Summer Streets

Because of unfavorable weather forcast for tomorrow, we decided to forget about laundry and headed out to enjoy the sun this morning. "The Summer Streets" were back again for us to enjoy the traffic free trip uptown. It was so congested with too many bikers that I thought they should rename it to "Beijing Streets" but it got better by midtown. We stopped for a picture in front of a giant yellow teddy bear-the friendly guard offered us to capture the moment.

We continued uptown to the park and enjoyed the street show by an indredible drummer banging on buckets and metal scraps. Being a novice drummer, Taiyo was super impressed and captivated by his seamless performance. We decided to skip the zoo since the line was way too long, and it was time for lunch! I headed for Menchanko Tei, a Japanese ramen noodle joint, on 55th Street, and luckily Taiyo's mind was already set for gyoza when we parked our bike outside.

I hadn't been there for many years, and interior was very different from what I remembered. Entry should be easy with a stroller, and although it is not very spacious inside, they should be accomodating to one. A friendly older wairtress promptly brought Taiyo a little bowl with plastic utencils. Good sign of a kid-friendly restaurant. He was not interested in nicely arranged cold tomato noodle, but chugged down two plates of gyoza dumplings. Of course the waitress was super impressed when he brought her our check with money. Recommended.