Clo, the Modern, the Metropolitan and saying goodbye to NYC
July 6, 2009
The bar at Clobar
The Negress is in her cousin’s dining room after having found (and hopefully getting) a good apartment in a great building in North Bethesda. Before coming down here on Sunday, she headed out on a goodbye trip to some of her favorite places in New York. First stop was the Whitney Museum for Claes Oldenburg and Dan Graham. You can’t go to the Whitney without a pumpkin muffin and a omelet at Sarabeth‘s so that was required. Then it was a few blocks over to the Met on Fifth Avenue. Took a leisurely stroll through the Francis Bacon centenary exhibit, then headed over to an ’80s images show featuring some of my old faves like David Salle, Robert Longo and early video of Eric Bogosian. Finished up with the Model as Muse fashion exhibit, which was like a nice dessert after it all.
My MOMA membership is inexplicably paid up through through next May, but I wasn’t in the mood. However, the bar at The Modern is always convivial and it’s right next door. So I stopped in for a couple of glasses of Momo Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc and a decaf latte. The server recommended a book (Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer) and only charged me for one of the wines. Only in New York.
Before heading to my evening French tutorial, I stopped in at the Time Warner center to visit Clo, a wine bar with a serious gimmick. All the available wines (and one or two that aren’t available any longer) are projected on the bar, which has a motion-sensitive screen you activate by moving your hands and fingers. I had a Malbec and a Rhone and could easily have spent more but wisely stopped. Once you find your wine, the bar babes take your credit card and give you a swipe card with the bar logo. You stick this card in the wall in the bank where your wine is located, and take the glass they’ve given you and it gets filled for you. One of a kind experience but human bartenders can often be more generous methinks.
I also took one of my favorite bike rides along the waterfront in Liberty State Park in Jersey City. I stopped for a few pictures to remember the place. When the breeze blows off the Hudson and everyone is out flying kites, fishing or hanging out, it’s lovely.
Well, goodbye to this and hello North Bethesda. Wine tonight at Chef Geoff’s in downtown DC with an old friend.
New Jersey's view of the ass end of Liberty
