New York Uncovered- Fun and Food!

September 18, 2009
 

I loved A Voce restaurant on Madison avenue in the 20’s, the warm ricotta cheese they served with bread was one of my favorites. So, I was really excited to hear that they were opening in Time Warner Center. Last year, a new chef named Missy Robbins took over, she came from Chicago and was supposedly one of the Obama’s favorites. The restaurant is in the old Café Gray space and they did a nice job, although it’s very noisy. Even though they just opened last week, they already had a little attitude; I called about a table and they said nothing was available until 10pm. We decided to go anyway, we walked in at 7:30 and were told that there were no tables until 9pm. Five minute later though, they asked if we were all there. One person had gotten stuck in a meeting, so we were not all there. Of course, they wouldn’t seat us. There were no more seats at the bar, so we ended up kind of standing in this no-man’s land between the bar and a few tables surrounding the bar. Eventually, we did sit.

 

The ricotta came out which was worth the wait. Dinner was very good, but they still need to work out some of the service kinks. The restaurant downtown seemed quieter and more intimate and the wait staff definitely seemed more knowledgeable. I think because it’s so new, but the waiters didn’t seem to have a lot of information about the food. It’s still a great new addition to the neighborhood—very convenient to Lincoln Center and they are serving lunch, so good for business lunches.

 

 

It had been almost a year since we went to check out the then-new Water Club hotel attached to the Borgata and Atlantic City just continues to get hotter! There’s now a direct train leaving Penn Station every Friday through Sunday and fares are $29 to $39 each way for the 2 ½ hour trip. There’s even a private party room in one of the cars that you can rent out for a group of friends.

 

A new restaurant opened at the Bogarta called Forneletto. The chef came from the Wynn in Las Vegas. There’s a mozzarella bar and salumi bar, very nice pizzas and excellent fresh fishes and meats.

The Water Club is a non-gaming hotel with no kids, so it’s actually one of the quieter places in town, but it’s attached to the Borgata and the rooms are really nice and spa is gorgeous. Both hotels were packed.  We went to see a comedy show with Jeffrey Ross, and Lily Tomlin and Stevie Wonder are coming up in October then Bill Maher and Robin Williams will be there in November. It’s still a fun quick get-way that got even easier with the train.

 

 

For my meat-loving friends, a pig roast is going on this weekend to celebrate Autumn. This Sunday, September 20, 2009, Il Buco restaurant will celebrate its 15th anniversary while hosting its sixth annual "Sagra del Maiale", an outdoor Pig and Apple Festival commemorating the Autumnal Equinox (when day and night are of equal length). It’s going to be outside Il Buco on Bond Street between Lafayette and Bowery from 1:00 - 8:00pm. The Il Buco team will start a bonfire on Bond Street before the sun comes up to slow-roast a 200 lb heritage breed Crossabaw Pig.  There’s going to be tending the flames throughout the night and carving it up starting at 1pm. The menu includes the pig, plus porchetta paninis, sausage, salad and apple fitters for $20.