NYC March '09 Trip Report with pix

Hi all,
so my darling Daughter and I (college sophomore) just got back from a wonderful 4 day trip to NYC which included some fun activities and some fabulous meals.

We started off in a NY kind of way with a Gray's Papaya dog and drink
(no pic- camera batteries were dead)
It was OK- but I really thought it had nothing over a Chicago dog-
not even as good as the NY dogs I remember from my youth...
I thought the papaya drink was pretty good though...

We then went off to Rockefeller center where we wathced some skaters and went up to the top of the Rock since it was clear as a bell-the views were amazing!

Soon it was on to an early dinner at Bobby Flay's Bar American,
Let Food Fun Begin!
and I must start by apologizing that my low light pics without flash are not as good as Ronnie's
but I have done the best I can to tweak them.
I just think it's so rude to shoot flash in a nice place-
(I need some tips RK)
We started with a trio of seafood Cocktails, and I'm afraid we were so hungry we started to eat before we remembered to shoot (LOL)
crab with mango and coconut on the left-(this was awesome the sweeness of the coconut really complemented the seetness of the crab- it was my favorite of the three by far.
lobster and avocado on the right- cooked perfectly-just the right amount of spice, very good.
We ate the shrimp-tomatillo before I remembered to take the picture! It was a huge shrimp with a nice spicy green salsa to dip in.


This is how the trio were served:


Next we shared a delicious appetizer that was actually three Crispy squash blossoms with BBQ Pork and Chile Viniegar sauce, but again, forgot to take the picture untill we'd eatent two...
Bad girls! This was good, and the sauces were nice, but I didn't think it worked as well as squash blossoms stuffed with cheese.


For the entree, we shared Skate with smoked chile butter, capers, tarragon, and crispy hominy-
This was fabulous, perfect balance of richness and spice!

I also have to mention the bread service- which was great- there were these spicy cornbread sticks, and fluffy parker house rolls and shatteringly crisp baguette rolls and all the bread was warm and fresh. I also loved the decor in the place- warm and cozy- the light trees were really interesting- kind of Frank Lloyd Wright inspired.
I had 2 glasses of sparkling wine- I think it was Gruet blanc de noirs (which was DD did help by sneaking more than a few sips from), the service was friendly and fabulous yet not overbearing- we let them know we had theatre tix and they had us out on time.
On the way out we passed a giant 3+ pound lobster, just waiting for some lucky diner.

The desserts sounded great, but we had to dash -
"In the Heights" was calling -
This was a great Brand new musical combining hip hop, rap, Latin and merengue music-
Lots of fun, very catchy, the best of new Broadway!
The next day after a typical girls late start it was on the museums,
We started with the Guggenheim,
and before we hit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, decided we needed a bit of sustenance, so we had a typical NY nosh, a Knish from a cart:


We had an awesome afternoon at the Met which was our favorite museum of the whole trip.
Then we took a great walk thru Central Park, visiting the Alice in Wonderland Statue, the boathouse, Belvedere fountain, Strawberry fields, and the Dakota, and walked down Central Park West to Columbus Circle where it was time for dinner at Jean-Georges' Nougatine with a friend of ours from Hoboken. (we had a celebrity sighting of Alan Arkin in the Park, and of David Keith at Jean-Georges)

At Nougatine, both DD and I decided to do their winter promotional 4 course tasting dinner which is only $35!, our frind did a solo entree, and on top of all we added on an extree app for the table.
(It still all added up LOL)

Anyhow a great meal, great service-again got us out on time for our theatre tix-
Here we go:
We started with an amuse of a cocktail shrimp topped with a lime gel (YUM) and a warm carrot-papaya soup shot. This was really delicious, there was such a concentration of flavor in one small thing.


I am a fool for foie! The appetizer we ordered for the table was this foie gras brulee with a pineapple meyer lemon jam. The top was all sweet and crunchy like creme brulee, and the portion was really generous for $19, the jam thing was very strong- a little went a long way. I was glad it was on the side and most of it was left- foie doesn't need much in my book.


The first course that came with the tasting was a huge serving of tuna tartare over avocado topped with radish and surrounded with a ginger soy broth. This was very good, fresh and clean, well complemented by the broth. The portion was almost too big, and I actually didn't finish it all.


The next tasting course was a slow cooked salmon over a potato puree with julienne veggies and a basil vinagrette. This was very soft and silky, very light.


Our friend's entree was steamed skate with roasted pumpkin seeds, over spaghetti squash with a soy-yuzu broth. I had a bite of this and it was very tasty, perfectly cooked.


Our entree was a wonderful chicken course with crispy skin, white bean puree, broccoli rabe, and a lemon truffle vinagrette. The best part was that skin was shatteringly crisp, and the meat was perfectly moist- a combination you don't often get in chicken.


On to desserts- would we even find room? mebbe.....
Our friend had a Concord grape vacherin with toasted almond ice cream. very light and refreshing


DD and I had a warm valrhona chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream. mmmmmmmmmmm


We thought we were done, but Jean-Georges was not done with us! to our surprise a plate of of petit fours showed up!


We wished we could have lingered, but it was time to dash up to Lincoln Center to see the timeless musical South Pacific, making for a truly Enchanted Evening! This was an amazing production, I would really urge anyone going to NYC to make time in their schedule to see it. It was breathtaking, once in a lifetime- they don't write them like that anymore....sigh.

The next day, we had a typical late start, and moved onto a fun afternoon at the MOMA-
another cart lunch of a felafel sandwich (no picture), then down to Greenwich village for dinner with my sister in law at Pearl Oyster Bar- this place was so tiny that theres a line outside before they open and as soon as they open they are full.
Again I'm afrain I was bit airheaded with camera-
We started with a plate of oysters on the half- fresh and briny,
then split a signature caeser salad- which was very good, and super garlicky.
Then had what they are known for-the Lobster Roll, which had to have been stuffed with the equivalent of a whole lobster, perfectly cooked and very sweet, and was very good, but perhaps a tad too heavy on the mayo for my taste, but I quibble as there are no similar lobster rolls in Chicago- the fries were very good, and the portion so generous- I didn't finish mine.


After that we went around the corner to a place that my sister in law knew for Gelato that was delish, (again no pix)- but the hazlenut especially was so out of this world!
We ended the evening listening to a wonderful jazz singer at the Bowery poetry bar.

For our last day in NY we concentrated on the Lower East Side, starting with a tour of the Tenement museum, very personally relevant, as my grandmothers lived there when they first immigrated. (also had a celebrity sighting of none other than Robert DeNiro)
Afterwards it was down the block for lunch at the legendary Katz's!


It was Pastrami for me, warm, rich, peppery, perfect:


Pickles for us both-just as good as you remember:


Corned beef for DD- salty and delicious!


I remember going here as a little kid, especially these signs:


Since the hit movie "when Harry met Sally" there's a new sign, as they fimed a certain fake "O" scene here:


The walls are also decorated with lots of great neon- my father in law used to play in the NY Phil and they loved to hang out at McSorley's


So it was a great getaway, but we couldn't leave NYC without one more stroll thru Time Square, and of course a NY slice-I'm not really a pizza girl, but I forgot just how GOOD they were-
This was AWESOME! I have to say I really miss NY pizza....


Bar Americain
152 W 52nd St, New York, NY 10019
(212) 265-9700
http://www.baramericain.com/

Nougatine
1 Central Park West, New York, NY 10023
(212) 299-3900
http://www.jean-georges.com/

Pearl Oyster Bar
18 Cornelia St, New York, NY 10014
(212) 691-8211
http://www.pearloysterbar.com/

Grom Gelato
233 Bleecker St (and Carmine), New York, NY 10022
(212) 206-1738
http://www.grom.it/eng

Your trip looks positively delicious! And that last shot of the pizza - well, I'll be craving NY pizza from now until I get my next fix.

I love NYC! I'm a theatre guy so I travel there a lot and even lived there last summer for a job. Wonderful eats and wonderful convenience. What a great trip!