For New York’s Restaurant Week (July 16 - August 10), I headed to the 21 Club with three girlfriends to enjoy the lively atmosphere and a great meal (well, keep reading). The 21 club was once a speakeasy (which I think is pretty awesome) and now is known for their great food, award winning wine list and interesting decor:

If you look at the table in the picture, you’ll see a small picture of Steve Forbes, who dined at the table next to us. Also, it doesn’t hurt to have some of the most well-known people in New York have permanent tables at the restaurant (Donald Trump, Barbara Walters, Les Moonves, Brian Williams, George Clooney, the list goes on and on). Interestingly enough, *almost* every president since FDR has gone to the 21 club - the only exception? - George W. Bush. So, enough with the history of the club, onto the food!

The prix fix menu isn’t too bad, you can view it here. I started with the Grilled Spicy Shrimp (with apple and potato salad, micro celery, and lemon aioli):

Joyce, Charlene, Leena, and me at the table with our appetizers:

Leena ordered the Smoked Trout with fennel and cucumber salad, crème fraîche, and trout caviar dressing:

Appetizer wise, the shrimp was definitely better. It wasn’t too chewy (always a good thing) and there was a nice grilled flavor. Also, the potato salad was dressed well (not too much mayo). On the other hand, I wasn’t a fan of Leena’s smoked trout - it was way too salty, tough, and the smoky flavor was just lacking. So, if you go to the 21 club for restaurant week, don’t start with the trout :).

For our main courses, we had four options (but no one wanted chicken or fish). Leena and I both ordered the Grilled Flat Iron Steak with broccoli rabe, roasted cipollini onions, potato purée, Cabernet sauce:

The steak was cooked to a nice medium rare, but it didn’t have a fresh taste to it. I looked over at Leena and asked what she thought of it…she nicely said it was “okay,” but that’s just because Leena is too nice to say something mean. I didn’t think the steak was juicy, the cabernet sauce didn’t pair well with the steak taste, and the only two things good about the dish were the broccoli and the “potato puree,” which is a fancy way of saying MASHED POTATOES.

Joyce and Charlene both ordered the Duck Leg Confit frisée salad, wild mushrooms, toasted peanut vinaigrette:

I wish I could say something better about their dish, but it wasn’t good AT ALL. The duck was dry, there wasn’t any taste to it, and the duck SKIN wasn’t even tasty. I mean, how could something so good be ruined like that?! I was NOT a fan of the main courses at all. I’m not a fan of restaurant week in general - I mean, all of the good restaurants only offer their prix fix meal for lunch (and who has time to have a long lunch in Manhattan during the weekdays) and the restaurants that offer a prix fix dinner usually don’t offer great options. I prefer to just spend money and get a good meal out of the place, you know?

For dessert, there were four choices and all of us decided to get something different so we could switch it up:

Joyce ordered the Chocolate Marquise with chocolate shortbread and fresh raspberries:

It was rich, creamy, and delicious. No complaints from anyone at the table

Charlene ordered the Lemon Pucker Cake with summer berries and lemon cream sauce:

Out of all four of the options, this was my least favorite. The cake was sticky but not moist (possible, right?). It wasn’t BAD, just not memorable.

Leena ordered the Blueberry Tart with Passion Fruit Cream and mango coulis:

My favorite dessert of the night. Look at how many blueberries they piled onto that tart! The mango/passion fruit combination was also tart and sweet.

I ordered the Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée with orange-pecan biscotti:

Good, but not great. There was still sugar that wasn’t burnt on top (who wants to know how much sugar they’re actually consuming?!) and the actual crème brûlée wasn’t solid enough for me to fully enjoy the dessert. Shocking, I know.

Overall, the meal wasn’t memorable but the service was great and we had a great time people watching. I would like to go back to the 21 club after restaurant week and try their actual dishes because I don’t think their options did the restaurant justice. Afterwards, we took some pictures outside (since the restaurant is also known for the jockeys outside the townhouse):

If you’re going to partake in Restaurant Week, I definitely recommend going to lunch…or just save your money and splurge at the restaurant ordering off the regular menu!

How to get to The 21 Club:

The 21 Club
21 W 52nd St between 5th and 6th
New York, NY 10019
212-265-1900

Last night as I was getting ready to pack up for the day, I heard people in my office saying that there was an explosion at Grand Central and telling me to evacuate the building immediately. Some of the associates that have offices facing Madison Ave saw lots of smoke and felt the floor rumbling, so they started running for the stairs/elevators and were telling other people to do the same. When I got to the first floor, there was a mad exodus - seriously - everyone in our building was running to the exit and trying to see what all the fuss was about. Apparently, there was a steam pipe explosion near grand central and the smoke people thought they saw was actually steam coming up from the ground. One woman died from the explosion (cardiac arrest) and 44 other people were injured. Here are the pictures I took from the street as I was walking home:

The debris that fell onto all New Yorkers in the area:

Also, there was asbestos in the debris that fell from the explosion, so if you were in the area, you should probably either 1. throw away your clothes that you were wearing or 2. get them cleaned so you won’t be breathing in the asbestos.

Trains are running again, but there’s still a lot of cleanup and there’s no traffic along 42nd street near Grand Central.

On Sunday, Chris and I headed to Goodburger to try out their cheeseburgers (a lot of my friends from work said it was better than Shake Shack). Since I love Shake Shack, I had to see what all the fuss was about. There are a couple of Goodburgers around the city (there’s actually one RIGHT by me on 54th and Lexington) and there is a new one opening up around Union Square this August. Goodburger is home of the …goodburger:

And you can order online, so for really lazy and chubby people, it’s perfect! (meaning, I will always order online from now on). I ordered my usual cheeseburger without mayo and onion and Chris ordered the same. The prices are a little higher than Shake Shack’s, but you don’t have to wait in line, which is always a good thing. Our meal:

And a close up of the burger:

Goodburger grills their burgers on a huge open flame and they definitely taste like it. Very delicious. The cheese is melted perfectly, there’s not an overload of vegetables and condiments, and the flame taste makes the meat extra tasty. It isn’t as heavy as Shake Shack, either, which is a good thing because everytime I leave Shake Shack, I feel like I need to go on a diet. Actually, just writing about Shake Shack makes me feel a little greasy. I still love Shake Shack because of the buttery bun taste and the meat’s seasoning, but I feel like Goodburger is almost…good for you. Do you think my doctor would buy that?! The fries were also good - freshly made and very crispy.

One complaint: I’m not sure how cooks are SUPPOSED to handle burgers, but our cook didn’t use gloves on both of his hands, meaning his right hand was exposed while he was touching my beef patty, touching my bun, all of the different veggies, etc. That can’t be clean, right? The other person working behind the counter was wearing gloves on both hands, which leads me to believe that the guy should have been as well. They definitely need to work on that. Overall, I think Goodburger is - dare I say it - better than Shake Shack. Yes, I said it. Now I’m going to order some online and wait for it to show up at my door.

On Friday night, my friend from college, Joe Xu, came from Chicago to visit New York. He stayed with Jason and we ended up going out around 1AM (his flight arrived around 11PM) but it was SO incredibly nice to see him since we haven’t seen each other since I visited Chicago (but I only saw him for 20 minutes because he was so busy working!). Pictures from PS 450:

Me, Joe, and Jason:

PS 450 is a nice lounge with a diverse group of people and there’s never a cover charge or a long line. Joe said there isn’t ANYTHING like it in Chicago, which I find hard to believe, but I like going to PS 450 for a late happy hour and then staying for more drinks (since it’s relatively close to my office). It can get a little stuffy in the front of the lounge, but I think it’s a pretty laid back place then you’re not looking for something too hectic. Check back later for another weekend update!