President's Day Weekend (A Glimpse of Spring?)
Two days when the weather wasn’t completely frigid and unbearable were over President’s Day Weekend. After having a low-key Friday, I woke up early Saturday morning for a spin class, took a long stroll on the pier, and then headed into the city to meet my friend Melanie (one of my favorite people ever, who I met years ago when I was living in Astoria). The weather was gorgeous and it was almost 60 degrees. We got brunch at Boulton and Watt in the East Village and it was the PERFECT location for the weather that day. Since they’re located on a corner they had two walls of open windows, which let the sun shine in. They also only charge $6 for brunch cocktails so choosing this place was obviously a no-brainer. I ordered their baked eggs skillet, a breakfast item I had never ordered out before, and Melanie went with their steak and eggs.
Afterwards we walked around pretty aimlessly, stopped in for another drink at a random bar and then for coffee (okay AND mini cupcakes) at Sweet Buttons Desserts before we met up with my coworker and his fiancé and their friends to see a guy they knew performing at Rockwood Music Hall (check out Mike Buscio HERE on SoundCloud, he’s awesome!
Later on we hit up a few more random bars in the LES, grabbed some food at a Mexican restaurant that just happened to have their entire community table open for us to sit at, and eventually made our way to The Back Room. One of the guys in the group was visiting from Utah so we thought it’d be a unique experience for him. I thought I had been there before but as it turned out, I hadn’t! We traveled down a stairwell and through an alley, and entered into a lounge that really made you feel as if you had gone back in time. Until visiting, I hadn’t been aware that it’s one of only two speakeasies in NYC that existed during Prohibition. Their cocktails are served in white teacups with a saucer, and beers are served in paper bags. If you reserve tables ahead of time with bottle service, they’ll be kept in a vintage wooden globe. I highly recommend checking it out!
The next day my Mom came to Hoboken for some mother/daughter time. (This was also the day we discovered most parking in Hoboken is FREE on Sundays. And yes, I still feel pretty ridiculous for not knowing this sooner.) We thought it would be a good day for her to finally get to walk the High Line. It turns out a LOT of others had the same idea but we were glad we had gone. Afterwards we passed Artichoke Basille’s Pizza and I knew this was another place my mother HAD to experience that day. We each ordered a Blue Moon and then split the 17th St Sampler, a wedge of 3 different style pizzas of your choice. We did an artichoke slice, a crab slice and a slice of the margharita. After eating we were pretty happy, pretty full, and pretty tired from walking. We finished off our day by grabbing some coffees and made our way back to my apartment to relax on my couch before my mother headed home.
