Entertainment in New York City

This hotel is undergoing a make over from a comfortable middle aged woman to a sleek Euro yuppie type. If you like the clean spare modern style, you will love the look of this hotel once they are finished, which they say will be by November 2007. We booked directly with the hotel’s online site which offered rates as low as the third party hotel providers. It is not cheap - just under $500 for a suite on a high floor - but it seemed comparable to other hotels in the area with similar levels of luxury.

Having the lobby under construction is not a plus. Check in and the concierge is on the second floor, but there was no confusion as you are escorted from the sidewalk to the front desk. The restaurant is also still under construction but a kitchen somewhere must be functional as room service dining is offered. There is also a fitness room on the 4th floor of the hotel, but it was feature we did not use.

The rooms seem to generate strong reactions. I like the modern style and thus, found the look of our London vista suite very appealing. Some people do not like this style.

We were on the 43rd floor with a view of the west side of Central Park. The entrance has a mini bar and safe enclosed in a cabinet. From there, the suite has a sitting area in the bow window, coffee table, a desk, rocking chair and flat screen television. I liked that even when cloudy, lots of natural light came into the room. The bedroom, which closes off from the sitting area by two French doors, also has a flat screen television. Our room had a king bed which was very comfortable with its high thread count sheets. In an alcove in one corner of the bedroom, there is a roomy clothes storage area which is somewhat open to the bedroom. Beyond that is a long narrow bathroom with both a shower stall and bathtub. The bathroom has no door; some people greatly dislike this detail. But because of the configuration of the rooms, we did not find privacy to be a problem. I understand you can ask for a room with a bathroom door. The counter space was very generous. The space in total was roomy and continually neat and clean with housekeeping tidying up twice a day.

The suite does not have a kitchenette nor coffee making facilities, instead they leave a breakfast menu from which you can request everything from a pot of coffee in the morning to a full breakfast. Other than an ice bucket and water glasses in the bathroom, there are no additional cups or glasses. When we wanted wine glasses, we had to get them from the concierge.

The location near Central Park and the theater district is unbeatable. Overall, we were pleased with the room and will return.

We went to Angus McIndoe after seeing the play Butley on Friday night so that we could experience a bit of late night New York. Reservations pre or post-theater are recommended. You can book online at www.angusmcindoe.com.

The restaurant is right in the theater district, a block from the Booth theater where we had been to see a show. It is a small two level restaurant. The front doors open up to the street when the weather is fine. The place was packed at 10:45pm. A crowd was standing at the bar and some of the tables had chairs squeezed up so that the large groups could get around the not so large tables. It was very noisy.

The menu is casual fare, sandwiches, salads, pastas, and a range of entrées which could be described as American. Most of the entrées are priced in the high teens and low twenties. Although he thought he only wanted a light bite, DH had a steak and fries. I had a chicken burger, which was a chicken breast with a crunchy coating. It also came with fries. The food was fresh, nothing special yet we both ate more than we thought we would so late at night for us. A glass of wine is a small 1/4 litre carafe, which makes for a very large glass or two smaller glasses of wine.

Service was quick, especially considering that the turn over appeared to be high so there was constantly a new group of people needing attention. This restaurant looks like it would be a reasonable place to eat before theatre. Certainly, it would be a good alternative to a chain. A diner might even spot a celebrity or two. Our server told us Nathan Lane had been in earlier in the afternoon.

We enjoyed watching all the people on the street and seeing the lights turn off at the theatre across the street. We eventually wandered back to our hotel after midnight along the still busy streets.

Carnegie Deli is a long time New York institution. You could spend hours just looking at all the signed photographs of famous people from the past half century. Of course, trying to look at the photos would require being able to move around the deli, which is near impossible.

We went to the Carnegie Deli for lunch. By 11:30am, the place was already quite full. Counters where you order take away are in the front. Tables, if you are going to stay, are in the back area and in an adjacent room. The servers at the Carnegie Deli have a reputation for being rude, but we found them very quick, a little harried yet still patient enough to explain the menu to a couple who did not speak English.

With numerous small tables squashed next to each other and barely room for the servers to move, we ended up talking to those around us, at least, those around us who spoke English. The place seemed to be occupied by a lot of tourists. We sat next to a couple from California who said they came every time they were in NYC.

Be prepared for huge portions. The California couple recommended the Reuben, at $20, one of the more expensive sandwiches. I suggested we split it, since we knew it would be large, but my husband wanted to see how much he could handle on his own, so I ordered the pastrami on rye, the Woody Allen, which was $12. The pastrami was great, moist with enough fat for lots of flavour and the bread was also moist and lighter than many rye breads. I also had one of Dr. Brown’s cream sodas since I had never seen one before. The can says it is bottled in NYC. I am not much of a soda drinker, but I liked how it was not too sweet.

My husband, who seemed on a suicide mission, also ordered a side of fried onions and a beer. Of course, the Reuben covered the entire plate and was about 5 inches high, and the onions filled a good sized cereal bowl. A young couple, who sat beside us after my husband’s order arrived, were telling him that New Yorkers always split the sandwiches. Needless to say, my husband by this point knew why as he was not up to finishing his lunch. Even with the much smaller, but still large, pastrami, half was as much as I could manage. Eating three pickles (and I am not even pregnant!) did not help. There was no way we could attempt the cheesecake.

Next time we might come just to split a cheesecake because they looked gigantic as well.

Right in the heart of the theater district, db Bistro is a long narrow restaurant with a small lounge at the front, long tables with high stools and a bar in the middle and dining tables at the back. The seating is close like a French bistro and we felt we could not help but talk to the diners around us. We received both menu and theater recommendations. Decor is modern, the music is lively, and with many of the staff in t-shirts and servers wearing aprons, it has a casual atmosphere although I also noted other diners were dressed in nice casual clothes, some women in very trendy clothes.

We had an early reservation at 5:15 but within half an hour, the place was almost entirely full as most people were going to a show after dining. The noise level was high which my DH liked because he felt it gave the place energy. The wine list is not lengthy, but it is still a good sized list with some very good wines reasonably priced.

For starters, DH had the lobster salad, which the server warned him was fairly large. With avocado, hearts of palm and artichoke hearts in addition to generous chunks of lobster and the mixed greens, it was very filling for a salad. I had squash soup which was creamy and thick with bits of cilantro and grated squash for hits of additional flavour and texture. DH had the famous burger (known for its $29 price tag, but now $32) with fois gras and short ribs in the middle of a patty which was not large in diameter but at least twice as high as a usual hamburger. It seems to be a popular item. A man with two women next to us also ordered the burger and the two couples on the other side ordered three among the four of them. One of them advised that you can just pick it up and eat it, but DH opted to use a knife and fork. The burger comes with either pommes frites or pommes souffle. DH had the frites but the souffles, which appear to be puffed up wedges of potato, it looked very interesting.

I had a blanquette de veau, which was veal braised in white wine and butter with an assortment of vegetables and a crunchy basmati rice dish on the side. We loved our meals but both were rich and filling. For a French oriented restaurant, we found the portion sizes American. For dessert, DH had a chocolate tarte with raspberries and ginger ice cream. I had the chocolate pot de creme which came with hazelnut praline and passion fruit sorbet. Neither of us could finish our desserts which was a shame because they were both so delicious and unique.

The different Boulud restaurants all seem to have outstandingly good pastry chefs whose offerings are consistently top. If you go, save room for dessert.

Daniel was rated one of the top restaurants in America by Gourmet magazine. Our experience suggests the high rating is well deserved. The Daniel experience starts with the elegant look of the restaurant. The dining room is very architectural with columns, arches and draperies surrounding the main dining area with additional tables on a slightly elevated area surrounding. There is a hum of noise but somehow, we never really heard others’ conversations intruding into our conversation. The colours create a warm golden look, classical music plays softly in the background, and the staff are calm, polite, and efficient. It all makes for a rather intimate feel when dining.

Dinner started with a three tiered tray of amuse bouches. We enjoyed them while reviewing the menu and the very extensive wine list. A tasting menu or a three course prix-fixe is offered. The prix fixe is $96 with supplements, $15, for example, if you pick dishes such as foie gras.

For starters, we had a classic seared fois gras with poached fruit, one of the best my dinner companion had ever had. I had a chicken consomme which was delicate and light but punctuated with the contrasting rich pieces of fois gras and the texture of bits of pasta. Mains were the duo of beef which consisted of some very tasty braised short ribs with a rib steak. It also came with an incredibly flavourful potato accompaniment. I had rack of lamb, one rib done with African spices, the other with a paprika crust. They were both very good as was the eggplant and peppers which accompanied it. We had what we thought was a very reasonably priced bottle of aged Bordeaux from a very good year with our meal. Although we were getting full, we had to order dessert. I found Daniel’s dessert menu was set up like my ideal, one side listed all chocolate desserts, the other side listed everything else. S had the hot chocolate souffle and I had the chocolate praline which looked so beautiful with a thin ribbon of chocolate curved over the top and a piece of gold foil, I almost did not eat it. But I am not that foolish. It was as delicious as it was beautiful. This was followed by a plate loaded with petit fours which I had no room left to sample.

Service was very attentive and friendly with a bit of theatre; when you receive your plate, the sauces are added at the table as the server explains your dish. The sommelier, a female, which has been rare in my experience, was very knowledgeable. Daniel seems to define the notion of gracious dining.

Our dinner made for a fabulous start to our vacation and the stresses of our delayed flight were soothed away by the end of our wonderful meal.

The appearance of this restaurant is unlike the usual Italian restaurant atmosphere, especially the type of restaurants Mario Batali, one of the owners, is famous for. The very large space with its high ceiling, tall windows, dark wood, marble floors, black iron railings, central marble staircase and upper level dining area, give the place the immediate appearance of opulence. Wait staff are in black suits with white shirts. Most of the patrons are similarly well dressed, although as far as I could determine, there is no dress code. During part of our meal, a piano player was playing old Italian tunes at the grand piano next to the staircase.

Despite a French dining room appearance, the menu is clearly Italian and very extensive. The prices also resemble an expensive French restaurant. A number of the offerings, roasted chicken was one I recall, provide table side carving service for the whole table. There is also a tasting menu. The offerings are both rustic and refined.

I was so distracted reading the menu and wine list I forgot to note the amuse we were given to start. We were given a selection of breads with butter and lardo. The texture is like butter but it tastes like pork fat or bacon grease. Interesting but a taste was enough. The wine list, which was all Italian, was huge with some reasonable prices for some of the very good selections.

I started with panzanella, a rustic Tuscan bread and tomato salad, a favourite of mine. It tasted fine but I found but the bread was rather dry, which it should not be. DH enjoyed a scallop carpaccio which was so tender, it melted in your mouth. We split a plate of tagliarini with an entire white truffle grated over top. This was undoubtedly the best pasta either of us have ever had. And at $80, certainly, the most expensive. For secondi, DH had turkey which was braised with white wine, onions, and red cabbage, but found the slices of breast meat unexceptional and too much of it. Accompanying it was a dish called cebreo, braised bits of dark and organ meats topped with butter crumbs. That was very flavourful and very rich which made the breast meat seem even plainer. I had lamb loin which was tender and delicately flavoured. It came with black pepper and oil, fried basil leaves and what was described as tomato salsa, which was a tangy cooked tomato and olive compote-like side. It was delicious but too strong flavoured to be eaten with the lamb. For dessert, DH had the apricot cassata, which was a variation on a baked Alaska. He did not particularly like it. I forgot the name of the dessert I had but it was three types of solid chocolate which get chipped off a block and put on your plate at the table and are to be sampled with three different types of rum.

The entire experience was a mixed one but memorable.

The Manhattan board at chowhound has a number of debates about the best sushi restaurant in New York. This restaurant frequently appears and after dining there, we understand why.

Our reservations were for the sushi bar which sits along the far wall from the entryway. There are also tables but the entire restaurant is fairly small. The blond wood which predominates gives the room a warm glow. With the subtle lighting and relatively quiet noise level, it feels like an oasis of calm.

We sat at one end of the sushi bar near one of four sushi chefs. Before we started, the chef in front of us explained this was traditional Tokyo style and we could order one piece at a time. Everything was available but the sushi was best we were told. We started with toro, the fatty part of tuna. We each received a piece and were told to eat the entire piece at once and that no wasabi or soy sauce were needed because it was already put on for us. The toro was delicious and its flavour prominent because of the lightly flavoured rice, the small dab of wasabi and light brushing of soy sauce. After that, we just left it to the sushi chef to suggest what to have next as he had very clear opinions about the order in which to eat each of the different fish, seafood, and vegetable sushi in order to maximize the taste. Everything he claimed proved true. We experienced an amazing taste adventure. His chatter about each item and the history of his craft also provided its own entertainment.

A young man sitting next to us was surprised we got such good seats at the sushi bar without specifically asking for them because the chef in front of us was the owner, Yasuda.

We came away with a new education in sushi and a conviction that if Sushi Yasuda is not one of the best, we would be amazed.

In October 2006, the play, Butley, was playing at the Booth. Simon Gray wrote it in the 1970s and this revival starred Nathan Lane.

Butley occurs all on one day on one set, an office of an English university. The characters are all speaking with English accents. Lane is the title character, an English literature professor whose life is falling apart. He arrives at his office with a hangover, chases away students, and drinks whisky in his office. Then his day gets even worse. A colleague, who he does not respect, gets her book on Byron published while Butley does nothing to further his work on a book about T. S. Eliot. His estranged wife tells him she is leaving him to get married, then his live in lover and office mate, once a former pupil, also tells him that he is leaving him to move in with another man. Yet all of this is a comedy.

Moreover, it is a star vehicle for Nathan Lane. The dialogue is very witty. I liked one liners like “Toadying is the sincerest form of contempt”. The mood keeps shifting, as Butley sings nursery rhymes, plays on the guilt of others, enjoys confrontation, and creates misunderstandings in order to revel in them. Butley is a character full of self-mockery, as well as mimicking others. The play reveals why he has managed to drive everyone away.

Lane is on stage the entire time. I can barely imagine how exhausting the performance must be for him because there is so much dialogue and such a range of emotions and even accents which he runs through. The other performers were solid but they mostly seem to be listening to Lane and at one point, Julian Ovenden, who has the biggest role after Lane’s, seemed to be genuinely laughing at Lane’s antics.

With the Internet, attending a show cannot get easier. You can order tickets on line and arrange to pick them up from the box office. Discounts are available from Internet sites like theater mania. They usually only apply to older shows and not the really popular shows. Expect to pay about $100 for a good seat at regular prices. Not cheap, but the pleasure of live theater and performances like that of Nathan Lane's is what makes Broadway such a special place.

The NYBG is in the Bronx, open April to October from 10am to 6pm. (718) 817-8700 (www.nybg.org) An all attractions adult ticket is $20.

We got to the NY Botanical Garden by taking the Metro North Railroad, Harlem line heading north to White Plains. A day return ticket is $6. One thing to note, on a Saturday, the train only leaves once an hour. It goes twice an hour during the weekdays. If planning a trip, you might want to take timing into consideration. The trip is just over 20 minutes.

The train is very convenient as it drops you just outside one of the entry gates for the Garden. We went to see the Chihuly exhibit and ordered our tickets on line. We picked the tickets up from the members window which allowed us to skip the longer line of people buying tickets. You can take a tram ride which tours you around with an informative guide, but we went on our own on foot.

The exhibit also included a film about Chihuly at the lecture hall. If you know nothing about Chihuly, the film would be a good introduction. Dale Chihuly is located in the Seattle area and is the best known glass blower in the world. His pieces are on display worldwide and he probably has done more to promote glass as an art medium than any other artist. If you go to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, for example, you will see a chandelier by Chihuly.

The film demonstrates some of Chihuly’s unusual working methods necessary because many of his works are huge. Their large size makes the NYBG and its out of doors location a perfect setting. Chihuly did a similar exhibit in Venice, also out of doors. As we were walking toward the Visitor Center area, the sun, which had been behind clouds all morning, came out to illuminate one of the enormous pieces called the Sun. It was a breathtaking moment when you fully appreciate the luminous qualities of glass, particularly coloured translucent glass. Some of his pieces are in the Children’s Adventure Garden, which looks like a fun area if you have children with you. But my favourite settings were the conservatory and the reflecting pools where the glass pieces were made to look like flora and fauna. The water was a particularly effective setting with the glass reflecting in the water and if you looked carefully, little goldfish were darting about adding their colour to the setting.

We did not focus a lot on NYBG itself but could not help but notice the variety of plant life as we viewed the Chihuly pieces. It is a big piece of land and I imagine it would be easy to spend many hours there. We got our exercise trying to visit the various areas where the Chihuly was displayed and that was less than half the Garden. NYBG also has various gift shops and places to grab a bite.

The Cloisters is located at the far north end of Manhattan and contains most of the medieval holdings of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. To get there, the M4 bus takes you right to the door or the subway will get you to the south end of Fort Tryon Park and you can walk to the Cloisters. However, we opted to take a taxi. From Columbus Circle, it was $19 and less than 20 minutes to the door of the Cloisters.

The buildings of the Cloisters were custom constructed to incorporate bits from structures, mostly churches from France and Spain, into a setting which gives you the feeling that you are experiencing those buildings as they would have been during the Middle Ages. Thus, you can walk around the apse from a Spanish church built during the 1100s, or a 13th century chapter house or a French abbey with its courtyard. Most of the doorways are from a medieval structure. One of the rooms contains a photographic display explaining the history of the Cloisters. It is almost unfathomable to think of what it took to gather all of these things and put them together. I cannot imagine this being done today.

There are also numerous other artworks and artifacts. The beautiful, large unicorn tapestries in the tapestry room, the Campin tryptych with its early Renaissance elements, and the intricately illuminated page from a Book of Hours which used to belong to a Queen of France are particularly notable.

Guided tours and audio tours are available, but we opted to view at our own pace. There are little plaques beside the various pieces and some larger notices which provide details and in some cases, a great deal of information.

I particularly liked the garden with plants which would be found in a medieval garden. It was a sunny day when we visited and the garden setting was beautiful. The Cloisters includes a casual cafeteria which permits you to sit in or around a courtyard area and enjoy the surroundings. Because it is on a hill, you get some views across the Hudson River to New Jersey.

You can also wander around Fort Tryon Park which has what they describe as a quiet zone, although the drone of traffic from the Hudson Parkway could always be heard. Nevertheless, it was an escape into some green space and unlike Central Park, there were very few others around. The New Leaf Café is located in the Park.

The Cloisters is open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9:30am to 5:15pm. $20 is recommended as admission. It will also admit you on the same day to the main Metropolitan Museum. The website for both museums is www.metmuseum.org.

Compared to the Empire State Building, this is an undiscovered place to go for a view of Manhattan and surrounding areas. If you are adverse to long queues, go to the Top of the Rock instead of ESB. We went up to the TOTR late one morning and there was no line up to go in. They have a timed entry but it was not observed because of the small numbers of visitors. We were told we could go up whenever we were ready.

At the entry area, there are displays about the origins of the Rockefeller Center and its construction. One of the displays recreates the view if you were a construction worker on a beam high above the ground. Before you go in the elevator, you can watch a short video about the building.

But the real reason to visit is the view from the top. The elevator ride to the 67th floor is incredibly fast. A video on the ceiling of the elevator shows highlights of American history since the construction of the Rock Center. The elevator ceiling is transparent so you can see how fast you are moving up the elevator shaft. I found it a bit dizzying.

I do not like heights and found the viewing area moderately disturbing. The glass in the inside viewing area goes down too close to floor level for my comfort. When I sat down and looked out the window, the experience was alright as long as I did not look directly down. The outside viewing area was worse. Despite the high glass which encloses the area, there are gaps between the crenelations and acanthus leaf decorative bits which visually were too much for me. Nevertheless, we took some photos and they were great when you get back home and can use them to point out features to those you are showing the photos to.

There are two additional levels which you can reach by escalator. But I did not get there as I figured two more floors were not going to provide a significantly different view and I wanted to get back to ground level. Like the ride up, there is no wait to get back down.

The website at www.topoftherocknyc.com allows you to buy tickets in advance and on line. Tickets for an adult are $17.50. If heights don't bother you, this would be a very highly recommended thing to experience. For me, personally, I would not want to experience it again.