One Night in Boston & A Visit to Mooncusser…
Mooncusser’s green asparagus
white asparagus vichyssoise at Mooncusser
Traveling with my youngest brother, Doug, is an ever-changing experience. During an April East Coast trip, we had one evening in Boston. We chose a restaurant, Mooncusser, within walking distance of our hotel and it was a delight. It bills itself as a fish house but I don’t think this description tells the story.
A four-course tasting menu included an exceptional white asparagus vichyssoise, spring parsnip agnolotti and beautiful English lamb with fresh peas. You could choose seafood at each course, except dessert (rhubarb bombolone or key lime semifreddo) but the fresh flavors spin the menu into something more than “fish house” may imply.
…Three Nights and All the Eats in Manhattan
Me and Doug at the Russian Tea Room
We took the train to New York, arriving at the new Patrick Moynihan Train Hall which is approximately a billion times nicer than Penn Station ever was. It’s been at least 35 years since I stepped foot inside the Russian Tea Room, but a bowl of borscht and a perfect dirty martini were just the thing before walking to the Theater District to see Glengarry, Glen Ross (meh all around).
It’s hard to turn away from all the movie stars starring on Broadway right now but if you have more than a night in town, I recommend heading all the way downtown to One Wall so you can see the Red Room. Inside what was once the headquarters of the Irving Trust Company, stunning mosaics by Hildreth Meière are now a shoe salon for the French department store, Printemps. Pop in to see the marvelous handcraft after a coffee at the café upstairs.
I hope to come back to Printemps and have dinner at Chef Gregory Gourdet’s Maison Passarelle, where Chef reimagines French cuisine through the lens of its former colonies. All the spaces at this department store are eye-popping. A slow walk and a sit-down are recommended to really see what’s going on.
Downtown Lunch at Danny Meyer’s Manhatta
For lunch, we were seated with Brooklyn views from the 60th floor at Manhatta but easily switched tables, the better to cast a gaze uptown. (Sorry, Brooklyn.) The dish of the meal was Beef Tartare (center image, above), the black sunchoke and Asian pear lifting the dish, the rice flour crisp a graceful touch.
Peak New York-of-the-Moment at Cafe Carmellini
Inside Cafe Carmellini
After a few hours marveling at the wonders of NYPL’s Treasures, the Polonsky Exhibition, we met up with more family for dinner at Cafe Carmellini. The restaurant is peak, of the moment, New York.
The cozy, well-lighted interior boasts soft blue banquettes and washed blue wallpaper studded with gilded frames from which images of human eyes peer out. Oysters arrived with pearls of apple gelee; snap pea and almond came together in a delicate tart; and quail with mandarin arrived in a hammered copper pan. It’s French, Italian and so New York. I loved every minute I spent there.
Dress to Impress at Ralph’s
Doug and I both wanted to see the John Singer Sargent exhibit at the Met and the revamped Frick Collection so we made a day of being uptown, stopping in at Ralph’s which was bougie X 1000. I felt very underdressed in my basic New York black – everyone there seemed to be celebrating a bridal shower, a birthday and were DRESSED.
Energetic Vibes at Hutong
One more meal of note – my SIL wanted to try the Peking Duck at Hutong in my old stomping grounds near Bloomingdale’s. All the vibes in a beautiful, low-lit room that thrummed with energy.
The tableside presentation of the duck is oh-so Instamgrammable, too – fire! Knives! Action!
Martini at Hutong
Peking Duck prepared tableside at Hutong
