Weekend in NYC
I was in NYC over the weekend. Here's what I did:
Using the Reserve app on my iPhone, I finally booked a table at Rebelle in the Bowery for a delicious and beautifully presented French cuisine. My date and I had lashes of Baronne ham, soft shell crab, lobster salad with fresh peas,
Hudson's Clearwater in the Village. The food is great, the staff is a delight and beautiful (my daughter works there and will treat you right).
Boulud is great. I also like Baltazar's.
For hip and delicious Italian, I love Maialino at the Gramercy Park Hotel (beautiful hotel, beautiful rooms, beautiful location!)
Museums:
Without question, the Met. If you have a membership you can dine in the membership dining room (lunch or dinner) with a great view of Central Park. There's a wonderful app you can download to your iPhone too. I love everything about the Met - from the Egyptian Wing (beautiful!) to the Modern Section (featuring Alex Katz). Right now, ManusxMachina is the featured fashion exhibition. It's beautiful. I like the Roof Garden at the Met too because of the views of Central Park and NYC, regardless of what the current exhibition is (right now its Cornelia Parker from the UK), it's always worth a moment.
The Park Avenue Armory is featuring the work of UK artist Martin Creed. Go. It's fun and experiential. His take of mundane things in life, like a roomful of white balloons, creates an appreciation that these things are not so mundane after all. And go into the white balloon room.
The Frick and the Morgan Library for their excellent collections of Renaissance art.
For contemporary work, Gagosian Gallery on Madison is the most elite gallery there is. It's quite an enterprise, most of the work isn't for sale, and it's eye-opening. The building also houses other galleries, such as Nahmad Contemporary, currently featuring work by Jean-Michel Basquiat
For American (only) art, the Whitney is a must. Amazing river views. If you have an SFMOMA membership, you can jump to the head of the line and get in free.
The Brooklyn Museum is beautiful. We had brunch at The Norm, touted as amazing. It wasn't. But the museum is in a beautiful Beaux Arts building next to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, which, right now, is blooming!
That is the sum total of my weekend in NYC last week. These are a lot of sites, and I hope you are able to do a few of them during your visit.