NYC Restaurant Recap

As to be expected Katie and I had a blast on our trip to New York City this past weekend. Truth be told, we planned this trip around eating, but who can blame us?! Here are the highlights of where we ate.

• We had such a wonderful experience at Beauty & Essex the first time we came to the Big Apple together, we just HAD to go back this time. The ambiance is like no other – hello, the entrance is a pawn shop! But once you go through the doors, you are greeted with chandeliers, mood lighting, delicious food, and a champagne bar in the bathroom! For more information, go here.

• My friend Katherine recommended Friend of a Farmer for brunch and I’m so glad she did. It was the quintessential New York City brunch spot – at least to me. Green canopy overlooking a patio seating area, bustling servers and customers, and yummy farm-to-table comfort eats.

• We continued our tradition of getting all fancy and going out for Afternoon Tea. We decided to try Lady Mendl’s Tea Room. While we obviously had a blast at The Plaza’s tea last time, it did seem a bit touristy, while Lady Mendl’s had more of a neighborhood, quaint feel to it. Service was a bit slow the day we went, but the tea, sandwiches, and sweets were delish.

• One of the things I love doing on vacation or whenever I have time at home, honestly, is just walking around, exploring things. You never know what you’ll find on foot. For breakfast on Monday, Katie and I decided to just stroll around our hotel neighborhood for a place to eat breakfast and we stumbled upon Ruby’s Cafe. It was small, inviting, cute, and had good pancakes and lattes so we were all set!

• I think my favorite restaurant of the trip was Il Fiorista. It’s actually a restaurant, bar, café, florist, boutique, and community education space that embraces the manifold uses and beautiful benefits of flowers. The space itself was gorgeous – fresh and lush flowers everyone, open and airy. Everything on the menu incorporated flowers somehow. It was really cool.

• Our last morning we treated ourselves to delicious bagels at Zuckers!