Until next time, Manhattan!

In New York, lodging is one of the major expenses and our original booking of a house fell through, so we ended up in a hotel in Midtown, Shoreham Hotel. We had a mixed experience there. On one hand, despite having a suite with two bedrooms, the room was spartan with not even a microwave or coffee pot, the TV’s did not have any streaming apps, the WiFi was spotty, they only stocked two towels, and one of the elevators was broken (Their Google listing says “sleek, high-end hotel” - really?) On the positives, though, the location was great (very close to central park) and the shower water pressure was amazing.  

With no kitchen, our grand plan of cooking in every location was off to a bad start. 

No problem in New York, though, as the food available there is impressive both in its wide variety of types of cuisine and its quality. Where else can you choose between spending $1.50 on a slice of pizza or $400 for a steak, and expect a delicious meal either way, in the same neighborhood? 

We spent a few days in Midtown, and visited some old favorites as well as places new to us- and wanted to share a few of our experiences.

Breakfast

We tried a few different places for breakfast.

The first morning, we just wanted to eat somewhere close to our hotel, so we wandered down the block to Astro as they were the closest place that had pancakes listed on their menu. 

As my wife said, the service was “very New York” - had to ask for coffee a couple times, and they didn’t offer anything in kid-size. The food there was pretty ordinary so might suggest avoiding it. We did go to Starbucks the next morning to use up some gift cards we had.

Wednesday breakfast was much better at Carnegie Diner (https://carnegiediner.com/central-park-new-york/) - despite the weather being abysmal (we ended up buying umbrellas and we are decidedly not umbrella people, being from Seattle), the vibe at Carnegie was warm and welcoming. Anna and I had omelettes, and Emily had just about her favorite breakfast - Pancake Lollipops! We went back here again on Friday for a repeat.

Emily loved her pancake lollipops!

Chelsea Market is a must do for me every time I go to Manhattan. I’d like to say it’s for the vibe, which is great, or the variety of bookshops, clothing stores, or the wide variety of food options available there. But, I’m going to be honest, the only reason I want to go there is for tacos. 

Los Tacos No. 1 (https://www.lostacos1.com/location/los-tacos-chelsea-market/)  in Chelsea Market - this place sets the bar for tacos for me. After ordering your tacos, you’re given a receipt that you bring to the cooks, and they will assemble the tacos right in front of you with your choice of tortilla and toppings, shaving fresh al pastor off the trompos and pulling the other meats off the grill and directly onto your taco, which then loaded with toppings you try to eat it quickly as to not make a mess.

Los Tacos No. 1 - the original!

Al Pastor (Pork and Pineapple)

The cooks working on making tacos to order

Finished product right before I chowed down on them

Writing this post, I already want to book my next trip for tacos …

We were able to book a sitter for date night (thanks to a coworker at Google who worked in the NYC office and let us borrow his nanny for a night), which took us back to Chelsea for a trip to Pastis (https://pastisnyc.com/).

Anna and I were talking about how there weren’t many places like it in Seattle, such great atmosphere in a relatively large space on a Tuesday - I’m sure the tile ceilings and mirrors made it louder and brighter than it really was, but the energy was amazing and the food was quite tasty too. We started with Pâté de Campagne which we really enjoyed, and some drinks. For mains I had the filet with peppercorn sauce which was very satisfying to me, the meat was great and the sauce was the star. Anna had the Lamb Navarin and while the meat itself was perfect, the broth was a bit under-seasoned to the point where we had to ask for salt. Haricots Verts on the side were delicious. We were too full after all that to have any dessert.

Happy Hour

https://www.boccadibacconyc.com/location/bocca-di-bacco-chelsea/ 

We stopped by Bocca di Bacco one afternoon when we were just looking for a spot to have a happy hour beverage, but ended up eating multiple things from their happy hour menu - We didn’t take any pictures because we weren’t expecting to be blown away but regretted it once we tasted the food as it was phenomenal.

Crocche - a couple potato croquettes which had an amazing texture and flavor.

Ahi Tuna tartare - a poke tower that was pretty tasty with a spicy sauce

Mac and cheese gratinee - this came out in a ramekin with elbow macaroni and a monocolor sauce, looking precisely like it was from a Kraft box, but one bite into it and I realized this was something special. The bechamel had an amazing depth of flavor and the pasta was perfectly cooked. I would come back here just for the mac and cheese!