I'm not sure I heart New York

In June, I traveled to New York for 5 days to soak up some big city energy, and of course, sample some of its food. My friend Shawn now works at wd-50, so I was excited to use that as an excuse to visit the restaurant and try their cutting-edge style of food.

My friend Dave and I went there for dinner on a Thursday night, and had a great time. We ordered the tasting menu with wine pairings, so it was quite a long (and filling) event. Here is a pic of me, feeling somewhat overwhelmed near the end of the meal:


Dave mentally preparing for the meal:


My favorite dish - a riff on eggs benedict. The hollandaise sauce was made into a cube, breaded and then deep fried so that when you bit on it, the warm sauce burst out:




We also hit up the MoMA, traveled to Coney Island for a stroll along the shore, and ate an entire pie from Brooklyn's Difara Pizzaria. This was definitely one of the best pizza's I have ever eaten, on par with some from Italy, and definitely at the top of the heap for NY. Surprisingly, some of the recommended NY pizza places were not that great. But a few (Difara and Artichoke) really stood out.

Hanging out at Barramundi, the bar across the street from wd-50. I really enjoyed this bar, and it's open till 5am, so we were able to stay there until we had to go to the airport on our last night:



Followed by a still-somewhat-tipsy breakfast at the airport. Mmmmm, never has a McMuffin tasted so good:



All in all, I had a great time, but I was really glad to return to SF - a little smaller, a little less dirty, a lot less hot, and a little more quaint. I'm not dissing NY, I just don't think I would want to live there.