MY WEEKEND: David Burtka
If anyone knows how to make the most of a Saturday, it’s David Burtka. The author of “Life Is a Party” (Grand Central Publishing) loves trying new restaurants, and drinking in the culture scene with hubby Neil Patrick Harris and their 8-year-old twins, Gideon and Harper. The Harlem-based 44-year-old tells REBECCASANTIAGOhow he lives it up off the clock.
I have to drag the kids out of bed on a weekday. But on Saturdays, they’re really excited — they’re usually waking us up around 6:45, 7 o’clock. We usually try not to do too much screen time, but if Neil and I have stayed up a little too long on a Friday night, we’ll let them watch a show or play around on an iPad. Otherwise, it’s straight downstairs for coffee and a pancake breakfast. My daughter, Harper, knows how to make them from scratch.
Then, if it’s a nice day out, we head outside for some bike riding or skateboarding at one of the playgrounds on 130th Street or Marcus Garvey Park. For lunch, we don’t have a set restaurant — it’s never the same. A few weeks ago, we went to Belmont on Saturday, because one of my kids was doing a project about neighborhoods for school. We went to Antonio’s for gnocchi, chicken parm and linguine with clams.
We frequent the Natural History museum quite a bit. For art, we try and go see the MoMA whenever there’s a really great exhibit, and the Whitney’s fantastic. We also really want to try the Museum of Illusions — Neil being a magician and all, I think it might be fun for the kids to go do that.
We’re big on going to the theater as a family. My daughter’s been dying to go see “Dear Evan Hansen,” but I think it’s a little too old for her. I do think we’re gonna take them to see “Phantom of the Opera” for the first time.
If we’re catching a show, we usually go to Toloache, on 50th Street and Eighth Avenue. We’re big into Mexican food, and this place has great enchiladas, guacamole and margaritas, for a little buzz.
Sundays are usually a little more chill. We usually like to do a movie at our house. We just watched “The Kid Who Would Be King” — sort of a modern version of the King Arthur legend
The good thing about New York is that you’re never bored. I mean, it’s a playground for adults and children. Sometimes my kids say, “Why don’t we live in the country?” But I say, “You guys are going to be thanking us when you’re older, because New York City, what a great place to live.” You’re never bored, you don’t have to ever repeat a restaurant. It’s such an amazing fantasyland.