Saturday - part 1: :craftbar & Gypsy

We slept in late Saturday morning. It was beautiful. No kids. No demands on our schedule... After grabbing a bagel we headed to TKTS to pick up tickets to a matinee. We were debating between several shows, but decided we couldn't pass up the chance to see Patti Lupone in Gypsy. And now that the Tony nominations are out, we knew we'd get to see her even at a matinee because the voting is currently going on. Leigh Ann was super-excited.

We then hopped in a cab and headed back to the Village for our 12n reservations at :craftbar. This is the casual restaurant operated by Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio. His veal ricotta meatballs are legendary, and I couldn't resist the opportunity to check it out. We were 25 minutes early and decided to walk around a bit. We found ourselves in Grammercy Park, the last privately-owned park in the city. It was beautiful, and it was locked. But we did see Teddy Roosevelt's home and the former mayor of New York's residence. It was a gorgeous day.

We returned to :craftbar and decided to do lunch tapas style. We began with my all-important cheese plate: a caciotta (nutty) and a fourme d'Ambert (bleu). Then came the pecorino-stuffed risotto balls, chickpea fries with black olive aioli, polenta fritters with coppa and golden raisins, and sausage-stuffed sage leaves with a lemon sauce. (Leigh Ann definitely had a lemon theme going after those gnocchi at Perilla.) Followed by pecorino fondue with honey and hazelnuts, my veal ricotta meatballs, and the standout dish in my opinion: the duck proscuiutto bruschetta with duck egg, salad greens and orange puree. Fantastic! We ate ourselves silly and actually left food on the table. It was delicious.

We realized we were running late and started hoofing it back up to Times Square. We arrived at the St. James just as the lights went down and the curtain went up for the overture to Gypsy. It's the closest I've ever cut a show. I didn't connect really to the storyline, but it was cool to see Patti Lupone belt out 'Everything's Coming Up Roses'. I had no idea that the story ended with burlesque. That was a little crazy. But how could you miss the all-star, tony-nominated cast? Patti was born for the role and knocked it out of the park. I'm glad I got to see her.