September 2020
New York City
As our friends out East consider how to rebuild their businesses and search for the new normal, I wanted to offer a little love letter to New York City; it holds a very special place in our hearts…it’s where we met. Any trip to New York for us is incomplete without a few basic needs: a visit to Per Se to say hello being the most obvious. Sometimes it’s dinner, sometimes just a drink or a peek inside but it’s a touchstone for sure.
Balthazar. A must. Shaun absolutely has to have a French Onion Soup and Frites at the bar. I love Balthazar not only because it’s an institution but because it’s perfect for rosé on a hot summer day, breakfast on a cold fall morning or a late night chicken paillard on a snowy night in February. Consistent and timeless.
Madison Square Park is a great place for a quick stroll mid-day. (And the original Shake Shack is there…)
The King Cole Bar at the St. Regis is a legend and a very “grown up” spot. Beautiful mural, great classic cocktails in a really throwback setting. A good place for either a business meeting or a pre-dinner martini. Your choice.
I love to go into Porto Rico Importing Co. in the West Village and check out the coffees and loose leaf teas. Great stocking stuffers, hostess gifts, etc. And the smells are divine…
Kitchen Arts and Letters is a great stop. They have an incredible inventory of culinary works from back issues of Art Culinaire to current cookbooks.
Blue Ribbon is an essential stop for any hospitality worker; open 4:00pm-4:00am and they have beautiful seafood towers, tasty fried chicken and well executed bone marrow.
The best thing about New York is that you can walk and walk…the same way you can in Paris…and find yourself in a great neighborhood with little cafés, bookstores and a multitude of places to tuck into for a few minutes, sip a wine and watch the city go by. The world is very uncertain at present. Shaun and I push every day alongside our colleagues in the hopes that all of us will be back, better than ever. Travel enriches each and every one of us in a multitude of ways.
Here’s to you, New York…stay strong and know we’ll be there when the dust settles to celebrate you the way you deserve.