I have a love for parties and birthdays, and every year I try to plan something special when my birthday comes around. This year, a food loving friend and I decided to celebrate our birthday months by trying restaurants on either side of the Hudson River. In last week's post I wrote about our wonderful time at Leo's in Hoboken, and though we had planned our next rendevous at a restaurant I was sure would be wonderful, I didn't know just how wonderful it would be. Continuing on with our birthday celebrations, we made a reservation for lunch at Little Park in Manhattan, just across the Hudson River in Tribeca. I lived for so many years near that neighborhood, and spent so many good times with friends there, that it feels like home though I now love my Jersey digs so much. When my friend suggested Little Park, I saw in my mind's eye just where it was - for a little while a little while ago I stayed with a friend in a loft building across the street before I moved into my own apartment just up the street in SoHo. I had celebrated my birthday there that year, when back in the day that building was a very raw artists' loft space, and now, though there may be artists living there, it has been completely renovated and upgraded and it looks so posh I wouldn't recognize it if it hadn't been such a vivid part of my memory. And just like a good home can do, Tribeca brings back all those living memories, so my afternoon at Little Park was a very special birthday celebration indeed, reminding me of those long ago times and how far I and Tribeca have come since then.
Little Park is that special thing that is very hard to do - it is a contemporary restaurant and nightspot that brings along a feeling of classic old New York without being overstated. The sleek lines of the interior design are comfortable and very up to date, but somehow I felt myself looking back in time to the wonderful restaurants I'd visited over the years in that neighborhood and even reaching to mid-town and the Upper East Side. The food is of course amazing - Chef Andrew Carmellini is creating some of the most delightful and delicious of farm to table treats for eye and palate. But though I've come to expect excellent food in New York City, the atmosphere of different places is always the key to whether or not I'd want to go back. With a gracious and expert staff, a beautiful and spacious room to relax in, and those special touches like pouring a deliciously aromatic pumpkin soup from a lovely white vessel into a perfectly garnished waiting bowl, I don't know how they did it, but on that afternoon at Little Park I was reminded of everything I love about New York, and I found a new favorite place to call home.
Little Park
At The Smyth Hotel
85 West Broadway At Chambers Street
New York, NY
(212) 220-4110
Blessings,
Jannie Susan
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