A long weekend in NYC

The Boyfriend and I had four days in NYC and were determined to eat as much as possible. Four days really isn’t enough to go everywhere we wanted, (we did consider taking sandwiches/hotdogs/bagels on the plane to extend our eating vacation for another day but figured that shipping meat across continents probably wasn’t the smartest of ideas), but we did pretty well for ourselves.

The trip started with breakfast at the Landmarc, and accidental visit, after spending 30 minutes hunting for bagels in the area and then getting so desperate we ran into the nearest breakfast looking place.  It was a lucky find, as it was not too bad -  nice views over Central park combined with bagels were all we really needed

For lunch I hopped over the road, sans The Boyfriend, for lunch at Nougatine by Jean Georges. MY dining companion and I were seated next to the kitchen where we managed to spot the great man himself. Tuna tartare with avocado and a ginger dressing, was an incredibly refreshing way to start the meal  - the dressing should be a mandatory accompliment to tuna everywhere it was so good. Beef with miso dressing, was less exciting than I expected, but well executed so there where no grounds for complaint.  Poached pear, with a cloud like almond cake made the meal very close to perfect.  At $30ish for three courses at lunch it was really genuinely good value.  Its definitely going to become a fixture on my NYC visits. Why can’t we get one of these instead of Spice Market in London, Mr. Vongrichten?

Dinner this time with The Boyfriend was at Picholine. This the one dining mistake the trip. It wasn’t the restaurant that was the problem,  it was the jetlag plus five hours sleep and an 8 o’clock reservation, in a two-Michelin star establishment that was hardly going to be speedy!  The two hours, for two courses, have never felt longer than that night, when there was one point where I did actually fall asleep at the table.  Sadly, this meant the food was underappreciated, I was trying to eat fast to get out and go home, the service felt beyond slow and we missed Picholine’s main draw – the cheese cart! The two courses we ate, I enjoyed, Foie Gras served Japanese style, literally melted away in my mouth, and The Boyfriend’s Nantucket Bay Scallops he adored, but the Mushroom risotto was a tad disappointing. It wasn’t exactly cheap either. I definitely want to go back though - just with a tad more energy and room for the cheese cart.

Finally rested we headed down town for breakfast at Murray’s – the best place on earth, where we battled a queue to grab a bagel and a space at the bar to devour the things. I think the pictures speak for themselves. Cheese,egg and bacon anyone?

After Guggenheim-ing, at 3.55 we went in search of Earl’s Beer and Cheese where we found a very depressing sign . We consoled ourselves with a Papaya King hotdog, which after all we had heard turned out to be a bit of a let down

Osteria Morini, rustic, loud, Italian was perfect to meet with a friend and an overall great experience. Can we have one of these in London too? Pasta was devoured by all of us, and was beyond satisfying.  Sformato parmigiano-truffle custard wild mushroom sugo to start was pure genius as was Ventresca olive oil poached tuna belly borlotti beans and pickled red onion.  Our dessert a layer cake involving, caramel, coffee and chocolate, basically anything you’ve ever wanted for in a cake, was surprisingly light given the number of ingredients it held.

Breakfast the next two days at the Europan Café, where we grabbed bagels and ran was a fast and filling way to start the days.

Artichoke Pizza could have been the best find of the trip. It was unbelievably good – quite frankly, I didn’t know you could do to pizza . Four stools, four types of pizza, one guy. This was a whole new level of pizza. I genuinely didn't know pizza could taste this good. Artichoke pizza and crab pizza, were outstanding. 

It is kind of amazing we actually were able to eat that evening. Red Cat, was enough to make me wish I had only eaten one slice of pizza as opposed to two and a half.  Carrot and fennel soup was possibly the best soup I've ever eaten. I really wish I hadn't downed my soup the way I did, as it meant I was a tiny bit too full to really make the most of my pulled-pork.

Overall, we did very well. No restaurant was disappointing and Murray's, Osteria Morini, Red Cat, Artichoke and Nougatine, all deserve a return visit.