New York State of Mind part 1

In less than two weeks, I will be in the big apple, doing a little shopping, a lot of eating and drinking but most importantly, attending BlogHer 12 with ~~my partner in crime~~ Darlynn. We are so excited for the things we will learn, which I will post about in two weeks. But until then, you get to hear a little about our agenda!

Today is all about the food.

Lucky us, we will be in New York during Summer Restaurant Week 2012! I am an Open Table VIP and have two $20 vouchers which I will be bringing with me to NYC. We decided that we would go to two very nice lunches, each choosing one.

Darlynn wanted an authentic Italian Restaurant. While reading off the top tiered Italian restaurants, she said Il Cantinori. I squealed in true Carrie Bradshaw style, IL CANTINORI? Immediately we both flashed on one of our favorite Sex and the City episodes of all times – The Agony and The Extasy, which takes place at the one and only Il Cantinori, where we promptly made lunch reservations:

Are we allowed to order a Shirley Temple?

I on the other hand have wanted to go to David Burke’s Townhouse ever since seeing him appear on Bravo’s Top Chef Masters. We booked our reservations, tweeted Chef Burke and promptly got a response from him. PS – that is how you do social media. Bravo to you Chef Burke. I cannot wait to get my hands on a Cheesecake Lollipop Tree


Photo property of www.davidburketownhouse.com

Cheesecake Lollipop Tree – Photo property of www.davidburketownhouse.com

We will be enjoying a nice breakfast at Todd English’s Cava Brasserie. I am looking forward to the Toasted Croque Madame. I couldn’t find a photo of his version of this fabulous sandwich, so you get a picture of Mr. English 😉

We have two dinners planned with friends, so it will be a surprise where we end up. We did make a joint decision that we would get a nice steak dinner. We ended up with Ben and Jack’s Steak House on 44th. It was very difficult to come up with the destination, but as soon as Darlynn went on their website, it was a done deal thanks to Frank. Did I mention one of the appetizers on their summer menu is a thick slice of sizzling Canadian bacon? Just saying…..

We will also make a stop to Serendipity 3. I have never visited the NY location, just the one in Vegas. Darlynn has not had a chance to try out Serendipity either, as the lines are always insane. We will make a point to get a frozen hot chocolate on this trip.