New York State of Mind

Part 2 of the NYC trip:

Met up with BK and his fabulous boyfriend for drinks and bar hopping on Friday afternoon and due to our hopping of bars, I got a tour of the Lower East Side, part of SoHo, some of Nolita, and part of the East Village.  Loved it all.  Might be my favorite areas I've been to in NYC.  BK is just so great- in the 13-ish years I've known him, he really hasn't changed.  Aside his sexuality.  L and I ate dinner at S'mac, an all macaroni-and-cheese establishment in the Village. 

Very good but definitely the kind of thing you only want once every so often.  After that, more drinks at McSoren's (oldest bar in NYC) and bar hopping. 

Saturday L and I got up and hauled it all the way up to Harlem to try Dinosaur Barbeque.  Good but not great.  Then we hauled it all the way down to the West Village to watch BK in action on the trapeze (he teaches at a trapeze school on the Pier) and then we were off for day drinking.  I swear to you that L and I are NOT alcoholics.  At any rate, I (okay WE) was THISCLOSE to having drinks with Lance Bass (he and BK are tight) and a large part of me is disappointed that it didn't work out (he was on the way and decided to bring friends but we didn't have room for them all, so BK told them not to come.  Boo.) but on the other hand, I am afraid I might have TOTALLY geeked out and been a huge nerd.  I have no idea.  I don't often meet celebs and I loved N'Sync, so that could potentially be a recipe for disaster.  Anyway, BK promised another time, so we'll see.

Sunday was off to NJ again to spend the day with my aunt, only L came along this time.  No pics to share or details anyone else would find terribly interesting.  We had dinner that night at the famous Grimaldi's pizzeria and stood in line for about 45 minutes to get our table.  Totally worth it!  The only thing that made the wait somewhat intolerable was this gross guy:

In that pic, he's lighting up his 4th cigarette (that I counted; I may have missed one or two.  Or twelve.)  Anyway, GROSS.  And P.S. - if you're going to smoke in public, BLOW YOUR SMOKE AWAY FROM THE PEOPLE STANDING AROUND YOU. 

Moving on.  Monday was working out in the fab hotel gym (seriously, it was pretty awesome), and eating lunch at Forty Carrots at Bloomingdales and shopping.  Lunch was so simple but so FANTASTIC.  My order:

Quite possibly the best chicken salad sandwich I've ever had.  Seriously.  And the dessert that came with it:

The yogurt looks pretty ordinary, but I promise you it was some of the best I've ever had.  Apparently they have a small selection of flavors that changes based on the day of the week; I picked peanut butter on the recommendation of my waitress, which is weird because normally I don't love pb-flavored ice cream.  Loved it.  Then it was off down Lexington and over to Rockefeller Center.  I could have done a lot of damage but given the current unemployed status, I was good and only looked.  Gold star for me!

Tuesday started out with another workout in the gym, followed by lunch at Shake Shack and a day of reading outdoors because the weather could NOT have been prettier.  Shake Shack is a lovely establishment in Madison Square Park that has burgers, hot dogs, shakes, and various other ice cream-based treats.  I stood in this line behind a lovely European couple that couldn't stop making out:

 You can see the corner of the building on the left.  The line is a little hard to make out because of the people walking through the park.  This is what the line behind me looked like when I was much closer to the front:

And here's what my lunch was:

Wasn't a fan of the gross cheese on the fries, but the burger was great and the perfect size (4 oz).  Being the nerd that I am, I also loved that it's a green establishment!  They have tons of little tables set up outside in the park for patrons to eat at.  So lovely.  After that I moved over to a grassy patch in the park and read for a while, then headed off to the piers on the west side to grab a drink and continue reading at Frying Pan.  My afternoon view:

Tuesday night, L and I managed to get stuck on the subway between Brooklyn and Manhattan (read: UNDER WATER) on the way to dinner, and while we missed our reservation time by half an hour, the awesome wait staff at Cara Mia was so accomodating and said they would hold a table for us when I called to explain where we were and why we were so late.  They got us in and out and fed us well, all in time to make our show.  If you're in the theater district and looking for a good meal, I highly recommend visiting them!  Very charming and good, plus it's also very reasonably priced.  L and I scored 2nd row orchestra seats for Lend Me a Tenor prior to my afternoon adventures, and it was so great! LMAT is a play that opened this spring and stars Anthony LaPaglia, Tony Shalhoub (aka, the guy from Monk), and Justin Bartha (Doug from The Hangover).  Incredibly funny and entertaining. 

My final morning was spent having brunch in Brooklyn at Apartment 138.  Not as good as the dinner L and I had there a few nights prior but I love their back patio, and the weather was perfect for breakfast al fresco. 

After that, I did a little window shopping and then it was off to the train station to head back to D.C.  All in all, a fabulous way to spend a few days! Hopefully the opportunity will present itself to do the same again sometime.