september must be one of the best months of the year to be in new york city. we were blessed with gorgeous weather every day of our stay. the air was crisp, the sun made everything sparkle, and even new yorkers looked happy...
as always, our daily activities centered on food.
one place i tried for the first time and really liked was la palapa on st. mark's place, a casual mexican joint recommended to us by a colleague's mexican boyfriend. the seats in the back terrace were very comfortable, the service was relaxed, the drinks were cool and yummy, and we ended up staying there for 4 hours, just chatting and nibbling on things like chalupas with chorizo and guacamole. purpleman ordered a skirt steak marinated in lime and tequila.
another memorable meal was a thai restaurant in queens called sripraphai, which my sister says is the best in the "area". i don't know how big an "area" is, but purpleman and i were very impressed and i would even say it's probably hard to find a better place in manhattan. they didn't seem to tone down their flavors for non-thais. my favorite dish was the fried rice with shrimp-past, which was intensely fishy but balanced out the spiciness of the green curry and papaya salad. the only thing i didn't like was their sticky rice, which was a bit too dry.
our little splurge was at scalini fedeli. my favourite was the truffle ravioli served before the appetizer. it was so tiny i wanted to ask for another, but i'm glad i didn't because the other dishes were great too, and very filling.
