Musicians at Taj Restaurant, East Village, Manhattan

Not to confuse you because I still have photos from my Memorial Day weekend trip to New York, but I’m back in New York again, this time on business. Monday afternoon and night we all came together at Taj Restaurant on 6th Street, right in the heart of Indian Restaurant Row, which is on 6th between 1st and 2nd Avenues. The music was great but the service and ambiance was questionable. They did keep the Taj Mahal and Flying Horse beer flowing though, which was a good thing. The food was reasonably priced and was pretty tasty if you could break through the language barrier to get your order in!

Don, Bar 82, East Village, Manhattan

Afterwards we had a few drinks at Bar 82 and then made the long walk back to our hotel, the craptacular Radisson on 48th/Lex. It’s not that bad, it’s just so random. Like the wallpaper is peeling in my room and there are only hooks and stains where the artwork used to be above the bed, yet my room has a flat screen TV and a Herman Miller Aeron chair.

Vietnamese Coffee Granite with Vanilla Meringue, Spice Market, Meatpacking District, Manhattan

Tuesday was our first day at Google and was completely overwhelming with all of the information to take in. It’s really exciting to be working there officially. I think everyone is psyched. .. if only we can get our heads around everything. We had dinner at Spice Market, which I’d read so much about and was excited to try. It was about 100% fancier than the Indian restaurant that we’d been to the night before. The interior was really beautiful, if not over the top, and sort of Middle Eastern looking, while the cuisine was kind of Vietnamese/Thai/Indian. The Onion and Chili Crusted Short Ribs Egg Noodles and Pea Shoots was absolutely the standout dish of the night. I was expecting something like kalbi ribs, but it was the most tender bone-free beef I’ve ever eaten, I think. So delicious. For some reason I only took a photo of our desert. It was Vietnamese Coffee Granite with Vanilla Meringue. That night some people went out to the bar at the W, but I was so tired. I just stayed in and went to bed.

Mini Beers, Bar 82, East Village, Manhattan

This is turning into a food blog of the week, but Wednesday night we had pizza at John’s on Bleecker. Later on we had a couple beers at some generic Irish pub in Midtown. Everyone was too tired to really put any effort into staying out, so I hit up Duane Reade for some shampoo because the stuff at the hotel stinks and then headed in for the night.

Everything is so overwhelming this week. I’m waiting for Friday and looking forward to nothing on Saturday. Sunday I’m flying back out here.