The Smoke Joint

There are not a whole lot of BBQ places in New York.  You are shocked by this, I see.

While out enjoying the lovely weather (which I have a feeling will be happening more and more often) we came across The Smoke Joint.

Besides having a clever name, the scents emanating from the place were saliva inducing.

The pork sandwich was massive.  In fact, I didn’t even finish it.  It was a little on the dry side, but I am spoiled by Texas Barbeque.  I should have gotten the fries instead of the beans.  Not that the beans were bad, but there was so much pork on the beans that it was like having more of my sandwich.  I did steal some of the seasoned fries though and my goodness were they yummy.     The people next to us got hot dogs and mac & cheese for the kids, and it looked like some serious deliciousness.

On a scale of 1-5 Ninja Monkeys:

Atmosphere:  3 Ninja Monkeys (It was a little cramped, and I wanted more rustic.)

Food: 4 Ninja Monkeys

Drinks: N/A (but the Black Cherry soda was pretty yummilicious!)

Service: 2-3 Ninja Monkeys  (Nice girls, but took waaaaaaaay too long to take our order)

Music: N/A

Overall, I give the place 3 Ninja Monkeys.  I’ll probably go back though if I’m really hankerin for some BBQ.  Maybe I’ll try something different next time.

Heat Wave

Along with most of New York, we headed out to Central Park on Saturday.  Such a sudden burst of heat (88 degrees F) woke up the city like a once wilting plant.  It was hard to find a place to sit down and relax among such an interesting sea of humanity.  And I don’t just use the word “sea” to be cute.  You probably could have gotten in a small boat and gone crowd sailing without ever once hitting the ground.

We brought a frisbee, but I’m still a beginner and my fear of pelting some sunbather in the face kept us from playing.  So we laid out, and participated in the age old sport of people watching.  New York must be one of the best places in the world to do that.

The evening was warm, and people were not in a hurry to leave the park.  Even after sundown we were there, strolling down the paths, catching glimpses through the dark of kissing couples under trees, on benches, on blankets in fields…. until we came upon a dance party.  Rollerskaters had been dancing all day, and now people without skates were getting in on the fun(k).  We threw down our bags and danced.

The Return of the Natalie

It is coming.

Soon.