New York City Treats

Sometimes you leave your neighborhood and do things in “The City.” Other times you drive in, illegally park next to the things you want to do quickly, without hullabaloo, and get the heck outta Dodge.

That is how I feel about Manhattan these days. You know when 14th street opens a Dairy Queen, the last shallow breath of life has squeezed out of her polluted lungs. [Dairy Queen is yet another chain to open its doors in New York City… because franchises and mall-ish box stores are the only ones who can pay the exorbitant rent. From afar, she still holds her nostalgic allure, but inside the grid, she’s vapid—a sign of the times—with the attention span and emotional depth of a millennial.]

Despite this, there are certain goings-ons that make a visit worthwhile, especially now that I am a driver again. Sweet Maresa’s chocolate covered hot chocolate macarons with cinnamon marshmallow filling is what I am referring to. And her chocolate coated rainbow cookies. And her black licorice macarons. As well as a promising vegan burger in a world devoid of dairy-free, egg-free… mush-free and crumble-free veggie burgers is another such example (at Marty’s Vegan Fast Food at LIC’s Flea & Food). And a stop at Babycakes, since it’s around the block of the Vegan Shop-Up at Moo Shoes where Sweet Maresa is, where a red velvet cupcake called my name before the Williamsburg Bridge beckoned us back east.