Trippin': New York City - Morimoto

88 10th Ave,
New York, NY 10011

Here we go again with the eights. Asians consider either eight or nine to be the lucky number. Crazy numerology beliefs. But in any case, our one expensive dinner was had at the one and only Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto's NYC restaurant, Morimoto. It's located near the Meatpacking District and the entrance really stands out with the red drapery. The design of the restaurant is very modern. There's like a bar and lounge downstairs where they scoot you off to since your table probably won't be ready when it's supposed to. So of course we headed downstairs and treated ourselves to some super expensive drinks. One thing that impressed me was that the hostess's there remembers everyone who has checked in with them. When our table was ready, the girl came down the stairs and walked right up to us and asked us to follow her. No roll call like your typical restaurant. AND, the bartender automatically transferred our tab to our table. Clockwork! While reading up on the place on yelp, most people said that they weren't allowed to order the omakase unless everyone at the table ordered it. Well, we were lucky enough to be the exception for some reason. So we ordered only one omakase ($120) and a smattering of other items. Maybe that's why Morimoto didn't stop by our table. YES! He was indeed there that night. And we asked our waiter to ask him if he could stop by our table so that we could get a foto with him. But NOPE. The guy never came by. Boo! It's okay Mr. Morimoto, I blame our crappy waiter who was too good looking for his own good. The food was DELISH! I can't believe it was that expensive but you could tell they spend a lot of time and work in making sure each dish is perfect.

Toro tartare. We actually ended having two of these cos I didn't know that one would come with the omakase so I had ordered another one. The toro tartare is smeared onto the slab of bamboo and there were these scraping utensils that you use to pick up some tuna and dress it with one of the six sides. There were chives, wasabi, creme fraiche, dashi-soy, osetra caviar and these corn nut looking things.

Morimoto sashimi. Layers of seared toro, salmon, eel, tuna and hamachi with a side of five sauces in little plastic transfer pipettes.

Morimoto has his own beer! Actually, it's an ale.

I forgot what this was. But it's some type of fish. I can't even remember if it was raw or not.

Pork gyoza with garlic chives, tomato and creme fraiche. The actual pork gyoza's are underneath that layer of pan-fried rice paper looking thing.

Wagyu beef carpaccio in yuzu soy, ginger and sweet garlic. Everyone loved this, except for me of course.

I forgot what this was.

I also can't remember what this was, but I do remember that the sauce was very Vietnamese. Almost like the sauce in ca kho tho.

The assortment of sushi. I hate that all omakase's have to come with the sushi. Not worth it!

Salmon and toro sashimi and a spicy tuna roll.

This is a shot of something that is supposed to help cleanse the palate before eating the next dish.

I think this was the whole roasted lobster epice in garam masala and lemon creme fraiche.

The desserts. Sorry, memory lapse once again and nothing on the menu looks familiar. I didn't particularly like either of the desserts but I do love a nicely sculptured canal.

I managed to get a foto of the back of Morimoto as he stood and chatted with this one table for a LOOOONG time. So jealous. I like how he's in shorts. That's awesome. Haha. The women's restroom is all white except for the infinity mirror decorated with sakuras behind the toilet.

Trippin': New York City - MoMA

11 West 53 Street
New York, NY 10019

If you visit New York and you want to go to the Museum of Modern Art, try going on a Friday for Target Free Fridays! Cos it's FREE! Well from 4pm-8pm it's free. It's normally twenty buckaroos to get in. But of course, since it's free, it gets crazy packed. Supposedly, there's usually a pretty long line but when we got there, approx 6pm or so, there was no line to get tickets. There was however, a long line to check your bags in. Yup. Two of us were wearing backpacks so they made us check them in before being able to go in and roam. Don't worry it's free. The museum is just AMAZING! And it's fracking HUGE! We spent about an hour and half checking out most of the art located on five or six floors. The one thing that we didn't check out that I wish we had was the sculpture garden. Feet so tired.

Birthday: Wonder Woman

Right after the Mexican wedding in September, I headed straight to the Monnalisa lounge over at Hotel Sorella in the City Centre at I-10 and Beltway. Can I say AWESOME! The lounge is just one of the coolest places I've seen in Houston. It's like we're in Miami or something! The best thing about it is that there is generally no dress code. I've seen dudes in shorts. But seriously, you don't want to go there in ghetto-ware and mess it all up for everyone. Inside, there's a fire place pit thing going on right in the center and outside, there's a POOL! But, it's small and I haven't seen anyone swimming in it yet, and I've been there twice so far. Some people will sit on the edge and give their legs a dip though. Too bad I'm not much of a drinker or I'll be there all the time with friends. Just chilling, gabbing and drinking. But back to Wonder Woman's birthday. She's one of the coolest chicks around. Very cool and very chill. I call her my uber hawt friend cos I can pretty much tell you that every guy friend of mine that has met her always contacts me asking me if she's single. Haha. Her friends decided to throw her a surprise birthday get together at Monnalisa. They had the whole back area roped off just for her! Such a lucky little lady. Her cousin even had this picture of her blown up so that everyone could sign it. I think she was like four or five years old? She was so cute! Haha. I think she was pleasantly surprised.

Trippin': New York City - Grand Central Station

87 E 42nd St
New York, NY 10017

Here are some of the worst ever fotos taken of the Grand Central Station. By the time we got there, it was late, we were tired and our legs and feet was just raw from all of the walking and biking. I had so many ideas picture and video wise but there was just not enough energy in me to carry through with any of them. I was just ready to get back to the apt for some serious shut eye. This complaint will most likely be a common occurrence in the remainder of my NYC blogs. Hah! The energy I had when I was in high school and college just doesn't exist anymore. Why art thou so lazeo! Aside from that, Grand Central was just simply beautiful. Sure does beat that stank-fest that is the Greyhound in downtown. Eek. The ceilings were painted in this blue-green color and finished with a myriad of constellations. It looks more like an embassy with the high ceiling and columns. Since it was around midnight, it wasn't bustling but it wasn't dead. I liked it better this way. I prolly wouldn't have enjoyed it as much with a gazillion people going every which way.