A great restaurant should have reliable food with that you can always depend upon, but it should also surprise you with interesting flavors or combinations you've never tried before. In the same way, a great store should always have something to surprise you. It should dependably have things no other place has, and those things should always be reliably well-designed.
A great restaurant should appeal to all members of the family, while a great store should appeal to all ages as well. A great restaurant will versatilely appeal to both the couple on a romantic date and workers trying broker a deal over a meal. A great store will appeal to both the person hunting for that last-minute hostess gift and the wandering shopper hoping for something to grab her attention.
Here are some of the restaurants, and a couple of their offerings, that we enjoyed while on our buying trip. Bond 45, is a restaurant we always visit. It's conveniently located. The food is always good and the setting is . . . unique. Once a men's clothing store, it has been repurposed as a great restaurant with an unrivaled staff.
Our other favorite is Cafe 1, 2, 3. our first visit to this french bistro was for breakfast. We liked breakfast so much that we've returned many times for dinners. Every time we return we are greeted with, "Welcome Back."This time we had a duck confit crepe and the perfect light and fluffy omelet with fries. Don't miss it. You can't go wrong.
Finally, our last choice was a newer restaurant which we visited for the first time. It's called Cilantro. I would describe it as a Mexican Bistro. We loved the food and the drinks, but it was the atmosphere that made it perfect for us. It was clearly a neighborhood hangout that got a lot of return traffic. We know we'll be returning the next time we're in the City.
