Not All That Rosy: A Sunday Outing To Really Rosie and 202

Our second outing this weekend was to a Maurice Sendak play, Really Rosie. I adore Maurice Sendak and knew that the songs would be based on my absolutely favorite storybook collection, The Nutshell Library which includes such favorites as Chicken Soup With Rice and Pierre. Izzy and I read them frequently and I assumed he too would be enchanted.

Well the songs were great but the background story was a bit too tough for our tastes (A. and I). A. kept glancing over at me, wondering why I had selected this. I guess I failed to read the fine print on the great review that the New York Times published last Friday.

If I had read more carefully, I would have noted the image of "a little brother suffering an agonizing death as he chokes on a chicken bone?" and perhaps made other plans. At least most of the talk of dead brothers and death went over Izzy's head. He smiled and laughed at the familiar words from the songs and seemed blissfully unaware of the rest.

Following the play, we went to brunch at 202, a restaurant within a clothing store next to Chelsea Market. It turned out to be incredibly kid-friendly. There were plenty of little ones dining there and high-chairs were available if needed. Izzy complained about the din, which did wonders for masking unruly kids but could be problematic for those with more sensitive ears.

I loved my tea (vanilla rooibos) and the sweet potato hash special with bacon and poached eggs, as did Izzy. He preferred it to his buttermilk pancakes with blackberry compote (my pancakes are far moister). A. had an English Breakfast platter which looked quite paltry compared to others we have tried elsewhere. In general, their portions are on the small side, which I tried to tell myself was a good thing but I was hard to convince since I was still a bit hungry when we left.

Overall, a good brunch stop if you are in the area, worthy of a detour if you plan on shopping there.