A Walk Around Gramercy Park

My husband and I went to dinner with friends a couple weeks ago at a restaurant located next to Gramercy Park in Manhattan, and I thought you'd enjoy seeing a few photos of this beautiful and unusual park, and the opulent neighborhood that surrounds it.  The statue in the middle of the park is of Edwin Thomas Booth, a famous actor of the time, and considered by some theatrical historians as the greatest in the role of Shakespeare's Hamlet. However, he is usually remembered today only as the brother of John Wilkes Booth, the man who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln.

The park is lush, verdant, and peacefully quiet. It would be a perfect place to bring a book and sit on one of the benches and read.

The grounds are beautiful and well maintained.

At only two acres large, it is the anchoring oasis of this exclusive neighborhood.

The park is entirely encircled by this tall wrought iron fence with locked gates!  Yes, this is a private park!  All of my photos were taken by my shooting through the fence posts. Since 1831 only residents of surrounding buildings are able to buy keys that allow them admission to the park.

This sign on the fence tells the entire story of the park and surrounding area.

Many of the buildings surrounding the park are remarkable in style. 

The Players Club is on the left, and The National Arts club is on the right. The Players Club is a social club founded by the noted 19th-century Shakespearean actor Edwin Booth, who purchased in 1847 a mansion located at 16 Gramercy Park. During his lifetime, he reserved an upper floor for his home, turning the rest of the building over to the private membership clubhouse. Its interior and part of its exterior were designed by architect Stanford White. 

The Players still maintains its entryway gaslights, among the few remaining examples in New York City.

The National Arts Club next door was founded in 1898 by Charles Dekay, an art and literary critic of The New York Times to "stimulate, foster, and promote public interest in the arts and to educate the American people in the fine arts."

The architectural details of the building are so interesting to see. The history of the building can be read in the photo collage above.

This building located at 34 Gramercy Park East was built in 1881 as one of the earliest luxury apartment buildings

It was the home to many famous people as you can see by the plaque on its exterior wall. I peeked into the luxurious foyer, and the beautiful tile floor is the background of my photo collage above.

The very elaborately Gothic decorated 36 Gramercy Park East is another luxurious apartment building built in 1905.  It was once the home to John Ringling of circus fame and the actor John Barrymore and his first wife,

One of these elegant 18th-century townhouses was the residence of James Harper, publisher and former mayor of New York City.

4 Gramercy Park West was his residency from 1847 until his death in 1849.

The intricate cast iron verandas date back to 1848.

We ended our walk around Gramercy Park by entering The Gramercy Hotel where we dined at Maialino. Maialino New York is a new Roman-style trattoria from award-winning Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group. It serves lovingly prepared Roman-style cooking from Executive Chef Nick Anderer. You can see the menus on this link.

Our meal was fantastic! The portions were generous and we had sample portions of different kinds of pasta as our appetizers as the selection was so enticing. We could see why Maialino is such a popular restaurant and I highly recommend it!

Birreria -- Eataly's Rooftop Brewery and Cafe

As you may remember in past posts, I have enjoyed visiting the wonderful Italian Food Emporium and Food Hall owned by celebrated chefs Mario Batali and Lidia Bastianich called "Eataly," which is located in the Flatiron neighborhood of Manhattan.  I showed in a photo tour post their extensive inventory of every imaginable offering gourmet Italian food, and on this post, the time my husband and I enjoyed a wonderful artisan thin crust pizza in their La Pizza La Pasta restaurant.  When I wrote those blog posts Birreria was not yet opened, and I've been anxious to visit Eataly again to visit this new rooftop attraction! 

Eataly’s Birreria is a rooftop restaurant and brewery located on top of their building at 200 5th Avenue.  It offers the highest quality beer and food year-round under the stars and skyline, and under a retractable roof in winter.  

*Edited 4/23 to add that Birreria is now Serra

They brew unfiltered, unpasteurized, and naturally carbonated Cask Ales just 30 feet from where you sit, eat and drink

Birreria's alfresco atmosphere was casual and lively.

As we were visiting Birreria with my husband's sister, we all decided to share a carafe of Moretti Bionda lager draft beer. It was crisp and refreshing on a hot day. A choice selection of bottled beers and wines was also available to order.

The menu offered a variety of hearty fares, such as deeply flavorful mushroom entrees, pork shoulder paired with house-made pickled vegetables and sauerkraut, house-made sausages, and grilled meats.  There is also a wide selection of Formagi (cheese) and Salumi (cold cuts) and a few Contori (sides)

 As it was lunchtime we decided to share the salumi and formagi platters, with broad beans and olive oil smashed potatoes as sides.  Our order was served with slices of freshly baked bread and a plate of extra virgin olive oil and a plate of honey for dipping the bread and cheese.

The "Affettati Misti" Salumi for two is a selection of all the salumi on the menu -- speck (smoked prosciutto), mortadella (traditional salumi from Emelia Romagna), soppressata (Calabrian style pork salumi), copa (Emiglia Romagna style pork shoulder), cacciatorini (Piedmont style "hunters style" pork shoulder).

We also selected the complete Formagi selection: Ricotta Fresca (fresh ricotta), Parmigiano, Asiago Fresca, Robiloa Bosina, Provolone, Taleggio, and Gorgonzola Dolce.  Everything was very fresh and delicious!

The bar area of Birreria was also full of people enjoying the beautiful weather and the company of their family and friends.

Before we left Eataly I had to check out their present selection of fresh homemade pasta for sale -- they were all very tempting!

We then took a walk around the architecturally interesting Madisonin the photo mosaic above standing in front of Madison Square Park's statue of William Seward, the twelfth Governor of New York City. Between visiting High Line Park (which you can read about in   Madison Square Park area that is located across the street from Eataly. My husband and his sister can be seen my prior post and Birreria, we all had a fabulous day!

I just returned home from a two-week trip to Colorado, and will have very exciting news to share in my next post -- stay tuned! Those who already know, please keep my secret a little longer -- thanks!

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A Chelsea Morning and a Squirrel Afternoon

It has been a cool, foggy, rain filled week here in New York City, definitely more like April weather than May. I had a routine doctor visit this week and went over to his new office in the Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan, on 7th Avenue.  7th Avenue is also known as "Fashion Avenue" due to its role as a center of the garment and fashion industry and the famed fashion designers who established New York as a world fashion capital.   I passed the Fashion Institute of Technology, at 7th Avenue and 27th Street, which is part of the State University of New York.  It is New York City’s internationally recognized college for design, fashion, art, communications, and business. The Museum at FIT is open to the public and is one of a select group of specialized fashion museums in the world.

Next, I passed the Chelsea Television Studios at 221 West 26th Street (between Seventh and Eighth  Avenues) where the Martha Stewart show is taped.  It can be hard to get tickets to see her show because of the large demand, but I was fortunate to be able to attend a taping a few years ago with a couple of friends. We were there for the segment on Lady M Cake Boutique which featured the Mille Crepes as their signature cake.  It is made of no less than twenty paper-thin handmade crepes layered with ethereal light pastry cream, and then the top is caramelized.  Each audience member was served a slice, and I remember it just melted in my mouth with goodness!  Martha was very nice and stayed after taping to answer audience questions.

I then passed The City Quilter shop at 133 West 25th Street.  This fun shop has over 4,000 patterns of fabric but it specializes in New York City prints!  My daughter and her fiance are wearing reversible aprons that a friend made as part of a bridal shower gift from fabric she bought at The City Quilter. Don't they look cute?

After my doctor visit, I walked east towards the Gramercy/Flatiron neighborhood and Madison Square Park.  I've shown this beautiful little park on my blog many times before, and I never tire of visiting it. One side has a wonderful view of the iconic Flatiron building, and the other side shows the Empire State building in the distance.

All the rain we've been having has made the park grass very thick and green, and some of the park's peripheral border hydrangea bushes were in bloom, along with giant allium plants.

Two years ago I took these photos of the pink hydrangeas that dominate the park, which you can read more about in this post. They have not yet bloomed at this time.

On this park visit, I headed over to the famous Shake Shack.  I had not eaten this morning, because I had a blood test at the doctor, and by 11:30 AM I was famished. Luckily, I arrived before the large midday lunch crowd had formed a long line.

The Shake Shack opened its doors in 2004 and quickly became a neighborhood favorite for locals and tourists alike. Their Shake burger, hot dog and frozen custard have been voted among the best in the city. They are open daily from 11AM till 11PM.  Click on the webcam on their web site to see the current activity around their location.

I had the yummy single Shack Burger and French Fries along with a bottle of water. Everything was so good!  I know I'll never be a skinny fashion model on Fashion Avenue, so I didn't worry about this indulgent brunch.

As I ate a little bird sat across from me as if to keep me company.

Then this furry fellow came down from the tree, right behind the bird, and stared right at me. Obviously, the smell of food was alerting all the park's wildlife that lunch was being served!

Soon birds and squirrels began arriving in droves, looking for dropped or discarded crumbs under the tables.

This squirrel found a piece of French fry and sat at the table next to me to eat it.

He liked his lunch as much as I did!

 (One caveat: I would never advocate throwing human food to wild animals, as I know it isn't good for them and can harm them.  Plus, it can also make them quite aggressive and lose their fear of humans which is not a good thing.)

As I left the park I saw another squirrel sitting on the back of a park bench. He was covered with bits of paper, as he obviously had just emerged from a trash can.

In his hands was a nice cheesy hamburger wrapper which he was thoroughly enjoying! 

 I think if I had to be a squirrel in New York City, I'd like to have my home in a tree in Madison Square Park next to the Shake Shack -- wouldn't you?