New York State of Mind: Days 3 + 4

I'm excited to share the last leg of our New York trip! While the beginning of our trip was great, the end was pretty fantastic. Missed the beginning? Check out posts one and two to get caught up.

Saturday - Day 3 (continued)

After finishing the last photo shoot of our trip, we chilled out at our hotel until it was time to get ready for our dinner. We had 10:15pm reservations at Daniel and couldn't wait for our dinner at one of the best restaurants in the country.

Thanks to the feedback on this post from many of you I stuck with wearing my black Rachel Roy dress and wore my nude pumps (my shoe collection could definitely use some new additions, so these were my best option). Fortunately after days of walking all over New York, my toes didn't hate me terribly when I slipped on my heels.


I also wore the awesome necklace Steve bought me for our anniversary! He did an incredible job picking it out, and I always get compliments when I wear it. I'm glad my husband has great taste! He bought it from this fabulous Etsy shop.


Once Steve threw on his suite, we were ready to head on over to Daniel. Unfortunately, it was too fancy schmancy of a place for me to pull my camera out (boo!) - I can't even describe how beautiful the presentation was of every single thing they served us.

We started with cocktails at the bar because we arrived a little early. I opted for their signature White Cosmopolitan, which was by far the best cocktail I've ever had. Check out this recipe if you want to impress your friends with a fantastic cocktail.

After a short wait, we were seated into the hushed dining room. The tables were spaced far enough apart so that it felt like a very private dining experience. The amount of waitstaff was pretty intense, as it felt like there were a million eyes on us at any point in time in case we would need anything. Moments after sitting down, a purse rest was set next to me so that my (cheap Nine West) purse would not have to touch the ground. Fancy.

After a lot of debate, we had decided to do the six course tasting menu. Instead of doing the wine pairings with the courses, we simply ordered a bottle of wine which was fine for us. Since there are two options for each course, we ordered all of them so that we could share everything.

Each and every course was elegantly served and cooked to perfection.

Amuse-bouche: It was a three part amuse using artichokes. So yummy!

First: I had duck terrine crusted with pistachios. Steve had lola duck moasic and daikon radish. I basically had him eat all of everything. I tried the terrine and it was definitely NOT for me. But everyone knows I am VERY picky!

Second: I had peekytoe crab salad, Steve had trio of Spanish mackerel. Both courses were excellent. The mackerel was very well cooked and the crab salad was light and tasty. Big win for both.

Third: I had scallops with broccoli. Steve had the fennel basil raviolini. Both were excellent. However, this is when I had my huge personal FAIL. My course had a big piece of what looked like deep fried broccoli. Normally I don't eat broccoli, but I thought I would try it. I tried cutting it in half so we could share and the broccoli flew off my plate somewhere behind me. I wanted to crawl under the table. Seriously, what do you do when you send food flying across the room in the best restaurant in the country?! Fortunately the severs looked the other way, but we never could find the broccoli.

Fourth: I had slow baked Dover sole and Steve had pumpkin seed and speck ham crusted monkfish. I'll be honest I don't remember the details, other than both being good and perfectly prepared.

Fifth: I had the duo of beef - it was short rib and a piece of Wagyu tenderloin. Steve had the lamb loin. Both were very good but the lamb was a definite winner.

Sixth: I had the warm guanaja chocolate coolant with liquid caramel, fleur de sel and milk sorbet. Steve had the spice poached bosc bear on a gingerbread biscuit. I'd read about the chocolate dessert online and it was amazing. The best dessert I've ever had and it killed me to switch plates with Steve! The pear dessert was good as well, but not nearly as divine. Sigh.

And...there were more desserts to come! They made us something special for our anniversary since we were belatedly celebrating it. I couldn't tell you what it was but it was very pretty. They also brought out a plate of different little pastries. And then they brought out a basket of madeleines fresh from the oven. And THEN after they clear away our plates, they brought out new plates...and a server came around with a plate of teeny tiny little chocolates infused with different flavors.

Since we were stuffed we had them box up the little pastries and the madeleines and we took them back with us. We probably left the restaurant around 12:30am, so it was a pretty fast dinner service for six course.

I was happy to leave with these cute little take out boxes.


The next day the madeleines looked great, although not nice and warm from the oven like they'd been the night before.


The pastries didn't fare quite as well! They still tasted great.


All-in-all, the experience was above expectations. We wanted a truly high end, New York experience and that's definitely what we got. And the price tag on this night out? After tip and tax, we ended up right around $650. I know, A LOT for a dinner for two, but it was an amazing experience we won't forget.

Sunday - Day 4

Our last day in New York was our complete free day, so we started out at the Museum of Modern Art. We had a great time wandering through the museum, and they had an awesome photography exhibit that Steve loved.

After the museum, we bugged Serena (thank you!!) for the best place to go for a black and white cookie, so she suggested Zucker's in TriBeCa.


Can you believe this cookie?!


Again, huge!


But, I had no problem devouring it.


While I stuffed my face with a cookie, Steve chowed down on a huge bagel piled with lox and other goodness. Needless to say, we were both very happy with our trip to Zucker's.


I was even happier when we turned the corner from Zucker's and saw this crowd and cameras. After standing across the street for awhile, we hear it was the Kardashians! So I, of course, promptly crossed the street. I never see celebrities anywhere, so I was psyched.


Kim and Kourtney were filming some sort of promos for their new show taking place in New York. They had this car staged in front of a hotel, and Kourtney kept on getting in and out of the car while Kim stayed inside. We were supposed to cheer each time she got out of the car. And by "we" I mean me and all of the 13-year-old girls who were standing around me.


Kourtney was super cute and had on the most amazing leopard print Louboutins. I want!


Kim finally got out of the car and a girl needs her Starbucks.


I have to say I didn't quite get Kim's outfit. It was very bulky and the coat combined with the hat was just a little too much. It was also quite warm out that day (I didn't even have a coat on!) so she must have been burning up in all of that fur.



To end our trip, we decided to have a typical New York diner experience. Oh, and we were easily swayed by the fact that there was a diner across the street from our hotel and it was cheap!

So we headed over to The Red Flame Diner...


...where I had an incredibly so-so bison burger and fries. Steve had a club sandwich (use your imagination, it's about what you'd expect).


It was just a fabulous trip from start to finish! We loved everything about the city and feel like we saw so many different neighborhoods and had every type of food experience, from food carts to high end dining and everything in between. Thank you to everyone we saw in New York and to those who suggested places for us to go/see/eat!