New York, New York

Went to NYC last week. Luckily I missed all the hot weather. It was actually perfect outside. Like room temperature. I went for work but had a little fun in between.

I stayed at The Benjamin which was awesome and even more so because they upgraded me to a suite! Sweet! The hotel is at 50th & Lex so easy access to subway.

After check in, I went to Motorino and had some pizza. Motorino took over the space on the Lower East Side that Una Pizza Napoletana was in. The place looked pretty much exactly the same – same furniture – with a bit more decoration. The pizza was wonderful. I had a Marinara Pizza with a shaved fennel salad (the special that day) and Gragnano wine from Cantine Federiciane. It was recommended as “the perfect pizza wine” and yes, it was really good. I had a similar Gragnano at Pizzeria Mozza. It’s basically a sparkling red wine but not tons of sparkles. I don’t like beverages with bubbles but I really like this wine.

I had a couple of nice walks through Rockefeller Center as I was going to meetings and a visit to Late Night With Jimmy Fallon (which was awesome by the way). 30 Rock is it’s own little city within a big city. It’s spectacular and seemed to change every day depending on what event was going on that day. The Anthropologie isn’t bad either. He he.

One of my favorite places this time was the Starrett-Lehigh Building, at 601 West 26th in Chelsea. Such a fantastic and iconic building! Martha Stewart offices are there as well as Hugo Boss and a whole bunch of creative companies. There’s an elevator that fits cars and you can take your car and park it on your floor! Crazy! Fantastic views too.

Another very cool place was the bar on top of The Standard hotel in the meatpacking district. I’ve stayed at The Standard before, but I never knew there was a bar on top. Or maybe when I was there 2 years ago the bar didnt exist. Nevertheless, it’s fantastic. Straight out of Austin Powers meets The Playboy Club. High concept, great design and fantastic views.