A Day and a Night in Manhattan

Our whirlwind trip to New York City this weekend - taking the 8AM train out of Wilmington on Sunday morning, and returning on the 1PM the next day - was absolutely fantastic. We are so lucky to be so close - and yet so far away - from New York. It is always so exciting to get off the train and walk out onto the street at Madison Square Garden and look around you. Could there be any place much different than our back yard, where we were three hours earlier?

We were there for the 55th annual Fancy Food Show at the Jacob Javits. We've never been to this trade show before; usually we go to the Hotel/Motel/Restaurant Show that is normally held in November. The Fancy Food Show is geared more toward the retail end of the food industry, but we found some useful products, and got a lot out of our 6 hours of walking the aisles. It was a huge (HUGE) show and we wore our legs out, pretty much. The pictures above show us on a much needed break. But it was a blast. We tasted more cheese, more salami, more Iberico ham, more chocolate and olives (well, Kevin tasted the olives) than you can begin to imagine. We picked up samples of gummi bears and health bars; got information about specialty soft drinks, including artisanal tonic waters; we talked about sea salts and mushrooms and micro-greens. It was amazing, the number of vendors there showing off their wares. One booth was marketing a cocktail that came in two separate cans - mixer in one, liquor in another - that you bought as a set and mixed yourself. There was so much chocolate to taste that Kevin actually started saying "no thanks", if you can believe that! And the Iberico ham and prosciutto that were there for the tasting - oh my goodness, I've never eaten so much cured pork! (Sort of ironic too, given where we ended up later in the evening...) It was a terrific venue for exposure to new ideas and products, although a little overwhelming - we barely finished one floor, let alone get to the second - to cover in the length of time we had. Still, we'd go again.

The D'Artagnan booth was tasting all sorts of cured meats, including the above pictured dogs of all types. We love D'Artaganan, as you may remember from previous posts, and the next picture is my coup...

Supposedly a picture of Kevin, the woman in the background was who I was really after - the founder and owner of D'Artagnan, the famous Ariane Daguin. She was at a table in the center of the display with several others, while her three musketeers rambled around the whole set up. We showed our picture to a rep, and he was quite impressed with our subtlety...even gave us a D'Artagnon pin for our collection! I suppose this is pretty esoteric for those not in the food business, but it made our day. (We are rubes, after all!)

Anyway, after the show, of course, we must eat. We started at Gramercy Tavern, where we planned to have a drink and a snack and then walk to a couple other places in the neighborhood. The plans changed when the first place we had headed to was closed, and after we mentioned this to a lady sitting next to us at the Gramercy bar, she guided us into a different direction. At the Gramercy we had cocktails - Kevin's being a "Sloe Storm", a very tasty concoction of Sloe gin, Goslings rum, ginger and lime, mine being Grey Goose on the rocks - and appetizers. The winning choice was the cauliflower with capers, almonds and raisins. Being that we are getting that tremendous cauliflower from Redman's right now, this might become a special on our own menu in the near future.

From this bar we headed to our adviser's choice for tapas- Casa Mona. However, there being an hour wait for a table, we went next door to Pete's Tavern. Not the most exciting choice - think a Manhattan Bluebird - it is a historic bar nonetheless and we appreciated that experience. But now we were stuck...where to next? I had a list of places with me, one of which was right down the street - Bar Jamon. We headed there, finding that it is the sort of sister restaurant to the tapas place we couldn't get into earlier! And what a New York Experience this Mario Batali owned spot is. Two long tables are all there are for seating, each perhaps fitting in ten or twelve people, front to back. There's a large mirror at the back of the space, so it seems a little larger that it is, but it is pretty tiny in reality. The food all comes from the counter area, where we took the last two standing room only spots, and started to watch the scene around us. It was incredible. No way would this ever fly in Chestertown, but this place was rocking. We had some beets with blue cheese, the marinated calamari and the pickled sardines. I was not a big fan of the last dish. We did not bother to order any of the ham or salamis, since we'd done our duty by that at the show earlier, but it was wild watching the guy slice it on the ancient slicer. He did everything, from get the drinks, take the order, prepare the plates of food. I felt like we were in another country, not just another state, in this crazy busy jammed up noisy space with such good food and wine being provided within the chaos.

We left there in fine spirits, after a couple glasses of rose from the quartinos they use for wine service, (and at $9 a glass, a relative bargain) and headed for the Gramercy Park Hotel, where we had been told we might be able to get into the Rooftop Garden. This Ian Shrager hotel is quite exclusive - and when you see the huge Andy Warhol painting behind the reception desk, you can only imagine what the room rates are. If they are anything like the drink prices, we'll never be staying there. However, some one does - the doorman allowed that yes, we could go up to the roof, that he would "key us up" and we should "just act like guests". And you know what, the guests of this hotel have a pretty nice venue up there on that roof. It's like a huge conservatory, set up as a living room. Glassed in and full of exotic, leafy plants, the furnishings are an array of retro and chic porch furniture, including the fire engine red glider we chose. The cheapest glass of wine was a pinot grigio at $15. I went a bit higher and spent a whopping $19 on a glass of rose...Kevin's coffee was $9...the almond cake we shared was $13... I suppose that a superb venue such as this can command superior pricing and create this insulated environment for the people who really wouldn't want to hang out a Pete's Tavern anyway. Myself, I'd rather not. Still, it is quite a lovely spot and once I got past the sticker shock, I appreciated the artistry that made it so.

We walked back to our hotel from the oasis that is Gramercy Park and dropped our tired bodies into bed. After a trip to Kalustyan's on Monday, we made our way to Koreatown for lunch and then on the train for home. What a weekend! Can't wait to go back!