New York, New York

I went to New York last week for an extra long holiday weekend.  I love visiting New York and I really like the premium service (p.s.) flights that United flies between JFK and the West Coast.  Coach is entirely Economy Plus with electrical outlets.  I have sat back there a few times.  But my favorite of all domestic flights is to sit in Business Class in the Exit Row 9.  There is about 9 feet of open space in front of you and the food service is the equivalent of Business Class on an international flight (including ice cream sundaes for dessert).  Also, they pass out the personal digital video players if you want to use one.  And every seat has a standard 110V outlet.

New York visits usually consist of shopping (mandatory trips to Century 21 and to Barney's, as well as Filene's Basement), eating (discussed below), visiting with friends and relatives, and theatre.  This trip was a little lighter on the shopping and the theatre, but heavy on the food.

New food places visited:  Eataly, next to Madison Square Park is a recently-opened center for Italian cuisine -- kind of maze-like and crazy inside, but lots of food outlets and food purveyors, 4 Food  is a higher-tech burger place (iPads for surfing on some of the tables) that serves a ring-like burger (different choices), with various options for dressing it up, located at 40th and Madison Ave.  Baked by Melissa is a mini-muffin (and by mini, I mean small storefront and tiny muffins) place that just sells muffins of various flavor combinations.  I went to the one on 14th St. near Union Square.

Places visited before that I returned to:  Chickalicious is a great dessert bar, located on East 10th St and 2nd Ave., that I always try to go to at least once a visit (I went twice).  The menu always changes and there is always something new to try.  Il Laboratorio Del Gelato, on Orchard Street in the Lower East Side, has my favorite pistachio gelato and they even had it this time (flavors vary daily).  The Meatball Shop, also in the Lower East Side, has a variety of meatballs to choose from and serves them in a variety of ways.  Tea and Sympathy is a great little place on Greenwich Ave. to have an authentic (and very filling) English afternoon tea.  Brgr is another cooked-to-order burger place where you can pick up a quick meal (I tried making my own combo this time of a turkey and veggie patties in the burger).  It can be found on 7th Ave across from the Fashion Institute of Technology.  I also visited a just-opened new location for Zen Palate, a nice Asian-style vegetarian restaurant.  They are now back in the Union Square area on 18th St. between Park and Irving.