the shrewdness of apes

in a place where the creeping expansion of Chinatown and the wildfire of the Gentrification Prefecture threaten to wipe out everything in their path, the wife and i spent one of the finest hours possible yesterday, all in the space of 1 block.

first up, a trip to The Pickle Guys on Essex Street to stock up for the wedding in order bring a taste of NYC to Ohio. the guys there are about the friendliest and most helpful you can find anywhere, letting you taste before you buy, steering you toward the best choices, and just generally being colorful. that they gave us two free t-shirts merely ensured that we'll be back very soon. besides the sublime pickles, i recommend trying the Giardiniera and the wife swears by the green tomatoes.

then it was around the corner to Grand Street and Kossar's Bialys, and old-school place if there ever was one (though even the old-school have websites these days). "spartan" is almost an understatement in here as a simple menu of bialys, bagels and bulkas greets you as the production facility to your right churns them out. and at $0.65 each ($1.25 for a large) you can't go wrong and they're good enough to eat plain.

as if that wasn't enough, we then discovered the Doughnut Plant a couple of doors down. using an old recipe with organic an unique ingredients, the doughnuts are big, extremely soft and exceedingly delicious. the censored version of our reaction upon tasting them was "forget Krispy Kreme!!" the fresh apricot doughnut i had was so good that the $2 price tag seemed like a bargain. the wife had one made with a Japanese herb that was also mouth-meltingly fantastic and our high quality beverages (fresh strawberry lemonade and organic iced coffee respectively, both also $2) were just the glazing on the doughnut.

happy and satisfied on such a gorgeous day, we were ready to brave the cavalcade of sights and smells back to the subway. any time i think i might want to leave New York, a return trip here should be enough to convince me otherwise.