Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Eating our way through NYC on LDW

How do you spend your labor day weekend?
I spent mine with my best friend Megan checking things off her NYC "kinda tourist" list and consuming a food baby eating way too much.

So lets start at the very beginning...

Thursday Night: Cascabel
Megan finally arrives around 9:45pm after taking the subway from JFK and we head to Cascabel for some guac, tacos and margaritas.  We do the initial catch up on each others lives and schedule out the rest of the weekend.

Friday Lunch: Shake Shack @ Madison Square Park
We did the obligatory hour long wait in line to order before we consumed massive amounts of yumminess: Shack burgers, cheese fries & washed down with Arnold Palmers.  Megan and I inhaled our burgers so fast that it could have been sickening if it was documented, but they were just soo good and we were so hungry.

Friday Night: US Open
Of course tennis was on our list of events.  This wasn't really a food adventure, but more a "must" on Megan's list.  We originally had horrible seats in Arthur Ashe Stadium, row Z in section 311 but we just moved ourselves down to row D, like we were supposed to be there.  Section 300 is more like a baseball stadium when it comes to the audience members, there were people dancing in the stands, yelling/cheering for the players versus the very civil lower sections.  The best match we saw of the night was Sock vs Roddick; Sock actually made Roddick work for his win.  It was a great night, but it was a late night.  On a food note: we did enjoy the signature cocktail of the US Open, the HoneyDuce, which was quite delicious, and some tasty chicken quesadillas in the Stadium.

Saturday: Bagels, The Met & Sutton Place
We Slept in and then enjoyed some carb-tastic bagels for breakfast.  We then jaunted over to the Met for some culture and then enjoyed the roof top terrace.  Lunch at a roof top bar per Megan's request at Sutton Place.  We were surrounded by Ohio State alums watching the game, but no worries there actually weren't that many of them because lets be honest how many actual locals are in the City during Labor Day? 

This is where the food baby is starting to grow...

Saturday Night: Serafina
Megan's parents came by my apartment so they could see what a "real" NYC apartment looks like and how real 'New Yorkers' live.  The tour took about 30 seconds and then we discussed all the things they had planned to see and do while they were visiting the city.  I even surprised myself on how much I knew about the city and how to get from here to there.  When then walked on up to Serafina on 79th & Madison for some amazingly delicious Italian food.  Megan's Mom, Kerry was amazed how nice and quiet it was on the UES compared to midtown east where their hotel is.  Yea, its a lot classier where the rich people live (well the the blocks closest to the Park).  And I'm not even going to start describing my dinner or I might start salivating again as I type this recap.  OK, I had I TAGLIOLINI “DI CORTINA” home made pasta with mushrooms, peas, prosciutto, a touch of cream & white wine.  Holy balls it was so good.  But I might say the best part had to have been the tiramisu for dessert, it was heaven sent.

Sunday Brunch: Arte Cafe & 16 Handles
Arte Cafe on the UWS where we met Megan's friend, Laura for brunch.  I enjoyed brioche french toast, which was quite delectable and Megan savored a waffle with fruit.  We then attempted to walk off our brunch by cruising the UWS through the park to the UES.  I even used some walking tour cards that my Mother bought me when I first moved here to give us another little cultural experience.  On our way back from our walking cultural excursion we stopped by 16 handles for some fro yo to cool off and because we hadn't walked off enough calories from bunch we needed to add a few more on.

Sunday Night: Wicker Place, NY Vintners, Serendipity, Southern Hospitality
Early dinner at Wicker Place, nothing special, we just wanted salads.  Here's where the night gets exciting...  We headed downtown to NY Vintners for a wine tasting class, Blind Tasting.  That's right, we're that cultured and wine educated (ha).  We did 2 flights, one white and one red.  Blind tasting 3 different wines discussing the appearance, trying to determine the aromas, the palate and finally what type of wine/grape it was before the bottle label was revealed.  I learned about the 3 taste/date rule.  First taste you get the initial flavor; second taste you really get to know the wine; and third you decide if you're going to take the wine home with you.  The wine tasting class was a lot of fun and enjoyable, I also bought 4 bottles of wine from class, hehe.  We then hopped on over to Serendipity for some frozen hot chocolate.  Now, I've never actually been to Serendipity and I didn't know what to expect so both Megan and I ordered a FHC and we ordered a humble pie with hot fudge on top.  Just let me say this, FHC is good I can see the appeal and noted for next time you can share that with 4 people but the kicker was the humble pie.  Peanut butter on  graham cracker crust with hot fudge, can you say mouth orgasm?  It was f*@king amazing!! It was like a reeces peanut butter cup but million times better.  Then we slowly walked off our off gluttonous ways to enjoy a drink with Amy at Southern Hospitality.  Megan was so excited because its Justin Timberlake's bar.

Monday: Crumbs for Breakfast
What, you don't eat over indulgent cupcakes for breakfast?

Monday Lunch: OG
Well, we were in Times Square so Megan could buy some souvenirs for friends and family and we just couldn't help ourselves unlimited salad and bread sticks were calling our names.

And now the food baby is in full effect and I need to abort asap, but this food baby was well worth it.  My clothes still fit, just not that well.  I always love having Megan visit and I'm always sad to see her go and I can't wait for our next mini vacation.

Diet "started" again on Tuesday and Summer is over.  Tear.

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