Summer in the City, Part 3

Since it's almost the weekend yet again! let's finish up last weekend's food jaunts around the city. This one landed us over in the East Village at a well-known brunch spot, Peels. I had been wanting to try this place out for at least a year and never made it over there, that is until Sunday. My year of waiting and reading reviews was worth it. We met up with some friends and snagged a table outside on the sidewalk. They're known for their bakery and biscuits. And even though the biscuits are not southern style biscuits they are still quite large and buttery! The rest of the food was done just right and had incredible flavor, even my egg whites.  But since we were all enjoying each other's company and the weather we decided to head over the another place I'd been wanting to try for a year. The Doughnut Plant!  Our brunch needed a little dessert. And sweet we got. Nothing to say on this one besides, "go have a doughnut." After all that we thought we better walk home. Whew!

 Shrimp and grits

Summer in the City

This past weekend was a wonderful one! We started on Friday night with a fun dinner with friends at Extra Virgin and a post-dinner rooftop drink. Saturday morning we began with Krispy Kreme doughnuts (a family favorite.) The doughnuts were just to warm the stomach up for what was to come next. For over a month a group of our friends have had tickets to Taste of Tribeca. It's a great neighborhood event where most all of the restaurants participate. They block off around 8 blocks and have live music, tastings from each restaurants, and  a kids tent with face painting, etc. The food was wonderful and we finally were able to try out some of our local neighborhood restaurants we've walked past numerous times. After we had our fill of food we moved onto the local wine stores where they were having free wine tastings. I think we all needed to sit and let our stomachs settle so we headed to the park and just sat.
 Later that night, Ben and I went to see the Broadway play Newsies for my birthday! It was one of my favorite movies as a little girl and the play definitely did not disappoint. (If you're visiting the city or live here make sure you go) It was quite hard not to sing along during the play but I managed to hold back until we were back in our apartment. I feel bad for our neighbors.
We ended the weekend with a delicious steak dinner with friends in Midtown at Quality Meats. It was so much fun to spend my birthday with such great friends! This past weekend is what makes me love living in the city.

 Ashley is planning out which food tent to try first

Take a look at all these choices from all the restaurants!

Flowers from my amazing dad!

Where to Brunch?

Did everyone have a nice Columbus Day? Hubs had the day off so we took advantage and drove to Warwick, NY and did a little apple pickin. But more on that later. We also had a wonderful brunch with friends on Saturday at The Dutch, in SoHo.  And a week ago we had another great brunch at Sarabeth's down in our hood, TriBeCa. I'm really not sure which one I enjoyed more. It was our first time going to The Dutch but we had been to Sarabeths multiple times. I do love Sarabeths and will probably go there more than any other brunch place around BUT The Dutch definitely gave it a run for its money. Especially when it came to presentation. They served the meals in All Clad pots. So obviously that has the cool factor. If it were closer to us  then I'm not sure who would win. We might just have to split them 50/50. 

Hubs contemplating what to get at Sarabeths with the new World Trade tower in the background

It was late so I went for more of lunch with the beet and portobello sandwich

Hubs on the other hand went with his usual - Chorizo and pepper frittata

Again, Hubs' order of sausage and fried eggs but this time at The Dutch

My order of yogurt and honey granola with figs.

Lights, Ferries, and Food

Last weekend while Hubs with traveling, some of the girls ventured over to Weehawken, New Jersey to go to dinner with a friend who lives across the Hudson. We took the ferry (which is only 7 minutes across river)  and then ended up over at the riverwalk. Ate dinner at a restaurant named, Son Cubano which is right on the river and had an amazing view of the west side of Manhattan. (I should mention there is a Son Cubano in the city but haven't visited that one) The entire night was an unexpected adventure. The view to and from Jersey was out of this world, especially since we left during the sunset! The food was great and the people watching was just as good as in the city. I kept expecting one of the Real Housewives of New Jersey to waltz through the door. But no, didn't happen. All-in-all, a great night and hope to do it again!

Getting on the ferry, looking across the Hudson to Jersey

Food Galore

Sorry for the lack of the post yesterday. I was a bit preoccupied by leaving my phone in the cab. Yes, it was one of those days. So I was planning on going through with pictures all the yummy places we ate at this weekend etc but atlas, no phone means no pictures. Lost them all! Sorry to all who emailed me about dinners. I promise I took a ton of pics from the meals we had but now I have no proof. The weekend along with all the food was fabulous! It was the first real Spring-like weather weekend we've had yet. Hubs' parents stayed up on the Upper Eastside by the park in a hotel called, The Surrey. It was small and very chic. Which means we started the weekend off in the lounge with a dirty martini. Then we found ourselves towards Midtown/Times Square area at Bobby Flay's restaurant, Bar Americain. The food was great! (Thanks for those suggestions, DP.) It was a huge place and would be great when people come in town and are going to a play or after a long day of 5th Ave shopping. Then we made our way downtown to the West Village for some jazz at Cornelia Street Cafe. The jazz took place downstairs which made it very intimate and cozy due to how tiny it was down there. Again, I would highly suggest this place, especially since the cover was less than most of the other places around the city. By then we called it a night.

We met up the next morning up by the park and walked our little hearts out until late afternoon when we stumbled upon Boat Basin, a place I've been hearing about and been wanting to try. It's on the Upper West Side on the Hudson river right next to Riverside Park. We enjoyed sitting outside (finally), watched the boats, saw all the active bikers, and even ran into some friends we hadn't seen in over 4 years. It was a great way to end the "day." The it was of course time to begin the evening. We went to Mr Chow down in Tribeca. Now this is only a few blocks from our apartment but a totally different scene than we're used to down here. We felt more like we were in the Meatpacking district watching models in fur than in our quiet little hood. The food was quite tasty though and it was definitely fun to watch the "scene." Hubs' b-day is coming up so we decided to celebrate with a drink and dessert at the Brandy Library. Again, another place I would highly recommend. It's almost an old fashion Madmen type of place. The drink menu is around 35 pages long. I took a pic but you'll never know. Then finally to end the eating escapades we had a delicious brunch at SaraBeth's on Central Park South. Everything I saw looked amazing, not to mention my dish was amazing! I now and having trouble fitting into my clothes but it was all totally worth it! I can't wait to go back to some of these places. And in a few weeks we'll be doing it again with Hubs' side of the family down on the West coast of Florida!! I can't wait!

Hidden Gem

I have recently discovered a somewhat hidden gem in the city. For the past two weekends i have visited this place and I think this will be a once a week thing going forward. What you ask could this be? The Chinatown food market!!!!!!!!!! They have all fresh veggies, produce, and fish! It's amazing and incredibly cheap. I mean incredibly cheap. I got a bunch of asparagus for only $1. Hubs and I also had a fresh shrimp dinner for only $4.80. Like I said, incredible! Not to mention just the sights to see and the walking in what feels like a different country. Here are some of the things I bought all for $14...

My fortune from my 2 lbs bag of fortune cookies

I've already eaten all but 6 cookies! $2.00