Woods and Fine Dining (Oh yeah, and A LOT of wine)

The plan was to hike, camp for the night and have a quick exit the next morning. This was altered once we finished our highly confusing loop (it was starting to mildly remind me of the Blair Witch Project ) and reached our campsite. Mike and Vijay have re-capped the events, so all I will say is this sums up the overall morale at the campsite but add to it a sense of disappointment. I will add, since it was conveniently omitted by Vijay, that about a good mile to the campsite he was sneezing "PIZZA HUT" which represented the potential but half-joking escape plan for the night. Clearly he had an agenda before we got to the campsite. Haha.

we decided that since we are not camping, that we should do something different in NYC. We never go to fancy places for dinner and so to celebrate Vijay's future home, we decided we would have a night of fine dining French-style. I tried to get a reservation for Balthazar but of course it was not possible. So while trying to find a restaurant, Mike and Vijay watched really bad TV (I mean really bad...I think they were watching COPS.) and drinking A LOT of wine. In fact, I think Vijay had 500mL and Mike had almost 1L. (We know this because we had poured the wine out into Nalgene bottles for the hike. Oh and they drank it out of the Nalgene. High Class!)

In the end we went to Brasserie 8 1/2. It's a very mod atmosphere with mod French cuisine to match. The food was fantastic! We ordered a very nice Cabernet Sauvignon and each had a first and second course. Here is the list:
First Course:
Vijay-Portobelo mushrooms and goat cheese with candied beets and lavender meringue
Mike- Maryland Jumbo Blue Crab Cakes with artichoke & sea bean salad, grainy mustard sauce and lobster roe
Me- Crispy Zuchinni Blossoms with Maine Lobsters, roaster corn & picquillo pepper relish, avocado and tomato powder
They were all great, but the crab cakes was the best. BEST! They were perfect.

Second Course:
Vijay-Horseradish Crusted Ocean Stripped Bass
Mike- Red Snapper (it is not listed on the online menu)
Me- Wild Artic Char in Scallop Crust with "TUNA BACON"

TUNA BACON! The striped bass was delicious, but I think my entree was the best. The flavors were so delicate and the tuna bacon...wow. We also got dessert (creme brulee, PB&J sundae and chocolate pistachio French dip- all good, but I have had better creme brulee). It was a lot of fun and the restaurant has a great lounge, something I will have to re-visit.

It was a great meal and I highly recommend this restaurant. So even though we didn't camp, we had a great night and slept in warm soft beds. This morning we were going to go for a walk in Fort Tryon Park, but it was raining, so I made tuna melts with French fries and PB & dark chocolate covered Granny Smith apples. Yum. Great weekend.