Day 3:
Full from dinner and a day of eating, we woke up in search of coffee and decided to try Arvaci which we’d walked by on 37th and which appeared to roast their own beans. It seems like half the little coffee shops are roasting La Columbe and dishing up nothing special, but Arvaci was a total score- they are serious about their drip coffee and espresso drinks alike, and we went back several times. I would seek out one of their locations again in a heartbeat.
After a few hours of lectures and a free smoothie at the conference, I decided to take advantage of the unseasonably warm and sunny weather and ditched further official activities in favor of a subway ride to the north end of Central Park, and then a leisurely jog back through the park, ending again at the Bryant Park Winter Market where I snacked on some gluten free whole grain mini empanadas from Palenque Colombian Food. These were delicious and just the right size.
Back to the hotel for a shower and then a walk to Cha Long where we were prepared to flex our culinary muscles for our final dinner in Manhattan! This place was hopping, and a party in front of us were clearly trying to scam their way into a table with a fish story about lost reservation. No deal. Luckily, we’d been well-prepared by @fooddabbler and our table awaited. Cocktails were eye candy, although candy did describe the overwhelming sweetness of mine on my palate as well.
We were appropriately warned by the waiter that the apps we picked were spicy, but we forged on undaunted. The pomelo and cured branzino salad was magnificent and I think the one pepper rating was accurate. Our other app was the lumpu salad with raw scallops and pea shoots, which I will go far out of my way to eat anywhere. Again, 2 pepper rating and it did bring some heat. The waiter actually came back over as we were cleaning our plates and admitted he had us pegged as amateurs and had assumed we’d complain about the heat level or not finish. Nope. Not here.
For mains, I went with the whole branzino and my friend picked the pad thai, which while a safe option, is always a nice way to gauge how a new restaurant handles a familiar dish. The pad thai was listed as Southern style, and had a coconut curry based sauce which was different from the usual and I really liked that it came with a pile of fresh vegetables and sprouts. That fish- fantastic! Again, we earned the waiter’s respect and surprise as we snacked on every last morsel of crispy fin and dug out the cheeks, then mopped up the sauce with the side of rice. There was nary a scallion left behind. My friend picked the sticky rice dessert, further impressing the waiter with our ability to put away quantities of food for two petite women. They were unable to split the check, so I paid the entire bill of 2 each drinks, apps, and mains plus one dessert, which including tip and tax was right around $200-- completely reasonable.
We enjoyed our show (Operation Mincemeat), although I agree more with the New York Times critic’s review than the New Yorker review, and the wordplay would have been better had it been slightly more intelligible. Dessert for me on the way back to the hotel was a gluten free sweet potato cookie from Schmakary’s, excellent with torched marshmallow on top. Never something I would have picked as I always select chocolate as a matter of course, but it was their only GF option and sometimes having your hand forced results in a pleasant surprise. This concluded my midtown Manhattan portion; stay tuned as I conquer another region tomorrow!
