Three Things I Learned in New York This Week

1. Having made the cafe tour to check out New York's third-wave coffee shops, the only one that would stand a chance of competing with Seattle's own favorites is Cafe Grumpy, which has stores in Chelsea and Brooklyn. I know Stumptown already has designs on the city. Zoka, Victrola, Lighthouse, Borogove? There's a wide-open field there if you ever have expansionist dreams.

2. If you want vegetables in your diet, don't leave the West Coast. Of course, I did check out a few of the bastions of meat-based cooking. Having heard the term gastropub thrown down numerous times last year -- with more Seattle gastropubs to come, I'm sure -- I ate at the one that started the American fad: The Spotted Pig. I confirmed that, indeed, kidneys are my least favorite offal, but if all lard-fried sweetbreads and grilled beef tongue were that good, I would never eat poultry or fish again. In five days of dining the only place I was served vegetables worth eating was a brunch spot in Williamsburg called Egg, which is so green that it doesn't have overhead lighting.

3. There really is no Seattle substitute for a New York slice. Sorry.