Nearby, we had gotten free tickets to the Intrepid museum which sat on the water along 46th. The museum closed at 5 PM sharp, and we picked this restaurant since it was not too far of a walk. This had been on my list for a few years already, but we’re rarely in the Hell’s Kitchen area. What’s nice about Hell’s Kitchen restaurants is that the restaurant prices are not usually that expensive and the food is pretty good.

Atera is a two Michelin Star restaurant in New York City. We’ve been wanting to go to this restaurant pre-pandemic, and each time we make a reservation, it was always cancelled due to shifts in NYC rules around the pandemic. Fortunately, the city is coming alive, and the reservation stuck this time around. We celebrated our very special anniversary at 5 PM. The cool thing about this restaurant that attracted me was that it had a temperament pairing of non-alcoholic juices.

We somehow won tickets to Shakespear in the Park, and we were debating whether we would scour for a restaurant in the west or east side. I was browsing on Yelp, and I saw this was very close to the Delacorte Theater. The interior pictures looked pretty amazing, and the food seemed pretty good although somewhat typical American. We ended up showing up promptly at opening and were seated right away without reservations.

Westlight sits on the 22nd floor of the William Vale hotel in North Williamsburg. When you enter the lobby of the hotel, there is a line to the right that directs you to board the elevator. Upon arrival, the host will seat you on 1 of 2 floors. The 1st floor might be for reservations and has a waiter, whereas the 2nd floor might be for walk-ins. The 2nd floor has a fake grassy area with some patio tables/chairs, and you don’t get waiter service.

This place is across the street from Food Cellar. It’s nestled in a garage and used to serve a lot of steak dishes. The menu has changed into a more casual patio like experience (I am guessing just for the summer). When we arrived, there was no table service. Instead you have to go to the counter and place your order there. The menus are shown via QRCode. After you place your order, you carry the utensils, dishes, and drinks back to your table.

This is a restaurant from the same people that brought Maiella. Even though that restaurant was modern Italian, this one was more of a modern French. It sits across the park near the Hunters Point library. We came here on a Sunday, prior to the day that New York City had to shutdown dining in restaurants due to the corona virus. Because people weren’t really out and about, the restaurant had many empty tables.

Normally we don’t care about brunches, but this restaurant was surprisingly good and not too expensive. Located in West Village near the “Friends” place and some touristy spots, this is a very quaint and small shop. If I recall, it only has like at most 5 tables with counters spread throughout the place. This place is small, so set your expectations accordingly. We ordered a glass of orange juice and a One Night Stand.

We were near Rockafeller and were craving some bar like food. Not too far around the corner is this new-ish bar. Walking in, the interior is very open and seems pretty nice. There are a lot of tables that you can stand or sit on a high stool for drinks. You can tell it’s a pretty social atmosphere. But let’s get to the food. This is the Detroit pepperoni pan pizza.

We were just around the block looking to meet a friend for a drink and some bar food at a nearby restaurant. Turns out that restaurant was booked due to a football game, so we had to hunt for another one. This restaurant for whatever reason was dead quiet but opened at the time. The cured Long Island duck breast came with pomegranate molasses, collard greens, and kabocha squash purée.

We came here on a date night to do the dinner and jazz thing. We purchased our tickets online, then head over. With the tickets, there’s a required minimum of 1 drink per person if you’re not having dinner, or if you are having dinner, there is a required 1 entree per person sans appetizer. On this night, it was the Harold Mabern Trio. The cocktails were ok. It’s been a while, so I don’t quite remember exactly what these were.