I cannot visit this city enough to be satisfied. I just love New York, and it is even better now that I have such good friends living there! S and I went to NYC for Labor Day, not only because we were due for a visit, but also because one of my friends just finished her bar trip and wanted to see two of our other friends that lived there. We had an awesome college reunion and tried some new places in the process. Here are some reviews:
First of all, getting there and back: we took the combination of SEPTA and NJ transit to get to the city. The schedules are online at the NJ Transit website and we bought the tickets at 30th street station for both legs of the trip. It was super easy and not overly crowded. It cost about $24 each for one-way tickets. On the way back, we took MegaBus. I have had less-than-ideal experiences with them in the past, but that was mostly due to my own fault. This time, we got reserved seats at a table, which also means you stand in a smaller line. The outlets did not work and the wifi/air conditioning were iffy, but all in all it was an easy trip, and it cost $42 for both of us to have the reserved seats.
For dinner the first night, we ate at Bistango. My friends were good and did their research ahead of time to find me a great gluten-free restaurant, and this one fit the bill! Three of our meals were gluten-free even without them asking for that, so I tried all three of those. I got the spinach ravioli, one friend got the cheese and artichoke tortellini, and the third friend got the steak (it might have been called carne something). I enjoyed all three, but liked my order the best :) Then we split a red velvet cake and an apple tart for dessert, which were so good.
We went to some bars in the East Village after that, but I felt sort of ambivalent about all of those -- what made the night enjoyable was the company, not anything in particular that the bars did.
For lunch the next day, we stopped by Mozarellis to pick up something gluten-free for me, then got some cheese, fruit, and chips and made a picnic in Central Park. Mozarelli's only serves pizza on weekends, and did not open at the time they told us when we called (because it was not posted anywhere). I had been looking forward to getting a wrap, but the pizza selection was alright, for a gluten free place. It was a little soggier than I expected, being that it was just made, but it was certainly better than some places. I'd give it a B.
We went to watch the Carolina game at Slattery's midtown. This is the first game watch they had there. Carolina's General Alumni Association always does a good job organizing the game watches, so they had buttons and stickers for everyone, the blue cups from He's Not Here in Chapel Hill, and even a raffle at halftime. However, we only had the bottom floor of the bar, probably due to a low expected attendance, being the first football game. That made it hard for us to find a table for everyone though, even though my friend emailed ahead and asked to reserve one. They also had a DJ who really took away from the experience more than he added. I enjoyed that they played some of the Carolina marching band music, but he also played music way-too-loudly on the commercials, I could not hear the actual game commentary in the bar, and he awkwardly tried to start cheers when they should really just be started organically by the actual game watchers. As a small note, the song he played after touchdowns was Here Comes Carolina, not the real fight song. He redeemed himself with the victory song, the alma mater, and the fight song after the game, but overall I am glad that Philly does not have an equivalent person.
After Slattery's we went to Brother Jimmy's to watch some of the Wisconsin game. I have been here many times, obviously, and still enjoy going there. We got nachos and a the bucket of wings. They have a gf menu, so we just took the beans off of the nachos to make them gf and the wings were fine as is. I thought both were delicious. I went to bed fairly early that night after staying out too late the night before.
On Sunday, we started with a "boozy brunch" at the Crooked Knife. I liked the mimosas much more than the bloody marys here, after we tried both. I liked my omelette, but after going through this whole thing with the waitress about how I was gluten intolerant and asking about the sauce that the mushrooms were cooked in, she brought it out to me with toast on top! I had to send it back, even though I hate doing that, and in the process I clumsily spilled my drink on my friend's food, so she had to get a new plate too! After all the fuss, brunch turned out really well and I think everyone enjoyed their food. If you are gluten intolerant, make sure to specify that you do not want toast on the omelette, even though it isn't listed. I got the "cured" omelette, and the chef confirmed (in an Irish accent, I was told) that the brandied mushrooms were cooked in pure brandy).
We went to the Bohemian Beer Garden after that, which was fun, but really does not know gluten free at all. I had Magner's cider and did not eat the nachos that were ordered, because the chili is apparently not gluten-free. I would have ordered something else, but I got the sense that they did not know anything about gluten, and did not want to deal with cross-contamination.
Our final dinner was at Wave Thai. WOW, what amazing food! I had the peanut curry, which the waitress confirmed to be gf, and most others got pad thai. Everyone was blown away with how good it was. If you venture into Astoria, definitely check this place out!
Before leaving on Monday, we went to Big Daddy's. They have gluten-free pancakes so I had the bacon cakes, which I have had before there. They are a little dry, but it is nothing that cannot be fixed with a little more syrup :)
Another great trip to NYC in the books!
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