NYC: weekend

The weekend was a blur of activity, so I'll just quickly list the highlights.

Friday:
The guys arrived at 7am, and we had to get up to open the door. After work, we went to dinner at Mesa Grill (Bobby Flay's restaurant), and then had dessert with friends at the Cafe Lalo, on the Upper West Side.

Saturday:
We spent the morning/afternoon with some friends who live on the Lower East Side. They took us to the Clinton Street Baking Company for brunch, which was very good, but I'm not sure if it was worth the hour and a half wait. We also stopped by Economy Candy, which stocks all the kinds of candy I forgot about, that I used to eat as a kid. I bought some Pop Rocks and Dip Sticks and resisted the bulk gummy candy. We had dinner at Gramercy Tavern (crab meat appetizer, lamb entree, and hazelnut chocolate dessert) and then wound up the evening with karaoke in Flushing.

Sunday:
Some friends from Boston were in town, so we met up with them at Grand Central, before heading over to the 2nd Avenue Deli, for pastrami, corned beef, and some really yummy kimchi-like cabbage stuff. We saw the 7pm showing of Avenue Q (very Muppets meets South Park; I would highly recommend it to anyone under thirty) and then had dinner at Spice (the University Place location this time). I watched most of Pulp Fiction on Showtime before giving in to exhaustion.

Monday:
I was actually surprised at the number of stores that were closed due to Memorial Day; I'd gotten used to everything being open all the time. Chinatown, of course, was open for business, so we had lunch at Dim Sum a Go Go (delicious duck dumplings), walked around Little Italy and parts of the Village, before deciding on Do Hwa (Korean) for dinner. Afterwards, another friend came to visit at our apartment; coincidentally she lives only two blocks away.

Tuesday:
We had to leave for the airport in the mid-afternoon, so I left work at lunch, and we hit White Castle (of Harold & Kumar fame) and Gray's Papaya before heading back to the apartment to pack. We were treated to true New York-style gridlock during our hour and fifteen minute ride to JFK, before boarding our flight home.

New York was a blast, but I am glad to be back.