A Winter Trip to NYC and Boston
by Teri E. Popp, Tastemaker in Residence
The Big Apple and Beantown: A perfect combination for a girls’ winter touring and dining adventure!
No matter what the weather, New York City and Boston offer such a wonderful array of activities and food fare, its the perfect way to cash in on some girl-bonding time with friends. We decided to start our adventure after our evening arrival in NYC with dinner at Olma Caviar Boutique and Bar.
While I’ve loved caviar for years, the nine course tasting menu of all of the caviars offered at Olma proved to be a culinary delight and education! From salmon roe to beluga caviar, and everything in between, our lovely waitperson gave us expert input on what to expect. And, despite the fact I’m pretty sure my husband thinks I have the most expensive taste in everything, it seems my caviar cravings tend to fall in the middle of the price line! We also learned that vodka is the drink of choice for caviar as it offers a palate cleanser between courses-which proved to be true. However, I still prefer my bubbly with the salty pearls of the sea!
When on a one day tour of a city, I find it best to focus on a given theme. For this trip, we choose an exhibition at the famed Metropolitan Museum of Art entitled “Leonardo to Matisse: Master Drawings from the Robert Lehman Collection” as well as a stroll through the Medieval Arts, finally ending with European Paintings of the Met featuring Rembrandt and the Dutch masters, who are amongst my favorite artists.
We switched from the arts to sports that evening by enjoying a Minnesota Timberwolves game versus the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center after visiting yet another food court, Brooklyn’s new DeKalb Market Hall.
From there, we flew on to Boston to enjoy what turned out to be one of the biggest storms in recent New England history—the Snow Bomb Cyclone!
But, it also turns out that Bostonians are a hearty bunch and our trip featured yet more culinary delights, fine wine, and even some shopping! While the snow offered me some downtime during the day and my travel companion, Shannon Knoepke, GM of WCCO Radio a much needed work day, we still wined and dined sumptuously at the Four Seasons on our first evening.
And, even though it snowed 13 inches in 12 hours, by the next day, downtown Boston was up and running offering us a chance to get out and tour the Paul Revere House, eat a lovely Italian meal at Strega in the North End, and finish up with a shopping excursion through Beacon Hill. Even in questionable weather, NYC and Boston proved the places to be!
