops, and of course, some great food. (Note: I read that next years Top Chef is rumored to be hosted in Dumbo.)

Missed the exit for 495 in getting there, and ended up on Astoria Boulevard, but that led to some good fortune as gas there was cheap (about 35 cents less than CT- of course everywhere in the country is cheaper), and after the station owner asked if that was our son in the back and we said yes, he handed us small Mr. Softee ice cream cones—he said his friend owns a truck and stops by to give him some ice cream regularly. Anyway, this was clearly a sign of good things to come!

We found a free parking spot right next to Cadman Plaza Park (note: I hate paying crazy $ for parking in NYC, and am an expert parallel parker) and then headed over to Grimaldi’s for lunch. Our good luck continued, as we were able to get right into the restaurant (it was about 2 pm—and our understanding is that there’s usually about a 30 minute wait), and ordered a large pepperoni pie.

Grimaldi’s is a cozy little pizza joint, about 20 tables, with lots of pictures and memorabilia on the walls. We sat at a table underneath a picture of Mayor’s Bloomberg and Guiliani, and looked across the room at the Sinatra shrine! We watched them make the pie, and slide them into the coal oven on long wooden paddles. We ordered a “classic” pepperoni. What sets Grimaldi’s pizza’s apart is the large chunks of fresh mozzarella, chopped tomatoes and fresh basil that you can smell the instant you open the door.

The pie was delicious with a crisp, slightly burnt charcoal crust. While not the best pizza I have ever eaten (probably DiFara’s in Brooklyn, or Pepe’s white clam pie in New Haven, or perhaps Eduardo’s Stuffed Spinach deep dish pie in Chicago), it would make the Top 10 list!

After finishing our meal, we headed to the new Brooklyn Bridge Park to view the Waterfalls. From the park, we could see all four (the closest being under the Brooklyn Bridge), and enjoyed the fantastic view. We had planned on eating some homemade ice cream at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, but were stuffed from lunch, and thought we’d return later in the day (although we never made it—this will need to be a future trip).

We did, however, continue on our journey and walked to the bridge entrance. We conveniently passed Jacques Torres on our way to the bridge, and grabbed a large dark chocolate chunk cookie and chocolate nut bark for some extra energy. Both were quite amazing and provided some needed extra energy for what was a very full day!

We walked over this historic bridge which is a terrific way to view the Manhattan skyline and enter the city. It also provided us with excellent views of three of the waterfalls. After crossing the bridge, we headed down to Bowling Green to get another view of the falls and check out the American Indian Museum, http://www.nmai.si.edu/, which we had never been to before. This free museum is a branch of the Smithsonian, and is located in the Old US Customs House at the tip of the island.

It was a bit hot out, so we stopped for some refreshing “bubble tea” from one of the vendor carts close to St. Paul’s church. While not quite as good as the Ten Ren tea shops in Chinatown, it was very refreshing, and hit the spot.

The American Indian Museum has beautiful, well displayed exhibits of both contemporary and historical Indian culture and art. The two story museum is a nice place to spend a couple of hours, and the “security guards” working there have really taken to this museum. They are amazingly knowledgeable about the American Indians and the pieces displayed, and very thrilled to share their knowledge with visitors, as well as interested in learning more about you.

It was now about 7:30 pm, and we started making our way back to Brooklyn. We stopped at the Seaport to view of the waterfalls from the NY side, while sitting and enjoying a beer. With the boats headed up and down the east river, ferrying folks to and from the waterfalls and home from work, it was a spectacular sight.

We then continue our path back to Brooklyn, walking over the bridge as daylight fell, and the night lights of the city were turned on. Although we were tired, the walk was very relaxing and beautiful.

When back in Brooklyn at about 9 pm, more than a little tired, we headed for Heche en Dumbo for a quick bite. Heche en Dumbo (“made in Dumbo”, www.hechoendumbo.com, ) is a Mexican restaurant located in a former General Store in Dumbo. The menu features high quality organically grown food, and is excellent. We shared an assortment of unusual taco’s (e.g. a taco stuffed with Berkshire pork steamed in a banana leaf with pickled red onion), sopa’s and burrito’s which were very tasty and delicious.

After dinner, we headed back to home extremely well fed (albeit a bit exhausted), having experienced a full day of fantastic food and fun in while experiencing the New York Waterfalls.