Every time I visit New York I feel like I leave a part of my heart there. There is something about the city that I absolutely love. However, to be perfectly honest, I have been struggling lately because my heart is torn between Los Angeles and New York City. I’ve been dealing with this constant battle for a while now, and I wish I could live in both places at once. I love the city life, and I love the laid back LA life at the same time. But this post isn’t about my future plans or where I want to live, it’s about my most recent trip to NYC.
The main reason I went to New York was to partake in another Foods of New York Tours Food and culture tour. This time instead of going up with my mom or my family I brought along my friend Kelly and we stayed with my friend Angie who lives on the Upper East Side. I will save the food tour for it’s own post because it was absolutely fabulous, and there is just so much to show. But there was definitely a lot more going on in NYC that weekend than just the food tour.
Kelly and I took the Bolt Bus up to NYC, which I highly recommend if you are in the DC/Baltimore area. It was on time, clean, and very inexpensive. It was so easy that I may just need to make more trips up there in the future.
We had to celebrate a little on the bus up because Kelly just got engaged, and this was the first time I got to see her since then. So we brought a little wine for the ride.
Once we got there we met up with an old high-school friend and my friend Angie at a local bar just to catch up.
The following day was the fabulous food tour of Nolita and NoHo, and I can’t wait to share it with you in detail. There was so much delicious food (I’m getting hungry just thinking about it all), but so much culture and history about the area that I learned as well.
Once Kelly and I finished the tour we decided to step into the last restaurant on the tour for a coffee just to unwind from the last three hours. It was the cutest little restaurant called Peels. Extremely feminine, organic looking, and bustling with young trendy New Yorkers dining with friends and family for brunch. As I was sitting there I was envisioning myself as a New Yorker dining at this restaurant with my friends. I felt completely comfortable and like I would fit right in. It actually made me wish I never had to leave. The food being brought out looked incredible, and the atmosphere was so fresh and relaxing. After ordering coffee we decided to try some of the food. After all we had walked for the last 3 hours. 
We decided on the Pan Fried Potato Dumplings and the Quinoa Salad. Not your typical brunch fair, but these two dishes seemed to be small enough and hit our fancy. The Potato Dumplings came highly recommended by our waitress and were served with fava beans, mint, garlic, chili, and Parmesan.
The potato dumplings were rich and decadent, and the quinoa salad was light and refreshing. After our little ‘snack’ and coffee break, we hit the subway and headed to Brooklyn.
This was my first time ever going to Brooklyn, and we met up with our friends who live there. Coincidentally there was a huge art gallery open house called Bushwick Open Studios so we headed that way to check it out.
I was definitely out of my element here, but it was a great experience, and I loved hanging out with my friends.
We headed back to Manhattan’s Upper East Side to get ready and have a girls night out. It was a night where we brought many groups of friends together, and everyone got along perfectly. I love it when that happens! We dined at a close by Sushi restaurant that Angie told us about called Ooki Sushi, and started with a couple bottles of unfiltered sake, seaweed salads, and edamame.
The consensus among the group was to order different rolls and share everything. Although for me this was challenging because there were so many rolls to choose from, and each one sounded better than the last.
Not only did they all sound delicious, but they tasted delicious. I wouldn’t say that I’m a sushi snob, but I hate when I order different rolls, and they all taste the same. This was not the case here. Each roll had its own flavor and so tasty. We finished our platter in about 10 minutes flat. And then we ordered some more. It was THAT good.
We all parted ways after that delicious meal, and the night finished off at a fun bar down the street.
As you can imagine the next morning was a little rough, so we slowly got ourselves together and decided Sunday brunch was the best idea. We walked to another one of my friends favorites called Fetch Bar and Grill, and grabbed a table outside. The weather in NYC was crisp and cool that morning, and it was so pleasant just sitting there with Kelly and Angie, catching up, sipping coffee, and enjoying a delicious breakfast.
I ordered the Huevos Rancheros which was a fried corn tortilla, fried eggs, and salsa topped with sour cream and guacamole, and Kelly ordered the Smoked Salmon Scramble which was scrambled eggs, chopped smoked salmon and cream cheese with home fries, and we shared. Both equally delicious, and perfect brunch food.
Angie ordered the Homemade Granola which was served with honey yogurt, wheat germ, papaya, and mango, and that looked mouth watering good as well.
I even ran into my Phi Mu Little while I was there…completely and totally random, but absolutely wonderful!
After a relaxing afternoon we decided to not let this foodie weekend end there. We hit the Subway again and headed down to Union Square to check out the famous Eataly I’ve heard so much about.
I was pretty excited because I had heard so much about this place, and people told me I would absolutely love it. And I have to say…it was ok. I was not as impressed as I thought I would be. Don’t get me wrong it was definitely something you should go check out, but I think I was just completely turned off by the amount of people there and the crowds.
On the positive side there was definitely a lot to look at and take in. Coffees, cheeses, meats, milks, vegetables, pastries, and so much more. You could stop and get a coffee or a sandwich, or you could stand in the back at a small table and have a class of wine and a cheese plate, or you could simply just do some shopping and leave.
Of course I picked up a few goodies, but I didn’t have any desire to stay since it was just so overcrowded.
After our jam packed weekend we headed back to my friends house, gathered our stuff, and made our way to the bus stop where we had a safe and enjoyable ride back to Maryland. Another unforgettable NYC weekend for sure. I think I’m going to have to make these more often.
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Holy food hangover!! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I love NYC!! What a fabulous trip!