Last week I was lucky enough to be sent to New York on business. Kind of fabulous. I arrived after dark at JFK and hired a car to take me to the Big Apple. As I approached Manhattan, the world-famous Chrysler building, Empire State Building, and the rest of the enduring skyline came into view and I paused in wonder. If there ever was an American city, this is it. My goal in NY was to hit up all the famous boutiques and bring home a souvenir, but was unfortunately too busy with work to make it out to the shopping district. As the car glided past the dark Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Prada I longed to return when they were open.
The hotel turned out to be just south of Central Park. It was 119 W. 56th street at Le Parker Meridian between 6th and 7th. It turns out that there are several fabulous restaurants in that area. I was able to benefit from the company buying my dinner at the fabulous Ma Peche. The food was amazing and absolutely melted on my palette.
The next morning I set out to explore the city a bit. I walked south on 6th for 5 minutes and turned down toward 7th to find myself in the middle of times square!
I met a coworker for a quick bite at a Carnegie Deli where apparently there is a $3 fee for sharing your food. I had plans for a later lunch, so I ordered the cheapest thing on the menu: the soup du jour. My friend ordered a full-on corned beef sandwich. The waitress looked at my with a sneer and said, "There's a $3 fee for sharing." I told her I had no intention of sharing because I was going to lunch later. She looked at me suspiciously and went off to place the order. When she re-emerged with our food, she put it down in front of us, walked 10 paces away, and commenced staring at us to make sure we weren't going to share. Good old New York hospitality.
An hour and a half later I went to lunch with another coworker/friend at Serendipity 3, made famous by the movie Serendipity. It was the cutest place I'd seen in New York. It was like an ice cream parlor meets tea house meets Alice in Wonderland. The food was kind of normal, but our waiter was flamboyant, witty and made us laugh. He was my favorite part of the entire experience. We finished off our meal with their frozen hot chocolate. After lunch I had to head to the airport to catch my flight home, and poof! 7 hours of Jet Blue TV later I was back in San Francisco.
I can go a while without that flight, but the city itself is magnificent. I can't wait to make a return trip.
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