Rainy Day in New York City

It was a rainy day in New York City! Oh, yes it was!

(Check out the Hotel Broadway Plaza sign in the background. Mal and I stayed there when we got engaged!)

I didn’t stop raining until I was about to leave!

Despite the icky weather, I had a wonderful day in the city– and both of my meetings went well!

My first meeting included lunch at Blue Smoke, a restaurant that serves authentic barbeque cuisine and comfort food favorites.

I loved the decor inside Blue Smoke: upscale Southern barbeque with a modern twist.

Our meal started with a couple of buckets of Warm Barbeque Potato Chips for the table to share. I ate so many of them! They were the best potato chips ever!!!

For lunch, I ordered the Baby Beet & Arugula Salad, which was served with a house-smoked goat cheese and toasted sunflower seeds. The beets were amazing, but I didn’t care much for the goat cheese. It reminded me of whipped butter– soft, moist, and lacking a strong favor like goat cheese normally does. Maybe it wasn’t goat cheese?

For some reason, I’ve always associated barbeque with huge portions of food, so I was happy to see that my salad was of “normal” size. It was the perfect amount.

Mmmmm… beets!

After lunch, I headed to my second meeting of the day at Open Sky. You’ll be hearing more about Open Sky in the coming weeks!

I’ve been talking on the phone with these guys for months now, so it was great to finally meet the team and put a name with a face.

Taking a recommendation from the Open Sky folks, I headed over to the Ace Hotel to relax and get some work done. I received over 100 emails this morning, so I had a lot of catching up to do!

Stumptown Coffee Roasters is located inside the hotel, and considering the line out the door, it seemed like pretty popular place! The service, however, was really slow and there was no coffee brewed when I went to place my order. The barista offered to make me an Americano, but I ordered a cappaccino instead. Bad timing, I guess?

There were a lot of things that I loved about Stumptown:

I really liked the outfits that the baristas wore. They reminded me of the 1920′s swing-era style with their cool vests, suspenders, and fedoras.

And my cappuccino was to die for! Check out the pair of hearts etched into the froth!

My cappuccino was one of the best I have ever had! The espresso had a wonderful caramel aftertaste. It reminded me of the espresso I drank in Venice! Holy yum!!!

There isn’t any seating inside the Stumptown cafe, so I took my decaf, soy, cappuccino into the hotel lobby and got down to business.

The hotel’s Breslin Lobby Bar is SO COOL! The space reminds me of an old library– like something you would find at Harvard. Unfortunately, the dim lighting made it difficult to so snap photos.

The lobby seemed like the perfect place to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee or do some work on your laptop. A long study table divided the lobby and gave off very collegiate feel. I felt right at home typing away on my computer and sipping my cappuccino.

Plans with my college friends fell through, so I took an earlier train back to Boston. I didn’t have much time for dinner, so I grabbed a veggie panini at Penn Station. I wasn’t sure what to expect from a train station eatery, but the panini was pretty fantastic! It had tons of grilled veggies and plenty of cheese– I think it was Jalsberg.

For dessert, I grabbed a bag of almond M&M’s to take with me on the train. I almost wish I had purchased a second bag!

I’m absolutely pooped from my whirlwind day to New York and back, but it was well worth it. I love NYC and I cannot wait to go back again! Mal and I haven’t been down since last December, so I’m ready for a mini vaca!

I’m off to bed. I hope Murphy lets me sleep in a little tomorrow!

Good night!

Tagged as: Ace Hotel, Blue Smoke Restaurant, Breslin Lobby Bar, New York City, New York City Adventures, New York City Restaurants, Open Sky Project, Stumptown Coffee Roasters