NYC! Part Three

After tons of walking on Sunday and Monday, we kicked off Tuesday with a solid meal.  We headed over to our reservations at The Smith and were rewarded with a breakfast to remember.  The place was unique- consisting of subway tiles and a unisex bathroom (as indicated by a version of this sign) complete with a photobooth.  I knew what I was going to order from the first time I looked at the menu when planning our trip and I secretly hoped M would order the other option I was drooling over.  Luckily, I guessed well and was eager to steal a few bites of his meal too.  

my vanilla bean french toast with caramelized bananas

M's BLT+E on a croissant- he caught my fingers coming to snatch some homefries

First on the agenda for the day was The Rockefeller Center for a some sightseeing.  We were lucky enough to have beautiful weather and clear skies.  We showed up for our reservation early but were immediately sent up the elevator to the viewing platform.  Top of the Rock offers views of Central Park (the Rockefeller Center actually blocks the view of Central Park from the Empire State Building) and lower Manhattan (all the way down to the Statue of Liberty) from three floors of decks.

view of central park

empire state building and lady liberty in the way back

sweet room with motion activated LEDs

THE ice skating rink

We left and headed for St. Patrick's Cathedral for a quick mass and what promised to be a beautiful building.  The church was incredible.  It has been open since 1879 and houses two full organs and some of the most colorful stained glass windows I have ever seen.

st. patricks

the main hall

After mass, we set out for two lunchtime destinations, Katz's Deli and The Meatball Shop.  M had his heart set on a kosher deli experience while I had to have the meatball shop after reading rave reviews.  Because they are only about a block apart, we settled on both.

We first split a classic pastrami on rye sandwich accompanied by homemade pickles from the famous deli that opened in 1888.  We actually met one of the "Katz" grandsons while we were enjoying our meal. 

1/2 pound of pastrami

After that it was a short walk to lunch part 2 where we split a classic meatball sandwich.  Both meals exceeded high expectations and we couldn't agree which was better.

two meatballs "smashed"

We easily agreed on where to go for dessert and were excited to try our first ever macarons.

they taste as good as they look!

After lunch we jumped back on the subway and headed to Grand Central Station.  Grand Central was huge and buzzing with people going every direction.  It was fun to take a spot on the balcony and just watch everyone zooming around. 

cool pic M captured of people buzzing about and a lady taking a photo

Knowing my husband's new love for taking photos, when I read about the only spot to get an unobstructed view of the Chrysler building (44th and 3rd) being nearby I knew we had to go. 

After a few quick photos and we headed over to the nearby Bryant Park and the New York Public Library.

gorgeous library

upstairs of the library (and the stairs where Carrie Bradshaw heard Big wasn't coming... haha SATC dork)

library entry

bryant park carousel

bryant park and the back of the library

At this point, I had a man with very tired feet getting a little cranky so we skipped the rest of our plans and rested for a bit.  Of course I couldn't let him sit around for too long so we went to a new part of central park and walked around for a little while.

We went to a fancy dinner of steak and scallops at Jean Georges Nougatine in the Trump Hotel on the edge of central park {but failed to take any photos}.  After dinner we met up with our friends who recently moved to NYC for dessert at Momofuku Milk Bar.  I'd read tons about the desserts here and couldn't wait to try a little of everything.

Mike had the cereal milk ice cream (they make their milk literally by steeping it with corn flakes- among other things) and it tasted exactly like the milk at the end of your cereal.  I went for the birthday cake truffles- the only way to eat their amazing looking birthday cake without ordering an entire cake.  I also bought three cookies for later enjoyment- blueberry cream, peanut butter, and the famous corn cookies.  Everything was incredible and I wish we'd had time for a return trip or three.

birthday cake truffle- picture borrowed from here

That brought us to an end of another fun day...