I do seem to have a propensity for finding myself part of rain-soaked random nights out in New York. Not only do they manage to ruin shoes, spirits, and straight-from-the-salon hair dos (not mine) but they usually end up with me, amidst some most random company. In the case of Saturday night... at a sports pub, an underground cavern/club and at a late night bar/cafe with a bachelorette party. Um, huh? Yeah, I'm not so sure either. Thought I'd share the evening's mayhem thru a map because hey, everyone loves maps.

Scruffy Duffy's - Irish pub meets over-testosterone-ized sports bar.
La Caverna - Underground Lower East Side club for art-types plagued with identity crisis, but let's face it, still pretty hot. The DJ was spinning the classics and any DJ that can integrate rock into a set gets a thumbs up in my book.
Schiller's Liquor Bar - Run by the same people that made Balthazar. Ambiance couldn't be cooler, think retro French cafe meets Tribeca loft. What can I say? I' m a sucker for 'ze cafes.

note: I've purposely been toning down the posts with pics of friends and folks. Just decided it best for the sake of privacy.

Labels: editorial, eric, new york, restaurant, review

One of the best bagel places in Manhattan is Ess-A-Bagel. Ess-a-bagel is delish and if you ever want a try, go to their website and order yourself some. They deliver all across the world, it's the best. The toasted wheat bagel with smoked tuna salad and pepper jack cheese is chewable bliss. Luckily enough Ess-a-Bagel is about 100 feet away from the front door of my apartment building. One of the best places to eat a bagel in Manhattan is Greenacre park. Luckily enough Greenacre park is about 25 feet away from the front door of my apartment. Combined, it's breakfast bliss.

Labels: new york, restaurant, review

This weekend I was at a restaurant called Da Nico. It was Delish. (ok, i'll stop with the jokes)...

Anyway, it was made better by the fact that it was more or less a spontaneous experience since there was no original intention to go there. The matire' des were quick, courteous and well dressed (yeah, I know...).

Beyond that I have to say the food turned out quite well. We dove right into several antipasti dishes of portebello mushrooms, homemade mozzarella & tomatoes and calimari. I opted for one of the day's specials, a lamb chop with broccoli rabe and a Charlie Brown Christmas tree sized stalk of rosemary (alas, no red ornament). The super size portion of lamb was tear-inducingly tender and each subsequent bite caused further crying. That's ok, I had Pellegrino and Chianti to wash them away with.



Click here to see a photo of the aftermath. :)

Labels: new york, restaurant, review

My cousin is in town and we've been acclimating her back into the New York scene after her one point five year hiatus in Korea. One of the things I love most about my cousin is her tenacious appetite. It's a beautiful thing.

This morning, er, afternoon we went to get brunch at The Spotted Pig down in Greenwich Village. As you can see from the photo to the right it was certainly a most scrumptious affair. She partook in a chargrilled burger with Roquefort cheese and shoestring fries and I in a more concerted effort at breakfast - two eggs, salt cured pork and home fries. We washed it down with still water and some French press coffee which certainly awoke us from our groggy-eyed late start.

Well suffice it to say that the meal was devoured with smiles, laughing and caffeine induced hand shakes. I think I managed to get half the coffee into the mugs and half on the table. I think the only sour point was the massive quantites of what appeared to be bacon bits in our coffee cream... that or 'spots'. Get it?? Wow, that wasn't funny at all.

Delicious food? Yes. Pricey? A bit. Long wait for table? 40 minutes.

Labels: new york, restaurant, review

Last night was our yearly holiday party. It was held at Citrus, a restaurant/bar on the Upper West Side and I must say it was an unexpectedly good time. Sure, there was tender shanks of steak, garlic-cheddar mashed potatoes and other fine victuals but I think it might have been more in part due other things. What are those things you ask? Perhaps it was the cornucopia of hor d'oeuvres (whore-duvet's) or perhaps it was the triple chocolate cheesecake. But honestly I think it was because someone (to remain nameless) broke out a game of Quarters and someone (to remain nameless) decided to 86 the Christmas montage and bust out an iPod with some grooves, none of which contained any Barry Manilow. I think we were slated to leave at 10... yeah, not so much. Spontaneous dancing with office cohorts always makes for more fun, good laughs, and um... super unflattering pictures awaiting our groggy eyed e-mail checking first thing in the morning. Who needs coffee... we got red-eye.

Here's a random selection of ones from last night. (photos courtesy of M. Stanton and A. Carlay)

p.s. I still managed to wake up this morning to hit the gym. How? I have no idea.

Labels: friends, new york, restaurant

So, today New York government passed legislation that will ban trans fat. Evidently Americans consume approximately 4.7 pounds of trans fat during the course of a year. I think that's about 20 Cinnabons. This ban will affect 24,000 restaurants in the state of New York alone. Well despite the debate I think this is a commendable step by the state government. Let's just hope the federal government doesn't follow suit because that wouldn't exactly jive with civil liberties. Oh, and the South.*

* - I'm allowed to say that since I'm from the South, oh and since I love Cinnabons. I mean seriously... look at that thing. It's like an edible teddy bear.

Labels: announcements, new york, restaurant

A couple of weeks ago I went to dinner at Rare, a restaurant at the base of the Shelbourne Hotel here in midtown. 'Twas a delightful dinner of belgian fries, sweet potato sticks a delicious house salad and quite possibly the tallest burger I have ever laid my brown-hued cow eyes on.

I mean seriously, they couldn't even use one of those over sized toothpicks to hold it together. I had to stand up and pull the flagpole out of the burger then quickly catch it using my right elbow and left knee to make sure it didn't topple and crush my dinner companion. If you look carefully to the right you'll see a somewhat normal sized ground-beef sandwich, I mean burger. Mine of course, stood there in an almost comical stature of 12 feet 16 inches.

All that said, it was a delicious dinner but that's probably the last time I'll ever take on a place wheren $86 tab can be rung up over burgers. No mas.

TOSMR: "Rare is delicious but it will make your money just as rare."
Midweekpost Rating (out of 5):

Labels: new york, restaurant, review