Taking a bite out of the Big Apple....

Let's face it. It's no big secret that I love to eat. Every city I visit, I've got a list at least 12 deep of places to eat based on type, price, location, and cuisine. I spend weeks and months (if i've got it) searching, researching, calling concierges/friends/family/random persons on the street, stalking food bloggers, anything that I think will help me on my quest to find the perfect meal. As a matter of fact, I spend so much time on the food, I have no idea what landmarks, museums or historical monuments are when I see it. ("ummm...yeah...it's some statue that was erected to honor some person who is no longer living...")

Proudly, I can say that I visited not ONE, but TWO sights of interest while in New York that had NOTHING to do with food! My friend, Carrie, and I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge after a particularly heavy breakfast:

As much as I hate waiting in line for the Empire State Building, I have to say, there's something to be said about the views from the top. It's breathtaking at night!!!

Of course to get to the top, I made Carrie walk up the final 6 flights of stairs because I was not about to wait another 35 minutes in line to take the elevators.

Oh wait...did I mention the gross amount of food we had while in New York?? Sadly, I really had no idea how great Jean Georges truly was because I never had the opportunity to dine at any of his restaurants. In an effort to remedy that situation, I made reservations for Jean Georges for lunch ($24 pre-fixe menu):

We started with an amuse bouche of pineapple & mozzarella; pea soup in chicken broth; and a fried dumpling. My favorite was the pineapple & mozzarella!

I had the foie gras with a mango or pineapple chutney. I'm really going to miss foie gras when they ban it in California.

The highlight of my day HAD to be my halibut with snow peas, mushrooms, in chili oil sauce. I'm buying his cookbook in hopes that this recipe will be in there. This place was a definite must visit!!

me, jean georges, carrie

We had meals at other places such like Shopsin's, Katz's deli, Kitchen Club in Soho but none of those other places came close to touching the greatness of Jean Georges.

I have to admit that the Mac & Cheese pancakes from Shopsins (above) is really intriguing. I never would've thought of that combination but just hearing mac & cheese made everything else sound so good!

Katz's deli pastrami is ridiculously yummy. The omelette shown above probably contains enough calories to fuel my body through 5 triathlons...

My friend, Henry, was kind enough to take carrie & i to Kitchen Club. I had the bento.

After every meal, it is important to finish things off with dessert. We tracked down the Dessert Truck at St. Mark's. I had the goat cheese cake. One word: "yum".

Jean Georges: http://www.jean-georges.com/

Kitchen Club: http://www.thekitchenclub.com/

Shopsin's: http://www.shopsins.com/

Dessert Truck: http://www.desserttruck.com/

New York Welcome!

I flew into New York before 6:00am on a very rainy Friday. My heart sunk with the prospect of navigating my way through the city in pouring rain. Luckily, I had booked William, (718.775.2611) to pick me up. He was awesome - prompt and communicated with me from the time my plane landed until he found me in front of the terminal. He was a bit difficult to understand due to his thick Columbian accent but was extremely polite and professional. (Case in point: Jelp. He had picked up a client who was an owner/investor in Jelp...you know...the company in California. Oh, right...Yelp.)

Sheraton Manhattan Times Square. I really hate that hotel. It is such a dump. Added to that was some ridiculous claim that they didn't have a single room available for me until that afternoon. It's one thing if I wasn't in the industry but the fact that I understood hotel speak and knew he was blowing smoke up my butt, added to the fact that i didn't sleep on the red-eye really nearly made me lose my mind....then again, I wasn't VIP or have any status with this hotel chain so what could I expect? He asked for a business card with cellphone number to call me when a room was ready. I gave him one...and got a call a couple of hours later to check in. That was better than I was expecting but it didn't change the fact that i was still tired. :(

I killed some time while i waited for Carrie to fly in by participating in my favorite past time - shopping. I decided to join a "garment district tour" (http://www.shopgotham.com/) at 10:00am. They handed out the list of stores we'd be hitting and I have to admit, I poo-poo'ed the list with a hint of snobbery. I know some of you are thinking, "wow?? jenny struck out??" Please...needless to say that in a group of 10 women - all complete strangers, I "won". Again. Added to that i kept spurring other women on with why they should buy what they had on (if it looked good). I did well for the shopkeeps. You can always count on me to upsell...well, when I'm not busy upselling myself.

My best buy was the Japanese crushed wool sweater above. Regularly, $540. I got it for a cool $40. I was going to get a basic cardigan that retails for $780 but I still couldn't stomach the idea of paying out $150 for it. No way.

These pair of shoes were on sale for about $110. I didn't pay that much...because why would i pay $110 for SATIN shoes?? Right. I wouldn't. What happened was that I bought a pair of shoes that were high heels, black leather that was almost biker chic. I tried on the right shoe and it was like I was cinderella. a perfect fit. I get back to the hotel to show Carrie my score only to discover that they were TWO right side shoes. I mean...at least if they were left feet shoes, I'd understand...and could probably work with it. As it was...not so much. *SIGH*...loved those shoes but these are infinitely more practical.

I'm sure I'd have PETA crawling up my butt over this but I bought this scarf. Somehow, midway through the freaking shopping trip, the other women realized that I was trying to upsell them or they thought it was funny that I was so mad that I was the only one "winning" that they told me how fantastic this looked on me. Unfortunately, it really was warm and comfy. I loved this thing. it looks ridiculous on the hanger but it really does look fabulous on.

Here's another sweater that I bought. Wool angora...it fit me like a glove. Other people tried it on but it just made them look short. *SIGH*. There was no way I was leaving without it.

I highly recommend going on this trip, if for no other reason than to just get into the showrooms of some famous designers. A good time to go is in the spring or fall when a lot of people are trying to get rid of inventory.