Eating New York - day 2

Day two of eating in New York had a lot more restaurants and pictures to talk about, so I will try and keep it condensed. It was Sunday, so the day started off with brunch in Brooklyn. Isabelle and I went out to a vegetarian/vegan restaurant called Phoebe's right near the apartment. The entrance is very nondescript but beside the entrance there is a door that looks like this:

We both wanted egg dishes, but they informed us that they weren't doing eggs that morning, so we had to go for grilled cheeses instead.

I got a grilled cheese on ciabatta bread with monterrey jack cheese and olive tapenade. Isabelle had the grilled cheese with brie and green apples on focaccia. They were big sandwiches, but they were both good. I loved my olive tapenade but wished my cheese was more melted. Also, notice that we are drinking orange juice, those are actually incredibly priced mimosas. We were shocked by how affordable they were and thus compelled to order them, plus it seemed like a brunchy thing to have since we were cheated out of having eggs. This was a cute little restaurant and the food was good, but one of the things I liked the most was actually looking out the window a the various people strolling by through the neighborhood, it was an interesting mix.

Later, when Michael got off work, he came to meet me and we went to have dinner in the city. We decided on Nooch in Chelsea.

It seemed like everyone around us had brightly colored cocktails, so we decided to order some of our own. I think Michael's was dragon fruit (?) and mine was a bellini cocktail. I had been wanting to try a bellini for a long time, so I was excited that they had one on the menu. For those unfamiliar this drink has peach puree in it, and mine actually had a peach slice in the bottom as well. Even though the color wasn't as pretty as Michael's, I enjoyed it.

For dinner he got noodles with beef and I got roasted duck curry with lychee fruit.

I always love duck, so it seemed like an obvious choice, but the lychee fruit was very exciting. Having never had it before, I wasn't even sure what it looked like, so I thought they were onions at first. So, you can imagine my surprise when I tried one, they were sweet and juicy, and I think Michael was amused by my face. The curry was served with a small salad and a mound of rice, so it was a nice little meal, I was satisfied.


Although I thought this was an enjoyable meal, I was especially excited by the promise of coffee and dessert, so we finished up here and went for a stroll. We knew we had arrived when we reached Caffe Rafaella in the West Village.

This was a cute little place with big comfy chairs inside and ample seating outside on the sidewalk as well. Because the weather was absolutely amazing and we wanted to take advantage of it, we opted to sit outside. They had a great dessert menu with lots of great sounding choices, so we each picked one and prepared to indulge.

Michael had a cafe latte and the profiteroles, which I've never had before, but they are members of the cream puff family.

I had something that I believe was called chocolate, pecan, caramel and a chai latte. The menu didn't say exactly what my dessert would be, so I wasn't sure if it was cake or pie or what but in the end it seemed like a brownie with chocolate and toffee and pecans and caramel on top, it was really good. Again though, I was somehow the one with the huge dessert, so Michael had to help me, but fortunately he liked it too.

I really loved sitting outside at the end of October enjoying a dessert with Michael in New York City, it was a charming experience. Afterwards we went to a Halloween party at an amazing apartment in Washington Heights, but I really enjoyed my last evening in New York.