Yesterday morning we woke up ready to take advantage of our last (half) day in New York.  Out the door early to soak up a little more NYC sunshine.

I know when I am in DC, I never get tired of seeing all the monuments and amazing architecture on every corner.  I imagine New Yorkers feel the same way – there is so much to take in.

I solicited my Twitter friends for another bagel recommendation – as much as I loved our first spot, I hate eating somewhere twice when there are so many other options.  We ended up at Murray’s Bagels in Chelsea, which was clearly the place to be on a Sunday morning!

Despite the crowds, I stalked a few tables and ended up scoring us a table for four.  Afterwards Casey remarked, “You could definitely be a New Yorker.  You are so damn feisty.”  I take that as a compliment.  :)

At my hard-earned table, I enjoyed the “health” bagel – which I think was whole wheat everything, smeared with a generous amount of tofu vegetable cream cheese.  Seriously – vegan options EVERYwhere!  It gives me hope for the rest of the country.

Murray’s was adorable, and I think I actually liked it better than Ess-A Bagel.  In my bagel book, doughy wins out over crunchy.  I also announced upon leaving that I will never eat another non-NYC bagel.  Nothing else can possibly compare!

Our only plan for the afternoon was to eat and walk – and we did both of those things quite well.  We started out in the Chelsea neighborhood…

And eventually made our way into Greenwich Village, and beautiful Washington Park.  The snow on the trees was so pretty!

I really liked the Greenwich Village area.  I could see myself living there.  :)

A few more miles of walking through SoHo and the shopping district, we ended up in Little Italy at Lombardi’s Pizza!

One of my requirements for our visit was authentic New York style pizza.  Half cheese for me, cheese-less for my other half. 

Super thin New York style crust, mmmm.  The pizza was good, but not the best I’ve ever had.  Will the New Yorkers hate me if I say I think I like Chicago style better?

I loved the great authentic feel to this spot – plastic checked tablecloths, pictures with celebs on the walls, and piping hot pizza.

Full from lunch, we headed back out into the snow.  Not a great weekend for riding your bike!

We continued to walk south and ended up running into Chinatown!  When I was last in NYC in college, I went down to Chinatown and bought a bunch of fake designer purses.  :)  My how times have changed!

No purses this time, it was all about the atmosphere and the FOOD.  I am a big advocate of bulk shopping, but this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind…

Chinatown is so interesting – it truly feels like you’ve walked into another country.  And as fascinating as I found it, I also wanted to make sure to be respectful and selective with my camera, not forgetting that this is how people really live.

This long line stretched down the block – all people waiting in line to buy MILK!

All sorts of interesting and unrecognizable food.  I have a pretty good eye for obscure ingredients, but most of these were new even to me.

But there was one exotic food that I recognized from half-way down the block – DURIAN!

Durian is a notoriously STINKY exotic fruit that is not seen very often in the US.  We talked about them a lot in culinary school, and they always seem to end up in the baskets on Chopped, but I had never seen (or smelled) one up close in person before.

Before I knew what was happening, Jordan was buying one and announcing that we were all going to EAT durian before we left.  There were actually a lot of people buying it, which made me feel a little bit better about his decision.  The inside was not at all what I expected – almost pudding-like.

The durian tasting commenced – Casey went back for several more forkfuls, while Laura looked like she was going to gag.

This was the extent of my tasting.  I’m a pretty adventurous eater, but this was NOT my cup of tea.  It tasted like a fibrous oniony pudding – horrific.

Happy I tasted it.  Even happier to never have to taste it again.  :)

We marched on through Chinatown…

And found ourselves at our last stop for the weekend – the doorway of BABYCAKES!

My friend Mary Ann gave me the Babycakes cookbook for Christmas, and I have been dying to visit ever since.

It was SO tiny inside – I had to really squeeze and zoom out just to get a few photos.  The décor was really retro and playful – I loved it.

Even the staff were dressed in crazy old-school outfits – it made the whole experience much more fun.  My takeaway from Babycakes AND Tu-Lu’s was that you don’t have to do something BIG in order to get noticed.  Both of these bakeries have well-known cookbooks, features on Food Network, and die-hard followings, and yet they are both so small that they can barely hold a handful of people at one time.  It just goes to show that anything is possible if the food is good.

I left feeling inspired.  I also left with a giant box of baked goods.

Cinnamon spice and chocolate crunch donuts, along with vanilla, banana, and carrot cake cupcakes.  All vegan, and all gluten-free.

This box served as a delicious dinner on our long bus ride home to DC.  Yep – the whole box.  Don’t judge.

Now we are home safe and sound in Virginia, and I am missing the snowy streets of NYC just a bit.  Hoping to get back sooner than later, and adding “live in New York City” to my life list.  Because just as I realized at Babycakes, it never hurts to dream big.

After starting out our Saturday with a run through Central Park and miles of miles of walking all over the city, we were more than ready for our evening of delicious fine dining.  Since the moment we booked our trip over a month ago, I knew we would be dining at Pure Food & Wine – it has been on my list for too long!

We got to Pure and were greeted by dim lighting, swanky atmosphere, and great music.  Upon receiving my menu, my head started to swirl.  Being vegetarian, I am used to only having two or three things to choose from on most traditional restaurant menus.  So whenever I eat in a purely vegetarian spot, I get totally overwhelmed by the sheer number of options in front of me.  The thing is, I just LOVE to eat, and I usually end up ordering way too much food, simply because I can’t stand to choose just one thing.

We noticed that there was a 5-course tasting menu available, but only if the entire table wanted the tasting experience.  The type-A control freak in me thought this was a very risky move – not being able to order exactly what I wanted, as the tasting menu was 100% chef’s choice.  But I set my control aside for the evening, figuring this was probably one of the only places in the world where I would be actually be able to eat every course of a tasting menu.

It was one of the most expensive and most creative meals I have ever eaten, and the tasting menu was such a fun and special experience.  We started out with an amuse bouche of radish in a mushroom miso broth, that sadly was too blurry to share with you.  The lighting in Pure was kind of tragic, so I did my best with the single candle on our table.  I will spare you pictures of all four plates for all (actually 7) courses, but here are the highlights…

Appetizer course:  Casey’s rosemary crisps with tree nut cheese, caraway sauerkraut and a local apple cider reduction.

And my Niwa Maki of avocado, enoki mushrooms, pickled heirloom baby carrots, asparagus, mango, scallions, and spicy wasabi aioli.  It was gorgeous and SPICY! 

With the exception of the soup course, we each received something different for every course.  It was a nice way for us to see a huge assortment of Pure’s amazing menu, and for the most part we all ended up liking what we individually received.  Our second course was soup, and they were all the same – spinach soup with clove oil and pink peppercorns.  Off.the.hook.

The next course was the first of two entrée courses (yes TWO!) – Casey received the pizzette with almond and rosemary crust, raw nut cheese, thin tomato, shaved topping and a fresh basil leaf.  Did I mention that everything in this restaurant is not only vegan, but also RAW?  It was incredible.

My first entrée was a raw vegan sushi with avocado, enoki mushrooms, pickled ginger, asparagus shoots, and more.  I am a HUGE sushi fan, and this was perfect for me.

Jordan’s entrée – some sort of avocado mouse with cashew sour cream and tomato salad, served on a crispy raw cracker.

And Laura’s – pad thai with kelp noodle and baby bok choy, topped with snow peas, oyster mushrooms, tamarind sauce, and cilantro oil.

Entrée course #2 (actually course #5) – can you believe we were still eating?  Casey got porcini ravioli with truffle cream sauce and baby white asparagus.

And I received the sweet corn and cashew cream tomales with chili spiced portabella.  This came with a raw cacao mole that was to DIE for…

In between our second entrées and the dessert course, we were given a meyer lemon soda as a palate cleanser.  Tasted like a sweet tart!

When I first asked about the tasting menu and what it involved, the selling point was that you got samplings of every course – finished with a FULL sized dessert course.  Sounded just right to me.  I was crossing my fingers that I would get something chocolaty, and boy did they deliver.  I received the trio of dark chocolate coated Indian spiced ice cream treats – chocolate cardamom coconut ice cream cone, pistachio gelato ice cream sandwich, and chai tea creamsicle.

Jordan got a passion fruit and chocolate panna cotta – truly amazing to be able to make that both raw and vegan.  I have no idea how they do it!

And Laura got the salted chocolate caramel tart with dark chocolate ganache, maldon sea salt, and vanilla cream.  Best dessert of the night.

It was definitely a dining experience I will remember for a long time, and it felt like such a treat to be able to enjoy such a decadent meal that was all vegetarian, and more importantly – totally delicious.  Even though we were stuffed full, our night was far from over.  We jumped in a cab and made our way up to Radio City Music Hall for our evening entertainment.

Being inside Radio City felt like such a special experience.  The venue was absolutely breathtaking!

Casey is a big Iron & Wine fan, and I’m so glad we were able to make this trip happen and fall in line with the concert – such a fun addition to an already fabulous vacation.

While I didn’t know the music as well as the rest of my group, I really enjoyed the show.  Just being in such a famous venue with gorgeous architecture and beautiful music was enough to entertain me.

It felt like the perfect New York day, and I found myself beaming with smiles as we strolled through Times Square back to our hotel.  It started with a snowy run through Central Park, followed by a trip to a gluten-free bakery, a 5-course tasting menu at Pure, and a concert at Radio City to finish out our day.

I love New York.