Tales from The Social Club: A Taste of Germany in the Big Apple
Meeting Date and Time: Tuesday, October 29, 2024 from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM
Meeting Location(s): Heidelberg Restaurant, 1648 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10028
Website Link: Heidelberg Restaurant
On a cool cloudy Fall evening, I met everyone in The Social Club for dinner at the Heidelberg Restaurant, a German restaurant on the Upper East Side. You might be interested to know that I am part German and my mom was born in Germany.
We then proceeded to order our food. I ordered potato pancakes and apple sauce which were great. After we ordered our food, we had a number of interesting conversations. Of note, Juliette (our group leader) told us her parents were engaged there. We also talked about that the Yankees were playing in the World Series against the Dodgers that night and the Yankees needed to win Game 4 to force a Game 5 (which they did). Juliette said she might be going to Game 5 at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night.
In addition, we had a discussion about the weather. Prior to that day, Central Park did not receive any measurable rainfall for the month of October. However, on that day, some members stated that they did commute in the rain on their way to The Social Club. I did not go through any rain on the way there. Although, on my return trip, I did walk through rain after getting off my train in Pelham, NY and walking back to my home in Mount Vernon. For the record, Central Park did record 0.01 inches of rain that day. This rainfall total is also the total amount of measurable rain Central Park received for the entire month of October. To put that into context, the 0.01 inch total was not only a record low rainfall for October but a record low for any calendar month. Records in Central Park go back to 1869. For reference, the average October monthly precipitation in Central Park is 4.38 inches. As a result of this lack of rainfall, Central Park and large parts of the Northeast United States are now in a drought. To illustrate this point, below are two maps from the University of Nebraska's Drought Mitigation Center. The top map shows the Northeast US drought monitor as of September 17, 2024 at 8 AM EDT while the bottom map shows the drought conditions as of November 12, 2024 at 7 AM EST. The two maps illustrate just how quickly the drought expanded across the Northeast US.
On another note, one recommendation I would make if you go to the Heidelberg Restaurant is to bring earplugs and/or noise cancelling headphones as the restaurant was quite loud. As for myself, when I attended, I needed to wear both to get the noise level down to a tolerable level. As a reminder, you can always ask someone who works at a location to turn the music volume down, although from my own experience they do not always do so.
Juliette did research prior to us attending which said the restaurant was quiet. The lesson we learned is the reason it was not quiet when we went likely had to do with timing. NYC restaurant locations can be loud or quiet depending on when you go. Beware that should you look at online reviews that say a place is quiet, that the review may only apply to the date and time the person wrote the review.
I left early around 7 PM to get home to watch Game 4 of the World Series. By the way, I am a big Yankees fan. You may have heard that the Yankees lost that series, leaving myself and other Yankee fans disappointed. Stay tuned to my next blog entry to find out if Juliette attended Game 5 of the World Series.
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