While The Wanted were in New York City last week for a press blitz, they spent most of their time at TV studios in Times Square, Madison Square Garden, and Rockefeller Center — and of course in their hotel where hundreds of fans camped outside to see them.
But, for an interview with CBS Local, they stopped in a quiet neighborhood downtown for tea at Sarabeth’s Tribecca. Their van driver remarked on how quiet the location was compared to all the other places they’d been that day. It wouldn’t last long.
Upon their arrival at the restaurant, located on the corner of Greenwich and Jay streets, Jay McGuiness jumped out of the van to have his photo taken under the Jay street sign. By the time their TwitPic was sent and the interview concluded, there were a few dozen fans waiting at the front of Sarabeth’s to collect autographs and kisses from Jay.
Looks like @jaythewanted found his home in NYC twitter.com/thewantedmusic…
— the wanted (@thewantedmusic) April 25, 2012
During afternoon tea time, Sarabeth’s is occupied largely by nannies and their small charges. The guys in the Wanted huddled in the back dining room for tea and cookies while explaining British slang. They noshed on the cookies and current scone plate, which came with a serving of rugelach — a Yiddish crescent pastry similar to a strudel. Siva Kaneswaran was a fan of the chubbie cookie, a soft, brownie-like cookie with walnuts, while Nathan Sykes single-handedly ate most of the scones. They drank English Breakfast tea.
The current scones brought up talk of two famous, and oddly named, British dishes: spotted dick, a steamed pudding served with currents or other dried fruits on a bed of custard, and toad in the hole, a sausage and Yorkshire pudding dish.
“Out of toad in the hole and spotted dick, I prefer toad in the hole but with no meat,” chimed in vegetarian Jay.
Max George surprised the group with his preference for spotted dick. “No, I like it…my mom used to make it for me.”
And the outspoken Tom Parker hit the nail on the head by interjecting, “The words spotted and dick should never be in the same sentence ever.” When pressed, he admitted a preference for toad in the hole.
After a bit of time in the restaurant, Jay and Siva mentioned their pre-fame careers as waiters. Jay admitted he was not the best waiter. “On my first day, say this was a meal and this was a woman’s pint, because I was serving her a pint,” he said, holding up a plate of cookies and a water glass. “I pushed it into her lap. I didn’t get much better.”
Jay still held on to the job for two years, which tells you all you need to know about service in British pubs. “Two years of being a terrible waiter,” Jay confirmed. “Good tips though.”
-Courtney E. Smith, CBS Local
Tom Parker
