On Friday before Hurricane Irene hit NYC, Ken and I headed out for a walk around the neighborhood. We were in the mood for a late dinner and ended up going to Pete’s Tavern for a quick bite to eat. We ate outside since the weather was pleasant (although a bit on the muggy side).
Pete’s Tavern is famous for being the oldest standing bar in New York. Lots of pictures of celebrities visiting the tavern paints the walls of the bar and restaurant – we saw pictures of Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt and Al Pacino! We didn’t see any celebrities the night we visited, just lots of tourists and neighborhood regulars.
We started out with a garden salad:
Nothing amazing but the dressing wasn’t too bad. It was actually similar to a salad-in-a-bag – definitely something I wouldn’t order again.
The best part of dinner was the bread – slightly sweet white bread that we had multiple servings of:
We also shared the veal meatballs with spaghetti:
Not as good as The Meatball Shop’s, but these meatballs were actually very hearty and delicious. The tomato sauce was also really good (made with a bit of umami paste, I’m guessing) but the noodles were really overcooked.
Pete’s Tavern is fun for drinks, especially since it’s so laid back, but I’d definitely pass on the food.
Last Friday, one of the developers at work suggested we take a long lunch by sitting down at a restaurant. We usually grab food and eat at our desks so I was definitely excited about going to a restaurant and leaving the office for a bit. We ended up at ‘wichcraft, Tom Colicchio’s sandwich chain around the city. The last time I visited a ‘wichcraft, I ordered the pole caught tuna sandwich and loved it so much that I recreated the recipe. I didn’t want to order the pole caught tuna sandwich again so I ended up going with a recommendation from a coworker – the roasted turkey sandwich with bacon, avocado, and caramelized onions:
I also ordered a side of tomato soup:
The turkey also was on the dry side and a little flavorless and the ratio of innards to ciabatta bun was a little off but the sandwich was pretty good. I wasn’t a huge fan of the onions because I thought they were too sweet, but if I were to recreate the sandwich, I’d probably make it more like a Thanksgiving turkey sandwich. On the other hand, the tomato soup was delicious and I’d drink it every day even though it’s summer!
My coworker, Michael, ordered the chickpea sandwich with roasted peppers, green olives, lemon, and arugula on country bread:
Even though he’s not a vegetarian, he said it was a good and hearty sandwich.
‘wichcraft on 20th has a lot of additional seating on the second floor, including a nice patio area to eat and relax if you have extra time. We sat at a community table indoors but decided that we should definitely come back soon for the outdoor seating. Lunch was expensive – around $15 for both my soup and sandwich, but it was a nice Friday treat.
While we were in Chicago visiting friends for the 4th of July, we went to Aviary, Grant Achatz’s new bar by Fulton Market. I was looking forward to it because I originally had reservations to the restaurant next door, Next, but had to cancel because I was busy moving in with Ken the weekend of our reservation. We arrived around 7pm and they didn’t have any openings but said we would probably be able to sit in less than half an hour. We had to wait outdoors (which I thought was a little odd) but the time went by quickly:
We were able to get a table pretty quickly because we didn’t mind standing next to the kitchen, which is separated by a floor to ceiling cage:
The mixologists prepared all types of interesting cocktails while we were there and we had a great view of the action:
Their drinks range from $15-28 and range from standard to very creative (depending on how far the bird is from the description):
The server sold us on the three course cocktail tasting. My roommate from college, John, had just moved back to Chicago from Ft. Lauderdale and joined us for drinks and we thought it would be a good idea to be more adventurous.
Our first drink was sangria with frozen fruit:
The wine was poured into a coffee press with herbs and more fruit:
And then poured into our wine glasses:
We were a little shocked that they were serving us the sangria – I mean, when you go to a restaurant like Alinea or Next, you have expectations that it’s going to surprise and wow your palate. It definitely surprised us – I was disappointed that we would be served a simple cocktail like sangria. It was paired with melon and baked prosciutto:
Our second drink was a slushie concoction that was served with lemon grass and chili peppers:
The server poured more alcohol into the frozen slushie:
John stirring the drink:
The drink was served with pork belly:
Our last drink was a smoothie served with bourbon, bananas and chocolate:
Alongside strawberry cheesecake bites:
The innards:
Overall, we were pretty disappointed with our experience at Aviary and thought the place was a bit overrated and expensive; Ken ended up paying around $200 for the three of us. I had high expectations for the lounge but was disappointed by the food and the drinks. The service was very nice – they offered to bring us to The Office downstairs – but it was quite slow.
Ken and I occasionally try to meet up with each other for a weekday lunch date. It’s only worked a couple of times, but we always talk about going to Le Relais de Venise for our date. I couldn’t make it up to midtown for lunch but did end up going there for dinner recently.
Le Relais de Venise is a restaurant that was shipped over from Paris – a cute concept where there are only female servers and serve steak (the only type of meat you can order) alongside their secret sauce and fries. It’s a nice place for steak frites and salads and their prices aren’t terrible, either.
We started out with the walnut salad that was pre-dressed:
And the server brought along our first serving of steak frites:
The steak is pre-sliced and comes with a secret sauce:
While you’re eating the first portion of the steak, the second portion is kept warm on the table nearby. When you’re ready, you get the second portion of fries, steak and sauce:
The steak is cooked very well (I ordered medium rare and it was a perfect medium rare when it came out) and the fries are crispy but a little too small to pick up with your fingers. The restaurant runs specials on their website all the time (something I realized after I got home) so if you check their website before going to lunch or dinner there, you might get a free glass of wine or a free dessert!
On our way home from the hamptons, Ken and I wanted to pick up some groceries and cleaning supplies for the apartment. Since we were on Long Island, we also had the opportunity to eat at Panera Bread, one of my favorite fast food restaurants from high school. We don’t have any Paneras in the city, so it was a special treat!
I ordered the French onion soup with the bacon turkey bravo (a great combination):
I love their French onion soup even though it’s way too salty but it always satisfies me when I order it. Ken wanted to order a soup as well because it was slightly cold and he was a little sick from the weekend, so he went with the broccoli cheddar soup and the bacon turkey bravo:
The broccoli cheddar was too heavy for me but I’m a huge fan of their bacon turkey bravo sandwich, especially with tomato basil bread.
A new sandwich they were promoting was the lobster sandwich – at $16.99, I thought the price point was too high for Panera, but apparently it’s really popular because I walked by five tables on our way out and four of them had a lobster sandwich. Maybe next time we head to the hamptons, on our way home I’ll order the lobster sandwich!
