New York, New York

For those who were wondering when I started snoring in Evidence this morning: I returned last night from an amazing weekend with the girls in NYC.  (!!!) We shopped at Kleinfeld for my wedding dress (success!), toured Soho in sundresses on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon, drank to excess at a beer garden and then to greater excess on Drea and Margaret's rooftop deck, and of course, above all other things, ATE.

Followers of the blog, they were extremely gracious hosts, researching restaurants that would fit the plan.  Turns out, eating unprocessed is pretty easy in New York, where the fresh and local movement is the hip thing to do if you're a chef.

Waiting on Drea to get out of work on Friday afternoon, I dined solo at Cafe 50 West, where I had a big, fresh salad and approximately the most incredible macaroni and cheese (with white truffle oil!) in the history of the world:

Friday night, we hit Jean-Georges' new restaurant, ABC Kitchen.  Totally committed to fresh/local/organic cuisine, the menu lists its source farms on the back.  No need to fear that anything here ever encountered a factory or warehouse:

Margaret had a goat cheese ravioli:

Drea ordered a roasted carrot salad which it would never have occurred to me to get, but turned out to be the greatest thing I had ever tasted:

I got the spicy pork ragu bigoli:

And Melissa had a pizza with prosciutto and kale:

(Sorry these photos are so blurry ... the lighting was a little too romantic for great quality pictures.)

On Saturday, Drea and I took a break from strolling in Soho to dine at another Jean-Georges restaurant, (Mercer)Market.  She and I shared an appetizer of roasted beets with goat cheese before digging into a tuna spring roll and eggs benedict, respectively:

I really can't describe how lemony and wonderful that hollandaise was.  Definitely on my list to learn how to make (without contracting salmonella).

We met up with Margaret after lunch and came upon -- no joke -- an organic ice cream truck.

When you write a blog of this sort and then COME UPON AN ORGANIC ICE CREAM TRUCK there is really a sort of obligation to get an ice cream cone.

So I did:

We finished Saturday with several hours at the Loreley beer garden, during and after which I made the (wise) decision to keep my camera in my bag.

Sunday afternoon, we wrapped up my visit with a trip to Shake Shack.  For those who aren't familiar and don't live in NYC, I'm so sorry.  For those who aren't familiar and do live in NYC, GO.   Make sure to check the Shack Cam before you go, though, to avoid an hours-long line.

I didn't bring the camera on this venture either, but Drea let me snap a photo of my ShackBurger with her iPhone:

BEST. CHEATMEAL. EVER.