Randolph's Bar - NY

When I was in NY, you get easily distracted with all these little places to look at things, to go shopping or to even take in the energy or the sights.  By the time I get hungry, realizing it's already 10pm and nothing respectable is a: has open seating, b: without wait of some sort.  So, what else?  I carried my tired self, my shopping bags, and my work stuff and got back to the hotel.  In I saw the hotel bar, and thought: ah ha!  I'll go eat there!

The bar inside the Warwick Hotel is right at the entrance of the hotel, very convenience, and they are opened till midnight.  

I order what I usually get at any bar: Midori Sour.  It taste more like a Jolly Rancher candy more than anything else but hey, it goes well with everything!

I was dying for some veggies and ordered the fried brussels sprouts.  Here's the thing: it's not very 'fried'.  If anything, it was greasy and too 'soupy'.  The problem is that this soup/grease mixture is making the sprouts all soggy.   

For my main course, I had the Lobster Mac & Cheese.  This was totally worth it.  There are tons of lobster meat and the cheese was awesome, not to mention the bread crumb on top was just the thing.  If you don't get anything else, you have to get this!

The servers were great and attentive, and that helps to make a tired night perfect.  Bartender makes great drinks and the food is good.  I think people overlook this place because it's inside the hotel, but definitely a good place to go.

Randolph's Bar
Inside the Warwick Hotel
54th & 6th.
http://www.warwickhotelny.com/manhattan-new-york-restaurant.aspx#new-york-city-hotel-randolph-bar

The Black Lab

Don't hate me, but the coming posts will be all out of order. I know that's horrible, but hopefully I'm not posting winter eatery during hot summer months. I've tons to catch up on and share with you from the time I got to Hong Kong from Japan, to back home, and the eateries around Houston. So, let's get on with it!

We were invited to a birthday gathering for a friend of ours, and she decided to try out food that either she had never had before or that belong to her descent. She has never had dim sum, hmm... Then we started to throw around having proper English food. When people say English food, I can't help but think about tea and crumpets, where you have scone with lemon curd.

Since she's a 'mutt', a mixture of several different cultures, she thought this is a good time for her to try to make her rounds to her heritage. Apparently there's English, Swedish, Sioux, and I think there's one more in the mix. Obviously, finding Sioux is a tall order, and for Swedish all we can think of is Ikea, then English it is.

Naturally, for "English" food we can think of is pub food. Aside from Red Lion, the other that keeps coming up for her is Black Lab. Black Lab is the first place that my at-the-time boyfriend loves to take me. It's a neat place, it's right down the street from where we were, it's right in front of St. Thomas University, AND they have a giant chess set. What's not to love?

Last night when we arrived, I ordered a Black & Tan, however, whoever poured it didn't do a good job. By the time it arrived to our table, it was more amber than having that separation of colors. I ordered the Crepe Elsie, you can tell it had sat there for a bit because the sauce had congealed, but the warm part where the chicken and broccoli wrapped inside the crepe was good. The wild rice wasn't over empowering the taste on the plate, it's not bad.

Most of my friends ordered the Tour, which had the Banger, Shepherd Pie, Fish (from Fish & Chips) and beans. That's just too much food for me. But looked good if you are hungry. If you have a big party, they will open up the side room for you. For us, that wasn't necessary and made us felt very isolated away from the crowd. Otherwise, food is as I remembered it.

The Black Labrador
4100 Montrose Blvd at Richmond
713-529-1199