New York Recap: Part II

Hi everyone! Happy Wednesday! I was at work this morning when the power went out, so I had a little bit of a break in my morning to get this post up since I didn't have time to last night. Although I am technically working "remotely" right now, a lot of the stuff I have to work on can't be accessed on outside computers (something we maybe should have looked into before now, ha). Anyways, here is Part II of my trip recap to New York two weeks ago. If you missed Part I, you can read that here!



On Wednesday morning we woke up after the Kings of Leon concert with only a few hours until I needed to be back in the city to celebrate my dad's birthday. Being on Long Island I knew I needed to see more than just one Lehigh friend, so Mairead and I got brunch with our friend Nikki before I got on a 1pm train. (Salt Air Cafe is the name if you ever find yourself in Point Lookout, NY! I had the veggie hash with fried eggs on top.... amazing and so healthy!)

When I got back to the city I only had a few hours to get from Penn Station to the Upper East Side to change before heading to my dad's birthday dinner at the Polo Bar. A few hours sounds like a long time, but when you get as distracted as I do in NYC and stop in every store, at every park and people-watch all down fifth avenue for 50 blocks, you would be surprised.







Drinks and dinner at the Polo Bar was amazing. You have to make reservations months in advance, so I am so lucky we had the chance to go! We order tons of appetizers for the table, including an incredible crab and avocado salad, pigs in a blanket, and the cutest mini lobster rolls. For dinner I had a lobster salad but I had a bite of my dad's steak and it was hands down the best steak I have ever had.... and I don't even like steak usually!!

We walked home afterward from being way too full and got to bed so we could wake up and do our favorite run in Central Park Thursday morning. For the past five-ish summers my dad and I have always done a couple of laps around the Jackie O Reservoir in Central Park. We love doing that run for the gorgeous views, perfect length, and close proximity to my aunt's place on the UES. (You can enter the loop at 90th and 5th!)

Thursday afternoon was pretty fun. My dad and I hung out all day and had a great time! Coincidentally his step-brother from Brazil was also in New York, so we met up at Saigon Shack in the West Vilage for lunch with him and his French wife! It was such a fun lunch to see them for the first time since my grandpa's wedding almost 10 years ago, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I loved the Vietnamese food. Special note to coffee lovers: if you are a huge fan of iced coffee like I am, Vietnamese iced coffee is not to be missed. They make the drink with sweetened condensed milk and it's so delicious! It could almost pass as a post-meal treat, too!!

We walked from the West Village after lunch up to the Flatiron, popping in and out of stores and attempting to find a Sprint store that could repair my iPhone 7 on the spot. My phone had shattered even worse than before on Tuesday night at the concert to the point where as soon as I unlocked my screen it would open a bunch of different apps, type the letters k and p over and over again, and start direct messaging people on Instagram (sorry about that!). So, if you were wondering why I went a little MIA the second half of my trip, that probably explains things ;)





Anyways... back to the recap! We made our way to the Flatiron district where we popped into Eataly for a drink. Afterwards we went back to my aunt's place to collect our things and check into a hotel for the night. We couldn't deal with my aunt's one bedroom and no AC anymore, so we opted for a suite on the 41st floor of the Parker Meridien hotel located at the south end of Central Park. You guys... just a little upgrade? The view was unreal.

We did dinner on Thursday night around the corner from the hotel at Back Tap. The turkey burgers with truffle mayo and avocado were so good and the sweet potato fries made the whole burger-and-fries meal feel super guilt-free! We didn't try any of their crazy over-the-top shakes that night, but they were totally wild and explain why the restaurant is so infamous in Midtown. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures, but I would definitely go back... The line was out the door and moved super quickly.

Before this gets too long, I am going to cut things off here and do a Part III (my second weekend in NYC) recap on Monday! As always, thanks for reading!
xoxo