Beware of Tourist Traps!

While on vacation this week, my husband, our best friends and I spent some time in NYC.  We had tickets to the Knicks game on Wednesday night.  Yes, the boys definitely lucked out because Carmello Anthony made his New York debut amid much fan fare.  In fact, most everyone we talked to:  cab drivers, bartenders, fellow revelers could talk of nothing else.  He came, he dominated, we drank.  Good times!

While there, we walked around (inevitable), cabbed it to Dash ($285 for a bathing suit top that would hardly fit my 7 month old), and bar hopped for a bit.  The weather was beautiful and the game capped off a pretty good day.

After, the we returned to our room with authentic New York cheesecake, 5 bags of chips and Presidentes in hand.  Well the cheesecake was frozen and we were too tired to finish our beers.  But we did go to bed with full chip bellies... that were quickly expelled the next morning.

While waiting for the bathroom to clear, we happened upon a 'What to do in NYC' channel.  There were bus tours (too chilly for open air buses), Broadway shows (went to the game instead), shopping (already did that), exciting nightlife (not in the a.m.), and the best deli sandwiches in town.  Hmm, it had been almost 8 hours since our last meal, perfect!  Uptown we go.

We drove toward Times Square and parked in an underground garage.  We wanted to stop at the NBA store before lunch, but someone forgot to remind us that is was "relocating."  That must be New York speak for "closed" because someone is relocating on every block.  And nothing seems to fill those vacant store fronts...

Anyway, we walked to our lunch destination:  Maxie's Deli.  The sandwiches looked incredible on the TV!  Soft bread overflowing with fresh deli meat and colorful veges.  S and I wondered how we would even take a bite of such a huge and inviting banquet of flavor.  Well, Friends, beware of tourist traps!

For $25 I was served a hot turkey sandwich with auburn colored gravy, kind of like the Clairol that looks like it was mixed with red Kool-aide.  Joining the mess were fake mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce that still tasked like the tin can they came from.  It was inedible.  My husband's "California" cheese stake had strips of last night's left over mutton and pieces of green pepper the size of a green apple.  S enjoyed her Reuben but was pretty turned off by the Russian dressing that arrived on the side.  It was the color of strawberry jello.  Her husband was served a hot roast beef sandwich covered in the same weird gravy.  Only he ordered turkey, too.  Four sandwiches and two sodas cost us $135.50 because they were nice enough not to charge us for the two waters we ordered and they added 18% gratuity to our check.  Wish we had just grabbed some street meat!