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Dinner @ Las Halles

Last night, we ate dinner at Anthony Bourdain’s restaurant, Brasserie Las Halles, in the Flatiron District. The menu consisted of relatively simple, straightforward French bistro fare. And the ambiance matched–it could have been airlifted in from Paris and dropped in the middle of Manhattan.

Since the weather was perfect, we opted for a sidewalk table on Park Avenue. We enjoyed al fresco dining and also got a show from the city’s wandering crazies (such as the guy who was cursing at someone only he could see… apparently he no longer wanted to be imaginary friends). I guess that’s life in the big city…

Back to dinner: Libby started out with the melted brie on toast topped with honey and cracked black pepper (a bit sweet for me, but she loved it). I had the classic Onion Soup (a very respectable version and one of my all-time favorite foods). For her main, Libby opted for a ham and cheese quiche (excellent). I enjoyed the steak frites, specifically a skirt steak (good beefy flavor) with a blue cheese sauce. For our sweet, we split a creme brûlée.

Overall, while the food wasn’t wildly creative or ultra sophisticated, it was honest and good. Better still, Las Halles is a bargain for NYC: $85 for two people, three courses w/ drinks (a nice Rhone wine by the glass). Excellent quality-price ratio. Highly recommended.

To Brooklyn and back…

This morning we took the subway to Brooklyn and visited the Brooklyn Museum. This was our first visit to the museum, and we were favorably impressed. Exhibitions featured Andy Warhol, Kiki Smith, and the winner from the television series Work of Art.

The Warhol exhibition featured works from the last decade of his life–a very interesting period that demonstrated an expansion of his practice and application of his techniques beyond his famous Pop art of the 60s. An example is below… silk screening to create a work akin to earlier abstract expressionist paintings. We skipped the Kiki Smith show, as we’d seen it in Barcelona about 18 months ago. We also enjoyed seeing Abdi’s work from Work of Art, as we’d closely followed the show this season.

After the museum, we traveled back to Manhattan and hung out in Greenwich Village for a while. We liked the feel of the Village. And, we enjoyed visiting NYU.

Tonight we’re having dinner at Brasserie Las Halles, Anthony Bourdain’s French bistro.

La Cage Aux Folles

Tonight we headed to the TKTS booth to see what tickets we could pick up at a good rate. We arrived in Times Square around 6:30, checked the board (lots of options), and went with the Tony winning La Cage Aux Folles, starring Kelsey Grammer and Douglas Hodge. The seats from TKTS were decent and (relatively speaking) cheap at a mere $47 per.

To kill some time we visited the mammoth Toys ‘r Us in Times Square. I have to say, I generally hate Times Square, but I really like this mega store every time I’ve visited it. We can’t wait until Emerson is old enough to enjoy kid friendly stuff in NYC. I know we’ll have a blast bringing her here!

Anyway, back to the show… it was very good, though not great. Grammer and Hodges were both exceptional and seemed to really be enjoying the experience on stage. A fun night!

Lunch @ DBGB

At the recommendation of our hood friend, Dick, we had lunch this afternoon at Daniel Boulud’s gastro pub in NoHo. It’s known for its sausages. Very good! It also has an impressive beer and wine list. Dessert was also great — a blueberry and lemon cornbread w/ carmel corn ice cream. Excellent!

See for yourself…

Out of the frying pan…

We’re at the airport to fly to New York for the weekend. The irony: we’re leaving our home in Florida (a semi-tropical locale in the midst of hurricane season) to go to New York just in time for the arrival of Hurricane Earl. How’s that for timing? :-)

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