Campbell Interactive

When I saw the post on Jason’s blog about an organized cheesesteak crawl in New York I thought to myself, man I wish I lived in NY so I could go to that. Then I thought about it a bit more and I came to the conclusion that it’s not too often that I throw caution to the wind and choose to make an effort to be a part of life’s little offerings like this, regardless of any obstacles, and to be honest a three hour train ride isn’t that great of an obstacle. So I immediately booked my ticket and began the countdown. At 4:30 am on Saturday I woke up showered and dressed in the dark and drove off to meet the train in DC and at about 10am I was making my way from Penn Station to Washington Square Park.

I love New York, more for the potential of it than the reality I think. It’s not the cleanest place in the world and as gritty as Hollywood tries to make it appear their portrayal invariably comes across more polished than the real New York. Perhaps it is the lack of an accompanying soundtrack or having to endure the malaise of the time elapsed between plot relevant action, the likes of which would grace many an editing room floor, but in spite of those failings along with it’s dirt and grime which is all the more focused on a damp and foggy day, and the fact that I may never know what it truly feels like to be a New Yorker I have a real affinity for this city.

As I made my way to the meet up I saw parts of the city that I had not seen in visits past, I came through the open air market on Broadway just past 14th and I was reminded of my days at the farmers market in Studio City eating fresh corn tamales and buying the makings of a great weekend meal farm fresh and yet miles from any semblance of country life.

It was particularly tough for me on this occasion though with the carts peddling polish sausages and something called a Mozzarepa, which for those of you who are not familiar like myself, is two cornbread cakes fried with mozzarella in the middle. The smell created by these was horribly wonderful, as a man on a mission to eat cheesesteak for what would be an entire day I surely could not indulge in these treats and still hope to be functional for what was to come. So I fought the good fight and continued on my way to Fourth and MacDougal.

I had wondered on trips past where NYU was, I had never thought to closely consult a map as it was just a passing curiosity on each occasion, and only while I was in the city, you see before my first visit it was my closest tie to the city as it is the alma mata of my good friend Nick. I remember him telling me of what life was like living and studying there, oddly enough something about the ability to obtain Chinese food at 2am stands out most vividly in my mind. I was pleasantly surprised to be winding my way through it’s campus buildings as I neared my destination, being passed by rushing students as they fed into the various structures.

I made my way into the park and passed through a group of…… well lets call them entrepreneurs who were eager and pleasant and while obviously a fixture for the park surprisingly quick to disappear at the sight of NY’s finest. I took up a spot at the indicated corner where the group was to gather and waited. Soon they began to trickle in and shortly after noon the majority had arrived, we divide into smaller sharing groups and started off. My group was initially made up of T.J. Shuck, Tyler Thompson, and myself though we later were joined by Rosalee and slightly later on abandoned by Tyler who found spending time with his lovely spouse and young son Scout more important than not being a quitter. ; )

Our first stop was BB’s Sandwich Bar, a small place carved in the buildings on 3rd street between MacDougal and 6th Ave. A mash up of steak and cupcakes touting their victory in whatever publication crowned them NY’s best cheesesteak, which I found throughout the day was required decor and just as valid today as I’m sure they were when actually awarded, regardless of how much time had elapsed since. BB’s was a bit of a maverick in the cheesesteak world, choosing to forgo the hoagie for a kaiser and adding, what I as a layman can best describe as a salsa, what they describe as a “secret wet sauce” which in my humble opinion could not make it sound more appetizing.

Each group designated a representative to go in and acquire the sample and before long we were all involved in our own processes for tasting and grading each offering, a process which I found to be surprisingly engrossing, so much so that we within my own group failed to notice that all the others had begun to move on to the next stop, so we quickly moved to join them all at Wogie’s Bar & Grill on Greenwich Ave, so quickly in fact that we somehow beat them there. All to often I found myself, the only one not currently calling NY home, following the group by being in front of it, along with my friend Tyler, himself a recent transplant from the great northwest not exactly Lewis and Clark we awkwardly at times stopped to fall back into the mix.

The day wore along much the same from spot to spot, great people sharing the experience of the city, the beer, the roller coaster of quality in cheesesteak fair, American, wiz, chopped, sliced, onions, breads that ran the gambit of soft to hard and chewy to crunchy. From what was generally considered the worst at the Cheesesteak Factory on the Ave of the Americas to the best at Carl’s Steaks on 3rd Ave, which coincidently enough was awarded it’s claim to fame by my current employer, AOL, in it’s Cityguide section.

The walk was long and the group less excited as the day wore on. When we finally found ourselves at the last stop I think we were all happy with how we spent the day yet glad to be moving on and away from the steak and cheese. I made some new friends saw some new parts of the city and overall had a fantastic time but by this point I too was ready for the train ride home. I took the opportunity of being on my own again to hit those all too touristy spots along the route to Penn Station, Time Square and Toy’s R Us to pick up something for the kids. I think that if I had it to do all over again I would have brought the nice camera left the over shirt at home and carried an umbrella instead of the raincoat so bright it could affect the flight paths of low flying aircraft.

Many thanks to Jason for organizing it and to everyone who was there for making it a blast and something I truly will never forget. If ever you find yourselves in that place that I call home please don’t hesitate to give me a shout. I’m always up for a beer and a bite to eat.