Is the pizza in New York really that good?

Yes.

The crust is thin (with bite on the outside and chewy on the inside), the cheese is gooey, the sauce is flavorful, and the price is cheap ($2 to $3 for a large slice of cheese). There are pizzerias on nearly every corner and though the quality does vary, I have yet to be truly disappointed with the pizza I’ve eaten.

That being said, some of the pizza joints seem overrated. Maybe my palate isn’t attuned to the finer aspects of pizza, but I can’t say that I thought Lombardi’s pizza was The Best Thing Ever. It was good, of course, but not the best pizza I’ve ever had. (The best pizza I’ve ever had, in case you are wondering, is the pizza that was available when I was very, very hungry.)

What about the bagels?

They’re pretty good, too, though I can’t really comment on how superior they are to other bagels in other places. I think texture has a lot to do with bagels and I’m definitely not attuned to the various textures of bagels (since I don’t eat them regularly). Of the few bagels I’ve eaten in New York, I prefer the bagels in (on?) Long Island to those in Manhattan.

There are more varieties of bagels out here. And these things called bialys.

When are you going to comment on cookies? Aren’t you now in the land of black and white cookies?

You mean “Brown vs. The Board of Education” cookies? (cricket… cricket…)

You know, I really want to gush about black and white cookies, but I can’t. Don’t get me wrong, I like them, but they are not my preferred cookie. Why? Because they’re actually cakes. Black and white cookies are very flat cakes with icing. They don’t have the firmness associated with cookies; they kinda melt in the mouth.

I actually haven’t eaten many cookies since I’ve moved to New York, though Chikalicious has some fine chocolate chip cookies (and a delightful s’mores cupcake—hat tip to Branille) and Levain Bakery, of course, has these whopper cookies. Max Brenner goes over the top with chocolate (chocolate pizza, etc.). Le Pain Quotidien makes a large chocolate chip cookie, but it’s thin and fairly crispy—I prefer them thicker, chewier, and denser.

Any other desserts you would recommend?

Okay, that’s not a frequently asked question, but I do have some favorites:

• Emack and Bolio’s has some darn tasty ice cream. It’s expensive (I recently purchased a single scoop on a sugar cone and a single scoop in a waffle cone and the total was close to $9), but a lovely indulgence. Those Bostonians know their ice cream.
• The Chinatown Ice Cream Factory also makes good ice cream, though one should go there for the more “exotic” flavors: lychee, kumquat, green tea, etc.
• The best cupcake I’ve ever eaten was from Dean and Deluca. Some foodie friends of mine were in town and insisted on a visit to the flagship store in SoHo. This cupcake featured chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, and was adorned on top with a delicate pink-and-green frosting flower. The cupcake was fluffy, rich, sweet, but not too sweet, with good mouthfeel. This (single) cupcake also cost $5.50.

Are the doctors there meaner than on the West Coast?

No, not really. As I have commented to several of my colleagues here, many people warned me that physicians on the East Coast are more hierarchical, serious, and “mean” than physicians on the West Coast.

In my anecdotal experience, I have not found this to be the case. I think the hierarchy may be made more explicit here, but the vast majority of interactions I have had with other physicians (med students, interns, residents, attendings, etc.) have been quite good. The humor is just a bit drier here. Lots of dead-panning that goes on.

Do the doctors there really prescribe hundreds of milligrams of haloperidol (Haldol) on a regular basis to agitated patients?

Oh boy. That was certainly my expectation; all of the (primarily surgical) residents in the West Coast hospitals who had trained on the East Coast seemed to routinely order gargantuan amounts of haloperidol to sedate agitated patients. I was wincing in anticipation of finding schlogged patients here and asking the surgeons to kindly refrain from oversedating patients.

I have not noticed overzealous administration of haloperidol here. People tell me that such practices are more prevalent in Boston.

I have noticed, however, that some patients get a whole lot of diazepam (Valium) here. Like hundreds of milligrams of diazepam. And they keep right on breathing.

When are you going to write a book?

I don’t know.

Are you going to return to the West Coast when you are (finally) done with training?

I don’t know.

When’s the last time you drove a car?

Almost five months ago. (!)