New York City: Articles

Jan

31

Manhattan’s Urban Winery

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Finally made it to City Winery in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood on Sunday after reading about them for several years! What a cool spot…part winery (they make wine on-site), part restaurant/wine bar, part concert venue.

We stopped into The Barrel Room, a tasting room and 30-seat restaurant, within this huge facility for some wine and apps. They feature eleven wines on tap (very cool!) made right in the facility pumped up from the cellar downstairs. No bottles, no labels, no added sulfites! Rather than bottling all of their wines, winemaker French David Lecomte, puts the finished wines into stainless steel kegs. After every pour, their tap system preserves the wine with a thin layer of argon gas, keeping every pour fresh with not waste. We also had some great bites to go with the wine. Our two favorites wines after tasting most of them…

Sohovignon Blanc 2010

  • Grape Variety: Sauvignon Blanc organically grown from Windrem Vineyard, Lake County, CA
  • Aroma: Bright, melon
  • Taste: Lively, bright, notes of pineapple, kiwi and melon
  • My thoughts: Love the name, a nod to SoHo :) Stainless steel aging gave it a great crispness and enhanced the fruit notes. Also bought a bottle to bring home.

Petit Syrah 2010

  • Grape Variety: 100% Petit Syrah from Vino con Brio, Lido, CA
  • Aroma: Raspberries, vanilla
  • Taste: Dark fruit of black raspberries and plums rounded with sweet vanilla oak notes
  • My thoughts: Nice round dark fruit wine with several layers and hints of vanilla

The even cooler thing about City Winery is YOU can make your very own wine here! Through their “Barrel Ownership” program, members pick their grapes, participate in the crush, pick their barrels for aging (French or American oak), work with City Winery’s winemaking team through its development, pull samples for tasting as it matures (from six to twenty-four months), blend if necessary, then chose bottle style, closure and design their label. Grape selection includes Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Riesling, Roussane, Syrah, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Merlot from some of the finest vineyards in the U.S. (California, Oregon and New York), Chile and Argentina. Membership starts at Barrel Share (36 bottles for $1,800) and goes up to Corporate Barrel Owner (252 bottles for $12,000).

City Winery also is a concert venue (where you can also have dinner), has private event space, offers wine tasting classes and now offers tours of the facility.

Check it out next time you’re in SoHo. Cheers to wine in the city!

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Feb

24

EATinerari in Italy

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Found this really cool thing when we were at Eataly on our trip to New York City last week (the Italian marketplace, cafe, restaurants, bar founded in Turin with locations in Italy and Japan)… an EATinerari.

Right before you exit The Market check-out area onto 23rd Street, there’s a rather non-descript display of these boxes. Took a quick picture, as I didn’t have time to look further, so I could check it out when I got home.

Turns out this cute little box is “1 box = 1 trip = 1 free gift”…a one day prepaid itinerary with the aim of discovering where EATALY products come from. Cool!

There are 5 Bella Italia EATinterari‘s in the box to chose from…

  1. A Day Around Lunga: Tour the vineyards of Barolo
  2. Emilia Excellence: Understand how artisanal prosciutto and parmigiano are made
  3. Excellence Beers and Noble Wines: From a modern microbrewery to an old cellar
  4. Oliver ROI: See how the best olive oil is made
  5. The Tradition of the Tuscany Countryside: Wine tasting in Chianti

Eataly works with Liberi Tutti, a network of travel agencies based in Turin (home of the original Eataly), for details and booking. There are more EATinerari’s available on the Italian site (note I was having trouble calling up any of the details on the site and many things are in Italian).

Great for yourself for your next trip to Italy or a gift for a friend going. Salute!

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Feb

19

I ♥ NY! Spa Relaxation

Spa / Wine  Written by / 0 comments

My Valentine’s gift this year… a visit to Caudalie Vinothérapie™ Spa, the New York City outpost of my dream spa and wine destination, Les Sources de Caudalie in Bordeaux, France. You can find this paradise on the fourth floor of The Plaza Hotel combining blissful spa treatments AND a luxurious wine lounge. Opened in 2008, this is a must visit for any spa and wine lover as Caudalie combines the best of what it makes from the grape… wine and its skin healing products.

Your greeted at the spa by the wonderful scents of Caudalie’s signature products and surrounded throughout by materials of a French Château like warm woods, stone, vines, fabulous grape photography. The spa offers a full range of treatments including many of their signatures. I enjoyed the Wine Maker’s Massage with Doug. It “recreates the timeless ritualistic steps of the wine-making process: Bare-hand massage techniques alternate with a rolling massage using a wine maker’s stick over the body, and gentle finger-tip pressure applications along the body’s vital energy paths. This massage, like fine wine, offers balance and brilliance.” 50 heavenly minutes!

Doug then escorted me to the lovely “French Paradox” Wine Lounge featuring the only Spa Sommelier in the world! Clifford Rames, the Caudalie Sommelier, is the best! (As is all of the staff!) He’s very approachable and will tell you all about the wines he pours. Relax for as long as you want (we were there for several hours) in the burgundy Bordeaux leather chairs and sofas surrounded by bottles of wine and French music playing in the background. Poured during our afternoon, Cliff served us glasses of Smith Haut Lafitte‘s Les Hauts De Smith White (95% Sauvignon Blanc, 5% Sauvignon Gris) and Red (55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 105% Cabernet Franc), part of Les Sources de Caudalie in Bordeaux. Both wines are delicious!

It was the perfect Valentine’s afternoon!

For more details on Caudalie, the original Vinothérapie Spa and Château Smith Haut Lafitte Winery, check out posts on our Bordeaux visit.

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Feb

18

I ♥ NY! Fabulous Eats

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With over 18,ooo restaurants to chose from in New York City, you certainly won’t go hungry! But which ones to chose…the hot new trendy spots or the tried and true classics. Here’s how we ate around the city on our trip last weekend.

MUST GO’s

* Little Italy: What’s a trip to NYC without a stop in Little Italy for dinner and dessert, especially if you love Italian! Walk Mulberry Street for tons of options. Our former favorite, Cafe Sorrento, closed so we went next door to the brother’s restaurant, Cafe Napoli (191 Hester Street). Love the ambiance and dined on yummy fried zucchini, arugula salad, rigatoni with arugula and parmigiano, penne with broccoli rabe and sausage. Paired with the house red Montepulciano and finished with espresso and a lemoncello. Divine! For dessert, none other than America’s First Espresso Bar since 1892 Ferrara Bakery & Cafe (195 Grand Street), for the BEST cannoli!

* Mamma Mexico: For Mexican and fun you have to visit this spot on the Upper West Side. We went for Valentine’s dinner so it was crazy! Table side guacamole, yummy chips, juicy margaritas, Camarones al Mojo de Ajo, and enchiladas followed by flan. YUM! The best is when its someone’s birthday…they come around literally pouring shots of tequila into everyone’s mouth. And the mariachi band is always roaming from table to table! :)

* Pastis: This French Bistro in the Meatpacking District is a hot spot! We went for late lunch on Saturday and it was hopping the whole time. Croque-Monsieur and frites were AMAZING as was the Sauvignon Blanc. Owned / founded by SoHo’s Balthazar guy.

* Burger & Barrel: This SoHo Winepub was on my list to try and so glad we went! The brown mahogany wood and leather study chair atmosphere invites you in for a seat. The nice big bar area is lined with wine bottles speaking to their great wine list, heavy on France and California, and wines on tap. Our fabulous waitress Kira had us tasting from the barrels (they’re on tap downstairs just like the beers)…Donkey & Goat 2009 Syrah from California was great (smells like bbq and tastes like fire-roasted strawberries), Red Hook 2008 Chardonnay from Long Island (nice with banana, vanilla and citrus notes), Donkey & Goat 2009 Vermentino from California (slight notes of green apple and pear but a little high in alcohol). Kira also gave us a taste of the Penner-Ash Pinot Noir that was fantastic (camp fire smell and taste of smokey caramelized creme brulee)! The food was delicious too…Sloppy Josh, Veggie Burger (double secret chick pea recipe was perfect!) and corn pudding.

* Eataly: Last but not least, my new favorite Italian spot outside of Italy. This place has it all…marketplace, cafe, restaurants, bar, housewares! Their motto hanging above the entry way…”Life is too short not to eat well.” I wrote a post in October about it and envisioned it to be much bigger… but even on just one floor at 25,000 square feet it does not disappoint. Enter on Fifth Avenue into the Lavazza Coffee Bar or on 23rd Street through the colorful produce section. We went Saturday night for dinner…first stop, put your name in for one of the many Eateries…Manzo (meat, and they take reservations), Il Pesce (fish), La Pizza & Pasta, Le Verdure (vegetables)… then stop into La Piazza, the standing table enoteca, for a wine while you browse the store (or you can enjoy their meat, fish & cheese menu). We had incredible food at La Pizza and Pasta… the special Italian flag pizza and Spaghetti al Pomodoro. We stopped back by for an espresso and to explore the marketplace late one morning (see all the pictures in the gallery). We picked up a great book on Italian wines, a few boxes of unique pasta shapes and a gorgeous stovetop espresso maker. Don’t miss the Wine Shop, separate entrance on 23rd Street, where we found our favorite Italian wine Fonterutoli and Montenegro liquer.

We also hit … South Houston, comfort food in SoHo for dinner which was fun and quite yummy; Katz’s Deli, the famous “I’ll have what she’s having” deli from When Harry Met Sally on the Lower East side; and bagels (Absolute on the Upper West).

Now I’m starving and thirsty so must run. :) Cheers!

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Feb

17

I ♥ NY!

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Just back from a fantastic ♥Valentine’s♥ trip to New York City! Its been five years since my last visit… so much has changed yet so much has stayed the same. That’s one of the many reasons its such a fabulous place to visit! We walked, ate, shopped and wined our way up, down and across town.

Our home for five days…Trump SoHo New York…the tallest structure in SoHo with AMAZING views of the city! (No looking out your window at a wall here.) Everything about the hotel is Trump big…in a good way. You’re greeted by lovely door men, who thankfully open the two-story heavy as lead doors, welcoming you into the SoHo stylish two-story lobby complete with water features and fire pits. The staff and service here are the BEST from bartenders to housekeepers. Guest rooms are enormous by NYC standards, as is the bathroom… no wonder celebrities love to stay here (apparently Fergie & Josh, Chris Brown, Nicole Richie were guests during our visit…I only saw a few ‘C’ celebs in the bar). Our room on the 31st floor overlooked the Hudson River with spectacular sunsets. Quattro, their Northern Italian restaurant, has a small but fun bar. You can also enjoy cocktails in the Library or in Kastel, the ‘cocktail ultra lounge,’ which was hopping Friday night when we went in late night for a drink.

My MUST GO’s from this adventure in NYC…

* Walk the City: We did over 20 miles…on foot is the best way to see it all (but the Subway is there when you get tired). Start at the bottom and work your way up. Cool to see the Financial District even on a sleepy Saturday (and if you’re interested the World Trade Center area offers tours of the site). Then up through Tribeca, into SoHo for great boutique shopping, across into Chinatown and up into Little Italy (yum!). Nolita (stands for North of Little Italy…that was a new one for me), just above SoHo, is an up-and-coming section with cute restaurants and more boutiques. Cross over to Greenwich Village for the Meatpacking District. Boy has this area changed! Lots of designer shops, boutiques, restaurants and the super cool Standard hotel are here. On up to Union Square, Flatiron District (what a cool building and across the street from Eataly, my new favorite place!), Times Square (very cool they’ve made it very pedestrian friendly), pass all the show homes in the Theater District and into Midtown for Fifth Avenue, Rockefeller Center until you reach The Plaza and Central Park. This trip we went as high as the Upper West Side for some yummy eats! Pick up a map or guidebook like The Little Black Book of New York to help (I used their new edition this trip).

* Shop till you drop: On a mission this weekend to find a wedding dress, but not your typical pouffy dress, I went the boutique/department store route (only to find my favorite dress I’ve found here in DC too :) ).

  • Boutiques: This is the city for boutique shopping…SoHo, Nolita and Meatpacking District offer the best and most concentration.
  • Department Stores: Bloomingdales and Lord & Taylor for the best selection no matter what you’re looking for (and most affordable). Saks and Bergdorf’s are lovely to browse (but a little pricey for me).
  • Flagships abound on Fifth, Park and Madison like BCBG, Ralph Lauren, Tiffany, you name it.
  • Eataly: New favorite restaurant & grocery store. Yum! More on that tomorrow.
  • Stationers: Kate’s Paper was always my favorite in New York but sadly they’ve closed down every location but the one in SoHo. Still lots of great paper to chose from! We stumbled upon some great spots on West 18th Street like Paper Presentation and Print Icon.
  • Books: Books of Wonder, also on West 18th Street, is an awesome kid’s book store with a selection you won’t find anywhere else. NYU’s bookstore has a fun little kid’s section.

* Fabulous Eats: 3 square meals a day plus snacks :) check out the next post for all the details.

* Spa Relaxation: What’s a weekend away without a spa visit?! This trip I visited Caudalie Vinotherapie Spa and Wine Lounge at The Plaza (you may remember their ‘mother location’ is my DREAM spa and wine destination in Bordeaux). Trump SoHo’s Spa has the only hammam in the city and looks lovely with Turkish influence but I didn’t get to partake this trip.

The gallery has some photos from the trip. And be sure to share any of your favorites herefor other readers and for my next trip! :)

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