I went to New York for a four-day visit in early January.

We had tickets for "A View from the Bridge". This had received very positive reviews, but for some reason neither my partner nor I found it particularly engrossing.

We had a very special lunch at Le Cirque in midtown. It was not too crowded, was a very nice space, the services was great and the food was excellent. We both had mushroom soup and a salmon dish.. Doesn't sound like much, but the soup was the best mushroom soup either of us could remember, and the salmon dish was quite good as well. The lunch was not particularly expensive for New York-$28 for each of us..

Also went to Nougatine at Jean Georges fro another lunch. Not nearly as good. I had to wait 25 minutes for a table, the food was not as good, and it was more expensive than Le Cirque.

We stayed at the Essex House on Central park south. this was a good find for us. we had tried a number of mid-level hotels in midtown without discovering one that seemed a bit more enjoyable. ..the Essex house is a bit nicer. pleasant room that was not tiny, nice bathroom.

One other point-we flew out of LaGuardia, to get to LaGuardia, you need to go up the east side highway-whatever it's called-to take the RFK bridge. There was an accident on the east side highway, which delayed us about 45 minutes. I'm glad I left us a bit more time for the flight and did not cut it close.


TO

$28 at Le Cirque… that was a bargain indeed! (I agree with you about
Nougatine.)

The "east side highway" is the Franklin D Roosevelt Drive….known as the FDR.
The Triboro Bridge was recently renamed for Bobby Kennedy. Most people still refer to it as the Triboro.

The FDR is usually speedy…. sorry you ran into an accident.
Hope you'll come back for another visit!

I take it your lunch at Le Cirque was in the Cafe?

Sounds great.

New York City is larger than life: in population, in square feet,in culture and food, in arts and entertainment. Visitors to New York have the world at their fingertips, from Uptown to Downtown and beyond. There’s so much to do and see, no two visits will ever be quite the same.

Peter -

Why do you keep taking info straight from guide books rather than talking about your own travel? These platitudes help no one - you should be talking about specifics of what YOU enjoyed.

I didn't say anything about the things we did to play hooky from my conference. I devoted my time to the American Wing at the Metropolitan. It is so spectacular. the main lobby area has architectural details and Tiffany glass from numerous places. I did also give myself the treat of the 19th century European pictures. Wow.

My partner went to the Frick, one of her hangouts as a teenager, and the Neue (sp?) Museum. She enjoyed both very much.

we did eat at the Le Cirque café-not upstairs.

Is there a dress code for Le Cirque café?

We noticed varied dress at le cirque cafe. many men wore coat and tie, but not all. I believe some did not even have a coat on.