WARNING this place SUXS

I usually do a lot of research on picking restaurants, but since we moved to the city I have a been a bit overwhelmed with life and sometimes it is just nice to stop in a restaurant.

Well we officially had our first REALLY BAD experience dining. And let me tell you I rarely complain about food and restaurants. I am an easy to please diner. Well here is a place I will never go back to "Gallo Nero" on 44th Street off 9th Avenue.

I had passed it and thought it was quite cute and romantic atmosephere. Yes I give it this. But everything then gets ruined by lack of service and horrible food with lack of taste.

We were there between pre and post theatre, so there was only about 6 tables with people so the slow service of waiting for our appetizer for 35 minutes was ridiculous. Even if you have to wait so long a waiter should always check on the table maybe even say something but no one even stopped over in the 35 minutes.

Our entree choices was Gnocchi and Mushroom risotto. The Gnocchi was mushy and tasted like paste. As for the risotto, all I kept thinking about is how Gordon Ramsey would definately throw this back in the chef's face! It was tasteless and actually looked like dog poop. I always finish my meals, and this was just too aweful!

As for the entertainment my husband got to watch the busboy pick his nose at the end of our dining experience. Gross! NEVER AGAIN!!

Missing Empire Diner but life goes on.....

Since I have moved in the apartment in mid July I have walked passed my old favorite diner Empire Diner many a time, but still nothing has re-opened.

I have been hanging in a new diner often "Skylight Diner" It is a good runner up but no outdoor dining or bringing my doggie Shannon.

This weekend we stopped at Brunch at the "Market Diner" on 44th and 11th Avenue and was happy to see some outdoor dining so my doggie could hang with us when we had our yummy eggs benidict.

My possible new career?????

Seen this lady with her carts at least 3 different times now in the last month on my visits into NYC. She collects a whole lotta bottles and cans!! I know I have not really decided what path I will go in my future with my career......hmmmmmmm.....wonder how much she makes?

Orange I glad I found the perfect table for apartment

Just finally found a dining/kitchen table that was small and fun this weekend and just ordered it now. It is really cool to have a concierge to pick up packages and I do not have to be there!

I needed something not to bulky but comfortable for two to dine on. Orange is my favorite color with decorating this apartment too so I was so excited to find an orange table at West Elm.

Apartment decorating coming along

Before and after

More pictures to come soon........

Saturday nights alright for Roof top mimosas!

We have had our apartment now for over a month and I guess because we have been so excited, we are on the run all the time trying to do as much as possible. I can not believe we only have 13 months left with the apartment. We have not really even enjoyed the amenities yet of the building. So this Saturday instead of spending 14 dollars on a martini, we had some Mimosa's on the roof deck before we headed out to dinner. It was must enjoyable due to the amazing views!

After we walked about one block to 9th and had a very nice Italian dinner at a local romantic little Italian restaurant called Mario Trattoria. I think this might be my favorite local little restaurant. I had some delicious Shrimp parmigiana. And the Tiramisu was heavenly light and yummy. Only disappointment was they need better bread, the served chips of bread?? And I wanted decaf coffee, which is not even a choice there. Other than that, which would not me keep coming back, the decor was so romantic and the bathroom so clean! (bathrooms at restaurants are a pet peeve for me!)

http://www.mariotrattoria.com/

My first Friday night Happy Hour

Well my husband surprised me and said lets go in earlier than usual. So though he surprised me and then had to work a bit when we got into the city. I still got out earlier than usual and went to visit a place I have been following on twitter and could not wait to go. OH MY GOD! I mean the Beer Goddess.........I am in beer heaven. The Pony Bar is only 8 blocks from my new NYC home!! How lucky am I. Craft Beers that change often and only for...............get this $5.oo!!!! I am in LOVE!

The Pony Bar to this date is my favorite place in my neighborhood!! Thank you Pony Bar!!

Oh by the way....because Fall is my favorite time of the year I had Smuttynose - Pumpkin Ale....I enjoyed every 3 pints of it!

A Lazy Sunday with my doggie Shannon

My dog Shannon is really loving her adventures in the city. She has her own blog too. I am sure she will tell her side of the story sometimes there. http://shannonthesheltie.blogspot.com/

So we try to visit the nice local doggie park with her which is between located next to the Intrepid. We enter at 42nd Street right by the Hudson. There is a really nice park area there on the hudson with a doggie park. My dog is a snob and will not socialize. Maybe it is because of the crazy stuff that goes on inside that park.

She just sits dignified on a bench thinking she is a human.

First time having Thai! Thai Select

Thai Select on 9th Avenue between 36 & 37th Street , I SELECTED the right choice!

I noticed a Thai restaurant near our apartment I had it in mind that I wanted to try it. It is really hard for me to judge if this is a great Thai restaurant or not, because this is my first time every having Thai food. I also noticed there are TONS of Thai restaurants and since I did enjoy what I had, I am for sure going to try more Thai over and over and over!

This was a good first choice to try Thai food. I had Salmon in a Green Curry sauce and it was delicious and I can not wait to go back to try more options! I am sold on Thai! The only issue I did have with this place is the service was a bit off. They would bring the food at all different times and they actually gave me my husbands appetizer and I did not know until I ate a few and then they brought mine to him and I was like "Hmmmm that looks more like what I ordered" ! So service was really lacking but food delicious in my inexperience Thai food opinion.

The atmosephere was upbeat and hip and appealing to want to go in.

Bourbon Street for some drinks and Captain Morgan!

Saturday night headed out for a walk to find a bar for a drink before dinner. We ended up at Bourbon Street located on Restaurant Row (46th Street between 8th and 9th Avenue) . Cosmos and Martini's and a bartender who knew had to make them, good start to the evening. to top the evening off all of a sudden "Captain Morgan" shows up to walk across the bar. We had to grab our drinks of course before he knocked them, down, because of course he wanted us to order Captain Morgan instead.






Darn I miss one of my favorite places! New Orleans!!!

http://www.bourbonny.com/

Visit to the Highline and more.....

Went out to walk and walk and walk. Got to see the Highline for the first time, they did a fantastic job and definately worth a visit. Can't wait till the finish the rest of it. Right now you can enter it at 10th Avenue and 18th Street. There are other exits and entrances visit http://www.thehighline.org/ for maps and more info.

Walked through the "West Village" back up to Chelsea Market. Picked up some bread at Amy's Bread "Black Olive with Rosemary" and some Lobster soup at the "Lobster Place" to have back home for lunch. YUM!!

For more info and to see what other stores are at Chelsea Market check out thier website here:

http://www.chelseamarket.com/

Never again Houndtooth Pub Midtown

It is fun trying new dining options living in NYC, but some are just a boring disappointment. This happened when we visited the Houndtooth Pub on 8th Avenue and 37th. Nothing about it stood out and the food was just mediocre. And the wings dried up and yucky. I usually try to give a place a second chance but since we are in NYC there are just too many other choices to try!

Burgers and Cupcakes???

Sunday night headed to Hudson Yard Cafe but found it closed, so we walked another block and ended up on 9th Avenue at "Burger & Cupcake". I have definately had better bigger burgers and better cupcakes in NYC, I would skip it and not waste your money. My favorite cupcakes are CupcakeStop and Crumbs so no one has seemed to come close to those delicious cupcakes.

I have to give Burger and Cupcake a little credit over thier rival a couple of blocks up called Cupcake Cafe at 545 9th Avenue next to port authority. The Cupcake Cafe smelled like urine in that store. (maybe because it is next to smelly port authority) I have no idea how people even sat there eating cupcakes. I walked in and ran out!

Visit my favorite cupcake places
http://www.cupcakestop.com/
http://www.crumbs.com/

A nice little Italian Restaurant near Times Square

After our drinks on Saturday night, we went in search of where to eat. Walking up 9th Avenue we stopped in front of a really cute small italian restaurant. We were offered 20% off if we dined there.....so we went for it.



Fragolino Trattoria is small and quaint. It is a narrow long restaurant with romantic decor. I had the Shrimp Risotto and I must say it was delicious and I will definately go back to this little restaurant someday soon. They have Pre-fixed Dinners at 23.95 and Lunch at 10.95. A great choice if you are heading to theatre.



http://www.fragolinonyc.com/media/tartare_cafe.html

Not all nights are Beer Drinking Nights

Saturday night we were in search of a Cosmo, we found just that at Lattitudes on 8th Avenue between 47th and 48th. They offered Happy hour $5.00 Cosmos until 10pm. A good buy, though my husband was ripped off with his Grey Goose Martini at 14.00 per drink. So no real savings!

It is always all about the bartender. Some make my cosmos great and some taste like cranberry juice. I really hate that. We had a great bartender that made our first drinks and then the bartenders switched and I got a juice drink...yuck. So we asked for another stronger, the bartender actually seemed insulted. Too bad!

http://www.latitudebarnyc.com/

Central Park Strawberry Fields

Decided to walk up to Central Park to see Strawberry fields....it was a bit hot and a bit far to walk. So I saw this and headed back home. Next time I will take the subway so I can do some more walking in the park instead!

John Lennon's Apartment and Memorial

A visit to Mr. Biggs in Hell's Kitchen

We get into the city around 9-9:30pm on Friday nights so we try to go to places near our apartment in the Hell's Kitchen area. I should have brought our dog, since Mr. Biggs is dog friendly at the outside dining area.

I had my first Honey Moon but was very disappointed, so I stuck with what I liked after that "Blue Moon".

Food was traditional good pub food. Karaoke started indoors at 10pm, may go back for that at a later time. And will be back with doggie too.

http://www.mrbiggsnewyork.com/

First Full weekend in NYC

Visited many places this first full weekend, one had such a good selection of beer (Pig N Whistle) I went back after shopping at Macy's for a quick pint.

Friday night - we get into the city pretty late, we leave our Long Island home around 8:30pm to avoid traffic. So we ended up at Landsdowne Road on 10th Avenue in Hell's Kitchen. They have a small outdoor dining area, but closes up by 11pm so we had to rush a quick dinner and beer. I did not mind since I thought it is really respectful of the restaurants in Hell's Kitchen to close up the outside areas due to noise. I stuck with an old reliable beer favorite of mine "Blue Moon" . Not sure I would rush back to this restaurant, it was so noisy, but hey you never know.


Saturday night we eneded up at Pig n Whistle thier Midtown location, there are a few in NYC. It is located on 36th street right off 7th Avenue. I really liked this place and it is it is not to far away from our place, so I can see going back here often. I had a couple of pints of one my new favorite beers which is Hoegarrden. I am starting to learn I love Belgium beers and I have Belgium on my top list to travel to someday!

http://www.pignwhistleon36th.com/


Sunday - Shopping at Macy's - Just to let you know if you are shopping in Macy's cellar I would avoid the bathroom there, they should be ashamed of themselves it was disgusting and out of about 10-12 stalls at least 5 were not usable. Never again! I had not been to Macy's Cellar in years and was fun to revisit.

On my way back to my apartment from Macy's I got to stop again at Pig n Whistle for a quick pint to refresh. Decided to try thier own craft brew "Pig n Whistle Ale" Loved it!!!! Thumbs up!! Looking forward to having it again someday soon!






Sunday evening a visit to Hallo Berlin (the one located on 10th Avenue & 44th Street) they also have a few locations. This one had no air conditioning inside, so there was a choice of a small area in front or a back courtyard area, no breezes available in the back courtyard. We ate in the front, and I was very happy having another one of my favorites beers "Hefeweizen" As you see I do love wheat beers! What saddened me is I was very disappointed in thier German food. I am part German and have had many home made German meals, and grew up in Glendale, Queens an area where all the German immigrants lived and years ago an abundance of German Restaurants. I grew up eating at Zum Stammtisch, and still go back.
http://www.zumstammtisch.com/


Let me add to another one of my favorites for Cupcakes! We bought some cupcakes at the Cupcake Stop truck. Red Velvet, Vanilla Almond and French toast...............Delicious!!! You can visit them at the Limelight Market place of follow them on twitter to find out where thier trucks will be that day.

And last but not least we saw a man peeing at a phone booth, someone having sex in thier car in a parking lot and a man laying on the floor that had to be lifted up by two guys....New York is going to be very interesting! Maybe the guy peeing at the phone booth was at Macy's cellars bathroom and decided to go to the clean phone booth instead!