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Celebrate Stay-at-Home Cinco de Mayo in Style

Cinco de Mayo is an interesting holiday. While it commemorates a battle that was fought in Mexico, Mexico doesn’t celebrate it. And what’s even more perplexing is that outside of Mexico, Cinco de Mayo is often confused with Mexican Independence Day, which is actually on September 16. For those of you interested in the origins of this crazy fiesta day, Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Batalla de Puebla fought on May 5, 1862 in which the small town of Puebla defeated invading French troops.

Courtesy: Morton Beebe/CORBIS

So, why is Cinco de Mayo such a big deal north of the border? The origins of its celebration began in California in 1863 as a symbol of solidarity with Mexico against France. And, Americans being Americans, we love having a reason to celebrate.

Since we can’t join our friends at a Mexican restaurant or share a toast at our neighborhood bar this year, we’ll just have to bring the party home.

Spice up Your Space and Your Energy

Prep your home with the red, white and green colors of the Mexican flag using bandanas, towels, streamers or anything you might have on hand. Involve the kids in making a colorful piñata that you can fill with candy or small toys. If you have some balloons, any colors will work!

Set the mood with an all-day Instagram fiesta put on by Solmar Hotels & Resorts @Solmarhotelsandresorts. Through a series of IG stories dubbed “An Ode to the Avocado,” you’ll get the intel for making avocado-inspired facials and typical Mexican recipes and cocktails where avocados are king.

Add an educational dimension to the fiesta with a free online cooking class. TakeLessons TV will show you how to cook a lime chicken taco bowl with sweet corn and avocado salsa. You’ll also mix up a pineapple-mint agua fresca drink.

You’ll need a soundtrack for the evening, and Spotify has some great Cinco de Mayo playlists. I especially like the one put together by sassyshannah — it will keep you rocking into the wee hours —  as well as listanauta’s compilation of traditional Mexican tunes.

Visit Your Favorite Bar Virtually or Bring a Restaurant Home and Support the Hospitality Industry

If a bar date on Cinco de Mayo is more your speed, Virtual Cheers invites you to create your “night in” while also supporting the hospitality industry. By downloading a Zoom background from your favorite watering hole, you “purchase a round,” with all proceeds going to employee relief efforts. In the spirit of Cinco de Mayo, Latin-American bar Leyenda offers a paloma, a refreshing tequila cocktail with a grapefruit-flavored soda mixer.

Tanteo Tequila + The Wayland’s “Party in Place” will deliver a margarita party package in NYC in concert with cocktail-caterer Cocktails in Motion, keeping you safe at home while also benefiting hospitality workers via The LEE Initiative.

Show your support to local restaurants offering to bring the fiesta to you. The East End’s Bistro Ete and K Pasa will put together a takeout package covering the entire Cinco de Mayo celebration from margaritas to dessert.

A Stay-at-Home Trip to Margaritaville

No Cinco de Mayo celebration would be complete with some sort of margarita.

There are many traditional margarita recipes using either fresh limes or Rose’s lime juice. I’ve listed some of the ones devised by mixologists at hotels and restaurants that go beyond tradition to inspire you to invent your own new favorites with ingredients that won’t be impossible to find.

You can also opt for a pre-made margarita mix like Lt Blender’s Margarita in a Bag. Just add tequila and Triple Sec or Cointreau and freeze the entire bag to make a slushy margarita.

This video from Andaz Mayakoba Resort Riviera Maya shows you all the right steps to create the classic version.

PATRON offers a twist using coconut and cucumber:

1.5 oz. PATRÓN Silver

2 oz. coconut water

1/2 oz. fresh lime juice

½  oz. simple syrup

7 thin slices of cucumber, 3 for garnish

Guavarita

For something fruitier, try a Guavarita, a specialty at Hotel Xcaret Mexico:

1.5 oz. guava nectar

3 oz. tequila reposado

garnish with a lime wedge

O'Rita

Mustang Harry’s gives the margarita an Irish spin with the O’Rita:

2 oz. El Tesoro silver tequila

1 oz. fresh squeezed lime juice

1 oz. simple syrup

1/2 oz. Kilbeggan Irish Whiskey

To garnish, turn half a lime husk inside-out to create a “shot glass,” fill with Kilbeggan Irish Whiskey and carefully set on top

My smoky favorite is a Mezcalita that substitutes mezcal for tequila. Add pineapple juice, muddle a piece of roasted pineapple (if you have it), sprinkle in a bit of Cointreau and rim the glass with Tajin, the classic Mexican chili, salt and lime mix (you can order it on Amazon.)

Mezcal Manhattan

Or make it smoky, sweet and bitter with a Mezcal Manhattan from La Esquina NYC:

2 oz. Doña Vega Espadín mezcal

1 oz. sweet Vermouth

3 dashes Angostura Bitters

Garnish with an orange peel, maraschino cherry or brandy cherry

Bring on the Food

You can create a Mexican-inspired meal with these four dishes from chefs in North America:

Guacamole is a must-have starter at any Cinco de Mayo fiesta. Solmar Hotels & Resorts shares this recipe for a version with a kick: one ripe avocado, chili pepper, ¼ cup of onion, half a tablespoon of crushed garlic, chopped cilantro, two tablespoons of olive oil, two tablespoons of lime juice, salt and pepper to taste.

Guacamole

Serious Eats’ Mexican street corn (elote) is the perfect side salad

Mexican street corn

Mexican Fajitas with Red Sauce and Avocado, courtesy of Velas Resorts, are easy to make with ingredients that you likely already have in your cabinet

For non-meat eaters, food writer ChihYu Smith offers this delicious Paleo recipe for Fish Tacos

Teach Me, Please and Feed Me

If staying at home has made you kind of of lazy and you’d rather have someone else do most of the work, sign up for this margarita making class and happy hour. All you’ll need to do is supply your own tacos.

Jose Cuervo

Jose Cuervo has that covered for you, too. In the spirit of #TakeoutTuesdays and #TacoTuesday, Jose Cuervo is offering to pick up the tab for thousands of taco orders nationwide on Cinco de Mayo. Just tweet a photo of your receipt with the hashtags #CincotoGo and #CuervoContest to @JoseCuervo to be eligible.

And, finally, since this really is a holiday revolving around tequila, you’ll need to know the proper way to taste and drink the potent spirit. Javier Moreno Gomez, tequila and wine sommelier at Grand Residences Riviera Cancun, offers these tips:

Grand Residences Riviera Cancun

To taste the subtleties of tequila, drink it in a wine glass.

Similar to the methods used for wine and other spirits, the basic tasting method is swirl, sniff, sip and swallow.

Check the color; there will be noticeable differences in a reposado or añejo. While color doesn’t affect the flavor, the density or hue can suggest the amount of wood in the tequila and hint towards its complexities.

Swirl the tequila. Look for the legs, the tears of the agave. These suggest essential oils in the tequila and the presence of alcohol. If the tears fall quickly they have less alcohol but if the tears fall slowly you have more alcohol. Swirling the liquid also releases some of the molecules into the air.

Tequila has more alcohol than wine. Different parts of the tequila will have different aromas. Tequila is known to have 600 different aromas including citrus, mint, freshly cut grass, floral, honey, oak, almond, vanilla, butterscotch, chocolate, leather and caramel.

Sip a small amount and hold the tequila in your mouth for about 10 seconds while sucking in a bit of air. Move it around to get it over your tongue, and suck in some air over top of the tequila to bring the aromas up to your nose. Breathe out through your nose before swallowing. There are different taste zones on your tongue — four specific areas for salty, sweet, bitter and sour. Have the tequila wash over the entire tongue.

Swallow and savor the finish and aftertaste. Remember that everything you eat before a sip will affect the taste of the tequila.

Salud!

Posted by Meryl Pearlstein
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Celebrate Stephen Sondheim’s 90th Birthday with a Musical Tribute Sunday Night

The Broadway community comes together, separately, to celebrate Stephen Sondheim’s 90th birthday as only the theater community could do.  Giving of themselves to raise money for ASTEP, a galaxy of stars will bring their talents to the musical library of Sondheim’s many songs on Sunday, May 3. The tribute will be broadcast at 8pm on www.Broadway.com or the Broadway.com YouTube channel.

The all-star special online concert, “Take Me To The World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration,” is a free show, hosted by Raúl Esparza, a true Sondheim fan who wowed audiences with his portrayal of Bobby in the 2006 revival of Sondheim’s Tony-award winning Company. The scheduling coincides with the date of the 50th anniversary of the opening night of Sondheim’s original production of Company on Broadway on April 26, 1970. A new production of Company with groundbreaking role reversals was set to open this spring. With the opening date of Broadway still to be determined, the updated Company remains on hold.

Courtesy of Broadway.com

The show’s stars represent some of the greatest talents of musical theater, many of whom have appeared in Sondheim musicals.

Annaleigh Ashford, Laura Benanti, Melissa Errico, Beanie Feldstein, Josh Groban, Jake Gyllenhaal, Neil Patrick Harris, Judy Kuhn, Linda Lavin, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Platt, Randy Rainbow, Lea Salonga, Meryl Streep, Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Mandy Patinkin, Christine Baranski, Donna Murphy, Kristin Chenoweth, Sutton Foster, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Kelli O’Hara, Aaron Tveit, Maria Friedman, Iain Armitage, Katrina Lenk, Michael Cerveris, Brandon Uranowitz, Stephen Schwartz, Elizabeth Stanley, Chip Zien, Alexander Gemignani and Ann Harada will perform songs of inspiration from the Sondheim catalog.

There will also be special appearances by Victor Garber, Joanna Gleason, Nathan Lane and Steven Spielberg.

Writer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim is revered for the many musicals that he brought to Broadway. Highlights of his prolific work include Company, Sweeney Todd, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Follies, A Little Night Music, Gypsy, West Side Story, Sunday in the Park with George, Merrily We Roll Along, Into the Woods, Assassins, Passion, Anyone Can Whistle and Road Show.

This special online event is a fundraiser for ASTEP (Artists Striving to End Poverty), the organization conceived by Broadway Musical Director Mary-Mitchell Campbell and Juilliard students to transform the lives of youth using the most powerful tool they had: their art. Today, ASTEP connects performing and visual artists with youth from underserved communities in the U.S. and around the world to awaken their imaginations, foster critical thinking, and help them break the cycle of poverty.

Posted by Meryl Pearlstein
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Visit Sweden’s Incredible Treehotel and ICEHOTEL and Enjoy Some Serious Arctic Adventure….. All Virtually (and Free)

Travel is a very important part of my life. Exploring new cultures, meeting people who live very differently from how I do, trying local foods, and experiencing the joy of discovery are things that I’m missing in a very big way. I’m finally ready to feed my travel hunger again, and armchair and virtual travel experiences have made me smile a little more every day.

I love this new virtual program, and it’s taking me somewhere I’ve never been before. I love that. I hope to bring you more of these soon. I’m ready to travel, somehow, again.

Virtual travel experts Virtually Visiting have created the world’s first four-day holiday that you can experience from home. I click on the link from my computer or phone, and I’m exploring Swedish Lapland. It’s really cool. And each day of the four-day vacation is brought to you one day at a time. Given the vagaries of my schedule nowadays, I’m grateful, too, that I can watch each day whenever I want, as the links will stay online.

The first holiday started today, but you can watch today’s event tomorrow, tonight, at 2 in the morning, or whenever it suits your “I don’t know what day it is – I don’t know what time it is” schedule of the moment. And this vacation isn’t costing me anything – it’s free. You have to love that!

You’ll go on a wintry tour of the Arctic region of Swedish Lapland, no passport required, with real-life, local guides who know the locations inside and out. Just click here to begin your journey. Or, if you don’t feel like traveling yet, here’s a teaser of what it will be like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ-PnjjxqnE&t=32s

First you travel 144km north of the Arctic Circle to Kiruna just in time to see ICEHOTEL 30 before it melts back into the river. I’ve always wanted to go to the ICEHOTEL after braving the frigid temperatures to attend the Ice Festival in Rovaniemi, Finland many years ago. I visited ice rooms and enjoyed an ice cocktail in an ice bar, but I didn’t have the chance to stay in an ice hotel. Here’s my chance to see what it’s like, firsthand sort of. Really cool.

On the first day, Saturday April 18, ICEHOTEL guide Matilda takes you on a personal tour through four of the jaw-dropping, individually designed and carved ice rooms and explains how the ICEHOTEL all comes together, from the frozen water in the river flowing beside the hotel to the transformation of the ice into these beautiful masterpieces you see before you. It’s like a museum of ice. Gorgeous.

On the second day, Sunday April 19, the tour goes south 250km to Lassbyn to meet local guide and founder of the Aurora Safari Camp, Fredrik Broman. Fredrik will be leading us on one of my favorite things, a snowmobile adventure, this time through the stunning Swedish wilderness visiting two frozen lakes and learning about local wildlife and landmarks on the way. Although I’ve never done this in Sweden, I’ve been snowmobiling in Finland and in Vermont, and I love the thrill of it.

Monday April 20 is more leisurely and we go to one of the places that have been on my bucket list for a long time, the famous Treehotel. Today, we take a personal tour inside four of the seven amazing treetop hotel rooms. Each room has its own theme, which is showcased in the design of the exterior and interior.

The final day of the itinerary, Tuesday April 21, goes east 90km to the wilderness around Kroktask where we do something that’s truly exhilarating, dogsledding. In Finland, I dogsledded both in a sledge and standing up on skis with those gorgeous, gorgeous dogs. This lets me relive that experience. Erik Hordijk from Yellow Snow Husky tours teaches us how to harness a team of huskies in preparation for the journey across the frozen landscape.

Each day a new virtual experience and additional information will be released so you can virtually travel through the region and get a sense of the people and places that you’ll encounter hopefully IRL in the not too distant future.  One of the other places to come through these virtual tours is the Arctic Bath, a really exciting project with a floating spa set in the middle of the river that floats in summer and stays frozen in winter. I would love to be there right now.

Join me on this free four-day Virtual Arctic adventure from Saturday April 18 – Tuesday April 21 at https://virtuallyvisiting.com/360-journeys/ (and don’t worry, if you miss one of the days, the video can be accessed at the same link).

Posted by Meryl Pearlstein
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Why Is This Passover Different from All Other Passovers? Celebrating in Quarantine

Passover is the holiday when Jews throughout the world get together to celebrate the exodus from Egypt. It’s a time when we reflect on what it means to be free and we retell the Passover story, the magid, as a way to provoke new questions, to educate the youngest family members, and to keep the history alive.

This year, Jews are challenged with a different kind of Passover. Families are separated from one another and many of the traditions associated with the holiday, like welcoming strangers, are not possible and are certainly not advisable.  The Passover dinner, the Seder, which initiates the holiday will have to be configured in a different way.

Passover is from April 8-16.  How should we celebrate this year?

Importantly, we need to celebrate Passover. Passover refers to the final plague passing over the Jewish families in the days of Egypt. This year, we pray to have Passover relieve us from the plague of coronavirus and from the plague of social distancing. Our virtual Seders won’t be the same and they won’t be perfect. But the Passover story is an important one about resilience and success, and this year the freedoms we cherish matter more than ever.  We can rely on our memories of Passovers past to guide us as we modify and adapt to our current reality.

The first Seder will be held on the evening of April 8 with many families celebrating a second one as well on April 9.

Making It Happen

This year, you’ll need to be a bit tech-savvy to bring the family together. The easiest way is via Zoom, the online meeting software that allows multiple people to be online at the same time. Download it onto your computer or phone from https://zoom.us/ or with the Zoom app and you’ll be ready to go.  Then, someone can invite each participant with a link to join the meeting, or, in this case, the Seder. Click to join with video and sound and you’ll soon see everyone on your screen.

Courtesy of Park Avenue Synagogue

In addition to having someone coordinate the invitations, you’ll need to appoint someone to take charge of the order of the Seder, similar to how it would be done if you were sitting around a family table in one room.  That person, the leader, will then call on participants to read sections from the Haggadah, which sets forth the order of the Seder and its contents, or ask attendees to comment on questions that will personalize the Seder for your family.

What Does a Seder Mean Right Now

In these unprecedented times, the Seder lends itself to many applications to the present.  For example, when you discuss the ten plagues that Moses invoked on the Egyptians to convince Pharaoh to allow the Jews religious freedom, you might want to relate the plagues to what is happening right now with a different set of plagues: the plague of disease, the plague of scarcity of food and supplies, the plague of unemployment and so on.

The Four Cups of Wine take on new importance this year, too.  Wine was considered a royal drink in the past, and hence drinking wine meant that you were free. While there is no concrete reason why we drink four cup at a Seder (or even three or two), we still need to remind ourselves that we are free, even though it may not seem that way right now. No one will argue that wine this year will also help us relax and recline (as you’re supposed to on Passover) during this difficult time.

There are numerous other opportunities to increase the relevance of the Passover story to our present situation.

A Seder by the Books

The contents of the Seder (which means order), can be found by downloading any number of Haggadot (try https://www.haggadot.com/clip-search for some suggestions or how to make your own). The Haggadah will help you track through the Seder’s dozen or so steps:

1. Candle Lighting

2. Blessing of the Wine (Kadesh)– drink the first cup of wine

3. Washing the Hands (Urhatz) – a perfect opportunity to mention why this is so important right now

4. Karpas – dipping greens into salt water as a symbol of Spring and new beginnings but marked by tears

5. Yahatz – with three pieces of matzoh, take the middle piece and break it in half, setting aside the larger piece as the afikoman (the final piece eaten as dessert). While this was said to symbolize the breaking of the Ten Commandments or the parting of the Red Sea when the Israelites fled Egypt, perhaps this “breaking” can refer to the “broken” existence that is now being shared throughout the world.  It’s a perfect time to stop and reflect on what it means to you today.

6. Magid – the story of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt.  It includes the explanation of the symbolic items on the Seder plate (as best as you can create one), recitation of the Four Questions by the youngest present, traditional Passover songs and readings of a variety of explanatory passages. Drink the second cup of wine.

7. Washing the Hands – another 20-second reminder of what is happening at present.

8. Blessing the Matzoh  (Hamotzi) – giving thanks that we have food to eat and can share it with our families and friends

9. Maror – eating something bitter like horseradish as a remembrance of the mortar that the Israelites used to build the bricks for the Egyptians’ buildings

10. Charoset – eating a sweet mix of apples, nuts, cinnamon and wine, together with some Maror on Matzoh, a Hillel sandwich, sweetness with a remembrance of bitterness. Perhaps you’d like to mention what you feel you’re missing at the moment?  And what you’re grateful for?

11. Dinner – drink the third cup of wine

12. The tradition of Elijah’s Cup and Miriam’s Cup (pouring the Fifth cup of wine for Elijah and a cup of water for Miriam) – welcoming the prophet Elijah to the Seder and recognizing Miriam’s well that provided water for the Israelites while in the desert. The symbolism of Elijah as a virtual guest is more apparent than ever this year.

13. Conclude the Seder and drink the fourth cup of wine.

Making It Your Own

While some of these steps may be difficult to execute this year, you can adjust what you might remember from past Seders to the reality of what we have to use at this moment.  It’s important to accept that you might not have a perfect Seder, and that’s fine. If you don’t have all the ingredients or you don’t have a Seder plate, you will still have a Seder as long as you come together and recite the Passover story.

The Seder can be as long as you want it to be, and you can choose to forego the order and leave the dinner part to the end if that works best for you, following the pre-meal steps of the Seder on Zoom and then signing off to dine. You could also decide to reconvene afterward  to have some schmooze time and to reflect on what the closing statement, “Next Year in Jerusalem” might truly mean as we self-quarantine now and think ahead.

Posted by Meryl Pearlstein
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Women’s Travel Fest Returns to New York March 6-8

Coinciding with the celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8, Women’s Travel Fest returns to New York City with a terrific line-up of programming and networking opportunities. The seventh annual conference for women passionate about travel is set for March 6-8.

The Fest kicks off with a networking pre-party downtown at The DL, 95 Delancey Street, on Friday March 6 at 7pm.

The full line-up of seminars takes place over two days, on Saturday March 7 and Sunday March 8. Speakers from a wide array of travel-related disciplines will share their knowledge with attendees over the course of the Fest which takes place at the Angel Orensanz event space at 172 Norfolk Street, New York City.

Saturday programming begins at 10am with an introduction by Kelly Lewis, founder of the Women’s Travel Fest and Go! Girl Guides.

Other Saturday highlights include:  Products and apps to make travel easier, Travel mishaps and safety tips for solo travelers, and a session on overtourism.

The Saturday program concludes with a session on living the life you were made for, an inspirational program discussing travel as it relates to each attendee.

Networking continues into the early evening with an after-party on Saturday evening.

On Sunday, professional development scheduling includes photography sessions, discussions about travel options for any age, budget travel and the 2020 destinations most appropriate for female travelers.

More than 30 speakers at the Travel Fest include editors Nikki Vargas, Unearth Women and Meredith Carey and Lale Arikoglu, Conde Nast Traveler; bloggers Ciara Johnson, Hey Ciara! and Alexandra Jimenez, Travel Fashion Girl; writer Jenna Scatena and TV personality Mickela Mallozzi, host of PBS’s Barefeet with Mickela Mallozzi.

https://womenstravelfest.com/

Purchase tickets at https://womenstravelfest.com/product/weekend-pass-general-admissions/ For more information, http://womenstravelfest.com/schedule/.

Posted by Meryl Pearlstein
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You Still Have a Week to Surprise Your Valentine with a Great Dinner in New York City

Countdown to Valentine’s Day 2020.

Amore Italian-Style

Set in a beautiful brownstone on a tree-lined block, flower- and candle-bedecked Felidia has been a romantic favorite for diners for 38 years. For Valentine’s Day, Felidia is serving a four-course San Valentino Tasting Menu dinner at $158 per person with an optional Kaluga Caviar course. Complementing the specially designed heart-shaped ravioli (Cuore Matto) are over-the-top dishes like Wagyu beef bresaola and a Tutto Tonno platter comprised of Big Eye tuna tartare, carpaccio, avocado, burrata and Kaluga caviar. Guests will also receive a tasting of Felidia’s most coveted desserts and Italian delights.

Felidia Wagyu Beef

To be transported to Rome without buying a plane ticket, Lupa has a special $79 four-course Valentine’s Day menu that will inspire amore and oohs and ahhs. The meal begins with a choice of aphrodisiacal appetizers like broiled oysters, or carne crudo with truffle Fonduta and quail egg. More indulgent truffles can be added to the tonnarelli cacio pepe for the primo course followed by two shareable dishes, whole roasted red snapper or quail “love birds.” Red-for-romance strawberry tartufo is the perfect dessert.

Lupa Osyters

Spend Valentine’s Day in NYC’s historic Flower District at Feroce Ristorante in the Moxy Chelsea, named “Best New Italian Restaurant to Open Worldwide” by Italian food and wine magazine Gambero Rosso. Guests will enjoy  aphrodisiac-inspired specials like carpaccio di Capesante, scallops thinly sliced and served with taggiasca olives, cauliflower, and organic dill in a blood orange dressing; and saltimbocca di rana Pescatrice, roasted monkfish wrapped in prosciutto di Parma, aged for 24 months, served with zucchini and olive tapenade. The meal climaxes with a sinfully rich mousse al cioccolato e limponi, a heart-shaped chocolate mousse served with organic fresh raspberries.

Feroce Ristorante credit Will Engelmann

Fun with Names

Fish Cheeks has curated a bright seafood-centric menu with unapologetic heat to keep the sparks flowing. Spice things up with a choice of two set menus for two with favorites like the coconut crab curry, crab fried rice, and Manila clams with sweet basil. The “No Sleep” High West bourbon cocktail mixed with Mr. Blacks cold brew liqueur, cinnamon syrup and almond milk is the perfect finish (or start) to the evening.

Fish Cheeks No Sleep Cocktail credit Andrew Bui

Boqueria wants you to have fun this Valentine’s Day with special Barcelona-inspired, romance-inducing tapas options. You can express your intentions by choosing “No Commitment,” an array of à la carte signature tapas, or the prix fixe “Classic Love Story,” Chef Marc Vidal’s selection of seasonal dishes and Spanish classics. “Three Little Words” will bring you an assortment of decadent favorites like hand-carved jamon Ibérico and croquetas de pollo y morcilla while “The Grand Gesture” notches things up with ostras con espuma de patat, a grilled oysters on the half shell with potato cream; and a tarta de chocolate con nueces y café, molten chocolate cake.

Boqueria

Palais by Perfect Pie will offer a menu of special sweet and savory dishes for Valentine’s Day with fun names like the “Whole Lotta Love,” Beau Soleil oysters with American sturgeon caviar and cucumber mignonette; and the” I’d Steak My Life On It,” roasted halibut steak with spinach and romantic roasted red pepper sauce followed by Don Giovanni’s tagliatelle with chanterelles, wild mushrooms and Italian white truffles. The tongue-in-cheek meal finishes on a sweet note with the signature dessert by former White House Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses, a chocolate heart brimming with bon bons and cognac, served broken or whole, as requested.

Palais by Perfect Pie

Sweets for the Sweet

In celebration of Valentine’s Day Black Tap is rolling out the decadent Red Velvet Cake Shake, a red velvet cake batter shake with a vanilla frosted rim with red and white sprinkles topped with a slice of red velvet cake, whipped cream and a chocolate drizzle. Now that’s love.

Valentines Day Shake credit Black Tap

Intimate new East Village Bakeshop Red Gate Bakery has created swoon-worthy strawberry buttercream Oreos (an all-butter Oreo cookie made with black cocoa, sandwiched around sweet and tangy strawberry buttercream), the perfect finish to an evening of romance.

Red Gate Bakery credit Rachel Vanni

It’s All about the Drink

Cocktail bar and lounge, Ophelia, will be offering a Rose and Chocolates Soirée this Valentine’s Day. Tickets are required. A VIP pass includes a private table for two, a long stem rose, Champagne on arrival, a bottle of Moët & Chandon Champagne and chocolate truffles. If you want to go a little further, Ophelia has a “Proposal Package” which puts you in a private cove, covered in rose petals, and further ensures you’ll get the desired answer with a bottle of Dom Pérignon or Ace of Spades Champagne, two dozen long stem roses and a box of chocolate truffles, all orchestrated according to your personal wishes.

Ophelia

For sports-minded lovers, J. Bespoke offers a speakeasy vibe that addresses all interests. On Valentine’s Day, the cocktail lounge rejiggers its usual sports programming to show romantic sports movies all day. As you munch on fun bites like truffle fries and spicy honey pizza, you’ll sip the special cocktail of the evening, the Little Red Corvette, made with raspberry-infused vodka, fresh ginger, Aperol, fresh lime, mint leaves, jalapeno tincture, garnished with rose buds, while you watch romantic sports films like Bull Durham, Jerry Maguire, Love & Basketball, Fever Pitch and Rocky. Your date will be impressed – you enter through an unmarked brass door at the back of a coffee bar.

J. Bespoke Cocktail courtesy of J. Bespoke

Cantina Rooftop

makes sure your cocktails are served with a selection of aphrodisiacal dishes. For Valentine’s Day, Cantina will serve a special three-course meal with a pitcher of their signature margaritas or sangria for two. You’ll sip your tequila as you tuck into aphrodisiacal dishes like baked Blue Point oysters (ostiones al horno) with poblano rajas gratin and desserts like guava cheese cake with fresh fruit compote. You can keep the party spirit alive at Cantina’s after-dinner party with drink specials and music by DJ Javi.

Posted by Meryl Pearlstein
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