Do you ever look for your keys only to find they're in your pocket?  Or your sunglasses when they're on your head?  Trust me...I looked for my cell phone when I was at home the other night only to realize that was the phone on which I was having a conversation!

So when I met a colleague for lunch today and she suggested The Fitz, I was embarrassed.  I have walked by The Fitzpatrick hotel easily hundreds of times over the last 3+ years (as it is a whopping block and a half from my office) but never really realized it was there!

Well, it was a pretty good find.  This narrow space was rather handsome.  We sat in high-backed, well-cushioned leather chairs studded with brass nails, and trimmed in pony houndstooth and a dark, cherry wood frame.  There was plenty of this dark cherry paneling on the walls as well with toille wallpaper accents of humingbirds and branches interspersed between the wood.  I felt like I needed a cigar and a newspaper (and in this weather, a smoking jacket would have kept me nice and warm.)

I never imagined I'd find anything to eat, but for $10.99 (yes, I was in NYC, sitting down, with table service, and it was really $10.99) I enjoyed the express lunch soup and salad/sandwich combination.  I had a very nice, light tomato-based soup similar to a minestrone (though there were parsnips in place of potato which was a nice twist) followed by a sweet corn salad atop roasted portobello mushrooms with mixed field greens.  It was quite good!  And the combination of the corn and mushrooms made this a rather hearty dish, good for a cold winter's afternoon. 

The best part?  There were other items on the menu that could have been modified to suit me but I actually was able to order straight off the menu, no substitutions, nothing to leave off, or any other requests for that matter.  Usually dining with me is like a scene out of When Harry Met Sally (not THAT scene) so this was an accomplishment in and of itself!



Veg and the City