Day #6- Monday

I am finally about to get caught up on all my blog posts :-)

Holly and Jon left on Monday afternoon. But before they left, we went to Lombardi's to eat what we think is the BEST pizza in NYC! Check out this pie:

We had the Margarita Pizza and it was completely delicious! They bake their pies in a coal fired oven, so the dough is thin yet chewy. The tomato sauce is salty and tomatoey, the cheese is melted and gooey. Mmm! It is incredible. We come to Lombardi's every time we're in NYC, it just isn't the same trip without a visit here.

After Lombardi's, Holly wanted to go to Chinatown, so we walked down the street a couple blocks to view all the craziness that goes on in these streets. As it was Monday and not the weekend, the crowds weren't too bad. Usually there are mobs of tourists, and Chinese people every 10 feet walking past you saying under their breath, "handbags, watches, Gucchi, Channel". We only had 1 person whisper it to us while we were there, but at that point Holly had already bought a purse in a legit store. We've followed these crazy knock off purse people many times, and they always take you to a back alley, to a tiny, suspicious looking apartment, where you are quickly whisked inside to view all the "real" merchandise. If you want a good knock-off designer bag, this is the only way to do it. All the legit stores in Chinatown have watered down versions of knock-offs. But, the one Holly got was cute, I don't think it was supposed to be a knock off of anything, it was just a cute purse.

Random thought: why is the word "cute" always used to describe articles of clothing/purses/shoes? Have you ever not used the word cute when observing clothes/purses/shoes that you like? It's impossible! Cute is the only word that totally sums it up.

Moving on....

Here is a picture from our Chinatown excursion:

At this point, it was already 1:30, and their car service was coming at 3:00 to pick them up from our apartment. Since we couldn't think of what else to do, we got in a cab and went back to the apartment to try to decide. Scott looked through one of our many "things do do in NYC" tour books, and read about this little pub called the "White Horse Tavern". It is one of the oldest pubs in NYC, established in 1742, so we walked the few blocks to go check it out. It was a beautiful day, 84 degrees and sunny, so we sat at a table outside and ordered some drinks, and just watched all passers by. NYC is a great place to people watch- there are people from all walks of life here. It is incredibly diverse, so people watching is never boring. You never know who (or what, in some cases) will walk by you. We enjoyed this last hour reminiscing about our trip, and planning out when the next one will be. At 2:50, we walked back to the apartment and said our good-byes. We had a totally fun, fabulous, and FOOD FILLED trip with Holly and Jon, and miss them already!

After they left, Scott and I went inside and worked for a couple of hours. Once we had caught up on some emails and calls that needed to be made, we decided that we would be hungry in an hour or so, and picked a Mexican place that we had read about in one of our books. The writer of this restaurant review said that Noche Mexicana had the best tacos in town, and they only cost $2.00! So we decided that we needed to check it out. Another reason for selecting this place was that it is in the Upper West Side, and as we are in the West Village, it would be a nice long walk for us, which we wanted as we have been eating non-stop for days. We put on our good comfy walking shoes, and set out for our long trip uptown. It took us an hour and a half of brisk walking to walk up to our destination at 102nd street. We mapped out our path, and discovered we'd walked 100 blocks total to get to Noche Mexicana. Needless to say, by the time we got there we were hungry! Here is what we got:

Scott had the spicy chicken burrito. Notice the parmasean cheese sprinkled on top- I'd never seen that in a Mexican dish before! It was actually extremely delicious, so delicious in fact that I will from now on add that to my homemade tacos!

I had the chalupas, which were corn tortillas layered with refried beans, lettuce, tomatoes, cilantro, parmasean cheese, and sour cream. 3 came to an order, so I chose 3 different meats, chicken, steak, and beef. However they actually only gave me a chicken and 2 with steak, but I ate it anyway because I was starving, even though beef is my favorite so I did miss not getting it!

We didn't get the $2 tacos, but our meals were only around $10 each, so it was still a good, inexpensive choice. After this, we were totally stuffed, so decided that we definitely needed to walk all the way back home. We walked to 65th st, and went into Bed, Bath, and Beyond because I wanted to buy a Yoga mat. (I plan on doing my Jillian Michaels workout video, 30 Day Shred, while I'm here, and have done it only once as the floor in our apartment is so hard I can't stand to do anything because it hurts so much. Now that I have my soft mat to lie on, I can do crunches and push ups much more effectively.) After shopping for a little bit, it was dark outside, and we still had about 50 more blocks to get back home, so we took the subway home instead.

It felt so good to have gotten some exercise in, we have vowed that we are going to walk every where we go from now on, even if it means leaving an hour early to give us time to walk there. Since we are eating our way through NYC, walking is essential if we want to be able to still fit into our clothes we brought! Having made our vow of constant exercise from now on, we decided to reward our healthy choice with some ice cream from our neighboring ice cream cart at Cafe Cluny. We shared a scoop of chocolate cappuccino and ate it in our apartment. Another full day in NYC!

Day #5- Sunday

Sunday morning started out with us having a late, leisurely brunch at this restaurant down the street from us called "The Place". The food was really good, but our service was super slow. Here is what we had:

I had the avocado toasts. This was light yet creamy- very good choice!

Scott had the Moussaka- it was like a vegetarian lasagna with pasta, cheese, tomato sauce, eggplant, zucchini, squash...very yummy!

Holly had the sirloin burger. She said it was great!

Jon had an omelette. It wasn't the omelette that he ordered, but ate it anyway as it took so long to get our food. He said it was kind of bland.

After our brunch, we decided to go ahead and change into what we were going to wear for our evening out. We then took the subway to the other side of town to the MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art). Here are some picts from the museum:

After the MET, we went to Artisinal Fromagerie and Bistro, which is a restaurant that specializes in cheese... our favorite! We all shared a cheese and wine flight. We had 3 cheeses paired with 3 wines. We also shared some fondue, which was Gouda and Stout. I didn't care for it, but everyone else absolutely loved it:

I couldn't believe that I didn't like a giant pot of melted cheese, but for some reason it just tasted off to me.

Our service here was completely horrible- we almost had to cancel our fondue order because it took SO long for our server to bring it. We were there an hour and a half, and had a plate of cheese and a bowl of fondue.

Everyone scarfed down their fondue and then we had to run out the door in order to catch a cab for our 7:30 Broadway show, Rock of Ages.

This show was phenomenal.. it featured popular hit 80's songs from Poison, Styx, Foreigner, Journey, White Snake... it was amazing! I would definitely see it again if given the chance!

After the show, we went to our all time favorite NYC piano bar, Don't Tell Mama. Scott and I go here every time we are in NYC. Since it's so close to Times Square, there are Broadway singers that will sometimes come in and sing a song from one of thier shows. And there are always Broadway show tunes being sung by the performers that work at Don't Tell Mama (they all take turns waitressing and singing) and they all sound so good! We love it here and always have the best time singing along with the staff.

As it was Holly and Jon's last night here, we wanted it to be a good one. We were successful! We all had a great time.

Day #4- Saturday

After our past two late nights, we had reservations for a 12:00 brunch at Mercer Kitchen, a Jean George restaurant, located in SOHO. Living up to his world renowned reputation for exquisite food, Jean George did not disappoint:

This was my roasted lamb sandwich with red peppers, arugula, and garlic aioli. It was phenomenal.

Holly and Jon split this appetizer- heirloom tomato salad with mozzarella and basil. Yum!

Scott and Jon both ordered the raw tuna and wasabi pizzza. This was absolutely amazing- the wood-fired dough was chewy, not too thick, and the "sauce" was a spread of wasabi and ricotta. Unbelievably good!

Scott and I shared this roasted beet salad with goat cheese and balsamic for our appetizer. This dish really showcased the versatility of beets- some were roasted with a sweet, caramelized texture, and some were pickled, for a tangy, vinegar flavor. With that creamy, fluffy goat cheese and the peppery salad that accompanied it- this was amazing! SO good!

Holly had an omelette with goat cheese. She said it was the best omelette she'd ever had in her life- look at that texture! How do you make an omelette with that type of velvety texture? I guess that's why we are eating at these restaurants- we could never make food that good ourselves!

To top off our fabulous brunch, we had to have some delicious drinks as well. Holly had a ginger margarita (on left) and Jon and I each had a pineapple mojito. Mmm! These were fruity and delicious, the perfect addition to our meal.

After our wonderful start of our day, we needed to walk off some of that food. So, we walked to several record stores that Holly and Jon had on their "things to do" list. I wandered around outside of the store while the 3 of them looked at old records, and stopped in front of a Gelato store. For those of you who don't know, gelato is a type of Italian ice cream. It's like ice cream, only richer, thicker, and creamier. As I was looking at the menu of various flavors, a man in a white shirt caught my eye. I looked at him a little closer, and realized that it was Jose Garcias, the newest Iron Chef on Food Network! My first celebrity sighting on this trip! While he's not as famous as Bobby Flay or Mario Batali, I was completely thrilled to have seen this newest Iron Chef! I had to sneak a picture of him, of course!

After that little thrill of excitement, I decided to celebrate with a cup of gelato. No, I wasn't hungry, but you can't buy gelato in Louisville, so I got a small cup with 4 spoons so we could all trysome. I got a cup of pistachio gelato, and it was delish!

After that, we spent most of the afternoon walking around. We wanted to see the restaurant that Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer always eat at in Seinfeld episodes, so went to see it. They never actually ate inside here, but used this building as the restaurant setting:

Walking around in the neighborhood, we came upon St John the Divine Cathedral. It was really beautiful, so we went inside and walked around and admired it.

This table was an art exhibit inside the Cathedral. The sign out front invited you to come, sit, eat, and drink at the table. We all went and sat around the table, which had place settings for 12. As you looked at the table, it was as if you were actually eating and drinking because there were hands that appeared right in front of you... picking up silverware, drinking from the wine glass, cutting up food on your plate- there was a projector above the table that played this "movie" of the action at a dinner table. It was kind of weird, but kind of cool as well. You could just sit there and watch as the dishes on the table were changed to different types of food, bowls were moved around, and food was cut up on the plates. Neat concept!

After spending some time admiring all the beautiful stained glass windows, marveling at the intricately carved stone figures, and just being immersed in the complete grandiose of the Cathedral, we walked down the street to Central Park. From all that standing and walking for the past few hours, we decided that we should stop somewhere and get a glass of wine and take a load off. There was a tapas restaurant called Boqueria that Holly had read about and wanted to try. So we hopped on the subway and went to check it out.

As it was already 6:00, we decided to have a little snack to go along with our wine. Being a tapas restaurant (this means small plates), we wanted to try a few different things. We started off with a delicious goat cheese that came with some olives, raisin bread, and Quince jelly. Then we each picked one dish to order that we could all share. Holly chose the lamb meatballs, Jon chose blistered peppers with sea salt, Scott chose potatoes, and I chose salt cod fritters. Of course, I completely forgot to take pictures of most of this, but remembered half way through. Here are the meatballs, which were delicious:

That is the only picture I got, as the other dishes were so delicious that we just ate them right up.

Another item on Holly and Jon's "to do" list was to see Shakespeare in the Park. This is a traveling play, meaning that the cast moves around the park (Battery Park) for each scene, and the audience follows along. It's a neat idea... Scott and I saw King Lear last summer. The play was Much Ado about Nothing, and the cast's costumes were set to the 1940's fashion style. One scene was set as a masquerade, so they handed out masks for the audience to wear:

The play was great, and we all really enjoyed it!

After Shakespeare, we took the subway back to our end of town so we could change for our 10:30 dinner reservation. We went to Esca, a Mario Batali restaurant, and it was FABULOUS!

Here are a couple pictures from our dinner:

Holly: Peach Bellini

Jenn: Watermelon Cosmo

Holly and Jon had an appetizer of paper thin ahi tuna

Scott and I had pink snapper crudo (which means raw) for an appetizer.

Holly and I both had the gnocchi with roasted eggplant and parmesan. It was AMAZING!

Jon had squid ink spaghetti. I was skeptical of this dish until I took a bite of it, but it was SO GOOD! I have seen this dish made on Iron Chef before, so I'm glad he ordered it so we could all try it!

Scott had Artic Char fish. It was rich and delicious. What else could you expect though from a Mario Batali restaurant.

We had an awesome dinner, a great end to another awesome day in NYC!

Day #3- Friday

The first thing we did for Day 3 was to walk to the High Line, which is an old railway system that quit running trains in 1980. Last year, the abandoned train tracks were turned into an elevated public park. Scott and I visited it on its opening weekend last summer, but wanted to take Holly and Jon to see it. Here are some pictures:

It was neat to see how something that had been discarded as a rusty old rail road junkyard could be transformed into an artsy setting, brimming with life with natural grasses and flowers strategically planted and growing vibrantly throughout the 10 block span. It was like living art.

Next, we walked cross town to Madison Square Park, to indulge ourselves in our all time favorite burger joint in NYC- the Shake Shack.

If you haven't heard of this place, you are missing out! Danny Meyer, the famous NYC restraunteer with several upscale restaurants in his portfolio, opened this burger joint in the middle of the park a few years ago. It has since been an instant NYC classic, with it's simple but gourmet cheeseburgers (Shack Burgers), cheese fries, and concretes. The line to the Shake Shack at any time, on any day of the week, from open to close is always around an hour long wait.

We waited in line an hour and 40 minutes, and by the time we got our food, the line was twice as long as it had been when we arrived. And, we got there at 1:20, so it wasn't exactly the "lunchtime rush" crowd. But we knew, along with all those other hungry New Yorkers who waited in that exceedingly long line, that the payoff would be worth it:

Totally worth the wait. I'm sure we will do it at least a few more times during our 30 day stay :-)

After our highly enjoyable lunch, we walked to the Green Market, which is an outdoor farmers market set up in Union Square. We bought some heirloom cherry tomatoes, some fresh goat cheese (from Ardith Mae, a nearby goat farm in Pennsylvania), a couple of whole wheat sourdough rolls, and a loaf of freshly baked herb focaccia bread. We are going to go on a picnic in Central Park tomorrow, so we thought these would be perfect for our lunch. After that, we walked back home to put up the groceries and get changed for our evening out.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MOMA) is free on Friday nights from 4-8, so Scott, Holly, and Jon wanted to go. Scott and I have been once before last year, so I had my fill of it then. I'm just not that into art. But we went, and it wasn't that bad, mainly because we got there at 7:15 and they closed at 8. That was the perfect amount of time for me! We spent most of our time looking at works by Picasso, Van Gough, Cezanne, and Matisse. Here is Scott next to a painting of Salvador Dali:

Here are some other shots from the MOMA:

After the museum, we went to Cafe Boulud for dinner. The pictures didn't turn out well because I didn't want to turn the flash on my camera on in this fancy schmancy restaurant, but let me just sum it up in one word: Gourmet.

Oh, my, goodness, was it gourmet. For one thing, it is a Daniel Boulud restaurant, so that right there puts it in an elitist ranking on it's own. This is one of those restaurants that just made you feel like you belong in the Riff-Raff Section if they had one because it was so swanky.

I'll try to describe our meal, but without good pictures, it's not the same. For starters, we all split a delicious foie gras (yes, we really do love this stuff!), and Scott had a roasted tomato and eggplant soup. Then, Scott and Holly both ordered a lamb dish- it had 3 or 4 differently prepared lamb entrees- chops, shank, and some types of pinwheels. Jon had the ravioli, and I had a fish entree. Here is a picture of the lamb dish, but it looks dark because of no flash:

All our meals were absolutely phenomenal, so we definitely rated the meal and the whole experience a 10 out of 10.

After dinner, we wanted to hear some music and have a glass of wine, so we went to this little jazz bar a block from our apartment. I like jazz ok, like to go hear it, but overall wouldn't say it's my favorite. However, this jazz bar was awesome. There were 2 guys playing, and let's just say, they made me a big fan of jazz. It was really good! After a few songs, we called it a night. Just another fabulous night in NYC!