With this the final season of Yankee's Stadium we decided to take a road trip to see the last Tigers/Yankees regular season series in the old ballpark. Besides seeing the first Tiger's sweep in Yankee Stadium since 1966 we had a blast in an amazing city.
Highlights:
Lombardi's Pizza. Man oh man. With most of the bigger pizza franchises being from Michigan (Little Skeezers, Hungry Homies and Dominhoes), tasting the pie in NY was like night and day. The cheese, crust and sauce was some amazing shit. I would probably go back to NY again just for the pizza.
Jersey Dave taking us all to dinner at Wolfgangs (not Puck, but some guy who was the top chef at one of NYs top steak joints) and getting the 4-person steak. Not sure how everyone in NY is not 300+ with how good all the food was.
Gelato (yes, more food). The gelato in Little Italy rivaled and probably exceeded anything I had when in Rome.
The mob tour a friend of mine gave us. Drove us around to show us all the spots and famous places people from the Midwest only see on Mob Documentaries on the History Channel.
Grand Hyatt. Nice ass hotel and had the good fortune of both the Tigers and Pirates staying there. See "low lights" below on why I ended up here on night #2.
VIP area and bottle service at Larry Flynt's Hustler's Club. Poor Jeff going back with some hot little Halle Berry looking thing only to come back 10 minutes later saying "that bitch wanted $900 to get freaky!".
Of course, the game itself. Taking the subway to the Bronx. Having our Tiger's gear on and enjoying a game at one of the last remaining great places to catch a game. Had some great seats, and unlike the feedback from other Detroit's fans on local radio (rude treatment, fights, etc), everyone around us was cool as hell. We shot the shit about the game, players and baseball in general. Even the drunk guys who were walking next to us on the way out of the game (we were expecting some shit to start) were pretty cool and said (in the NY lingo), "you Detroit guys aren't that bad. got some balls wearing that stuff here, but you are okay. it is the F***ING Boston fags we hate. Arrogant assholes! Boston fans up until recently only took their hats out to start the season and put them away at the end. Yankees fans wear their NY hats all year long!"
Lowlights:
Considering you do not see this stuff in Detroit, two dudes walking a poodle and stopping mid-walk to tongue kiss. What the f**k is that? Save the speeches Will and Grace fans, but that ain't me. Each his own is my motto, but at the same time seeing dudes make out in the Village was not something I would mark down as "highlights" of my NY trip.
Rude people. Man, everyone there is rude. Holy shit. I found this wallet in the bathroom with money and credit cards. Since I am not a thief, I turned it in and it ended up being the main bartenders. No thanks. No round of drinks. Nothing. Cabbies, waiters, etc all douchbags for the most part. Still better than the elitist swine in CA I guess.
Rain. Unable to do some of the tours we planned on the Monday due to all the rain. Good excuse to come back I guess.
No LaBatt Blue at the game. Boooo!!!!!!!!!
The first hotel we were at, The Milford Plaza, or what the guy at the Grand Hyatt (the hotel I switched to after the first night) called it, The Mildew Plaza. The place smelled like my grandmother's pajamas. After the night at the strip club and a 5th of Vodka, I woke up to the sound of a construction site across the street. The reason I knew it was a construction site was due to there not being any damn blinds on my windows. So I stumble out of bed trying to find something to drink and realize no room service. So I call down and ask where there are vending machines at. The chick on the other line tells me nothing on my floor (16th), but they do have a pop/soda machine on the 15th and 17th. With banging headache and dry mouth in full effect, I stumble out and walk up to the 17th floor to see "machine currently out of order". Next time: TripAdvisor.com.
Overall, it was an amazing time to finally see NY and watch a game at Yankees stadium. As my friend Ray put it, "you can almost feel all the history that has gone on in this place". Ain't that the truth.......
Big Ray slamming some pie at the nation's 1st pizzeria, Lombardi's:
