Vancouver Good

I flew to NYC for Easter Weekend – a quick, but food and fun filled trip. The only glitch – we lost a day in Calgary as we missed our connecting flight. As a result, no lunch at Jean-Georges for me, but my friends went and said it was fabulous.

Our lost day meant pretty much no shopping aside from a quick look at the just released Apple iPad. But, did we eat! Some quick highlights…

The Base

Ace Hotel New York - Located at 29th and Broadway, the Ace is centrally located for any New York Adventure. Rooms are small, but lovely with fun sweat shirt material robes (made in Canada!), good quality linens and pillows, and a well-stocked mini-bar and snack station. Elevators are slow. The hotel turns into a happening place on the weekends with a DJ and big crowd. So, if that’s not your scene, get a room on one of the higher floors or you’ll be hearing the music in your room. I’ve stayed at the Ace Hotels in Portland and Seattle, and the New York location is my favourite.

The Food

The Doughnut Plant – Yes, you can get them all around NYC and beyond, but there’s nothing like getting these doughnuts warm and fresh right from the plant. Soft & sweet basic glazed yeast donut. A melt in your mouth jelly doughnut filled with house-made blackberry jelly. And for something different, a carrot cake donut – dense, light, and full of carrot flavour.

A Salt & Battery - English style fish and chips and oh so good. Crunchy outside, tender fish, tangy tarter sauce, yum. Sadly, the restaurant has stopped serving cod because it’s become over-fished. So, instead of cod, you get pollock or haddock as your choices. Still great, but I know it’s not not cod. Sad, but a reality.

Bar Boulud – We came here our first night around 10pm, having landed at 8pm. I won’t even say how many charcuterie plates we ordered before our mains, but trust that a lot was eaten. Food was great, cocktails were great, service was surly.

Per Se – I went to Thomas Keller’s French Laundry a couple years ago, and it was an unforgettable, albiet pricey experience. The full tasting menu at Keller’s New York restaurant was a bit too much for us this trip ($275/person), but Per Se recently introduced an a la carte salon menu, allowing you to dine in their lounge with a slightly  more casual feel. We couldn’t resist.

This was the highlight dining experience of the year for me, with incredible service and food wrapped together in a pretty bow. We each ordered two a la carte dishes from the menu and were  still treated with a series of surprise amuse courses, just as you’d get in the main dining room. Plus, we got the addictive Vermont butter mixed with fleur de sel for our bread , which I still dream about after having it two years ago at the French Laundry.

All the food is good, but the steak at Per Se and French Laundry is incredibly buttery and tender – just unbelievable. For dessert, the restaurant saved a few orders of the famous “coffee and doughnuts,” which lived up to its famous reputation – soft and sugary donuts with a smooth cappucino semi-fredo.

The service put this experience over the top. We were treated like gold. The staff offered great wine recommendations, served us extra portions of the coffee and doughnuts for dessert, sent us off with a list of NYC restaurants to try, and gave us a tour of the kitchen – there’s a direct satellite feed to the kitchen at the French Laundry in Napa Valley.

It still wasn’t cheap, but was it memorable.

Babbo – Our final dinner was at Mario Batali’s famous restaurant Babbo, where we ate an 8-course pasta tasting menu. The food here is great, some of the best pasta I’ve ever had. But, the place is so busy, it’s an extremely rushed dining experience. Staff hovering over you to take your plate away, the maître d’ looking around at tables taking longer than expected. It dampened the dining experience (or maybe I felt spoiled from Per Se the night before). If I returned, I’d get a 9pm reservation so I’m in the last sitting and not rushed.

*sigh* – so much food and shopping in NYC, too little time. I need to get back more often.