Barred in Baltimore: New York Wrap Up

I had such a fun visit to New York City last weekend! I tried to document as much as I could throughout my trip so I can share with you some of the places I enjoyed (mainly restaurants of course).

Saturday: I took the Bolt Bus from Baltimore to Penn Station in Manhattan and it was surprisingly painless. I worried about the bus being super crowded and feeling claustrophobic for three hours, but I was pleasantly surprised that that was not the case. The trip was a breeze -- a little more than three hours up north with one pit stop along the NJ Turnpike and very little traffic. Plus, the bus driver was a total riot and kept me very entertained at such an early hour. If you ever plan to make the trip from Baltimore to Manhattan, I highly recommend booking your ride with Bolt. $48 round trip -- can't beat that!

After we made our way from Manhattan to Astoria (where my friends live) our first stop was at The Shady Lady for brunch. (Side note: I couldn't find their direct website anywhere on Google but that link profiles their menu).

Favorite things about The Shady Lady: Drinks - AUCD mimosas, bloodies, sangria, beer, and rail drinks for an hour-and-a-half for $20. If you choose this option, sit at the bar. The drinks were flowing there because you have most of the bartender's attention (rather than waiting for your server). Food - Back to Bed Macaroni & Cheese and a side order of brussel sprouts. I know some people are totally averse to brussel sprouts (I am not one of them), but these were amazing. Baked with apples and bacon and served piping hot. As for the mac & cheese, unfortunately, I was unable to sample it (thanks for nothing, celiac), but I can tell you that this thing looked and smelled unbelievable. I saw several of these dishes come out of the kitchen so I am not surprised this is a popular menu item. Just to get you daydreaming a bit about what "back to bed mac & cheese" is, here's a picture ...

Yes, that is macaroni & cheese with bacon baked in a skillet with a fried egg on top. Holy so much yes.

Dinner on Saturday night was at Tru, also located in Astoria. I started with the signature cocktail, which was some incredible mixture of cucumber, basil, mint, and vodka. It was delicious! As for food, I didn't get too adventurous at Tru mainly because my friends had told me such wonderful things about their salads and I really wanted to try one of those. I stuck with the caesar salad, which I know is pretty generic, but I really enjoyed it! The salad was big and tasted delicious. For "dessert," we ordered a cappuccino with Kahlua & Bailey's - definitely worth the pricey $9 (an extra $4 for the liquor add-ins). I highly recommend giving Tru a shot if you are around the Astoria area.

On Saturday night we bounced around a few places in Manhattan which were pretty fun. I cannot even begin to try to explain where we were because I get so lost in that city, but part of me thinks we were somewhere around "midtown."

Sunday: although the weather was miserable when we woke up Sunday morning, we were not going to let that stop us from having a great day. We had plans to hop around a few bars in Astoria and catch the football games in the afternoon. First stop ...brunch!

Brunch was at Oliver's, a pretty cool craft beer place in Astoria. I opted for lunch food rather than brunch, but my friend ordered the buttermilk chicken sandwich pictured below. I couldn't try it because of all the breading, but it looked fabulous! I definitely munched on some of the sweet potato fries and the sriracha ranch dip was addictive (we ordered extra). The drink specials during brunch were pretty good too -- $3 mimosas and bloodies until 4pm. Not quite the bottomless that we had at The Shady Lady, but still a pretty fair deal!

Buttermilk chicken sandwich

Me and my friend Alicia at Oliver's

We headed across the street from Oliver's to Raven's Head Public House to catch the first football game and obviously ordered more food. Not before I ordered a pumpkin & vanilla martini though. Unsure what motivated me to order such a fancy drink on a Sunday afternoon, but it was pretty good. I only had one, and probably won't ever order another one, but it was fun to switch it up a bit. About halfway through the football game we decided to order some nachos to pick on and they were out of this world. Piled high with lots of fresh toppings and the cheese to chip ratio was spot on. I like to consider myself a nacho connoisseur and order them as often as possible, so I have fairly high standards and expectations for my nachos. These ones were really yummy and baked in the oven so I definitely approve. We didn't do the brunch deal, but their special is bottomless mimosas (and maybe bloodies too but can't remember for sure) for two hours for $15.

A few of the creative cocktails at Raven's Head. My drink was the "Pit & Pendulum."

The next stop on our Sunday bar crawl was at a place called Break. Break is the ideal spot for watching any sports. The place is huge and almost half of the top floor is filled with pool tables and flat screen tvs. I am not a big pool player, but on Sundays you can play for free which would be a lot of fun. The place was pretty crowded but we were able to snag a high top in the bar area for some drinks so we could catch the end of the late football game. I imagine Break draws a pretty great crowd on Sundays during football season. Can't say anything about the food because we didn't order anything, but everyone around was snacking so I assume that is a good sign.

Our final stop was at Sweet Spot and this is where I think I put myself over the edge. We tried to sit in the front bar area, which is super spacious and looked like a lot of fun, but it was packed up there so we settled in at a table in the back. The restaurant was almost completely filled and there were plenty of tvs around to catch the game on. We ordered some wings (which were delicious) and then splurged on dessert and ordered red velvet cheesecake and peanut butter pie. A great end to a busy day!

Overall, my trip to New York was awesome and I can't wait to go back and explore again. If you ever are around Astoria you definitely should check out some of those places I mentioned. Here are a few more snaps from my time in New York: