Best Brunch Ever! — Patti Part Two

I started my Saturday by heading over to my favorite coffee shop in NY - Cafe Grumpy! The coffee is fantastic and that grumpy face always makes me smile. There is a location in Grand Central Station so I started my day there!

It was a beautiful clear but cool day in New York so I took the 4 train (not the 6!!) to Union Square and transferred to the L train to 8th Ave. This took me to the West Village where I was meeting Tom and friends for brunch at The Spotted Pig. The West Village is very upscale and cool so I got there early so I could walk around the neighborhood. Lots of young celebrities live there but while I didn't see anyone I recognized I saw a lot of people that looked like they could be! There are tons of upscale little cafe's and restaurants along with designer shops and markets. The plan was to meet at The Spotted Pig where Tom's friend Cassandra has a connection to get us seated quickly versus the normal 2 hour wait.

Rumor has it this is where Taylor Swift lunched with Kanye for the big makeup meeting!

Cassandra came through and we found ourselves seated promptly upon arrival! As someone who has eaten a lot of brunch in this 60 year life I can honestly say it was the best EVER!!!! And that I consumed more pig parts in one meal then maybe in my entire life! My best recall is that we had 2 appetizers and at least 10 entrees! They brought the entrees in courses and we passed the plates and tried everything concluding with a dessert course of a Dutch Baby and Banana French Toast! Did I say 2 bottles of Champagne? It was a gastric experience I thoroughly enjoyed especially with the great company of Tom, Cassandra and Seth!

This was the third round of food as I recall!!

After we managed to remove ourselves from the table after 3 hours we headed a few blocks over to the rooftop bar at the Standard Hotel. The hotel overlooks The Whitney and the Hudson River and has a spectacular view of the city.

The Whitney Museum and in the upper right corner Statue of Liberty off in the distance.

Next on the agenda was a trip with Tom over to The Whitney. I had visited when I was in town over the holidays but Tom hadn't been to the new building so we spent a couple of hours there. Highly recommend!!! We were still pretty full from brunch so we headed over to Fifth Avenue and browsed some of the stores - no actual purchases were made but fun to look. Then we remembered that KU was playing Kentucky in Lawrence so walked to the Pour House which is a KU bar in the area that Tom had been to before to watch a game. Sure enough they had the game on every TV so we were able to get a table and watch the game - and the overtime!!! Just grabbed a light bite for dinner there and called it a day.

Would it be a trip to NY if I didn't have a great cupcake?? I think not so I grabbed this on my way back to the hotel. Called The Hummingbird - YUMM!