Cafe Ronda

I live on the upper west side, or more accurately, I sleep on the upper west side. I ride the subway to work before sunrise, or I may cab it, depending on how many times I hit my new clocky from Mom. After work, I exercise at my gym on Central Park South and on plan-free nights, I race home to the couch and my bed, with the occasional stroll up Broadway to my SoHa (south of Harlem) apartment.

On school nights when I do have plans, they always involve meeting south of the midtown border. OK, I admit it, not always. I have been to an absurdly cheap happy hour on the upper east side, we're talking $5 at the door and 25 cent beers for two silly hours after that. But nobody ever comes up to my neighborhood to hang out. I've lived in my apartment for almost three years and we've had a party here a mere one and a half times. I say one and a half because one involved an intense Evite for my birthday '05 while the other involved a last ditch effort to celebrate the holidays before the crew dispersed to a Harlem party, i.e. they had to come up here anyway so they had no excuse not to come to our apartment.

I guess you could call me the anti-upper west side snob. I don't eat on the upper west side, unless it's in my apartment, and I don't go out on the upper west side. I know it's un-New York of me to have such an averseness to my own neighborhood's food and bar options, but I am rarely inspired by what's offered above the 58th Street line. I can count on one hand the amount of times I've been to an UWS bar in the past six months that did not involve a work happy hour. And once they closed Night Cafe? Forget about it. Ding Dong Lounge is good for the occasional "can't-go-home-without-purchasing-a-beer-on-tap" fix that I am ever so often overcome by, but I don't walk in expecting a wild and memorable time.
Weatherman and I had been talking about getting together for almost a year before it actually happened. I was a week away from kidnapping him from his office until we secured a date. It's daunting how busy our little insignificant lives can get.

ME: How does next weekend sound?

HIM: I'm going away with D-.

HIM: How does Tuesday sound?

ME: It's my friend's birthday, but I can do Wednesday.

HIM: Wednesday's no good, Thursday?

ME: Friday?

ME: How does a late lunch sound?

HIM: I have to work until three.

HIM: I'm off tomorrow want to grab lunch?

ME: I am getting my teeth cleaned.

ME: OK! Let's do this. Thursday. Breakfast?

HIM: I'm going to Conn. to go on my friend's boat.

ME: Seriously? I hate you.

I wanted to strangle him, and I'm sure the feeling was mutual. After ten months of this all error and no trial planning, I was walking to work one day and it appeared FoxyLady was calling me from her office. I picked up and low and behold it was Weatherman. They work together. Word on the street is he was stalking her for my number and finally said we are doing this and it was done. Allelujah.

Weatherman lives on the upper west side and I figured our get-together would involve food at a place near my office that I frequently pass by with disinterest. I am dying to try Telepan but it seemed too fancy for a late Saturday lunch. Weatherman suggested Cafe Ronda and I have a whole new appreciation for the tiny restaurant I so frequently ignored on my way home.

We walked in at around two o'clock and sat at the window table. The place was packed. Our server came over several times before Weatherman and I had even looked at the menu. We were laughing and reminiscing about the joys of work, while poking and prodding for scoop on each other's love lives. Weatherman was one of my good friends at my previous job. We were weekend warriors together and we hit it off as soon as we met. If you're ever curious if that hurricane's really coming or that nor'easter is going to prevent you from making it back to the office from vacation, Weatherman is your guy. He's the best and cutest weatherman in the tri-state area, not to mention the sweetest. I don't know any others to compare him too, but I will vouch for his smiley and friendly demeanor.

Weatherman had eaten at Cafe Ronda before and knew exactly what to get. I ordered the Caesar salad for starters and it was one of the best Caesars I've ever had. The dressing was just enough egg and just enough anchovy with freshly shaved, not grated, parmesan. Weatherman ordered the shepperd's salad with red and yellow tomatoes and cucumbers. It was a sort of Greek salad without the lettuce and it was so beautiful I didn't want to eat it. It tasted just as fresh and crisp as it looked.

Weatherman ordered a sandwich and I followed suit with the chipotle sandwich -chicken, onions and avocados. It's my new thing -- onions in sandwiches instead of lettuce and tomato. It was one of the best sandwiches I've ever had in New York, from the grilled focaccia bread on top to the juicy tender chicken in the middle. And the fries were even amazing.

Mona's moral: Don't scorn a restaurant just because it's right under your nose.

Weatherman couldn't believe the amount of food I consumed. I blamed it on my early morning workout. Once we took care of the bill we promised it wouldn't take us another year to get together. I e-mailed him this week to get the ball rolling for our next rendez-vous. He's such a hot commodity I'll be lucky if I see him before 2009.

Despite choosing downtown over uptown for most of my social adventures, I do love where I live and don't plan on moving anytime soon -- I would not trade living off of Central Park for the sweetest studio in the West Village or the lushest loft in Tribeca.

And so I'm not seen as a total UWS-hater, I have enjoyed a handful of good meals on the UWS over the past few years. Here are the tried and true: Gennaro, Cafe de Luxembourg, Time-Warner Center's Bar Masa, Cafe Gray, and Bouchon Bakery, in addition to Mama Mexico, Miss Mamie's Spoonbread, Kitchenette and Dinosaur BBQ. Cafe Ronda can now be added to this list.

I'm excited about a couple of openings in my neck of the woods: Bar Boulud, conveniently located around the corner from my office and the UWS version of one of my seafood favorites Mermaid Inn.

Speaking of openings, I just thought of one more reason not to give up my UWS zip code. Magnolia's coming to town today and I'm already late for my date with cupcake heaven. Will report back...

249 Columbus, between 71st and 72nd St.
212-579-9929