My brother, Quito-okay okay now there is a photo of you – was more of a New York foodie compared to us.  His best friend Carey took him to all the good places!  

Quito was trying to make me jealous by sending photos of his meal at the SHAKE SHACK.  He was telling us to go.   We attempted to go there the day before we left but the traffic was heavy and we were already pressed for time.  Definitely a reason to go back to New York!!! 

“It’s a double patty with portobello mushroom in the middle with cheese oozing out of your ears with lots of dressing! Who cares if the line is long , the calories are deadly! This is something you must eat before you die! “

Thanks Louele for letting me use your photos!  Next time bring me with you and don’t just show me photos!  🙂 

 website:  Shake Shack

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Whenever we go to New York, we always look forward to seeing our friend, Jerome, one of the best lawyers in town!  Aside from the fact that he is our good friend and we enjoy being with him, we look forward to our meal together because Jerome always takes us to good restaurants in the city.  

This year, he took us to a very, very interesting restaurant concept.  Aside from the great food, it had a unique concept.  This was my most favorite restaurant experience this trip, Thanks to Jerome! Excellent food, excellent ambience, excellent conversation with an excellent lawyer and friend! 

Every season, the restaurant changes its interiors and its menu.  We were there in summertime so it is PARK AVENUE SUMMER.

It is in Park Avenue and owned by the Smith and Wollensky group. 

Michael Stillman joined forces with award-winning design firm AvroKO (Public, Stanton Social) on the concept and all aspects of architecture, design, and graphics of the restaurant. All physical components for the four Park Avenue projects were born from one key necessity: transformability. To effectively change both the mood and the architectural details of the space, several systems of receptacles were devised throughout the restaurant. Custom steel wall frames surround the space and were built to accept differing seasonal panels. These panels not only have unique materials for each season, ranging from wood, to porcelain, to mirror, but also have unique architectural details that affect the style of the space overall. AvroKO endeavored to design a space with a sense of discovery, rather than focus on creating stereotypical, physical manifestations of a &quote;season.&quote; This led to using Captain James Cook’s explorative travels as a loose design reference. The designers researched the regions he had visited in each of his major expeditions as a way of framing each season. 

SPRING 

SUMMER 

AUTUMN 

WINTER 

Fried Ipswich Oysters and Jersey Shore sauces 

Caprese Ravioli

Yellow Tomato Coulis 

Soft Shell Crab, Avocado and Strawberry 

Grilled Filet Mignon 

Fire Roasted Lamb Chops Smoked Cherries

YUMMY! Lamb Chops are among my favorite dishes and this one was EXCELLENT!!!

Fried Chicken and Waffle Sandwich  

Side dishes- crispy artichokes and french fries! YUMMY!!! 

The Chocolate Cube – Looks like a sculpture! and very yummy!

Summer Berries ( my favorite ) Goat Cheese Mousse, Lemon, Thyme and honey- YUMMY!!! and what a presentation! A WORK OF ART! 

website:  Park Avenue Summer 

A recommendation from my brother, Quito.  He had just eaten here with his friends and told us to go for brunch too.  I love fancy and fun menus! Those highlighted in red are the bestsellers of the house so we just followed and ordered mostly the red items. What a lovely experience!

Norma’s Eggs Benedict 

Artychoked Benedict with truffle porcini sauce- Mom’s order because she loves Eggs Benedict and truffle! – Yummy!

Chocolate Hazelnut Fruit Filled Crepes 

Flat As A Pancake Crabcake

Heart2Heart’s only foie gras dish this trip -YUMMY!!  There was a generous amount of foie gras

Foie Gras Brioche French Toast with Asparagus and mushrooms

Potato Pancakes

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A year ago, Chipotle was just a name we were reading about and a name on the stock market. Finally, we get to try what everyone is raving about and why the stock price was going up.  James, the Taco Bell lover,  was so insistent on going to Chipotle and the kids thought they would not like it and that it was not their type…. but they liked it!

Behind the counter is a set up like this and what is nice is that you can tell them what you want in your taco or burrito. You make your own.  All ingredients are FRESH and as Steve mentioned, BETTER SOURCES OF INGREDIENTS.    Which explains its price and maybe why they call it GOURMET.

The lines can be long so you might get pressured when you get to the counter, so better to know already what you want before going to the counter so you do not get harassed.  We did not know what we wanted, so they helped us a bit- good thing it was still good!  🙂 So if you will notice, what we ordered, they all look almost the same in terms of filling.

The orders come in 3 pcs.  It is around US$ 7.00+ for 3 pcs. which I think is double the price for 3 Taco Bell tacos.  We tried the crispy taco and the soft taco. And in those 3 pcs. you can choose different fillings for each.

We also tried the burrito bowl!

and of course the chips for Javier! It came in a brown paper bag!

You can even just fax in your order so you do not need to line up: 

Photos taken with an iPhone – It is so hard to bring my big and heavy camera all over the city 🙂 so I use James’ iPhone

Some materials taken from Chipotle’s website:  Chipotle 

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Around 2 blocks away from Fr. Erno’s chapel,  is this nice Spanish store, Despaña. They sell products from Spain.   

CHEESE!!!!!

website:  Despaña 

We also celebrated Daddy’s birthday in one of our favorite restaurants in New York.  Dad tries to avoid beef but we figured he can treat himself on his birthday.  We used to go to Peter Luger across the bridge in Brooklyn,  but ever since Wolfgang’s Steakhouse opened in the city, we have been going there.  They serve the same exact thing so it is more convenient.   

Wolfgang is owned by the former maitre’ d of Peter Luger.

Their bread is so good!!! I do not know what they call it.  But we pour some of the steak sauce on the bread plate and dip the bread on the sauce and it is so good!   

Sizzling Canadian Bacon – YUMMY!!  Order this for appetizer!   

THE STEAK!!!! This is the GOOD FOR 3 portion. 

It is burnt on the outside but pink on the inside.  YUMMY!  Then if you want to cook the center a little more, just put it on the plate which is very hot and cooks the steak a bit more.  

For the first time we tried their rib eye and it was VERY GOOD too!!!!! 

Make sure to order the creamed spinach and the German potatoes on the side!!! 

We ordered so many desserts to share – the SCHLAG ( homemade whipped cream ) IS SO YUMMY!!! 

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