We've done our fair share of research throughout the Midwest, from all over Iowa to different neighborhoods in Chicago to St. Louis and beyond (with a quick trip to Kansas City coming up). Whether it's looking for inspiration in food, drink, or design, or just appreciating what we're already doing, these trips always give us a new perspective!
Cheese fondue at The Standard Winter Garden
It's taken me exactly one year to get around to a recap of our research trip to New York City last December, but it seems appropriate as we get into the holiday spirit! Both my husband, Jordan, and I have been to NYC several times in the past but we hadn't visited during the holidays. We found a long weekend at the beginning of the month that worked and made a list of all the stops we wanted to make. The tourist-y stuff was kept to a minimum so that we could focus on the important task at hand: food and drink.
Once we had an unrealistically long list of bars and restaurants to visit, we mapped out the stops by neighborhood - much like we do when visiting Chicago. There was going to be little time for any deviation! One thing we didn't want to miss - since we were traveling during the holidays - was all of the amazing Christmas trees throughout the city. We made sure to sprinkle those throughout our route!
I'll take you along our journey via the Instagram story that documented our stops along the way:
DAY ONE
Lillie’s Victorian Establishment
Union Square Holiday Market
The Standard Winter Garden
Momofuku Milk Bar
McSorley’s
Pete's Tavern
Mr. Purple
Goodnight Sonny
Holiday Cocktail Lounge
375 Thrice Cooked Fries
Pietro Nolita
DAY TWO
Empire State Building
Bryant Park
The Penrose
The Met
Central Park
The Bar Room
5th Ave
The Grammercy Tavern
Raclette
The Smith Downtown
Sak’s Light Show
Rockefeller Plaza
Death & Company
DAY THREE
Best Bagel Co.
Donut Pub
Doughnuttery at Chelsea Market
High Line
The Ribbon
Buvette
While We Were Young
The Happiest Hour
Washington Square Park
Emily
Chumley's
Rolf's
DAY FOUR
Lincoln Square
Café Luxembourg
9/11 Museum
Brooklyn Bridge
Juliana’s
Laduree
This was one of our favorite research trips to date - so much so that we were hoping to make it an annual thing! While we couldn't make it work this year, we're definitely planning to head back to NYC in 2019 for a lot more of alllll this!