A little bite of the Big Apple

I got to spend three days in New York City this past week and I have to say, it was fantastic to be in a large city again.. maybe I am a city girl at heart.. I was there for a conference held by my company and some of us were invited to hear the likes of Leon Black (founder of Apollo, not Blackstone - as his introducer referred to him as the latter!) and Arthur J Levitt speak.

More importantly, I finally got to bond with some of my colleagues on a semi-professional level. First up was a dinner at a restaurant called Tabla. If you are in the mood for Indian food, this is not the place to go. IT does not even have a Tabla (indian word for drum - musical instrument) playing... Dont get me wrong the food is good, but its pseudo Indian and thats putting it mildly.. Sadly we were advised that it was this great Indian restaurant and after living in San Diego for the last month, I was quite looking forward to enjoying a meal that would stimulate all of ones senses. With suckling pig on the menu, it would be sacrilege to call this place an Indian restaurant..

We then proceeded to the oldest irish pub in New York.. McSorley's -one of the oldest bars in this fair city opened its doors in 1857--but women weren't allowed in until the 1970s. Today, this East Village institution still has sawdust on the floor, almost 150 years of history on the walls and only two kinds of beer--McSorley's Light and McSorley's Dark.

We then proceeded to Mamoun's for falafel, the Middle Eastern with all its trans-fat, and hot sauce. This place was really good and considered to the best 4am place to hang out at. We there at 11pm (getting old). It kind of reminded of the type of establishment you would find in Edgware Road, complete with Seesha pipe (you have to ask for it though). For $2.50, it definitely trumped the Tabla experience.
We were contemplating buying the sauce but all questioned how we would transport back to SD, given that we all had carry-ons. So maybe for next time..

As the conference was held in Battery Park, I was fortunate to have a room facing the Statue of Liberty. Maybe one day, I will finally take a ferry over to actually see it close up.
How can one even contemplate going to NYC and not getting to see the legend himself.... Puneet and I got to meet the next evening and headed to Tamarind, a really good Indian restaurant on the west side. Good thing it was a Tuesday, as we did not have a reservation but were kindly seated. I think that the waitress had the hots for Puneet as she was ever so nice.. I would definitley recommend this place to friends. Puneet, just so that you know, I gave up going to a Lenny Kravitz concert to hang out with you.. Hopefully next time round, Aikta will join us..
It was great seeing some familiar signage in NYC, like the Pret Manger store on the 5th Avenue and the numerous H&M's and ZARA's abound.

Pretty soon it was time to say goodbye, but I have been told that work will take me to NYC pretty often.. so more interesting places to follow. What I realised I missed the most, was being able to walk to places in a citylike NYC or London.... our movements in California are dictated by getting into a car.. and that even implies going to the gym.. I truly wonder what my carbon emmission count is living in the State that dictates the CleanTech revolution and working for a fund that invests in reducing carbon emissions.