A few vital facts about me:

• One of my top “bucket list” items is to own/rent an apartment in New York City with a roof top patio/terrace. Yes, I play the lottery regularly.
• The one band that provided the greatest background music for my childhood memories was the Eagles. I still love them to this day and they may be the most “normal” band on my iPod.
• I would love to be a food critic/writer or a professional eater in some capacity.
• I love eggs, like a lot.

You needed that info before I proceed with this post.

For my wife’s birthday back in May, I gave her tickets to see the band, the Eagles, in Madison Square Garden. We had watched their recent documentary, History of the Eagles, at least five times and swore we would one day see them perform live. Nice job John, I know.

The concert was this past Saturday so we managed to dump leave the kids with my parents so we could spend the night in our beloved NYC. I love my kids and knew they needed time away from us so it was the right thing to do. It’s always kids first in our house.

As you may remember from a post back in February, we make it a point to stay one night in the Big Apple one to two times a year and we make the most of our limited time while there. My wife has a knack for finding the best spots and hidden gems in Manhattan so I just follow her lead when we go. We eat, drink and walk like kings.

So similar to my last NYC post, here is a chronological summary of the highlights of our latest venture in “the city”:

11:30 AM – arrive at the Bryant Park Hotel, park the car through valet, free of charge (unheard of in New York and a huge $$$ savings, drop off the luggage and simultaneously hit up Yelp on our phones.

12:30 PM – walk 12 blocks through the Garment District and land at the Nomad Hotel, specifically, their Library Bar. We collectively exhale and order an Anderson Valley oatmeal stout and a rose wine (please insert one of those symbols over the “e”, I can’t figure out how to do it). And no, the rose was not for me.

We had lunch reservations for 3:00 so we ate light in order to hold us over. An important aside – we never truly eat “dinner” when in NYC. We eat a big lunch and then snack at night. It’s easier to get a lunch reservation and it frees up the night so we can paint the town red in as many places as possible and we our not dragged down by a full late night stomach. Genius, you can say it.

A little trio of swiss cheeses (below) and a phenomenal fingerling and dill potato bread (not pictured because we crushed it too quickly).    

How awesome is the atmosphere in this place?

We could have set up camp in there for hours as it was the first opportunity to unwind and  carry on an adult conversation. My poor wife had to listen to my plans for a rooftop garden and how we could spend weekends in NYC in our fictional studio apartment. The beauty of dreaming.

2:00 to 3:00 PM – We walk around twenty to thirty city blocks in all directions in the rain and have exactly zero complaints. Along the way we find the hilarious Amy Sedaris, signing books and even buy a few things along the way. I forgot just how much I love shopping with my lady.

3:00 to 4:30 PM – Lunch at ABC Kitchen in Union Square, courtesy of my wife’s extensive research. An absolute stellar choice. The place was hopping with premo people watching opps (maybe some hipster fatigue eventually settled in). We tested our long lost education in the “language du Francais” while listening in to our dining neighbors conversation … and both failed miserably.

My wife and I split a roasted carrot and avocado salad with crunch seeds, sour cream and citrus.

I swear the carrots were like nothing I’ve ever tasted and as an aspiring food writer I should probably have a better description than that. I’ll work on my descriptive writing but just know this salad was off the charts delicious and I generally don’t like carrots all that much.

After the salad, we each ordered a different whole wheat pizza. I went with the mushroom, parmesan, oregano and farm egg pizza.

It was so dang good with the greatest seasoning on the wood burned crust. The egg just took things to an entirely new level. Give me eggs scrambled, fried, hard boiled, in a tortilla, on a burger with bacon and now on a pizza. A ten out of ten.

My wife had the chorizo, cherry tomato and squash blossom pizza and is still raving about it.

5:00 to 6:00 PM – walk 22 blocks back to the hotel with only a coffee stop along the way. The legs are burning but what better way to walk off a big ass lunch.

6:00 to 8:00 PM – shower and chill in the hotel room getting ready for the concert. A lot of smiles and relaxed looks on our faces. I love my wife.

8:00 to 8:05 PM – near death experience in cab ride to Madison Square Garden. Upon surviving arriving at MSG, realize the crowd skews a lot older than us. We’re cool with it.

8:30 PM – arrive in our seats just as the concert is about to start. Effectively piss off everyone sitting in Section 222, row 18, seats 24-13 as we squeeze by.

8:30 to 11:45 PM – the concert is fantastic, the band sounds like they did forty years ago and we realize we know every word to every song.

11:45 PM – 12:30 AM – leave the Garden and walk back to the hotel. We are beyond shot and ready to crash … and humming “Take it Easy”.

12:34 – 9:05 AM – slept like babies.

9:05 – 10:30 AM – take our time getting ready and down a few coffees and croissants from the bakery around the corner. I’m convinced there isn’t a bad bakery in all of NYC. Try like hell to remember our kids names.

10:45 – 11:00 AM – drive from hotel to find parking along the High Line in Chelsea. I am literally shaking with excitement in anticipation of my first visit (don’t ask why it took so long).

11:00 – 12:30 PM – tour the High Line. This will be its own post within the next few days. I will tell you we found an incredible kiosk along the way, Taco Truck.  We both had a torta (mexican sandwich) which was loaded with pork, cilantro, white onion, pickled jalapeno, avocado, crema and black beans:

Maybe the greatest sandwich I have ever had and cannot wait to sample others in the near future.

We then officially toasted to our latest NYC adventure with a Snickerdoodle and cinnamon ice cream sandwich from Melt Bakery.

I will now spend the next week dreaming of living in Manhattan (or Brooklyn … although we are clearly not hip enough), eating our way through the West Village and Tribeca and gardening at 55 stories high.