A very gluttonous birthday in New York City
Published by The Blissful Glutton on 8/21/08 at 5:47 AM
Aside from Vegas, I cannot think of any other place I would rather celebrate my birthday than New York and that is exactly where Moonie and I went. Moon and I in NYC is a dangerous thing and am almost embarrassed to tell you guys how many places we ate. Trust me there are some omissions. lt is definitely time for a fast.
I didn't take photos everywhere we dined because my camera was weighing me down as we were on our feet for about 10 hours a day (as you should be in NYC). In addition to our marathon grubbing, we saw some great exhibits at the Whitney and the Met, took a nice stroll through Central Park and paid a visit to Century 21 which is the best department store ever.
It was such a great trip that I am thinking of making it a tradition. Here is the quick and dirty of our 4 days in NYC with good and bad pics. Hope you enjoy.
DAY ONE:
Ramen and pork buns at Momofuku.
Ramen and pork buns at Momofuku.
Dinner that night was another amazing experience at Bar Boulud. I just cannot say enough about this place. Relaxed vibe with stellar food and my folks were kind enough to call ahead and have a gorgeous bottle of wine sent to our table. Best birthday meal in ages.
DAY TWO:
Grabbed H&H bagel and Zabars goodies for breakfast in bed at the hotel. There is absolutely nothing better than freshly baked bagels with a slather of scallion cream cheese.
Hit the original Grand Sichuan: and it was a total waste of a meal. Dirty tasting fish, salty pork belly drenched in too much soy and flavorless noodles. We took 3 bites of each dish and left. Definitely not up to the standards it once was when my idol, Ruthie R. wrote about it for The New York Times.
Thank god Joe's Shanghai was so close. Shanghai soup buns conquer all. Love this place and it killed the taste (and memory) of the previous "meal."
And a little stop at Magnolia Bakery for a cupcake. Num num num.
We continued to walk until we reached Colombus Circle where we rested our feet at the Bouchon Bakery cafe which has a great view of the circle.
We continued to walk until we reached Colombus Circle where we rested our feet at the Bouchon Bakery cafe which has a great view of the circle.
Dinner that night was a bust. We were completely delirious and ended up canceling our reservation at Inisieme before hitting an Indian restaurant near our hotel, Swagat.
I had eaten here before, but this meal was just plain bad. Overcooked rice, lamb vindaloo that tasted more like chunky spaghetti and an underwhelming saag paneer. The staff were very attentive and friendly though.
DAY THREE:
Train to Times Square to hit Szechuan Gourmet, recently reviewed by Frank Bruni. The restaurant completely lives up to the hype and it a welcome alternative if you don't feel like trekking it to Flushing. An amazingly good meal.
In true glutton fashion with a little help from my equally gluttonous man, we went for a second lunch at Luzzo Coal Oven Pizza.
Great pizza but my nose smelled this spot, Vinny Vincenz, after we left and we had to grab a slice, of course. Probably the best sauce I have tasted in a long long time.
Moon found this great New American restaurant on the Upper West Side, Dovetail. Casual, refined and an overall great spot for dinner. The lighting was pretty poor so I didn't get any great shots except for this one of our amuse bouche.
DAY FOUR:
Oh, how tired we were by this point. To make matters worse, my old soccer injury started acting up so I was limping around the city all day--sweet. My dearest readers know that didn't stop me from eating though! We immediately headed to Katz's for a proper breakfast of pastrami sandwiches and pickles. This place never gets old.
After walking off our meat coma, we headed to the Met to see some art including one amazing fashion exhibit with superhero inspired designs from hot designers like Alexander McQueen with the original costumes from movies like the recently released, The Dark Knight. An overall dream exhibit for a graphic novel and fashion junkie like yours truly. We then hit the roof of the museum for that spectacular view, a cocktail and the Jeff Koons exhibit. 
We still had a few hours to kill, so my pizza-crazed Moon directed our cab towards Patsy's Pizzeria on W. 74th. Still good after all these years and the best location in my opinion. The rest of the night was a blur of delayed flights and crazy turbulence thanks to the storm. But we got back safe, very full and happy.
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