One of my dearest friends, Ashley, was in town this weekend to celebrate her 25th birthday, and celebrate we did. We ate, drank and danced our way through this city, and it was fabulous! As a quick side note, completely unrelated to food- I want to give a shout out to Housing Works Thrift Shop. We stopped in to do some browsing and left with great finds, including a HOBO International clutch and gorgeous $30 Stuart Weitzman heels (which Ashley promptly wore out that night for her bday dinner). They had lots of good stuff at incredible prices- totally worth the trip!
Speaking of birthday dinners, we went to The Park on Saturday night to kick off the celebration. The place had a superb ambience- perfect lighting and interesting yet subtle decor- and equally good food. We started with fried calamari and a scallop ceviche, which was my favorite dish of the night. I ordered a warm French lentil and arugula salad as my entree and was pleasantly surprised by the heartiness and rich flavor of the dish. I am hoping to recreate it at home sometime soon. Three of my dinner mates ordered the sea bass, which came with a warm white bean and tomato salad and was also scrumptious. We had a pitcher of sangria as well. It was alright, but I should have just ordered a cocktail considering I like my drinks to be a little more boozy (don't judge!).
As much as we loved our meal, we did have one little issue with restaurant. A guy friend was coming to meet us to have an after dinner drink before heading to the bars and was not allowed in the restaurant due to his attire. Apparently, since The Park turns into a bar after a certain time, a "business casual" dress code is strictly enforced...no plain white tees and jeans allowed! However, I have heard that the penthouse is a great place to spend a night and am anxious to go back (properly dressed, of course) and test it out.
After dinner, we ventured to Brass Monkey followed by 675 Bar. I enjoyed Brass Monkey, but the rooftop section filled up quickly, leaving us standing between the bar and the bathrooms. Not terrible, but nothing special either. 675 Bar is the first bar I went to in the city, so it holds a special place in my cocktail loving heart. It tends to draw a strange mixture of people- some middle-aged business men, some crazy party girls and some people who just don't know where else to go- but if you are there with your own group of friends, you will have fun. I like it because it has nice exposed brick walls and little alcoves along one side of the room where patrons can sit and play games (games always make a place more endearing, don't you think?). Drinks are a bit expensive at $12 a pop, but there is usually a crowd of people dancing and some interesting people watching to be done.
We had brunch on Sunday morning, but I am saving that for another post. Happy Eating!
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