I can%26#39;t believe it%26#39;s been 3 weeks since I logged on to this site. I%26#39;ve missed so many good posts! I thought I would write a report of our recent 24 hour stay.
24 hrs in NYC Trip Report OR new reading material for Ange!!
We got to our hotel at 10:30am and were surprised that they actually honored our request for an early check in and didn’t charge us anything extra! We stayed at the Grand Hyatt at Grand Central. The location was great – I never knew there’s an entrance to the hotel within Grand Central Terminal. So what was nice was that we didn’t have to pay to have our luggage stored at the hotel. After waiting in the check in line for about 20 minutes, we checked right in, freshened up and hit the town. We stuck with our tradition of starting every trip off at the King Cole Bar. I written tons of reviews on it in my previous reports and nothing has changed. They are fantastic. The bartenders are tops and every drink is incredible. Our plan was to then hit the 7th Ave fair, move down to the Bleecker Street festival and then Hells Kitchen Flea Markets and then to lunch but when we came out of the KCB, it was pouring rain!! We were shocked! Before we left our house that morning, we checked weather.com and there was no mention of rain in the forecast at all. Everyone seemed a bit surprised. Of course, we had no umbrellas. So, quick change of plans and we went to the Gingerman instead. They really do have so many beers it was unbelievable. And they even had a good liquor selection. We tried some new beers and took one of their menus so we could plan a return! We tried to pick beers that we had never heard of or can’t find at home. We tried the Christoffel Blonde from the Netherlands, Paulaner Oktoberfest, Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest. At this point, I switched to my old stand by Makers and Matt tried a Belgium specialty brew – I think it was Chimay or something like that. The place was nice – really big wooden bar and big tables. It seemed really open and they did serve food although we didn’t have any. I bet this place gets crazy crowded at night.
By this time, the rain had slowed to a drizzle so we left with the intention of walking down to the Hells Kitchen market but as soon as we got outside – heavy rain again! So we bought two $4 umbrellas at a little corner souvenir store. We walked down to the flea market and it was all closed up – all the vendors had big sheets over everything and you really couldn’t shop. So from there, we decided to go straight to lunch. We went to Thai Select and it was probably the best lunch I’ve ever had in the city. I don’t think I ever want to eat lunch anywhere else ever again – yes, it was that good. We started out with two appetizers – Tod Mun (fried fish cakes %26amp; peanuts with a sweet dipping sauce) and Crab Croquette (pretty star-shaped wonton with crab and cheese inside.) This came with 5 different dips, each one hotter than the next. For our entrees, we had the Tamarind Duck and Chicken Pad Gra-Prow. The Duck was crispy and came with greens and bok-choy and had a sweet BBQ flavor sauce. The Gra-Prow came with basil leaves, sweet peppers, hot peppers, onions, green beans and carrots. Both dishes came with a steaming bowl of white rice. The Gra-Prow was really spicy. We wanted to try some of their sake martinis but the bartender is not in during lunch – only dinner. They said we could have beer or sake, just nothing that needed to be mixed. So we had the Hana Lychee Sake which was very good. It’s really sweet but it was one of the best I’ve had. Our total bill was $53 – not bad for all that food! The service was excellent and we noticed that they did a tremendous take-out business. By the time we were done, it was 3pm. We walked back up towards our hotel and as we were walking, the rain stopped – thankfully for good! As we got up to 47th street, we saw that the 7th ave street fair was open and teeming with visitors!! Yeah – time for shopping!!
We must have stopped and looked at every sunglasses and jewelry stand along the way! When we got up to where it ended, around 57th Street, we decided we better head back to the hotel and change out of our rainy clothes before meeting for dinner. So we walked back to the hotel and decided we got there early enough that we would pop into the hotel bar for a quick drink. That was the worst decision ever! The drinks were weak, expensive and the bar literally smelled. It was bad. I’ve never sucked down a drink so fast in my life. (NO COMMENTS PLEASE!!) It really did smell like a wet dog. It didn’t take us long to get changed and we decided to take a taxi down to the meet up at St. Andrews. What we didn’t realize was that we had the time all wrong and we arrived about 45 minutes early. So we went to the little restaurant next door because they had a cute little bar that looked right out on the street. It was called Saju and I think it was French-Vietnamese. They weren’t real crowded yet and the bartender was very nice. He reviewed the menu with us and made great cosmopolitans. We sampled quite a few and they were all delicious. From there we went to the meet up at St. Andrews. I had the Asparagus Soup and Matt had mashed potatoes and onion rings!! Yes, that was his dinner!! He was drinking beer there but I had a couple more cosmos and they were good. I didn’t even notice the huge bar when we walked in but I saw it on the way out and was impressed. They had a huge selection.
After dinner, we went to Rosy O’Grady’s for one more quick drink and then said our goodbyes. From there, Matt %26amp; I were on a mission to go back to the Gotham Bar %26amp; Grill. You might remember that we went there on our drink tour and couldn’t remember it. The minute we walked in we were both like “OH…I remember it now!” It was really crowded but there were two seats down at the far end of the bar so we quickly grabbed them. I h ad a blackberry bellini martini and matt had a Pimm’s Cup. The drinks weren’t bad, in fact they were pretty delicious but the whole place was so snotty and full of itself. The bartenders were rude and it was hard to get their attention. We had the one drink, vowed to never forget the place so we would never have to go back! After that, we stuck with our tradition of ending the night at Matt’s Grill. From there we took a taxi back to our hotel and crashed.
The next morning we met a friend that I had grown up with and her husband and two little kids for breakfast at the Skylight Diner in Chelsea. Breakfast was good and they had all the typical diner food. We said our goodbyes and left to get home in time for kickoff.
Don’t know when we’ll be back – probably not until 2008. It’s hard not coming every month anymore but college costs are outrageous!
24 hrs in NYC Trip Report OR new reading material for Ange!!
';but college costs are outrageous!'; Just remember that there is an end.
Sorry I did not get to see you this trip, maybe after the new year when you come back.
College costs indeed.
As always, a fun report.
';Because college costs are outrageous!'; Don%26#39;t I know it - daughter has only TWO more quarters until she graduates, and I%26#39;m going to do a big happy dance when she does! However, she does want a trip to NYC (with me) for a graduation present, so that makes me even happier! Enjoyed the report of your quick trip. You guys always have so much fun!
You never fail to disappoint and I was thrilled when I saw your post.
And as for college costs? I know what you mean, and we have a wedding on the go at the same time.Kids eh? ;-)
See you in DC.
The only good thing about the college costs is that it keeps my mind off of how much I miss my son. And we have another one going off to college next year. Sounds like I need a trip to NYC to get my mind off of it!
Well, whenever we go back I%26#39;ve got the next ';tour'; all planned out. Hopefully our trip will coincide with someone else%26#39;s and we can have some company.
Your reports always make my jaw drop. I%26#39;m such a lightweight.
Hopefully you can find a way to get back before %26#39;08. It%26#39;s always more fun when you%26#39;re around.
LOL by reading this last post it seems there is indeed a bit of competition for me and my wild alcoholic consumption!!
Cocktails at 11 am!!! my kind of people!!! I thought i was the only one who did that.......
Although i can consume for hours (in my college and early working days) we would go for days especially on vacations where we knew we would never see the people we came across at the different bars.
Yes, Weller, you, like me are in the PhD grads in the category of consumption and we defiantely have to meet to see who the last man/woman standing is!! I have been warned of your prowess at the bars, but have to say, no matter how much i drink, i can still function long after my party buds fall off one by one...... I have ALWAYS been the last one going in my bunch.
I don%26#39;t know if you seen other posts of mine or not, but we just may be relocating to the NYC area in a few months time, so I would be honored to do a drinking tour with you two.....I know for sure Michael will be a casualty along the way, but i will put up a good fight for the title of ';America%26#39;s Next Top Drinker, New York Cycle';...........
may the best drinker win!!
The only request that i have to make is along the bar path, you two have to hit a few of my fav gay bars...don%26#39;t know if you have experienced drinks from these bars, but all i will say is the average drinker is usually falling off their stools after a few of their drinks!
So what do you say, are you up for the challenge in the future? I love the fact that you know your way around town and know the best places......between the two of us......well, look out NY!!
hi buca - i would love to meet up on a future trip. I%26#39;m not going to advertise all my vices though!! So we may have to adopt a what happens in NYC stays in NYC policy!! I usually try to keep my reports as generic as possible!!
We have learned a lot about the city from our drink tour and got to go to a lot of places we wouldn%26#39;t have even thought to go to because of it. Next time we come back, I%26#39;ll post something so you can see if you%26#39;re going to be around. We only live 3 hours away so we used to be there at least one weekend a month, usually two. But....as I mentioned, college costs have changed our disposable income situation!! We also have to be careful planning a trip because we can%26#39;t really leave our younger son home alone - he%26#39;s old enough - but that%26#39;s the problem - I don%26#39;t want to come home and find out the entire high school senior class had a party at our house!
Our tours have taken us to all kinds of bars in just about every neighborhood, including Brooklyn and a couple in Queens. We are up for just about anything except if a place is just strictly a beer bar. That%26#39;s not my kind of place - I don%26#39;t prefer beer. I%26#39;ve been called a liquor snob by just about everyone but as I like to say, life is too short to drink the cheap stuff anymore! (Matt would completely disagree with me but that%26#39;s because he%26#39;s younger than me!)
Anyway, I%26#39;ve got a good list going for next time - just not sure when next time will be yet. I was planning to come back up after christmas but my son will be home from college so I think I might have to wait until January because I miss him!!
Bettina - I had never been to R O%26#39;Grady%26#39;s before but I have to say, Martin is quite the draw! I may have to go back next time!!
NYCGirl - sorry we missed you too. I%26#39;ll definitely let you know when we%26#39;re coming back. I feel another Blood Orange Punch calling our names!
Oh definately Weller, I too have a STRICT %26#39;dont ask, dont tell policy%26#39; regarding my bar hopping adventures. I too reveal very little, if anything at all not only on the forum, but in general.
I too feel the same......no beer bars (for amateurs) and I too only drink the top and above top shelf products.
Totally agree, life is too short to drink inferior products!! I learned that from working at some top tier restaurants where we would point out and sneer at those patrons who would order, say, a scotch and water. When asked if JWB or Chivas would be preferred, the person would say ';Whatever your well is'; ....EEEEWWWWWW YUCK!!!! I dont think a well brand has ever touched my lips!!! I get goosebumps just thinking about it!!
Alright, the challenge has been accepted!! Keep me updated about your future ventures into the city. Hopefully by Jan. we will be well settled in or near the city.
