Grandma's

kind of funny, no? or like the pick-up line:

"i'm not a hipster, but i can make your hips stir" which is so apropos for NYC.

not that any of the above has anything to do with this particular post.

at 10 a.m. on a sunday morning i suddenly found myself with 5 seconds to brush my teeth, throw on clothes, and race to the N train in order to meet Kiks in Astoria.  i was moderately hungover and hadn't slept until 4 a.m. (and even then i didn't get much sleep). clearly, there was no time for a shower and my face still had the remnants of my make-up from last night.

so not the appropriate attire to go apple picking. but there i was, at 10:15 a.m., riding the N train from Chinatown to meet Kiks at her apartment and drive up to Tarrytown to go apple picking. so was it worth it to drag my clearly hurting cracked-out ass so far up north just for some apples? TOTALLY.

Probably my favorite picture of the whole day.

Kiks and i went to this orchard last year (when i wasn't so hungover) and had a great time. plus, the whole idea of being outdoors and doing something other than drinking is so...refreshing.  the apple cider and apple cider donuts are always amazing, since they fresh press and fresh bake everything on the premises.  and this time, there were chocolate covered apple cider donuts. it was complete decadence, but so worth it.

on our drive over to the orchard, Kiks made a wrong turn off the highway and we ended up passing a bunch of eateries.  the first one we passed was a restaurant called Grandma's. a quick google search revealed that the full name of this restaurant is Grandma's Pies & Restaurant, although you'd never guess that from seeing the restaurant itself. and i may be using the term "restaurant" a little loosely, as Kiks was quick to designate the establishment as a "diner" as opposed to a "restaurant".

all i can say is that this establishment is quintessentially grandma-ish. there are creepy grandma dolls and pictures placed all over the place, lots of old people and families with children, a kitschy decor of old-school maroons and browns, and just an all-over...grandma-feel to it. and the food is your usual not too healthy for your hamburgers, mac-and-cheese fare. although, it seemed like Grandma's was making a killing in the pie department.  when you first step into the establishment, you're greeted with a display case of a variety of pies (fruit, cream, you name it), and i noticed many people stopping in to purchase pies, and diners paying their check and picking up a pie to-go.


the food at Grandma's is "meh," i wouldn't really call it grandma-worthy, but the jokes and comments about the name make it totally worth a trip. i kept getting the recurring image from the movie, The Sweetest Thing: