Work Trip to NYC

SUNDAY

I had a 3 day, 4 night trip to NYC to shoot a commercial. 

Landed at LaGuardia at 8pm Eastern. Took us 45 minutes to get a freaking cab because the line goes on forever. It took less time to actually travel in the cab to our Manhattan hotel (Kimpton Eventi). 

By 9:30 we're checking in and at 10pm we're having dinner at Umami Burger. Dinner at 10 o clock—I'm so cosmopolitan. I started with a maple bacon whiskey cocktail.

I ordered the Manly burger and it was amazing. Would have taken a picture but my phone died. This is what it looks like. Possibly the best burger of my life.


MONDAY

Spent Monday morning checking out the set making sure everything was in place. (Set was a 2.3 million dollar home in Pelham, NY.)

Lunch was back in Manhattan at this korean bbq place (Hee) near our hotel. It was my least favorite meal of the trip. Could have used more meat less other stuff.

After lunch we had a casting session to pick our talent. That was interesting, having gone from over 80 initial auditions to select our 2 actors.

After casting the production company took us out to dinner at Basta Pasta. Their gimmick was mixing a spaghetti with prosciutto in a giant wheel of parmesan at the table. I, being a sucker for gimmicks, ordered it and it was fantastic. Best prosciutto I've ever had.

TUESDAY

Tuesday was my day to explore as we didn't have a production meeting until 4pm.

I started walking north. My hotel was very near the Empire State Building.

I wanted to get an authentic bagel. Everything with scallion at Best Bagel.

Kept walking north. Times Square.

30 Rock.

Atlas.

The last time I saw the Ed Sullivan theater I went inside to see Letterman.

From here I went to Central Park. But it was rainy and the park just seemed kind of boring compared to the city streets.

I knew I wanted to try Shake Shack so I made my way south again. This was great too!

After lunch I went back to the hotel for a little rest. Unbeknownst to me, I'd walked 5.4 miles that morning. 

I did some work in the hotel and decided to head out for the afternoon. Another view of Empire State Building. 

Flatiron Building.

Ducked into Paragon for some window shopping.

And Converse store was cool.

Had a beer at the Spring Lounge. Then went to our production meeting.

After that we went to the rooftop bar on the Indigo Hotel, Mr. Purple. Good views and good drinks.

After that, we went to a place that I've always wanted to try. Lombardi's, the first pizzeria in America dating back to 1905. (It was fine, but nothing special. You can get the same slice on any street.)

The afternoon trip was another 2.5 miles. By Tuesday night, my left foot was killing me. Still is 48 hours later too.


WEDNESDAY

I woke up Wednesday and both my calves were incredibly sore. Turns out walking 8 miles on Tuesday may not have been the best idea. I could barely walk. Woke up at 6:15 to be on set at 8am.

Here's how much equipment they needed just on one side of the house to get the lighting right inside the house.

The shoot went pretty smooth and we wrapped by 5pm. I bragged about how good Shake Shack was so my friends decided to have dinner there Wed night. After that, had our last drinks in NYC at American Whiskey.

Over three and a half days I had two beers and seven cocktails. Living it up.