Nubeluz is a bar from Chef José Andrés located on the 50th floor of The Ritz-Carlton in Nomad with the intent to show visitors the NYC skyline. He has another recently opened restaurant, Zaytinya, on the first floor of this hotel. We were able to make reservations for 4:00 PM on a Sunday a few weeks in advanced. When you walk into the hotel, check in with the concierge who will swipe you up to the floor.

Located near the Vessel and Hudson Yards, Zou Zou’s was on my partner’s list for quite some time. They simply love Mediterranean small plates and dips. We actually had to make a reservation a few weeks out to nab our reservation at 5 PM on a Sunday night. The restaurant lies in this little courtyard where it leads into one of the Peloton offices. When we arrived, we were able to check in a few minutes early.

Le Rock is one of those new hot and busy restaurants around the Rockafeller area because it comes from the team of Frenchette. The majority of the menu is in French, and it had been receiving pretty stellar reviews for the most part. We walked in at 5:45 PM, and we were very fortunate that they were able to seat us due to a prior cancellation. We were told that we would have to be done with dinner within 90 minutes.

This Memorial Day weekend, we’ve been enjoying our free time just idling at home and doing chores. For Monday, my partner wanted to run some errands, and we were around the Rockafeller area. Because it was still a bit early around 4 PM, it was difficult to find restaurants that had already turned over to their dinner time. Eventually, my partner pointed out this restaurant, and we decided to give it a try.

Olio e Più is a trattoria & enoteca restaurant run by the same group that manages Boucherie. It’s close to the West 4th station in the Village, and it usually has a very lively crowd as it gets toward evening hours. Before the pandemic, the restaurant table space was quite small and tight. Since, they’ve expanded structurally a patio that extends out of the main building, as well as little sidewalk area that is enclosed.

Jua is one of those new-ish Korean restaurants that has received a number of praises from all sorts of diners. I was able to get a 2-seater a few days before Valentine’s Day on a Saturday evening. It did require me to sit and snipe on Resy, which fortunately was not as difficult as trying to get reservations at Don Angie. Jua is a restaurant by chef Hoyoung Kim, who was the former executive chef of Jungsik.

We had tickets to watch Phantom of the Opera before it closes in April, and my partner was scouring for some type of restaurant week menu to eat. They landed on this restaurant which is pretty close by as it had last minute vacancy. I already had very low expectations on some of these Italian restaurants that are close to theaters especially ones that are restaurant week driven. The restaurant week menu had some overlap with the normal dishes, but the ingredients to me did not really stand out.

As usual, we were again running some errands in this Midtown East area close to Central Park. We are running a bit dry on Italian options, so fortunately my partner finally said “yes” to a Mexican restaurant that I have wanted to go to for a long time. I vaguely recall Empellón having a Michelin Star a while back, but I cannot find any information on it at this time.

Felice appears to be an Italian premium chain restaurant with locations around New York and Florida. We were around the area shopping and walking around for errands of course, and my partner fortunately has been on an Italian binge recently. They really love lasagna, and this restaurant nearby had it on its menu. We were able to walk in on a Sunday without reservation at around 5:30 PM. When you walk in, it appears to be a coffee shop with a barista.

West Village is an area that we had walked through at times, but we never really tried many restaurants. Fortunately, it’s very accessible from both where my partner works and where I work. They picked this restaurant at the whim, and the menu looked pretty interesting and also straight forward. I was able to secure a reservation for 5:30 PM the day of without much difficulties. When you arrive here, there seems to be a little sibling restaurant, Aria Wine bar, across the street which seems to have a similar menu.