Restaurant Review: Vinyl

Happy Broadway Week everyone! One of best things about NYC is theater. The only negative about this is good seats at a show can be very costly! The solution: NYC Broadway Week and Off Broadway Week. During this time, tickets are 50% off to some of the most popular shows like The Lion King and Wicked! My husband and I have taken advantage of this every year and see as many different shows as possible. This year, we decided to go to Wicked!

. My first Wicked experience was a couple of years back with my bestie. Since then, I have been itching to see it again. This year – the Hubster made it happen. I couldn’t be any more excited to sharing his first Wicked experience with him! Verdict: I still loved it!

Enough of talk on the show. One broadway tradition is the pre-theater dinner. The theater district offers a range of restaurant options including some of our favs Tolache, Carmine’s and John’s Pizzeria. This time around we tried a new place – well new for me – Vinyl. This retro diner offers an eclectic upscale diner menu highlighted by an equally enticing cocktail menu. To start with, we ordered a side of their brussel sprouts. Our waitress was really honest with us about this dish – some people love it and some people hate it. We loved it! If you like tangy, lemony and spicy all in one, you will want to try these brussel sprouts. I wanted to just drink the cooking juices left at the bottom of the bowl. For our entrees we ordered the veggie burger with fries and the truffle mac and cheese with a small side salad. The truffle mac and cheese was divine!

. Instead of using traditional elbow macroni, this was made with gemelli pasta. This has to be one of the best mac and cheeses I’ve tried so far. The veggie burger on the other hand was a disappointment for me.

First, the bread was not sturdy enough to hold the burger together. The veggie burger and all it’s toppings were just too big for this thin small sliced bread. The veggie burger itself was not my favorite. It tasted more like a bland black bean burger. I would recommend not ordering this item.

As for the drinks, I recommend the Don ho. To us it tasted like spiked ginger sugarcane juice and brought us back to our homeland of India.

All in all it was a pretty good pre-theater dinner.

P.S. If you are not to tired after the show, stop by Schmackary’s for cookies and shakes. Believe me you won’t regret those extra calories!

Till we meet again!

Restaurant Review – The Frying Pan

This weekend has been epic! Being that our time for living in Manhattan is coming to an end, we decided to make the most of it. We were definitely out and about taking in all the experiences the city has to offer. Friday night started off with a trip to The Frying Pan – a bar/restaurant located on a ship docked in the Hudson River.

Once we got inside, the only thing I could think of was why hadn’t we come here before! It was one of my favorite NYC experiences. Imagine lots of young professionals kicking back, enjoying buckets of beers, laughing and conversing the night away all while taking in the sunset over the Hudson and watching the NYC skyline come alive.

As far as food and drinks are concerned, it was an upscale version of pub fare with options for everyone. We were tempted by the garlic fries and had to have an order (maybe two) of those.

Although the old bay seasoning and chunks of soft roasted garlic did add some additional flavor to the fries, they were not as spectacular as I thought they would be. The drinks on the other hand were really good. The most popular choice of drink was buckets of Corona’s. definitely a chic way of serving beer. My drink of choice was the white sangria.

With pieces of peach and blueberries, it was perfectly sweet and refreshing. Perfect for a summer day.

Whether it’s for date night, getting together with a huge group of friends, happy hour or brunch, this place is highly recommended for all.

P.S. Don’t get deterred by the line, it moves quickly!