I’ve realized recently that for being in New York — where everyone loves to talk about their neighborhood (or the neighborhood of their dreams), I don’t post a lot about the neighborhood I live in.
I live in the upper part of Washington Heights. Not in the area often called Hudson Heights — I live on the other side of Broadway where pretty much everyone is Dominican (except us and the nice Jewish girl who lives across the hall).
I don’t want to divulge too much of where I specifically live because that seems to just beg the crazies to come and show up on my street — and I think my husband would frown on me using our kid as human shield against weirdos. I’ll just say this is my subway stop and leave it at that.
Anyway, there’s a reason I don’t talk about it much: I’m selfish. I want to keep this part of town all to myself, just the way it is.
Still, I will share the following with you — five food-related reasons (maybe the top five, maybe not) I love this neighborhood:
- La Cabaña Salvadoreña’s chorizo with eggs. (Having written that phrase, I totally know what my husband’s gonna want for dinner.) And their curtido. And their pupusas. You get the idea.
- Tostones as far as the eye can see! Maybe not, but close enough for my tostone-lovin’ self. Try as I might, I really just suck at making them myself (probably because I am a crybaby about getting hot oil splatters on me) so I really appreciate being able to get them anywhere.
- Cheap evaporated milk. Seriously, I use it in my coffee (it’s the closest thing to koffiemelk) and I blow through about 3 cans a week, so I like getting them two-for-a-dollar around here, compared to $1.19 a can nearly everywhere else.
- Presidente beer. Good. Cold. Everywhere.
- Carribean-style Chinese food — fried rice made with Spanish-style yellow rice, pork chops with black bean sauce, more tostones. My heart may belong to La Caridad 78, but my stomach likes to stay closer to home.
I will tell you this: the definitive #1 non-food reason I love it here? Thanks to Manny Ramirez (who went to high school a couple blocks from my place) and Big Papi, if you see an average guy coming towards you wearing a baseball cap, nine times outta ten, it’s probably gonna be a Red Sox cap. I may not be able to hold a conversation with that guy, but I understand “Red Sox fan” in every language, and that’s what I want in my neighborhood.
And some tostones. That is all.
Is it beyond creepy to admit that I had guessed you lived in Washington Heights? I based this on a few factors:
1. the pictures you have occasionally posted of your neighborhood
2. the foods you’ve posted about ( Lechera Flakes )
3. that you live in Manhattan but I was guessing not a super ritzy neighborhood
4. it seemed to be a good location for ethnic foods
Not bad, huh? My second guess was the Lower East Side but that didn’t sound quite right.
Ha! No, that’s not creepy — I actually do the same thing. It’s like playing Internet Clue.
Next time you come to town, I’ll give you a tour!
Whew! When I hit submit I thought “What if she thinks I am a crazed stalker!” . Which of course, I am not, just an natural mystery solver.
Heh. I know we’re not BFF or anything, but I like to think I know enough about you by now to not immediately jump to “omg crazy stalker”.
If you started posting things like, “so, about that subway photo… when you get off the subway, do you generally go right or left?” THEN I would start to worry.
Dang! Now I have a hankering for Trini-Chinese food.
OK – Iowa farm girl here – what exactly are tostones? I figure its some kind of food and I’ll bet it’s portable (street stands..), but I’ve never heard of them before. Like your blog!
Oh, sorry about that — tostones are twice-fried green plantains, and they taste something in between potato and banana.
Read a recipe here.
I was hoping you’d think that! I promise not to show up unannounced looking for you.
Don’t forget Malecon! Because nobody does spicy rotisserie chicken like Dominican guys.
(I live near the 231st Street Malecon, but I’m with you on the Uptown Is Good concept.)
Wait! What Malecon? Where?! God knows I love chicken.
Uptown is Good! Shortly after I moved to NYC, I met another woman who had also recently moved to NYC who said (of choosing a neighborhood), “…and I didn’t want to live above 125th St., for the obvious reasons…”
And I totally just blurted out, “Why not?! I live above 125th St and I think it’s great…”
She kinda backpedaled and made some excuse about having to ride home at night alone which still didn’t make much sense — and I just kinda sat there thinking, “wow, do I know how make friends in a new city or what? maybe next time I could wait until the second time I meet someone before I jump on their vaguely racist remarks, huh?”
Actually I just looked it up and the Malecon I’m thinking of is a bit downtown and west from you — 176th Street, near Ft. Tryon park. But I bet they deliver to your part of the world.
I am so there tomorrow. Or, today, I guess, seeing as it’s 12:30am.
Mmmm… chicken.
wild crazy but u just posted a picture of my block
hi well not trying to be a creep haha but im guessing you live somewhere from 181 to 190? lol
born and raised in wash hieghts
:)