A coupla days ago Jonmc and I went to check out the mall at the new Time Warner Center. After traipsing through the Borders and Whole Foods there, we headed uptown to the M & G Diner in Harlem for some fine soul food.

This great little "old-fashion but good" hole-in-the-wall doesn't look like it's changed a bit since 1965. (For those of you wondering, that's a good thing.) When was the last time you saw a jukebox that had Ella, Sam Cooke, the Commodores, and B.B. King's "Live And Well" album?

I've heard the fried chicken is transcendent, but they were all out, so I got smothered pork chops with black-eyed peas and candied yams. Serious mega-yum here, folks, and the chops were so tender I didn't need to use my knife. I'm definitely going to return (I wanna try the chicken, and I bet the grits at breakfast time are good), but something tells me it's not the kind of place you want to visit too often. (Much like some other places Jon's introduced me to.)

Then after a brief visit to Bleecker Bob's (where I abstained, but you can read all about Jon's finds here), Jon turned in (his lumbago, oy!) and Chico and I met up for a quick drink at Angel's Share. On the way from Angel's Share to the subway, we declined an opportunity to purchase some fine snowballs, imported from Queens. Really. (Not my section of Queens, though; the snow's too filthy there.)

Did I mention that I love New York?