This Memorial Day weekend my boyfriend and I decided to take a spontaneous trip to the Big Apple. That meant taking a red-eye Friday night, which ended up getting delayed, and leaving Monday afternoon. In total we had a little more than 48 hours in the city.
I booked a room at the Renaissance Hotel in midtown as it was in the middle of everything that we wanted to do. The hotel was beautiful and happened to perch us right next to the best bagel shop I have ever been to, Liberty Bagels. We ended up having breakfast here 2 of the three days we were in NYC. Their rainbow bagels are Instagram worthy but my favorite was by far their onion bagel with plain schmear. On Memorial Day, our last breakfast at Liberty Bagel, we found out that we had been supporting a veteran all weekend as the shop is owned by a former Marine, so that was a bonus!
While our last two breakfasts were spent filling our faces full of the best bagels, our first meal in NYC was brunch at 230 Fifth Rooftop Bar. It was $29 a person for the buffet brunch. While the food was good, the entire experience was a little off. Not a single person on the staff seemed to be fully present, we had a random guy take our table and sit with my purse across from him while we were downstairs getting our food, and there was a new busser who was harassing all of the single women around us. It was a great experience to have brunch at a rooftop bar in NYC and the view was great, but I would suggest experiencing the bar at night when it has been switched over to a night club.
After brunch we decided to walk around the area and just see what we could get into which is when we ended up at Madison Square Park. It was a cute park with mommy-and-me groups, a dog park and a pretty fountain. While walking around the park we came across a beautiful tribute of American flags which represented each of the men and women who gave their life for our country in the state of New York since the Revolutionary War, this touched me deeply to see how many families have been affected, how many lives had been lost.
After the park we wandered down to The Strand which is said to be one of the largest book stores in the world. It boasts that the store contains over 18 miles of books. We went through each of the 4 floors which ranged from children’s books, bestsellers and young adult to antique books and coffee table books. If you’re a bookworm like me, this is a must see attraction in NYC, I could have entertained myself for hours in this store.
After our day of exploring, we had reservations at my favorite restaurant of all time Toro NYC! It is a tapas restaurant in Chelsea and every single dish I have tried has blown me away.
We started with Tartar de Atun which is the perfect mix of textures with the creamy sauce, and crispy herbs complementing the tuna. We then moved onto one of my favorite dishes, Gambas Al Ajillo which is a garlic shrimp. I could drink the sauce on its own but the sauce added to the fresh shrimp adds the perfect balance of flavors while not being overpowering.
Tartar de Atun 
Gambas Al Ajillo
Our second course of dishes included the Hamburguesas and the Filete. The Hamburguesas were two, slider-sized burgers that had a marinated cabbage-slaw which gave the perfect amount of warmth to the aged beef. The cabbage added a great texture as well and the bun was sweet enough to juxtapose the heat from the burger and marinated cabbage. The Filete was also wonderful with perfectly cooked steak and crunchy turnips, a new favorite dish of mine.
Hamburguesas 
Filete
To end the dinner of all dinners, we ordered the Foie Gras which could be included on their dessert menu as it is one of the most decadent, and rich dishes I have ever had. The richness of the dish was balanced with a few fresh strawberries and roasted chestnuts. Just writing about it makes me want to go back!
I have never tried a dish at Toro NYC that I didn’t like as all of their menu items seem to bring so many different flavors to the table (pun intended) while still remaining balanced and never overpowering. This is a must on my NYC list and will always make time to stop in when I am in the area.
After dinner we decided to walk the High Line which gave us a beautiful view of the city. We also walked by a few cute gardens and sitting areas which would make the perfect date night if you grabbed some take-out and cozied up to each other while watching the hustle and bustle of the city.
Sunday was probably our busiest day which started with a trip to the “Friends” apartment building, and a walk around the village down to SoHo for lunch at Osteria Morini. The staff here provided the best service we had ever had in the city, comparable to the service you might find at a family owned restaurant in the Midwest. They were polite, and playful and attentive without being too much.
Friends Apartment Building 
Historic Village Homes 
Osteria Morini
On top of the amazing service, the food was incredible. I opted for the tagliatelle which was a hefty portion of pasta with a bolognese sauce that was filling but not heavy as most pasta dishes are, the perfect choice for lunch. My boyfriend chose the White-Label Burger and I watched the juice come pouring out of the burger as he took his first bite and knew he would be one happy man. After he devoured the entire burger he told me it was better than any burger he had ever had including a burger at a restaurant owned by an Iron Chef which boasted foie gras as a burger topping.
Next we took a short trip into Little Italy to try one of Ferrara’s cannolis which we were told were the best in the city. We entered the bakery which looked like something out of a little kid’s dream with all of the cakes, pastries, cookies and cannolis lined up. After staring for a few minutes at all the goodies, we decided to stick with the good ol’ fashioned cannoli, and we were not disappointed. They were the perfect sweet treat on our way to our next destination, the Tenement Museum.
At the Tenement Museum we were able experience the life of one of the immigrants who lived in the building around 1916. The experience was based off of records, diaries, and even conversations passed on by the descendants of a young woman named Victoria Confino. The experience is not like most museums where you walk around the building and look at artifacts or hear from the staff what they expect life would have been like during that time. This experience is more personal where you are brought into one of the apartments in the building which is still true to the time period of Victoria’s life and you have a discussion with an actress who has studied Victoria’s life for over a year.
There are multiple tour options available from walking tours to experiences like the one we had with “Victoria”. Next time we visit we will make the time to take one of the walking tours available to see both types of tours offered. Tickets were around $27 dollars each but well worth it. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed.
After the tour we went back to the hotel to get ready for our most exciting adventure of our trip, our Broadway show! While no photos were allowed during the performance, I can attest that the performance was everything one could hope for. Even my boyfriend who is not the biggest fan of musicals or “chick flicks”, loved it and was ecstatic that we had been able to fit the show into out trip. Our only complaint would be that the casting was a little off as most of the cast was young while one of the leads appeared to be a little too mature for the role and struggled keeping up with the physicality of the role.
After the show we had our last supper of the trip at Carmines, which I was told was a staple of Manhattan. We had reservations for 10:30pm, but the show finished well before we had planned so we arrived around 9:50pm. The host stand informed us that they were running true to time but we were welcome to hangout in the bar area. The door man then helped us find a two-top table in the bar area but when we informed our server that we were just going to have drinks and an appetizer while waiting for our table, we were promptly kicked out of the table and we couldn’t get out of our seats before she had promised it to another couple standing nearby who came to crowd us while we tried to gather our things, not the best start to our dinner.
I was grateful that they were able to seat us around 10:10pm upstairs at a corner table. Once we sat down and reviewed the menu we decided to order the Penne Alla Vodka and the Cutlets, the dishes are family style so we knew that would be way more than enough for the two of us. The pasta was what you would expect of any Italian restaurant and nothing to really write home about. The cutlets were the best part of our dinner and seemed to have the most flavor of our entire meal. We finished dinner with the Chocolate Torta which was a massive portion of a thick, truffle-like chocolate topped with fresh whipped cream and strawberries. A few bites of the torte were all we needed to satisfy our sweet craving.
The weather during our trip could not have been more perfect which allowed us to have our best trip to NYC to date. While we Ubered a few times, like to the airport or uptown, we walked most of the trip which gave us the ability to see more of the city that would normally pass us by. I am already making plans for new adventures in the city!
***This post is meant to focus on our trip to NYC but while we had fun, we did not forget what this weekend is meant for, to honor those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country. This holiday holds a very special place in my heart and therefore we could not let it go by without saying thank you to all the men and women who have given their lives for this country and our thoughts are with all the families affected by the loss of these men and women.