**Just a quick note to say that we are so grateful to all the people who worked so very hard these past few days to keep us safe and comfortable. We are thankful beyond words, and our prayers go out to those who are recovering from the storm. 

This has been a pretty busy month for us, so we didn’t get out to many new spots, but we did hit up a few of our tried and true favorites.

Lincoln

I’m so excited to finally be sharing this restaurant with you. It’s one of our favorites and I would happily recommend that anyone visiting (or living in) NYC wanting to have a beautiful evening with amazing Italian food should give this place a try. Firstly, the restaurant is special just for its unique location. It’s right in Lincoln Center, with big windows that look out onto the beautiful promenade and fountain. One side of the restaurant also offers a view of the stunning open kitchen. It’s like dinner theatre for foodies. The food is also something special. From the amuse bouche to dessert, I’m always impressed with every course they offer. The menu changes rather regularly, but the eggplant parm is not to be missed. And if they ever put the tiramisu back on the menu (pretty, pretty please!), it is a must order as well. They are very accommodating to sharing, so bring friends and try a handful of their delicious pastas. If you are going to the opera, ballet, or any event at Lincoln Center this would be an amazing restaurant to visit beforehand!

Philippe

As trendy and delicious as Chinese food gets. From the renowned Mr. Chow, Philippe brings a little bit of downtown hipness to the upper east side. The bar scene is pretty solid and a great place to grab a drink in an area that is slightly devoid of cool watering holes. The food is really good, but nothing on the menu even comes close to the peking duck. Yes, it’s expensive and can take some time to cook, but it is insane. They serve up a whole duck along with little pancakes, duck sauce, and thinly sliced cucumbers and scallions. So you end up eating these duck tacos that will totally blow your mind. It’s a great place to go for groups as most of the dishes are meant to share (including the duck), but even if you are there with only one other person, still get the duck and just one or two apps. Be prepared to deal with a little pretension from the waitstaff, but it’s not nearly as bad as the original Mr.Chow’s – don’t even get me started on that place!

PJ Clarke’s

If you live in NYC you probably are going to find this review rather laughable. I mean, PJ’s is a place that most people living in the city for any amount of time have been to (there are multiple locations around the city), but at the heart, it’s just a burger joint. There’s no pretension and nothing fancy about it, just solid burgers and pub type food. We go to the Lincoln Center location rather regularly, or whenever a craving for a bacon, cheddar cheeseburger hits. If you are visiting the city, this might be a good place to go for lunch or if you are just over “fancy” dinners and want something more low key. The great thing about the Lincoln Center location is that they see a lot of tourists, so their waitstaff is super friendly and will not give you a second look if you come in sporting sneakers and a fanny pack. If you want to go a bit nicer, you can always try Sidecar, which is a slightly fancier version of PJ’s located atop the 3rd Ave. location.

We also went back to Gari, which I wrote about Here.

We have some serious reservations set-up for November, so stay tuned – it’s sure to be a yummy month!