the shrewdness of apes

does everyone already check out the Manhattan Users Guide on a regular basis? we need to add a link to them over on the right somewhere. the past two days they've had NYC bloggers naming their 10 favorite things about New York. we know they're not about to ask us for our opinions, but fuck 'em we'll do it anyway:

1. 5th Avenue in Brooklyn - taking you from O'Connor's near Flatbush to Century 21 on 86th with a ton of great stops along the way: Al di La, the Chip Shop, Buttermilk, Green-Wood Cemetery, Melody Lanes, the Latino strip of Sunset Park (the wife got a tip for some good tamales), the Bay Ridge movie theater, Hinsch old-fashioned soda counter (we'll get there soon) and so many others. if we had to pick one street to spend the rest of our lives on, this would be it. unless you're in a car, in which case avoid it like the plague if you hope to reach your destination this year.

2. the Cyclone - what can we say that hasn't already been said? the greatest.

3. sausages at Shea - the subway ride takes forever, the stadium is sadly out of date, the fans can be a bit brusque and most of the food stinks. but the sausages are great, these days the lines aren't so long, the low-flying planes are plentiful and hey, it's baseball watching with friends without all the Yankee fans.

4. bodegas - especially since the advent of the ATM era the occasional price gouger notwithstanding. there should be a law that say that no one in the city is allowed to live more than five blocks from one.

5. brunch - ahh that ubiquitous saturday and sunday event. roll out of bed bleary-eyed and stagger to your favorite place. lots of restaurants do it justice (it's hard to screw up eggs) but few do it well.

6. Staten Island Ferry/Roosevelt Island Tram - two great unique modes of transport. the ferry approach to Manhattan makes it look like the buildings are rising out of the water. the tram gives you a privileged feeling like you're getting to see something everyone else is missing.

7. walking across the Brooklyn Bridge - once we were walking across around dusk, with a beautiful, full yellow moon rising in the sky. it might have been the most romantic moment of our lives had we not been talking football with our college buddy at the time.

8. avoiding traffic - it's a wonderful feeling when you're stuck in the bumper-to-bumper honk-a-thon - which can seriously happen anywhere, anytime - and realize that you know a way around it. even better when it actually works.

9. sitting in the studio audience - ok, so you're probably going to end up next to some rube from Dubuque, but it's always surreal to be there for the taping. you usually get some extra entertainment - we were once treated Conan singing "Hunka Hunka Burnin' Love" to the woman seated behind us - and the opportunity to yell something they might have to edit out later.

10. the pickles - this town is a pickle-lovers paradise. they're everywhere and they're almost universally fantastic. none of that sweet bullshit neither. from the UWS to the LES, from dill to new to sour they're the best in the world. favorite place to get them: Katz's deli alongside a towering corned beef on rye.