Tag Archives: restaurants

Last night, I went to The Collective for my friend Laureen’s birthday dinner. Formerly known as One Little West 12, this restaurant is smack-dab in the Meatpacking District, which made me a bit wary of how much I would enjoy it.

For those of you who don’t live in NYC, the Meatpacking District is a “trendy” area of the city where bridge-and-tunnel folk and those who just moved to NYC attempt to prove to each other that they are too cool for school. Meaning, it’s not my scene.

This restaurant was definitely interesting. With tables on top of each other on one half of the space, and a dance floor on the other half, it definitely had a clubby vibe. But the food was actually pretty good. It was mostly comfort food, so I got the braised short rib with roasted parsnips and sauteed greens. The short rib was so tender that I barely needed a knife. Their signature dish seemed to be the mac ‘n’ cheese. That was a little too much cheese for me, but I stole a few bites off of Laureen’s plate.

Alice’s Tea Cup!

This afternoon, I headed uptown to meet some of my fave bloggers for lunch. Meghann and her boyfriend are in NYC, staying with Ashley, who was also supposed to come meet us—but she got stuck at work. Heather ventured in from NJ to come meet us.

We went to Alice’s Tea Cup, a precious little tea shop on the Upper East Side that I’ve wanted to try for awhile. Of course, with my new gluten-free diet, I was a little worried about what I could/should get. I decided to go for the grilled veggie sandwich—minus the bread, of course. It came with either a side salad or fries, and I asked if I could have both, since I’m still a little bummed about this no-bread thing. 

Maybe I didn’t ask enough questions, because I felt sick to my stomach after eating this. After my first day yesterday of gluten-free having me feeling so great, I was hoping to continue that trend. I had a few things I could have done tonight, but I’m just going to lay low. I have a 20-mile run (AH!) planned for tomorrow with Meghann and Ashley.