NYC & Our 1 Year Anniversary

February 23, 2018 | Lex Daddio

Happy Friday! I wanted to share our trip to NYC with you all. We went up to Long Island for one of my best friend’s weddings, which was beautiful & wonderful in every way. We have a lot of family friends in LI, so we’ve been up there multiple times and love it 🙂

Our 1 year anniversary was Sunday (Feb. 18), so we decided to take a train into NYC for a couple days to celebrate! We kept to ourselves & made it pretty low key so we could get some quality time together, especially since it’s one of our last trips as the 2 of us!

We took the train in on Sunday, got in around 1pm, checked into our hotel, and started moving! We stayed at the Hilton Times Square (we had points to use here, which is why we did!) Typically, I’d prefer to stay in the West or East Village! We’ve been to NYC so many times, that we don’t love visiting Times Square, because it’s so crowded. I haven’t seen it in awhile though, so it was fun to see!

A friend of ours used to live in NYC, and we basically have the same tastebuds, so she sent Thomas & I the BEST list of everywhere to eat! Actually, I’ll add the list at the end for you guys so if you ever need suggestions 🙂 So we pretty much went with most of her suggestions. starting out with Meme Mediterranean for lunch! Unfortunately, it was the brunch menu, and I REALLY wanted lunch.

Also, half of the menu items I wanted to try weren’t on there since it was brunch so I was disappointed haha. But my food was still good, it just wasn’t what I had in mind! Thomas loved his, though. I got the chopped greek salad with chicken and extra pita, and Thomas got the chicken kabob and octopus. It was about 3pm so we didn’t want to eat too heavy before dinner! The atmosphere was SUPER cute and right up my alley, so I’d definitely go back to try their actual menu!

Meme was in the West Village so we ended up walking around A LOT after lunch! It was cold, but not too bad and the skies were a gorgeous blue! We lucked out on weather for sure. We strolled, explored, and then went back to the hotel to get checked into our room, organized, and settled in. We rested for a bit, changed our clothes, and headed out. We picked up cappuccinos from Bluestone Lane (luckily next store to our hotel). We’ve been here to eat before and it was delicious. But their cappuccinos are another level. I am forever changed and might be a cappuccino snob now, haha!

We headed to get our names down at Rubirosa. We went here 2 years ago, and have talked about it since, it’s one of our favorites! Also, it’s ALWAYS packed. We put our names down at 6:30 and had a 2 hour wait. We knew we’d have to wait, so we walked across the street to The Grey Dog and Thomas got a beer & we hung out for a bit. After we stayed there for about an hour, we decided to keep walking around. The area around Rubirosa has lots of shops so we strolled around, popped into some shops, and then it was time for dinner and we were SO READY.

Rubirosa is an Italian restaurant, but they’re known for their pizza (their vodka one is super popular). We started with one of their specials, it was a kale salad and I NEED to recreate it at home! It was baby kale, artichokes, parmesan, and green goddess dressing. So simple, but they absolutely nailed it! We were in love and then Thomas got broccoli rabe. I always want to love this dish, but I can’t handle the bitterness so I let him enjoy that. Then we ordered a small pizza (which was big haha): half tye-dye (which is their vodka pizza with the addition of tomatoes and pesto) and then the supreme. OH MY GOODNESS, just as amazing as I remember! I loved the tye-dye and I had never had the supreme, but let me tell you, it might have won me over. Close call, but if you’re ever in NYC, you should definitely go here! Then we got dessert and I’m actually still dreaming about it. We ordered the flourless chocolate cake with vanilla gelato. Unreal. The cake melted on your spoon and was like a mix of a brownie and fudge and I just have no words! I’d happily celebrate my anniversary with pizza the rest of my life!

On Saturday morning, we woke up, got ready and picked up cappuccinos from Bluestone. See that on the corner, that’s cocoa powder and it’s a game changer!! We took our coffees to go and walked 40 minutes to Bubby’s. It was such a nice walk, and made me realize I do not walk enough at home! Ah, I love walking so much. I really feel like it’s the best exercise! Especially for baby, but I was getting super tight and crampy in my lower belly, which I was told is normal but I had to stop a lot or slow down. Still worth every minute.

We got to Bubby’s and luckily there was no wait, we sat right down and I ordered us immune booster shots. One, because they sounded delicious and two, because most of my family was getting sick and we were not letting that come into ours! The shots were: orange juice, lemon juice, ginger, turmeric, cayenne, & honey. I want one of these every single day, made me feel so good. Then, I couldn’t help it. I had to order the avocado toast haha, I did mine with a medium fried egg & I got use a side of bacon. Thomas got an omelet with the

potatoes. Mine was delicious and I love it! The bread was SO thick, they loaded on the avocado, and I loved the touch of goat cheese. I will say, the guy next to me ordered pancakes and I’ve never seen better looking pancakes in my life. I need those next time, also I might have to come back to this place multiple times in my life!

After that, we walked along the water, checked out the highline (which we’ve walked before), and just strolled around the town. Seriously, my favorite things to do when visiting is walk the city! It’s the best way to explore in my opinion. I had to sit down and take some breaks because pregnant mama was tired! We walked through the Chelsea Market, arounds some shops, and then we were honestly exhausted. Even Thomas said he needed to sit down. We had walked 5 miles so far and it was only like 12:30pm so our legs needed rest. We took a cab over to Christopher Street where my friend used to live & I remembered there was a super cute plate over there called Jeffrey’s Grocery. We sat at the bar, Thomas got a beer and I got a decaf cappuccino. I usually stick to one coffee a day and if I do 2 the second one is decaf. We sat there for awhile and all I wanted for lunch was a slice of Joe’s pizza. This was somewhere I was dying to go, but Thomas wanted a bahn mi and there were really far from each other.

We were too tired to do both so we decided on burgers. We went to Bareburger, which is an all organic burger place and it was perfect. I got the American Burger (beef with lettuce, tomato, pickles, ketchup, and mustard) and sweet potato fries. Gosh, the fries were GOOD! Thomas got some bison burger with jalapeno and some fancy things and he was so happy! We were pretty full and exhausted and decided we needed to just relax. We had been going, going, going between leaving at 5am on Friday and all the wedding festivities that we were straight tired. We headed back to the hotel and Thomas ended up napping. This is the view from our room, it was so pretty! I read my book, played on Instagram, and actually planned out our next trip! We’re heading to Charleston the first weekend of March for another friends wedding! I lived in Charleston for a couple months & I loved it, but Thomas has never been so I’m super excited to show him around!

Once we finally regrouped, we got ourselves together and headed back out for some more

walking and then ended up walking to dinner. A restaurant invited us to try their menu, so we were excited to try it out. It was called Tarallucci e Vino and it was cute! Thomas had a great glass of Montepulciano wine and I enjoyed some sips too 🙂 We started with the burrata (which I felt like needed some more flavor) and the arugula salad (which was pretty good). For dinner, I got the pasta with shrimp, peas, parm, salt & pepper and it was fabulous! Actually SO GOOD. Thomas got scallops with roasted veggies and his was delicious too. We ended the meal with a mini cheesecake with berries and it was tasty. Our dinner lasted about 2-2.5 hours, which is just how I like it. I’m all about extended dinners, because it’s all about the atmosphere, experience, and conversation to me, and obviously the food! After that, we walked home and through Times Square to our hotel and watched some of the Olympics and passed out!

We both slept so hard, our bed was so dang comfortable. I need that bed at home! We woke up early Tuesday, because we were meeting one of my best friends from college for breakfast before we headed home. We grabbed our last cappuccino from Bluestone Lane and then went to Black Seed Bagels, which we’ve been to before and loved. It was still really good, but after having 3 other bagels in NY, I realized they weren’t my favorite. However, I officially figured out my favorite bagel combo: everything bagel (not toasted) with scallion cream cheese and avocado. MAGIC. Try it if you haven’t!

After that, I made Thomas walk with me to The Donut Pub. I really wanted to pick one up for our train ride home since we didn’t make it earlier. I got a blueberry cake donut, and Thomas got a jelly. Honestly, one of the best donuts I’ve had. I loved every bite and was so thankful to have it on the train even though Thomas was trying to steal half since he ate his earlier. As much as I love him, I couldn’t offer more than a bite. I mean, don’t try to take a donut from a pregnant woman!

We headed back to our hotel to get packed up, and then we walked to Sweetgreen to grab salads for the train. This girl can’t last 6 hours without substance so it was necessary! We also don’t have a Sweetgreen at home, and I love it. Had to use it as an opportunity to get it. I got the kale caesar (my FAV) and Thomas loves the rad thai. Then we walked to the train station. We actually had to run at one point with all our luggage we literally made it onto our train at 11:01am and it left at 11:02am. SO THANKFUL we made it! I love taking the train, I think it’s SO convenient, so comfortable and it’s nice because you don’t have to worry about driving or traffic or anything. They have WiFi, so we were both able to get work done & I read a lot of my book, which I’m loving. I’m currently reading The Nightingale and I’m huge fan!

Overall, it was such a great trip! I would have loved to do SO MUCH more, eat at so many other places, and see so many people! But, it was so nice and I’m thankful for such a memorable trip! I can’t believe we’re only 15 weeks away from meeting our baby boy! Time flies, but soaking up every minute with just Thomas & I for now.

Going to NYC was a great way to spend our anniversary and I’m grateful we were able to! Also, I’m going to leave a list of recommendations for you all that my friend sent me! Hope they help if you ever list.

Brunch Ideas:

-Boucherie (French)

-Jack’s Wife Frieda (American)

-Extra Virgin (American)

-Bubby’s (American)

-Root& Bone (Southern)

Lunch/Dinner:

-Meme (Mediterranean)

-Bar Piti (Italian)

-Uncle Boons (Thai)

-Ippudo (Ramen)

-Tamarind Tribeca (Indian)