Fraunce's Tavern

Hawkeye and I spent our first day in New York together in search of a little history downtown. We hopped in a cab at the airport terminal, I mean, the Hilton Hotel, and told the cab driver, "We're headed to Bowling Green."

When he hesitated with a look of dread and confusion, we looked at each other, wondering if I said the putting green instead of a known Manhattan destination, and repeated myself, "Bowling Green?"

He replied, "You got directions?"

Neither of us had directions. I had a New York City book my mom gave me that I kept while playing uber tour guide, but having been downtown only twice, no, I did not have directions.

The cab driver motioned to the bellhop and asked in broken English, "You know how to get Bowling Green?" The bellhop answered and told him to hop on the FDR and it should be no problem. I laughed, thinking to myself, "No problem? Ha!" As we pulled away from the building I reached out the window with fingers on both hands crossed and the bellhop mimicked my gesture as he yelled, "Good luck!" There's a first for everything.

Our Civil War tour began at 1:15 at Bowling Green and the ticket said we were to be there by one o'clock. As the minutes ran away from us, I started squirming with panic inside the cab. Hawkeye kept his cool, held me down, and reminded me it was not the end of the world. We could re-schedule the tour for later that week. Good point. We made our way slowly downtown and I could smell the lack of confidence in the cab driver. When my watch tolled 1:15, I turned away from Hawkeye to find we were driving across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was all over.

"Umm, why are we driving to Brooklyn?" I asked.

The cabbie quickly answered, "Miss, I miss exit. I sorry. Meter turn off already. Doan worry."

Had he not been so nice and apologetic, things would have been different. But the most I could do was laugh and sit back and enjoy the view with Hawkeye.

When we finally got back to Manhattan it was about 1:30. I started following our route with my map and noticed we were already several blocks north of Bowling Green. Hawkeye had faith the cabbie would redeem himself; I insisted we get out. If we stayed in I am confident we would have had a superb tour of the five boroughs.

We walked east a few blocks and I noticed an old brick building that looked like part of colonial Williamsburg. As we got closer I made out "Fraunce's Tavern" on the sign. When I asked my dad a few weeks earlier for some historical spots to hit with Hawkeye, this was the first place he recommended. Fraunce's Tavern was built in 1719 and it's one of the oldest restaurants in the U.S. and the second oldest building in Manhattan. Samuel Fraunce purchased Fraunce's Tavern in 1762 and it became a hot spot for the Sons of Liberty. It was from the museum's Long Room that George Washington made his farewell address to his officers in 1793.

When I read this in my guide book, I half expected to see the ghost of the great Washington come down the stairs to meet us. Hawkeye and I walked in, and to my disappointment, a hostess asked us if we'd like to sit in the Tavern or the Tallmadge Room. Where was the General? We were both casually dressed for what was supposed to be a long day of walking so we opted for the Tavern. The Tavern was spacious and empty, despite it being lunch time. The bar glowed to your right with the inviting taps and there were a few tables against the far walls with a lot of empty space in between. I felt like bursting out in song, "Empty chairs at empty tables..."

I have to admit, it wasn't what I imagined. Minus a large mural on the far wall of the "Battle of Brooklyn," a colonial flag, and the entrance which had a couple displays of museum bits, I didn't feel the history like I hoped I would. After looking at the other dining options on their website, it seems we picked the room with the least amount of charm. For an encounter with General Washington's aura, head to the other rooms.

Hawkeye ordered the beef stew and I ordered a turkey club. Hawkeye's beef stew looked a tad boring and watery. He insisted it was just right. I'm picky with my turkey clubs and there was something wrong with mine but I couldn't put my finger on it. The bread was toasted and buttery and perfect. The bacon was crunchy. It had just the right amount of mayo, but the turkey, oh, the turkey. The turkey meat was sliced too thick. I like my turkey lean and mean, not thick like a slice of honey ham. The french fries were large and crispy, as you can barely make out with my lousy camera picture, so I focused most of my time and stomach on them.

Despite the lackluster food, our server was extremely friendly and gracious. Everything came on time, though this would have been more of a feat if there were people in the Tavern besides us. I am very glad we tried Fraunce's. The curiosity was killing me. But perhaps the dinner in the Nichols Room is more of a thrill. I hope so, or General Washington will have to come back again for a rather different farewell address.

54 Pearl Street
212-269-0144