I was on the way to New York City and finally had booked a ticket on Virgin America. Doing the LAX-NYC thing every now in then, I had usually flown on United. I immediately loved the cool mood lighting, brand new clean planes, wireless internet and high tech touch screen, which featured 30 movies, TV, games and over 3,000 mp3s. I tried out the virtual ordering and had a hummus and pita plate with fresh veggies, and a baileys and coffee. No cash is required, and you swipe your card and your done.=)

Staying in a different area of NYC this trip, I tried out a couple of new places; Stanton Social and Morimoto.

It was 12am by the time I got to the hotel and I was in a very unfamiliar part of town.

Step in Stanton Social.

The lower East Side’s choice for the sexiest lounge and restaurant. Modeled after the 1940’s era, you will see the demure influence in everything from the waitstaff’s attire to the herringbone pattern of the 2,000 bottles of wine on display on the main floor, to the fringe and hand mirrors decorating the walls.

The bartender at Stanton was a doll and concocted several drinks for me including The Social Tea (Ketel One Citron, gunpowder green tea and orange-honey marmalade), Strawberry Fields ( Grey Goose Citron, fresh strawberries muddled with lemon-lime syrup, fresh lemon juice and a Riesling floater), and my person favorite, The Basil-Lime Gimlet (Belvedere Vodka, muddled basil leaves, lemon syrup and fresh lime juice.) If you are hungry, I would highly recommend the Grilled Cheese Slider. The size of a golf ball, the mini-sandwich is Jasper Hills Farms Cheddar, house cured jalapeno bacon, fried green tomatoes and lemon aioli. Another option I tried was the Old School Meatballs, with basil and manicotti. Hearty but light, these meatballs literally melted in your mouth. The menu at Stanton is all small-plates-multi-orgin-emphasis-on-comfort-food, so their is something for everyone. Other mouth-watering items included: an array of sliders, grilled pizzette, french onion soup dumplings, braised short rib tacos, crab cake corn dogs and foie gras PB & J.

Unfortunately, Morimoto wasn’t as successful. The restaurant was beautiful, but I have to face the fact that I am not good with raw fish. Especially thick, chewy pieces of raw fish. I started with a beautifully presented beef carpaccio. That was actually pretty good. And edible.  After an order of yellow tail that wasn’t yellow and came with the skin on it, spicy tuna and a tempura crab roll I was pretty much convinced that trying cooked Antelope or Kangaroo might be a little bit more up my alley.  (See Palm Springs trip for that experience!)

After a packed 3 days in the big apple, I headed out a day early back to the left coast.  Changing my flight on Virgin was a nightmare, so I forfeited the return ticket and purchased a one way on Continental. Amazing, they also had the touch screens with over 50 movies, 50 different TV shows and various forms of entertainment. I was happy to see my favorite movie “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” on the menu and had plenty of time to enjoy the 3 1/2 hour “Gone with the Wind”. Something to keep you very occupied while sitting on the runway for 2 hours waiting to take off. =)

All in all, it was a good trip.