Hotel:
- Doubletree Metropolitan Link to my review
- The Bar Room
- Turtle Bay Bar
- Tao Link to my review
- Betony Link to my review
- Salumeria Rosi Link to my review
- Park Avenue Armory Link to my review
New York City (December 2014)
We spent a nice weekend in New York City in late December 2014, just after the Christmas holiday. We stayed at the Doubletree Metropolitan in Midtown East. We had intended to have lunch at Cafe Boulud, but once we started walking uptown to the restaurant, I realized that I had forgotten the gift card that Lauren had given for my birthday two years ago. So rather than go without the card, we cancelled and ducked into the Bar Room for a drink while we prepare Plan B. We decided to dine at nearby Tao, which is a restaurant that we had heard a lot about. It ended up being a sub-standard meal, which we followed by a visit to the Park Avenue Armory to see a water exhibit. We enjoyed happy hour drinks at the Turtle Bay Bar, although I was more enamored with the RV parked outside that contained a mobile pet adoption clinic. (Such cute dogs and cats - I wanted to adopt them all!) We ate dinner at Betony, which was another sub-standard meal in terms of service, although the food was good. Lunch the next day at Salumeria Rosi made up for it all! We had wanted to dine there ever since we saw it featured on Anthony Bourdain's show called "Food Porn", and we were not disappointed! Overall, it was a decent weekend, with a few minor disappointments.
Hotel:
Hotel:
New York City: Salumeria Rosi (December 2014)
My spouse and I dined at Salumeria Rosi Parmacotto for
brunch on a Sunday in late December 2014. The flagship location of Salumeria
Rosi is located on Amsterdam Avenue between West 73rd and 74th
Streets in the Upper West Side neighborhood of Manhattan. (Another location in
NYC called Salumeria Rosi Il Ristorante is located on Madison Avenue on the
Upper East Side.) Additional Salumeria Rosi restaurants are located in Paris,
France and Parma, Italy. We booked a table to dine using the Open Table reservation
system; the host granted our special request to sit at the salumi counter.
The Rosi family, who hail from Parma, Italy, owns this
restaurant. (Prosciutto di Parma and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese also originate
in Parma.) Chef Cesare Casella demonstrates his skills at this restaurant; he
was working behind the counter on the day that we dined, wearing his trademark sprig
of rosemary in his jacket pocket. His love of rosemary represents his
dedication to fresh ingredients, his herb-influenced cuisine, and his Tuscan
childhood where rosemary grew wild and his family ran a small trattoria. The
restaurant set a sprig of rosemary at each place setting as well, which was a
fragrant and rustic touch.
We first heard about Salumeria Rosi on Anthony Bourdain’s show
called “Food Porn”, and we have been trying to dine there ever since. (For some
unknown reason, we rarely find ourselves on the Upper West Side of town, so we
never had the opportunity to dine at Salumeria Rosi before.)
The restaurant/shop occupies a small storefront on Amsterdam
Avenue. This establishment does a booming takeout business at their deli
counter. (A special catering menu is available if you plan to feed a larger
crowd.) Prices on the deli meats, cheeses, dried pastas, and so on seemed reasonable,
especially for Manhattan. You can sit in the regular dining room at small
tables, outdoors on the sidewalk in warm weather, or at a small counter where
you can watch the chefs work. The dining room is not large – perhaps six or
eight small tables, along with four places to dine at the counter. No coat
check is available; in fact, when we arrived with our small 21” rolling suitcase
(we were en route from our hotel back to our transportation), we initially
puzzled the host when we asked him to store it. A unisex bathroom, located at
the rear of the restaurant, features Chef Casella’s many awards.
Assiagi (tastings) of meats and cheeses are available for
lunch and dinner, in addition to the regular menu. On weekends, the restaurant
offers additional brunch items as well as the standard menu. We shared both a meat tasting and a
cheese tasting. The cheese tasting consisted of three kinds of cheeses, each
accompanied by its own mostarda/garnish. The meat tasting (we ordered the small
size) consisted of two+ slices each of six+ different meats. After our two
tasting courses, we shared two hot dishes: the meatball special (served atop
polenta garnished with tomato sauce) and an AMAZING dish called pancia (pork
belly dish served with chick peas, greens, and garnished with crispy pig skin).
For dessert, we shared banana bread pudding, served warm. The restaurant offers
only two types of beer (blonde and dark), along with a more extensive selection
of wines and cocktails.
We will definitely return to Salumeria Rosi – we can
envision stopping in for takeout to enjoy a picnic in Central Park, or dining
at the Upper East Side location if we desire a more formal meal.
New York City: Doubletree Metropolitan (December 2014)
My spouse and I stayed at the Doubletree Metropolitan for
one Saturday evening in late December 2014. The Metropolitan is located on
Lexington Avenue and East 51st Street in the Midtown East/Turtle Bay
neighborhood of Manhattan. We made our reservations on-line using the Hilton
HHonors website. (Hilton owns the Doubletree brand; however, Highgate Hotels
and RLJ Lodging Trust operate this property.)
In 1962, Morris Lapidus designed the Metropolitan, which
features an Art Deco look, including an unusual color, stainless-steel design,
and shape that increases the daylight in each room. The hotel was renovated in
2012. The Metropolitan features 764 rooms, including 22 suites spread amongst
18 floors (plus the penthouse). The hotel dedicates two floors (possibly floor
numbers 14 and 16 if memory serves for Hilton HHonors members. (However, even
though we are Diamond members, the front-desk clerk did not place us on one of
those floors.) Private meeting and event space is available, including a
ballroom and two glass-enclosed rooftop penthouses. Both the business center
and the fitness center are accessible 24 hours a day. Dining options include
the Met Grill and the Met Bar. The business center and the main restaurant are
located toward the back of the property (away from Lexington Avenue) a few
steps down from street level, although the busy bar and lounge are located
across from the front desk and closer to Lex. An ATM is located outside of the
business center and restaurant. The fitness center is located on the second
floor. The hotel operates a gift shop that is open from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm and
sells a nice selection of snacks, drinks, souvenirs, clothing, luggage, and so
on. A tour desk/concierge is positioned on the main level past the front desk
and the Met Bar and adjacent to the gift shop.
Many restaurants and shops are located steps from the hotel
entrance. A Duane Reade pharmacy store is located across East 51st
Street, and it is open 24 hours per day. (Besides pharmacy items, Duane Reade
operates as a mini-market, selling drinks, snacks, reading material, and so
on.) A chocolatier and hair salon are located on either side of the main hotel
entrance.
We attempted to check in at approximately 11:30 am, but as
with every Doubletree-branded hotel at which we have ever stayed, our room was
not available early. (Conversely, with every other Hilton brand – Hampton Inn,
Hilton Garden Inn, Embassy Suites, full-service Hilton – we can always check in
early, but never with the Doubletree!) The front-desk agent took our telephone
number and said that she would call when our room was ready. If we had not
heard from her by 3:00 pm, we should assume that our room would be accessible at
that time because it is the standard check-in hour. (Although the attendant
never called us, we returned at 3:00 pm, and we were able to check in as she
stated.) This hotel charges $1 per bag to store a bag, and another $1 per bag
to retrieve it – never before in NYC have we been requested by our hotel to pay
to store our luggage!
Our room was a good size, and it contained a king-size bed
with a nightstand on either side, plus additional space for an easy chair
(although it had no accompanying ottoman). The room contained no mini-bar or
empty mini-fridge. The closet contained an iron, ironing board, and safe
(without charging capabilities). The sink/vanity for the bathroom was located
in the hallway between the bedroom area and the bathroom, which allowed one of
us to shower while the other was using the sink – a room design that we find
useful when we travel and must share space. The Doubletree supplies Aroma
Actives Essentials toiletries: shampoo, conditioner, and body lotion.
We would stay at the Doubletree Metropolitan again – the
room size and layout worked for us (especially when compared with the smaller
room size of the Doubletree in Chelsea New York where we stayed four weeks
prior).
New York City: Betony (December 2014)
My spouse and I dined at Betony for dinner in late December
2014. Betony is located on West 57th Street between 6th
and 5th Avenues in the Midtown West neighborhood of Manhattan. We booked
our table using the Open Table reservation system. No one from the restaurant called
to reconfirm our reservation - perhaps because we agreed to pay a $25 per
person cancellation fee via Open Table if we did not arrive as planned. Betony
is open for lunch on weekdays and dinner daily.
The restaurant Betony is named after an herb in the mint
family that is known for its healing properties, but we saw no indication of
the herb on-site to create a relationship between the restaurant name and the
locale or decor. Betony serves modern American cuisine, and the restaurant holds
one Michelin star. Executive Chef Bryce Shuman hails from restaurant Eleven Madison Park (EMP),
and the general manager worked at EMP, Atera, and Aska.
The main restaurant space at Betony is gorgeous! The front part of the
restaurant has spacious high ceilings with an energetic bar scene. Street-level
dining tables are positioned toward the back of the restaurant space beneath
the second-floor mezzanine that offers additional seating. Unfortunately, the
hostess seated us neither in the main space nor on the mezzanine, but instead in
the back of the restaurant near the emergency exit somewhat close to the
kitchen door, at what was probably the worst table in the restaurant. Although
my seat faced towards some other diners, my husband stared at three walls for
his entire meal. To illustrate how undesirable our table location, during the
course of our meal, the hostess tried to seat two other couples next to us, and
both parties refused to accept the table. We, too, should have requested
alternate seating, because our position negatively impacted our dining
experience. (We made our reservation 30 days prior to dining; that date was as
early as the restaurant accepted reservations, so we cannot fathom why we were assigned
such a bad table. Surely we were not the very last people to make a reservation,
yet our advance planning was penalized rather than rewarded, which made us feel
like the restaurant did not value our business.)
Fortunately, the food was good! For appetizers, we ordered two dishes:
“lobster rolls” (rolled potato crisps filled with mayonnaise-y-lobster salad garnished
with parsley and creme fraiche) and cured trout belly (accented with cucumber
and rice). As a mid-course, we ordered the grain salad (a signature dish of
Betony served with labneh and sprouts) and the poached hen’s egg (served atop
cavatelli and kale). For entrees, we chose short rib (served two ways,
alongside creamy mashed potatoes) and the roast chicken (with walnuts and
apples). We shared a dessert – sweet potato pie – which presented its many
components beautifully. Oddly, the chef’s amuse bouche of beets and goat cheese
(which was several bites rather than just one) was served between the first and
second courses rather than prior to the first course. (The restaurant calls the
first course a “snack” and the second course an “appetizer”, which is how they explained
their serving order; however, at every other restaurant where we have ever
dined, the chef serves the amuse bouche first before any other food or course.)
The food was delicious, and the presentations attractive, but the service
was less-than-perfect (only the busboy was truly friendly and accessible to us),
and our table/location was highly undesirable. If we had attained two of three
goals (food, service, location), we would consider our meal mostly a success,
but as it was, we were impressed by only the food. We would not return to
Betony, nor would we recommend it.
New York City: Park Avenue Armory (December 2014)
My spouse and I attended a show at the Park Avenue Armory in
late December 2014. We were looking for something to do for an hour or so in
the Midtown East/Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, and the Armory seemed
to be the right choice. This facility is located on (surprise!) Park Avenue,
between East 66th and East 67th Streets.
The National Guard’s seventh regiment (which included famous
families like the Roosevelts, Van Rensselaers, Livingtons, Stewarts, and
Harrimans) completed building the Armory in 1881. Many of those well-known
families later hired the decorators from the Armory (such as Louis Comfort
Tiffany and Stanford White) to work in their own mansions. The period rooms of
the Armory show a collection of 19th century interiors.
The facility provides a four-page printed guide with which
guests can take a self-directed tour of the first-floor reception rooms and
drill hall. On the first floor, visitors can view the hallways and staircase,
veterans room and library (with interiors by Louis Comfort Tiffany), field
& staff room (recent renovations revealed elaborate stencil work near the
wainscoting), and ladies reception room (which showcases Minton art tiles in
the fireplace hearth). Be sure to examine the mahogany woodwork and wainscoting
and the original lighting and chandeliers.
The second-floor rooms are accessible only via a 75-minute
guided tour, which occurs on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:00 am. Some walking
and stair climbing is necessary, although an elevator is available for those
with mobility issues. The front entrance of the Armory requires climbing quite
a few steps, but an accessible entrance is available on 60th Street
if you call ahead.
Restrooms are located on the lower (basement) level. A coat
check is available on the first floor, along with a salon where you can enjoy
drinks and simple snacks.
The draw of this building is the Wade Thompson Drill Hall,
which encompasses 55,000 square feet of space. The Hall is the largest
unobstructed (open and without columns) exhibition space in the city. The hall
reminds visitors of a train station, with its 80-foot-high barrel-vaulted roof
with eleven elliptical wrought iron arches. The drill hall provides space for unconventional
visual and performing arts performances that cannot be staged in traditional
museums and performance halls.
We attended a show called “Tears Become … Streams Become”, staged by Turner Prize-winning artist Douglas Gordon and acclaimed pianist Helene Grimaud. A pool in the main armory exhibition space was filled with water, atop which rested two floating platforms that held grand pianos. Performances were held several times throughout the month, but during regular exhibition times (not performances), player pianos were supposed to play music. Disappointingly, on the day that we visited, no musical component was available. (The admission price was reduced from $15 to $8 as compensation; the full show/performances cost $50+.) The visual effect when guests first entered the darkened hall, with the reflection of the arched ceiling in the water below, was breathtaking yet a bit dizzying, because it turned the Armory’s iconic architecture seemingly upside down!
Had the musical component been operating on the day that we
visited, it might have been worth the $8 each that we paid to see the armory,
but without any music, the exhibit was disappointing. (Perhaps someone could
have played music using an iPod.)
New York City: Tao (December 2014)
My spouse and I dined for lunch at Tao on a Saturday
afternoon in late December 2014. We had planned to eat farther uptown at a
restaurant where we had a gift card, but we realized en route to that
restaurant that we did not have the card with us, so we made an alternate plan.
We checked our Open Table app to find nearby restaurants with availability, and
Tao seemed to fit our needs – it had a table available, it was located nearby,
and we were familiar with the restaurant name. We booked a table using the Open
Table reservation system, and the hostess seated us immediately upon arrival despite
the crowded restaurant. Tao is open Monday through Saturday for lunch, Sunday
for brunch, and daily for dinner.
Tao Uptown is located on East 58th Street
(between Madison Avenue and Park Avenue) in the Midtown East/Theatre District
of Manhattan. (Another NYC “branch” of the Tao chain is located in on 9th
Avenue in Chelsea at the Maritime Hotel, and two other Tao venues exists in Las
Vegas.) A coat check is available upon entry to the restaurant. In the winter,
the property adds a canopy/vestibule enclosure to protect diners from the harsh
weather. The greeting area (with no fewer than four somewhat scantily clad hostesses)
also includes a table piled high with beepers/pagers (the type of device that
chain restaurants provide waiting diners to indicate when they should return to
the podium to be seated). Although both my spouse and I noticed the pagers,
they did not set off any warning bells that perhaps Tao might not be our type
of venue. Across from the hostess area is a lounge that contains a bar as well
as small, low table groupings.
The main dining room of Tao Uptown
is located in an old building that was originally a
19th century stable for the Vanderbilt family, and then later a balconied movie
theater, so the space features huge soaring ceilings. In the main room, Tao
offers a variety of seating options: tables large and small towards the center
of the main dining room on the street level, smaller tables/semi-booths around
the perimeter of the dining room, and seating on a second-floor mezzanine that
is open to the main dining area. (The hostesses, because of their skimpy
dresses, should take greater care when climbing the stairs, because they
display more of themselves than they probably intend to the diners below.) The
restaurant features exposed brick walls. A two-story (16-foot tall) giant Buddha
sits in a shallow reflecting pool filled with Japanese carp. The general
restaurant decor features artifacts from China, Japan, and Thailand.
Restrooms are located on the basement level, although we
heard someone inquire about a handicapped facility on the main level. The Yin
and Yang symbols on the men’s and women’s bathroom doors caused great confusion
on which symbol pertained to which sex. Although we knew that Yin is female and
Yang is male, and that the Yin symbol is the shaded/dark part, whereas the Yang
symbol is the lighter part, it was still difficult to tell where we belonged!
At the suggestion of our waiter, we ordered five dishes to
share (which was too much food, even though we have hearty appetites). We ordered
three starters to share, followed by one entree and a side dish. Disappointingly,
our waiter delivered all five dishes together as one course, and our food
arrived less than 10 minutes from when we placed our order. Therefore, we had no
time to anticipate our food, savor our drinks, or get comfortable. Our entire
meal at Tao was over in less than an hour, which was too fast for us. (We
prefer to linger over multi-course meals, which tends to make every meal an
event.) We shared the duck spring rolls, the pan-fried chicken dumplings, and
the squab lettuce wraps (which were intensely flavorful). For our entree, we
ordered a pork lo mein dish, accompanied by a side order of tempura asparagus.
We passed on dessert. (It seemed clear to us that we ordered two courses – one
appetizer/starter course and one entree course -- yet the staff delivered all
of our food at the same time.) A 3-course prix fixe lunch is available for
$27.50 per person, which sounds like a reasonably priced meal if the limited
options appeal to you. On Sundays, Tao serves a dim sum brunch, although the
brunch menu is not markedly different from the regular lunch menu.
Service was disappointing; at first, service was very fast, but
after the server delivered our food, our waiter disappeared in favor of serving
larger parties with more diners who would ensure a larger tip. We would have
ordered an additional round of drinks, as well as dessert, if our waiter had
not gone missing.
The best thing we can say about our meal at Tao was that we
can now cross the restaurant off our “to eat” list. Our meal was less than satisfactory,
but at least it fulfilled our curiosity about the restaurant. However, it seems
that we were in the minority with how we felt about our dining experience. Most
of the other diners at the restaurant seemed to love it. They enjoyed the
comfortable food (dishes that they could get at any suburban Chinese
restaurant), tables that could seat large parties (several had a turntable at
the center to ease sharing), and reasonable prices (for Manhattan). Although Tao
was not a restaurant that suited us, it seems to please others.
New York City (November 2014)
My spouse and I spent a great weekend in New York City in late November following the Thanksgiving holiday.
We stayed at the Doubletree Chelsea, which was a decent location for the dining that we had planned. For drinks before lunch, we stopped in at The Breslin, followed by lunch at nearby The NoMad. Afterwards, we spent some time at the Pioneers Bar, before we went to dinner at Scarpetta. The following morning, we enjoyed lunch at Junoon. We didn't do anything touristy on this trip, instead enjoying the nice weather and walking around the city.
Hotel:
Restaurants:
We stayed at the Doubletree Chelsea, which was a decent location for the dining that we had planned. For drinks before lunch, we stopped in at The Breslin, followed by lunch at nearby The NoMad. Afterwards, we spent some time at the Pioneers Bar, before we went to dinner at Scarpetta. The following morning, we enjoyed lunch at Junoon. We didn't do anything touristy on this trip, instead enjoying the nice weather and walking around the city.
Hotel:
- Doubletree Chelsea Link to my review
Restaurants:
- The Breslin Link to my review
- Le Bain at The Standard Link to my review
- Pioneers Bar Link to my review
- The NoMad Link to my review
- Scarpetta Link to my review
- Junoon Link to my review
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