With my research block ending this week, we wanted to take advantage of one of our last chances to meet up mid-day. Besides, Ashley had to go to the American Museum of Natural History for some work on a book and was also spending time uptown for a dentist appointment. “Meet me on the steps of the Met,” she texted me this morning.
After discovering the Met’s Roof Deck this summer, we vowed to make it a more regular part of our lives in New York. We entered the Met and headed straight for the roof. The view was as stunning as ever; you could see the leaves changing throughout Central Park. It should be a beautiful scene for the NY Marathon when runners come through on Sunday.
After taking in the fresh air, we couldn’t help but make a brief detour to explore the Art of the Samurai exhibit. Some of the pieces on display there were so fragile that they are only shown for two weeks every 5 years, then stored in a hermetically sealed container in complete dark. There’s a great review of the special exhibit in the Times: “The show’s armor and helmets are among the world’s most lavish works of multimedia art, and — in the opposite corner, as it were — its plain and simple sword blades, presented au naturel, offer subtleties of silhouette and tone that could challenge the most ardent admirer of Minimalism.” It was an incredible display. Such a wonderful surprise to the day.
We had originally been planning on having lunch at the Shake Shack near the history museum, but spontaneously decided to go to Jean Georges, instead. Their lunch special actually makes the restaurant affordable, if still expensive. We were lucky enough to go to dinner there once with my parents after having just moved to the city–so we had extremely high expectations of the food.
For $29, they offer a two-course meal (which felt like a four-course meal with the addition of an amuse bouche to start and a sampling of sweets to finish); they even offer wine pairings of “taste” sizes, three-ounce pours, for a very reasonable price.
Everything was so lovely, the setting as well as the meal–which began with a trio of beet-marinated salmon tartare with blood orange and baby basil, duck consomme with a gruyere and carmelized onion ravioli, and tempura-fried pear with fall spices. Ashley chose the Foie Gras Brulee (with dried sour cherries, candied pistachios, and white port gelee) with Riesling followed by a pepper-crusted Red Snapper served in sweet and sour jus with Chardonnay. I chose Skate with Chateau Chalon sauce (an incredible white wine and butter sauce) with Pinot Gris, followed by veal over artichoke heart that was served with a parmesan-based sauce and a taste of Cotes-du-rhone.
What an absolutely amazing lunch! And then we both went back to work. It was one of those perfect afternoons that makes us feel we’re incredibly lucky to live in this city.
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