Rick's Roadshow in New York: An Evening Out on the Town

Day five of Rick's New York Roadshow was quite busy. Aside from a number of business meetings during the day, I was at Madison Square Garden attending the dog breed judging competitions, all of which lead up to the evening's events at the main show by group. Before heading back to the Westminster Dog Show, I had an early dinner with friends at a really excellent place called Park Avenue: Winter. It is a unique restaurant in that with the change of eash season, it undergoes a complete transformation, from the menu, the decor, to staff uniforms. Being winter now, everything was completely white. Even the menu had a number of themed dishes that were prepared with white effects and garnishes. It was really quite clever, and the food was oh-so delicious!

More Amazing Desserts

above left: red wine poached pears & warm brown pistachio butter cake with vanilla ice cream, and above right: the "Chocolate Cube", a thin dark chocolate cube filled with a chocolate mousse and dark chocolate mini chunks.
"Make Your Own Drink" Bar

The restaurant also had a really cool bar station where you could create your own drink:

above left: first you picked the base, either champagne or a selection of high quality vodkas. above right: next you picked a mixer, such as some kind of pear nectar, a lychee nectar, a lemongrass nectar and other interesting things.

above left: finally, you could drop in a chunk of fresh fruit, which had been marinating in some other delicious liquor. It was really an amazing drink! above right: Me and the girls enjoy our unique beverages on the way out to the car.
We ended up smuggling our drinks outside of the restaurant where the car was waiting for us. Here I am (at left) enjoying my creation: Champagne and Pear nectar with a dash of fresh fruit. It was really delicous and a nice way to end a delicious meal. So, if you are ever in New York and go to this restaurant, be sure to check out this bar feature, it's difficult to explain but is really quite unique. Mags- if you read this, check out their website.

Off to Madison Square Garden..
Soon we were on our way to Madison Square Garden for the second evening of the Westminster Dog Show. It was cold and snowing quite hard. Actually, it was sleeting-which made it difficult to navigate around the city. Fortunately I wasn't driving and was able to relax while our driver dealt with the elements! Even though the weather was a bit gnarly, it was beautiful. New York is a magical city pretty much anytime of the year.

above: The snowflakes in New York were coming down heavy...soon it was a winter wonderland.

-Rick Rockhill