Fall 2013 Foodie Tour

Despite my best efforts to eat healthy and organically and engage in physical fitness as much as possible, I am a true blue foodie in the depths of my soul. Luckily, I have had the pleasuring of finding a friend with the same closeted foodie traits. With the humidity subsiding and the fall breeze rolling in, we thought today would be the perfect opportunity for exploring around midtown, with a few eateries in mind. However, when we came across the increasingly popular CRONUT (croissaint/donut/diabetes/brilliance), it was game over. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, Fall 2013 Foodie Tour: Midtown. Below are a few photos of the places we visited and decadent treats we enjoyed!

First stop was Mood Fabrics, popularized by Project Runway. To be completely honest, neither of us are currently or ever aspire to be fashion designers of any sort. We were only there to see and take photos of Mood's in-house pet dog, Swatch. Unfortunately, celebrity pups need their R&R as well, so Swatch was off for the day. Needless to say, it was an epic fail.

From Mood Fabrics, we ventured through Times Square to reach Rockefeller Plaza in search of macarons. However, on our way there we discovered this. The holy grail of cronuts. The adorable little bakery, called Crumbs, cleverly changed the name to CRUMBnuts. Word on the street is, these croissant-donut combos filled with bavarian cream sell like hot cakes in the city. People stand in line as early as 6AM to get their chubby little fingers on these flakey treats. Luckily for us, we were able to cop the last two in the bakery, and they did not disappoint. 

                     

                        

Heading up town, we decided to take a stroll to the serene, beautiful Bryant Park. Gorgeous greenery, little carousel, views of some of the best skyscrapers in town, need I say more?

Next, we walked to Rockefeller Plaza. We enjoyed the views of the plaza and anticipated iceskating in the winter. We also walked through the promenade and came across the Lego store. My brother was OBSESSED with them when he was younger, so I had to send him some photos of the Lego Rockefeller Plaza replica. 

Following our trip down memory lane at the Lego store, we headed uptown to The Plaza, the most extravagant hotel in New York, located on 59th with stellar views of Central Park. Clearly, we were not residents of the bougie 5-star hotel, but we did want to check out their food hall. Along the way we got a peak of The Plaza's brilliant foyer, fine dining restaurant, and a pianist playing sweet melodies in the marble-walled, mosaic tile-floored hallway. In the lower level of the hotel was The Plaza Food Hall, filled with various bakeries, candy shops, and cafes galore, each diverse in menu. After our stint at The Plaza, we walked down 5th Avenue and passed by all of the flagship, department and clothing stores. From UNI QLO to Zara to HM, we ended up window shopping at Bergdorf Goodman, Henri Bendel, Prada, Fendi, Tiffany and Co., Rolex, Cartier, and Harry Winston. In true fashion masochism, we had to look at the shoe salon in Berdorf's. Well, that was a mistake. Louboutin, Chanel, Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo, forget about it. 

                                            

To cheer ourselves up from crying over the designer duds we were not able to attain, we made our way to Bouchon Bakery to enjoy giant macarons. Chocolate for me, of course. 

For late lunch/early dinner, we headed uptown. Our stop happened to be at one of the few subway terminals above ground, so photo ops were obligatory...obviously. 

We ended our day at a very inexpensive, highly yelp-rated, hole-in-the-wall sushi joint in Harlem called Sushi Sushi, where I enjoyed miso soup,  a shrimp crunch roll, and a banana/strawberry/nutella roll for under $10! Whew! It was a long and tasty leg of the Foodie Tour. More to come, I am certain of it!

XOXO