With girl friends and shopping bags in tow, I wasted no time in New York heading to my favorite late lunch destination: Balthazar. I have a feeling we looked like a Sex and the City brunch, times 3.5 tables, plus one token male. Actually, I have a feeling we sounded like that, too.
To me, a visit to Balthazar is a restorative experience that makes me pause and appreciate the simple joys of life. Every time I visit the city, I make a point of a Balthazar stop ... for a steaming bowl of French onion soup on a rainy day, or for moules frites when I feel like working my way through a luxuriously long meal, bite by bite. Sometimes I will wander inside and write over a glass of Chateauneuf du Pape (I cannot tell a lie; I wish I were writing now over a glass of CdP).
On this particular day, my Olympic Club soccer team had arrived via redeye in the early morning and after a shopping excursion through SoHo, stopped for a late lunch and wine at Balthazar. Well, some prioritized the lunch and some prioritized the wine! We refueled over a couple bottles of rose, a calamari and shrimp ceviche, and a roasted beet salad (with roasted beets, haricots verts, and wedges of fourme d'Ambert, is anyone actually capable of choosing differently?).
We cooled off after a day of late summer New York heat. Our tired feet took a break before the last shopping push. We shared purchases, laughs, bites of salad, and now we share memories of an afternoon together at my favorite New York sanctuary.
Take me back!
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