Last night just for grins I surfed over to the opentable.com website and plugged in May 25th availability for Artisanal Bistro in NYC. I was completely sure the "date not yet available" message would pop up since it was not technically 30 days out, but to my surprise 3 open reservation times appeared on the screen!
I easily booked a 7pm reservation for 2 on Sunday May 25th. And now I've been cruising around the Chowhound.com website to pick up some more reviews/comments on both Artisanal and Lupa and from the looks of most of the posts I think I have picked 2 winners. There were some less then stellar reviews for both restaurants, but it looked to me the positive comments outweighed the negatives. So I'm a happy gal with the reservations I've made.
I think this NYC weekend excursion is going to be lots of fun. I've planned several things, but I think I've left enough open time to be able to go with the flow too. As long as I have my trusty guidebook and my research information with me we'll be armed with lots of options!
Friday, April 25, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Count Down to NYC Begins!
I can hardly believe in 30 days I will be jetting off to the Big Apple for the long Memorial Day weekend...where does the time go? It seems like I just bought the plane ticket!
The planning and research portion of this trip is "in the bag". Just the other day I made car service reservations for pick-up and drop off at LaGuardia airport. For once I'm actually glad the airline changed the flight times. Now, instead of arriving in NYC at 5pm on a Friday before a long holiday weekend (can you say traffic nightmare! What was I thinking when I booked the original time!) the arrival time is now 2pm. Still, I'm prepared for lots of Friday traffic, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed it won't be too bad!
I've also made dinner reservations for Friday night at Lupa in Greenwich Village. This is a Mario Batalli owned placed and I've read some stellar reviews. I tried to originally make the reservation on-line via Opentable.com but my only options there were 5:30pm or 11pm....hmmmm...
So I called the restaurant directly, even at a month out, the only time choices I had were 5:30pm or 9:30pm at least that's better than 11pm!. Airing on the side of caution, in the event the flight is delayed, I went with the 9:30pm reservation. Hey, it's a Roman Trattoria after all, and 9:30pm dinner is the true Italian way!
The last thing on my "do before I leave" list is to make dinner reservation for Sunday night. The plan is to have dinner at Artisanal, which is a French Bistro/Fromaegerie in the Murray Hill area. You can clearly say I'm getting a taste of all my international destinations for the year in NYC!
Saturday night is a "play it by ear" dinning option since we'll be going to a matinee and an evening show, so we'll just pop into someplace (that I'm sure I've got on my list!) between 4pm-7pm. And I can't help but think about doing an after show dessert somewhere...my sweet tooth is always ready for action!
Now I need to start getting into "packing mode"...I haven't even thought about what to take with me...sounds like I may be writing out a packing list this weekend....I lead such an exciting life!
The planning and research portion of this trip is "in the bag". Just the other day I made car service reservations for pick-up and drop off at LaGuardia airport. For once I'm actually glad the airline changed the flight times. Now, instead of arriving in NYC at 5pm on a Friday before a long holiday weekend (can you say traffic nightmare! What was I thinking when I booked the original time!) the arrival time is now 2pm. Still, I'm prepared for lots of Friday traffic, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed it won't be too bad!
I've also made dinner reservations for Friday night at Lupa in Greenwich Village. This is a Mario Batalli owned placed and I've read some stellar reviews. I tried to originally make the reservation on-line via Opentable.com but my only options there were 5:30pm or 11pm....hmmmm...
So I called the restaurant directly, even at a month out, the only time choices I had were 5:30pm or 9:30pm at least that's better than 11pm!. Airing on the side of caution, in the event the flight is delayed, I went with the 9:30pm reservation. Hey, it's a Roman Trattoria after all, and 9:30pm dinner is the true Italian way!
The last thing on my "do before I leave" list is to make dinner reservation for Sunday night. The plan is to have dinner at Artisanal, which is a French Bistro/Fromaegerie in the Murray Hill area. You can clearly say I'm getting a taste of all my international destinations for the year in NYC!
Saturday night is a "play it by ear" dinning option since we'll be going to a matinee and an evening show, so we'll just pop into someplace (that I'm sure I've got on my list!) between 4pm-7pm. And I can't help but think about doing an after show dessert somewhere...my sweet tooth is always ready for action!
Now I need to start getting into "packing mode"...I haven't even thought about what to take with me...sounds like I may be writing out a packing list this weekend....I lead such an exciting life!
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Aqua is a Hit!
It was time for another birthday celebration with the Council of Wise Women!
We celebrated Melissa's birthday at Aqua, a restaurant on Hilton Head Island. We had a great time. Good conversation and wonderful food.
In keeping with the aqua theme, we all ordered seafood and it did not disappoint. The restaurant wasn't very crowded (still not "the" season) and our server was terrific. We even had the owner come over at the end of the meal and sit down and have coffee with us. Then he took us to the wine vault (pictured above) to show us the different wines they stock.
It was a very pleasant evening and I highly recommend the restaurant. It was open and airy and has a terrific window looking out to the ocean.
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Atlanta Weekend Part Deux!
It was another laugh-filled Saturday night in Atlanta last weekend! Mom and I did a road trip to Atlanta for another shopping excursion to Trader Joe's and the Perimeter Mall. And it wouldn't be a visit to Atlanta without seeing Regi, Scott and Darlene...it was Atlanta Weekend Part Deux!
We left home early Saturday morning. I was backing the car out of the garage by 6am Saturday morning. First stop...Starbucks of course! But to our disappointment, the Bluffton Starbucks was not open...the sign said they open at 6am, and we could even see some employees inside, but there were no lights on...why oh why???? The inhumanity...no caffeine!
Then I say..."Wait a minute...there is a Starbucks at the Kroger grocery store"...we stop, mom is skeptical they will be open...there is a caffeine god....they were open, we got our coffees and hit the road.
We arrived at Trader Joe's at about 11:30am, filled up our cart and were on our way to find lunch by about 12:30. We found a place at Perimeter Place called Doc Green's. It's a little lunch place, but the salads and sandwiches are great.
Once we were saited, we popped over to the REI store and I found a pair of Keen shoes that were just too cute to pass up. Then it was onto the Perimeter Mall for a few hours of retail therapy!
By 5pm-ish we were running out of "shopping gas" so we walked over to the Dunwoody MARTA station to buy our train tickets for later in the evening. The Breeze card is a "breeze" to use, we purchased 2 round trip tickets and were off to the hotel to check in.
By 6pm we were in our room and Scott called to set the plan for the night. Scott would pick us up at the hotel and we would drive to the Dunwoody MARTA stop (free parking for less then 24 hours!), when we got on the train (heading south) Scott called Darlene to tell her which car we were on and she met us 2 stops down the line. From there it was just 2 or 3 more stops to the Midtown stop which is near the restaurant we had reservations at.
At the Midtown stop we met up with Regi and walked to the restaurant. I had made reservations through OpenTable.com at Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant. It is a chain, but I had never been to one before and it had a good menu. We were slightly early for our 8:30pm reservation so fought through the throng at the bar and had some cocktails while we waited.
We were seated by 8:45pm and had a great meal...of course I had to chronical the meal with photos and here they are...
Regi and his wine....
Chicken and Shrimp Potstickers
and Fried Artichoke Hearts
Barbeque Salmon and
And finally the Desserts....Apple Bread Pudding
Chocolate Fudge Layer Cake
After dinner we started to walk to the MARTA station on the way there we passed the Hotel Indigo, which is one of the Intercontinental brands, their version of a boutique hotel. We stopped by the lobby and had drinks in the lounge. The interesting thing about this hotel brand is that every season they completely re-decorate the lobby...it's really a cool place.
By midnight we were ready to get some shut-eye. On the way to the MARTA station we passed the Fox Theater. There was a concert just getting out and we were able to sneak a peak inside the Fox Theater and what an amazing interior. It is absolutely stunning! On the next trip to Atlanta in June a tour of the Fox Theater is definitely on the agenda!
We managed to get back to the hotel around 1am and fell into bed as soon as we walked through the door!
Sunday morning we got up and had a leisurely brunch at Le Madeline and hit the road back home just after noon.
It was definitely another great Atlanta weekend!
We left home early Saturday morning. I was backing the car out of the garage by 6am Saturday morning. First stop...Starbucks of course! But to our disappointment, the Bluffton Starbucks was not open...the sign said they open at 6am, and we could even see some employees inside, but there were no lights on...why oh why???? The inhumanity...no caffeine!
Then I say..."Wait a minute...there is a Starbucks at the Kroger grocery store"...we stop, mom is skeptical they will be open...there is a caffeine god....they were open, we got our coffees and hit the road.
We arrived at Trader Joe's at about 11:30am, filled up our cart and were on our way to find lunch by about 12:30. We found a place at Perimeter Place called Doc Green's. It's a little lunch place, but the salads and sandwiches are great.
Once we were saited, we popped over to the REI store and I found a pair of Keen shoes that were just too cute to pass up. Then it was onto the Perimeter Mall for a few hours of retail therapy!
By 5pm-ish we were running out of "shopping gas" so we walked over to the Dunwoody MARTA station to buy our train tickets for later in the evening. The Breeze card is a "breeze" to use, we purchased 2 round trip tickets and were off to the hotel to check in.
By 6pm we were in our room and Scott called to set the plan for the night. Scott would pick us up at the hotel and we would drive to the Dunwoody MARTA stop (free parking for less then 24 hours!), when we got on the train (heading south) Scott called Darlene to tell her which car we were on and she met us 2 stops down the line. From there it was just 2 or 3 more stops to the Midtown stop which is near the restaurant we had reservations at.
At the Midtown stop we met up with Regi and walked to the restaurant. I had made reservations through OpenTable.com at Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant. It is a chain, but I had never been to one before and it had a good menu. We were slightly early for our 8:30pm reservation so fought through the throng at the bar and had some cocktails while we waited.
We were seated by 8:45pm and had a great meal...of course I had to chronical the meal with photos and here they are...
Regi and his wine....
...My Lemon Drop Martini
And now for the appetizers...
Chicken and Shrimp Potstickers
and Fried Artichoke Hearts
And the entrees are...
Barbeque Salmon and
Chicken Fettucini
And Pecan Crusted Salmon
And finally the Desserts....
Chocolate Fudge Layer Cake
And the winning dessert....
the Apple Bread Pudding, it was like eating french toast!
A Good time was had by all...
After dinner we started to walk to the MARTA station on the way there we passed the Hotel Indigo, which is one of the Intercontinental brands, their version of a boutique hotel. We stopped by the lobby and had drinks in the lounge. The interesting thing about this hotel brand is that every season they completely re-decorate the lobby...it's really a cool place.
By midnight we were ready to get some shut-eye. On the way to the MARTA station we passed the Fox Theater. There was a concert just getting out and we were able to sneak a peak inside the Fox Theater and what an amazing interior. It is absolutely stunning! On the next trip to Atlanta in June a tour of the Fox Theater is definitely on the agenda!
We managed to get back to the hotel around 1am and fell into bed as soon as we walked through the door!
Sunday morning we got up and had a leisurely brunch at Le Madeline and hit the road back home just after noon.
It was definitely another great Atlanta weekend!
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Where in the World is Marcy....
Here is the latest installment of Where in the World is Marcy. Here's a few hints...
- This is not a recent picture of me, it's at least 6 years old
- The fury friend I am with is a marsupial
- This country is another island nation, but it's also a continent
- This country is located in the southern hemisphere
- There are several Oscar Award winning actors who call this country home
- Many of the citizens of this country are descendants from the country in my last Where in the World is Marcy post
- The nickname of the this country is Oz...
Have you guessed yet? Are you a geography or pop culture whiz???
If you guessed Australia you are correct!
I'm petting a kangaroo at a park not far from Melbourne, Australia. Since I took this trip in 2002, prior to my compulsive trip planning/research, I do not have the name of the park where this photo was taken. But I can attest to the fact that it is a real kangaroo!
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