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travel

Yeast Coast Trip (part 5)

Day 3 – morning ~ afternoon 
(make sure you read about Esca at the end of this post)

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Jopseh: Day 3 was less crazy than the previous day. We didn't have to go running uptown and downtown. It was going to be simple…Church in the morning, Wicked the Musical in the afternoon, and dinner afterward. That was it!

me: By Day 3, we felt like locals already =) We knew our way around town and we were proud of it!!

Jopseh: Church was to start at 11:15, so we go to stay up later than usual. We were going to go to Tina's church: New Life church.

me: http://www.newlifefellowship.org/ 

Funny how it's called New Life since the fellowship group I go to on Friday nights is also called New Life.

We took the subway there. So convenient that everything is pretty much accessible via subway.

 Beats driving anytime, especially when compared to LA!

Before church, we stopped at this really nice bakery that served a pretty good coffee/tea concoction as well as this mushroom bread that was really good.

http://www.hungrycactus.com/wp-content/uploads/71166034_4c77a26c08_m-1.jpg

The coffee/tea combo originally originated from Hong Kong and we call it Yuenyeung.  The name literally means mandarin duck. Mating pairs of ducks are known for their devotion to one another and are regarded in China as a symbol of love and marital fidelity. This name was appropriated for the pairing of coffee and tea.

We didn't take any pictures of Tina's church,

Tongue out

but I have to say that it was a very ethnically diverse church. Everyone was there to praise the Lord and worship Him together and there weren't just all Asians. haha. 

It's also great to visit other churches because you start to realize God loves all people – no matter where they are or even what their background or culture!

It seemed like their services were head in a building that use to be a town hall or something.

…or maybe a theater… 

Anyway, afterward, we decided to head over to Shake Shack for lunch. Supposedly, this place was deemed comparable to In & Out.

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Mike recommended it http://www.shakeshack.com/, so I had to try it out.  Shake Shack is located in Madison Sq Park (would be kinda cool having a burger and enjoying the scenery)…conveniently located next to the subway! Laughing

We were hoping that the line wouldn't be long when we got there and fortunately, there wasn't a long line. Unfortunately there was already a huge crowd of people in line waiting for their order to be fulfilled.

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What makes Shake Shack different from the rest of the burgers, is that they use brisket and sirloin for their patties.  No wonder they taste super moist and yummy!  We ordered the double Shack burgers, fries and two milk shakes: 

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I'll have to try their 'concretes' (frozen custard blended with mixins) next time I visit!!! HMM!!   

It was getting closer to the start time for the musical which was at 3:00. It's too bad their efficiency when it comes to orders isn't very fast. They took about half an hour to crank out our food. Anyway, once we got our food, we ran all the way over to the Gershwin Theater to watched Wicked

…actually, we took the subway as close as we could to the theater and then ran 7 blocks…! Thank God we made it on time! Cool 

http://www.wickedthemusical.com/ 

 

Here is a sneak view from our seats.  We ordered the tickets from ebay a month before the trip for $250, which really isn't bad when you realize it would have costed well over $350 anywhere else!

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We looked like bums eating our food outside the theater, but we wolfed down the hamburgers and shakes which were pretty good and got inside in time for the show.

If I had more time eating, I think I would have enjoyed the burgers even more.  Ok, so the $7 burger was better tasting than In-N-Out, but it was also like twice the cost.  So if you just want a freaking good burger, I would highly recommend Shake Shack!  (Sorry, there's only one Shake Shack, and it's in NYC…booo)

This musical was so fun to watch. The musical numbers were catchy, the actors were great, the storyline was good, and it was all around funny. A+++! Go watch it…if you're in NY…or if you can catch in LA or Chicago…

Here are some samples for you to enjoy from the soundtrack CD (we both got our own!)

Defying Gravity: [audio:DefyingGravity.mp3]
Popular (giiiiirly song!): [audio:Popular.mp3]

Afterward, we had some time to kill in between the end of the musical and dinner, so we found the time to go to Madame Toussade's Wax Museum which was on the way. Here are some people we met at the wax museum…

Joseph digs Oprah Tongue out

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I dig the ladies Blush

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Some others we met:

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I couldn't help but to… 

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What comes next is a tale of awkwardness…

…like major awkwardness… 

I had chosen this place called Esca to have dinner because supposedly their Italian seafood was really good.

http://www.esca-nyc.com/

Actually this was my belated birthday present to Joseph — a present with no maximum limit (note to self: never do that again! Tongue out)

Unfortunately, the seating situation was not. The waiter sat us in between two couples having dinner.

Both parties were in the early 30s, so I guess they were either dating or newly weds. 

We were practically right next to them! I think I felt so uncomfortable that I even resorted to asking the couple next to us to switch seats with us because, for whatever reason, I thought that it'd be more comfortable for them to sit next to a couple than next to a couple guys trying out an italian restaurant in manhattan. The guy quickly shot me down because, obviously, why would you want to sit between two tables….ugh…

imho, there was only a 1 foot of separation.

It was the most awkward thing ever. No restaurant should have seating like that. It's weird, uncomfortable, and all around awkward.

Why??? Cuz we can all hear each other talking!

 

Ethan and I just got through it by talking. As you can see, we have no pictures because it would've been weird pulling out a camera in front of couples on their date and start taking pictures of our food. Ethan even was unwilling to share food. LOL. 

That's because I've read in restaurant etiquette that

"It’s okay to share food, as long as it’s done discreetly and with a little finesse. Place a bite of your food on the bread plate, or on the edge of your companion’s plate for tasting.

So how do you do it discreetly with finesse when you're one foot away???? Furious You can't!

Oh and the guy next to us got a bit drunk from the wine to the point that he started cussing which made Ethan make o.O faces.

That guy should be embarrassed for being so rude and ruining the restaurant's ambiance.

hahahahaha. I think I had some seafood soup thing while Ethan had some fish thing? I duno…let's just forget about it…So yea…you take over Yeast…I don't want to say much more…the food was good, but the experience was bad. 

Lunch for two at Shake Shack: ~$20
Seafood dinner for two at Esca: ~$170
Awkwardness at Esca: priceless

Yeah, let's just forget that happened…GG.