New York - May 2014

The Dodds'

We spent Mother's Day weekend in NYC with Keith's parents, enjoying a few shows and some awesome food.  

Accommodation:

Ink 48 - A Kimpton hotel located in mid-town on the West side.  Rooms were nice and there is a great rooftop bar.  Since it's on 11th Avenue, it is a bit of a hike to most things.

View from Roof Top at Ink 48

Activities:

Keith flew in from Denver on Wednesday night and he joined his parents for a drink at Press Lounge on the roof top of the hotel.  On Thursday, Keith had some meetings in the city while his parents went to a museum.  Shawna arrived via train from Hartford in the evening, in time to drop off her stuff at the hotel, join everyone for a drink in the lobby and dinner at Fig and Olive.

9/11 Memorial

On Friday, we both worked from the hotel and then in the afternoon, we did a walking tour of the 9/11 Memorial.  The museum was not yet open - was to open in another week so we were bummed that we missed that.  However, the memorial was amazing to see and somber at the same time.  The tour was given by two people who were impacted by 9/11 - one whose father was a fireman and died that day and another whose daughter worked in one of the buildings but made it.  That evening, we had a yummy meal at Devi - of course, we had to have Indian food!  Following dinner, we say the play, All the Way, with Brian Cranston (from Breaking Bad) - the play was about LBJ when he was running for second term.

Keith and Mum

On Saturday, Keith and Shawna walked along the Hudson to get some exercise.  We then joined Keith's parents for lunch and we saw a matinee musical, After Midnight, with Vanessa Williams which was about a jazz club in Harlem.  We napped for a little while after the play and then we all had an awesome dinner at Gramercy Tavern - can never go wrong with this place!

On Sunday, we slept in which was a luxury and then we met up with Liz who is visiting the states for over a month from Australia.  She is later coming to visit us in Denver in a few weeks.  We joined her for lunch at the Cognac Restaurant in mid-town and then walked around the park, stopping to watch some street performers.  We returned to the hotel at which time Shawna took a cab to the airport to fly home and Keith went to Penn Station to take a train to DC for work.

Lunch with Liz

Restaurants:

Fig and Olive - A great Italian restaurant - there are a few locations in the city.  We dined at the one in the meatpacking district.  It is nice and open but is also a bit noisy.  We shared bruschetta, croquettes and a prosciutto tartlet for appetizers, lamb chops for dinner and apple tart for dessert.

Devi - A one-star Micheline rated Indian restaurant in Union Square.  Food is yummy and decor is not cheesy like most Indian restaurants.  We shared the lamp patties and chickpea chaat for appetizers and lamb curry for dinner.

The Marshall - A small, quaint farm to table restaurant in Hell's Kitchen.  Keith's parents ended up going here two other times on the trip.  We had lunch here and shared the tomato ricotta salad and apple/greens salad with walnuts, blue cheese and bacon. 

Gramercy Tavern - One of our favorite restaurants in NYC.  Beautiful decor inside with fresh flowers everywhere.  The meal was a 3-course prix fix.  We had the pork bolognese and mushroom custard to start, lamb loin and sea bass for entree, and lemon custard and cheese for dessert.

Cognac Restaurant - A French bistro restaurant in mid-town.  We had brunch here on Mother's Day.  We had the tomato soup and moulles frites - both were quite good.