Rick's Roadshow: New York Dinner With Dear Friends

A fresh edition of Rick's Roadshow returns as I am in New York. For the next few days, I have work obligations but last night I was "off the clock" and enjoyed a private dinner with friends. We went to a French fantastic restaurant called La Genouille, which en Francais means the frog. The restaurant has such an inviting atmosphere, soft lighting, pale gold walls, plush red upholstered seating, mirrors, and stunning floral arrangements at every turn. It was a feast for the eyes. The service was impeccable, every need was anticipated, the glasses were never empty, the bread plates were filled with fresh, warm crusty baguettes...mmmm!

above: the table was set so beautifully, with fresh flowers, old fashioned lamps (not candles) in the center of the tables, which was a nice touch. The dinner started with a chef's tasting course of pea soup which was out-of-this-world delicious. I had an delicious wild mushroom risotto, followed by a perfectly cooked Chateaubriand with leeks and fingerling potatoes. Apres dinner I had a cheese plate, and then la piece de resistance, Chocolate Souffle:

actually, every one of us at dinner had a souffle of some sort...here there are lined up:

above: Mocha Souffle, Chocolate Souffle, Grand Marnier Souffle...someone else had a Pistachio Souffle...they were served with clotted cream and oh-so-delicious!
Onto The Palace Hotel...

above: We decided to stop by The New York Palace Hotel (formerly known as the Helmsley Palace). It's a grand old place with incredible architecture throughout...

above: I poked my head into this fancy old dining room that they were renovating and snapped this photo. The walls and ceiling had all kinds of gold gilt, marble and crystal.

The hotel has a hip lounge appropriately called "Gilt", which was the real purpose of going to this hotel after dinner. We found a nice cozy spot and had a good dose of "people watching" while listening to the thumping club music. It was a great way to end my first evening in New York. Rick's Roadshow: New York, continues...

-Rick Rockhill