First morning in New York City!!! I convinced little sister to get a morning cup of coffee to start out. We walked to the closest coffee shop which was a 3 min walk called Caffe Vita. It was ranked one of the better coffee shops that even roast their own beans in house. I also wanted to come here to get Vince a bag of beans as a souvenir.
Little sister got the hot macchiato and I got the hot vanilla latte. Poor little sister only drank half of it when she skipped and fell backwards on black ice! The rest landed on her white coat. We rushed back to the hotel to scrub it off with soap detergent and warm water. My vanilla latte was very good! We got little hearts for our latte art and the coffee was strong!
Afterwards, we walked a few more blocks (less than a mile) to Russ & Daughters for some good bagels and cream cheese! There was a short line outside but it went by quickly. The service was good and they slice fresh smoked salmon right in front of us.
We shared a Classic smoked salmon with caviar cream cheese, tomato, capers and onion on plain bagel. They even toasted the bagel for us! I think he might have accidentally toasted it for too long because our bagel was a bit hard. The smoked salmon was standard. The caviar cream cheese was good with a hint of the sea. Both combined was a tad too salty for me.
Afterwards, we hiked to and crossed the Brooklyn Bridge. We enjoyed the morning sun and fresh snow. Then we called an Uber to make it to our Peter Luger reservation.
Our waiter was Felipe and he was a very nice and friendly waiter! He made small talk with us and even gave us some touristy suggestions to go sight see. We appreciated his service!
They call it rib steak, which is also prime rib. We ordered it medium rare, which our pink plastic piggy says medium rare on the back. It was already sliced in a few pieces for us to start. He placed two pieces on each of our plates to start and poured extra fat on top. If we split a steak, it was an extra $5 service charge per menu. We also ordered two red glasses of Shiraz wine to go with. I like dry wine with my steaks.
The prime rib was very tender, flavorful and savory. It was cooked perfectly! Classic good steak. Nothing to not like!
When Felipe gave us the check, he also gave us Peter Luger gold coins! What a fun, small surprise!
After our late lunch, we hiked back across the Williamsburg bridge to our jazz show called Tomi Jazz. It wasn’t as cute as the Brooklyn Bridge but a lot less crowded. There was a bike lane across this bridge too.
Ume Hime (plum based wine). Brown sugar plum wine, calpico, GFJ and lime juice. I asked for less alcohol and it was sooo good! Very sweet with a slight tang. I actually had two of these. Babe, be proud of me! 🙂
We shared a small bowl of egg drop soup and it was good! Classic, gooey egg drop soup!
The crab cream croquette reminded me of our adventures in Spain. It was crispy on the outside and very hot and creamy on the inside. There is a mild crab flavor.
My sister said they were known for their cod roe spaghetti. It was good! Tasted of the sea and creamy.
The jazz music was my first jazz experience. It was very enlightening. There were four performers: piano, saxophone, bass and drums. Truc explained to me that they each took turns being in the spotlight. It was a very intimate and nice ambience that the jazz music gave.
We were able to stay there for a maximum of 2 hours. After that we left to see a long line of people waiting outside. Good thing we rushed before opening to grab the first set of tables!
And now we’re done for the night.. because we walked the Brooklyn bridge and Williamsburg bridge.. our feet our exhausted!
