Sundays in NYC always mean brunch to me which eventually lead to a long day of enjoyment that I like to call Sunday Funday.  A little quirky?  Yeah.  Corny?  Sure.  Bordering a bit on childish?  Kind of.  Fun as sh*t?  Absolutely.  I had heard a lot about a Danny Meyer Italian restaurant called Maialino (Italian for Piglet) located in the Gramercy Park Hotel and so we decided to head down there for some brunch.  The hotel itself is pretty elegant and I wasn't expecting the casual surprise of a place like Mailino.  The space reminded me of the Tabard Inn and any place with a view of Gramercy Park is always a welcome place to eat.

116 E 27th St
New York, NY  10016
212.447.7733
www.bluesmoke.com

Blue Smoke, like Zampa, is a place where the experience is greater than the quality of the food. We went there to celebrate a friend's birthday and also take in a show at the Jazz Standard. Pedrito Martinez was playing that night and while I had never heard of him until then, it was pretty extraordinary music, at least to this novice.

450 East 29th Street
New York, NY  10016
212.729.9790
www.riverparknyc.com


Nothing like a good pre-game spot to get your night and your palette going.  We decided to walk around a bit before our scheduled dinner at Blue Smoke (next post!) and decided to have a drink and maybe a bite to eat at Riverpark.  The restaurant is located in the Alexandria Center for Life Science which is a beautiful new building built by New York City that is intended to provide a life science "park" in order to faster cultivate cutting edge research.  The building is sleek, modern and the restaurant space reflects that in that classic Colicchio way.  The other unique aspect of Riverpark is that attached to the building is a garden specifically made to provide fresh produce for the restaurant.  The Riverpark Farm is a much needed green space in the middle of concrete and matches the modern building beside it.