New York Visit!

David and I headed to NY to visit Meg and Ev this past weekend.  It was such an amazing trip.  It had been awhile since both of us had been to NY and I had never been not in some sort of work capacity.  We got there after dinnertime on Thursday and just chilled with Meghan and Evan at their apartment.  Both Meg and Ev had to work on Fri so David and I got up and did the touristy thing.  We ate breakfast at this little cafe about 5 blocks from their apartment and then headed to tour NYU.  After NYU, we headed to the NBC Studio tour.  I wasn't sure if this was going to be cheesy or not, but it ended up being not at all.  We got to see the Saturday Night Live Stage as well as where Brian Williams does the Nightly News as well as a live newscast from MSNBC.

After the NBC tour, we headed to Katz's deli.  To say this place is cool is an understatement.  This is the deli where the famous orgasm scene from When Harry Met Sally took place.  On top of that, the food was so good.  David and I split a beef brisket sandwich and a reuben and could've stopped there...oh no, we also had fries and their plate o pickles.  I could've gone back the next day if there weren't another gazillion places I wanted to eat.  After Katz's, we went to happy hour with two of Meg's classmates at a bar called DBA.  It was really fun to meet the people I had been hearing about for awhile and also get to hang out in one of the neighborhood bars.

Friday night, Meg, Ev, David and David's friend from High School, Ethan went to a brewery in Brooklyn and had a few homemade brews.  After the brewery, we headed to this Senegalese Restaurant (Senegal) also in Brooklyn called A Bistro.  This place was exactly what I wanted to do in NY...eat at some really ethnic restaurants.  The restaurant had about 6 tables total but I would wait days to get in here again.  The service was awesome too and obviously not the type of food we have in good Old Minneapple :)


Saturday, David and Evan did their boys thing and did a Tenement Tour while Meg and I went wedding dress shopping. Such a surreal experience to see your LITTLE sister in a wedding dress, but we had so much fun.  We actually got helped by the designer himself and he could not have been nicer.  One of the dresses she put on was GORGEOUS, and I did get pictures, but you will all just have to wait and see (that and Meg would kill me if I posted them here...).  After dress shopping, we shopped a bit and then headed back to their apartment for a little naptime.  


Saturday night was a night that brought out the celebrity stalker in us (mostly me...).  Meg and Ev had made us reservations at WD50, which is a gastro molecular restaurant owned and operated by Wylie Dufresne.  Wylie was a guest judge on Top Chef and also was a contestant on Top Chef Masters (where already established Chefs competed against each other).  The menu looked so good that we decided to do the tasting.  I can't even begin to explain how good the food was. We had each of these courses...

Sweet Shrimp, sea urchin, black truffle, parsnip
Everything bagel, smoked salmon threads, cripsy cream cheese (pictured above)
Foie gras, passionfruit, chinese celery (**this one was my favorite)
Scrambled egg ravioli, charred avocado, kindai kampachi
Cold fried chicken, buttermilk-ricotta, tabasco, caviar
Langoustine, red pepper, black sesame, shiso
Beef and bernaise (very close 2nd)
Lamb loin, black garlic romesco, soybean, pickled garlic chive
Vanilla mango ice cream, yuzu, spruce
Hazelnut tart, coconut, chocolate, chicory
Caramelized brioche, apricot, buttercream, lemon thyme

We had been stalking Wylie all dinner as he was in the kitchen the whole time.  Our server asked us if we wanted a tour of the kitchen and I don't think there was a split second hesitation.  After dinner, we headed back there and got to see the kitchen and talk to Wylie.  He was the nicest, most down to earth guy.  You never would've known that he is a celebrity chef as well as the pioneer of gastro molecular cooking.  He was so happy to take a picture with us as well as give us all signed menus.  This was definitely a dinner I will never forget!

Sunday, we got up and had scones from Clinton St. Bakery and donuts from a famous donut place (can you sense a food theme here???).  We then walked through Chinatown which was filled with the Chinese New Year.  After Chinatown, we headed over the Brooklyn Bridge and had lunch at Rebar. For dinner, we had Egyptian for dinner and again, such amazing food.  We were definitely spoiled that Meg and Ev had done such good scouting on the food.  I think David and I had to roll ourselves to the plane this morning.  

I was definitely sad to go because I had such a good time hanging out with Meg and Ev!  New York is such a great city to be tourists in, especially when lead by natives :)  Thanks Meg and Ev!!!!!!!