Well, it only took 6 months, but Marc finally gave me my 5767 Hanukah present: a weekend in NYC! (the delay wasn't his fault; it was our overly busy schedule, made worse by my calf injury in March, which led to the cancellation of our original April date)
We took an Amtrak regional train up on Friday morning and after checking into Hotel Giraffe, wandered off for a late lunch. Out of sheer luck, we ended up at Le Singe Vert, where I had an omelet and Marc had some very nice merguez. We sat in the sidewalk cafe and had a great and filling lunch for about $30. In Manhattan! Who knew?
From there we took the subway up to Columbus Circle and walked through the mall at Time Warner Center. This included a stop at the door of Per Se to gaze in wonder at the menu we wouldn't be eating that night. Some day!
Then off to wander past The Cube, where we saw the huge crowds and multi-block line waiting for the Apple Store to reopen and begin doling out iPhones.
Friday evening we made our way up to the theater district to see Avenue Q. It was great fun, and a far cry from the production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead we saw at Studio Theater in DC on Thursday night. Let's just say, "A different kind of funny." The evening was capped by a visit to the Union Square Max Brenner. It was a fun place to go, and the desserts were decent, but having eaten at Michel Richard's Central earlier in the week, the comparison in quality was definitely showing.
Saturday morning, after a continental breakfast at the hotel, we headed down to the Union Square green market to wander around. While significantly larger than the Dupot Circle market I usually go to, it still managed to make me feel good about what we have here in DC. Though probably an order of magnitude smaller, we still have a fabulous collection of not just fruit and veg, but also meats, cheeses, baked goods, and other items. From there we headed down to wander the Meat Packing district (with a quick stop to see the menus at CraftSteak and Del Posto) and the Village. Lunch was at a bistro called Matador. They had a pretty decent brunch special -- two tapas or one brunchy dish, along with two drinks (sangria or mimosa) for $11.50. Marc was pretty happy with his fruit salad and fried calamari, but my own eggs benedict over smoked salmon wasn't as successful. Not bad, but the salmon was rather fishy-tasting, and the chipotle hollandaise really couldn't compare to the stuff I whip up at home.
Our afternoon activity was a trip to the Lower East Side, where we went on one of the guided tours with the Tenement Museum. It was fascinating to hear some of the history of the neighborhood and the stories of the renovated apartments in the building owned by the museum. I was particularly taken with the wooden planked floors -- roughly 10-20 years older than those in our house and very familiar to me!
Dinner was at Devi, an upscale Indian restaurant not far from our hotel. We went with the $60 tasting menu and were both extremely pleased. Though we'd both seen mixed reviews for the restaurant online, we both find out it to be a great experience with wonderful food, and completely different from the sort of Indian we usually eat back in the DC area. The idli dish on the vegetarian menu was especially good, while Marc was particularly pleased by the shrimp dish on his own menu. While the pacing of the meal seemed a bit fast (6 courses in a little over an hour!), the service was very good. And my soursop martini was unlike any I'd had before. In particular, the salt, sugar, and mint on the rim of the glass was a great combination with the sweetness of the drink.
This morning, we again headed up to The Cube. This time we entered, and were amazed by the size of the crowd on a Sunday morning. I was also very surprised by the sheer number of people who were not looking at the iPhones, but were instead looking at other equipment! We spent some time playing with the iPhones, but left without making a purchase (to some extent to avoid wandering around Manhattan with pretty little Mug Me bags dangling from our hands!). We then spent some time in Central Park, enjoying the cool, low humidity weather. Our final stop was for brunch at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill. This was, to be honest, much better than I expected. It's always hard to know what to expect from a celebrity chef, but with our local celebrities (I'm looking at you, Michel and Jose), they're still concentrated on the local area and books, without the crazy TV presence. But this was reasonably priced and extremely tasty. I had the scrambled eggs chiliquiles, which had blue corn tortillas soaked in a tomatillo salsa and then fried 'til crispy, topped with scrambled eggs, sour cream, and cheddar. Really outstanding! The bloody mary was spicy but well balanced and flavored, and the opening bread basket, with blueberry coffee cake, cheese and scallion (chive?) biscuits, scones, and chili pepper corn muffins was also a treat. The garlicky grits that came with my dish were good, but frankly I'd rather have had a helping of the garlic cheese grits from our own Colorado Kitchen (though my egg dish was better than any brunch entree I've had at CK!).
We came home via the Accela Express, leaving Penn Station at 4pm and dropping us at Union Station just before 7pm.
A wonderful trip, a wonderful gift, and a great way to spend my weekend.
Thanks, sweetie!
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