New York City package deal from Carlton Hotel

by Annie Scott on

Want to have a classy winter rendezvous in New York City? Between December 21st, 2008, and March 15th, 2009, The Carlton on Madison Avenue has a droolworthy “Winter in the City” package deal.

“The Carlton on Madison Avenue has a cozy ‘Winter in the City’ package, which combines comfy delights, including a ‘Comfort Foods’ menu featuring dishes such as truffled mac & cheese, poached lobster, and peanut butter hot chocolate, exclusively created for guests opting for the package, and passes to ice-skate at Rockefeller Center.”

The package, which starts at a reasonable NYC price of $385 (pre-taxes and gratuities) per night, includes a 2-night stay at the luxury Madison Avenue Carlton Hotel, a private consultation with a furrier at Saks (I know, right?), a New York City snow globe welcome gift, and all the grand amenities of the Big Apple.

If I didn’t live here, I would beg for this for Christmas. Contact The Carlton for more information and availability!

Gadling Take FIVE Week of Oct. 25–Oct. 31

by Jamie Rhein on

Wow! Here it is Halloween and October is almost over. Whew! What a month.

The pace at Gadling has continued to pick up. Perhaps you’ve noticed that Gadling blogger Karen Walerond has returned. She’s our resident camera and photographer expert, so stay tuned for tips on how you can make your camera work sing.

Also, there’s yet another series to add to our other mini-series. Aaron is gracing us with a Travel Trivia quiz each Tuesday. That Aaron is one smart guy.

Hopefully, you’ve been following Gadling’s series “Catching the Travel Bug” about our experiences when we’ve caught some illness when on the road. Also, this week there were two more “Sounds of Travel” offerings. This is the series where we’re sharing the songs that have moved us when we’ve ventured from home.

This week, who hasn’t noticed the flurry of U.S. election related news? By the next time I write next week’s Gadling TAKE FIVE roundup, we should know who our next president will be. We’ve had our own musings about the candidates and some oddball details.

Yes, that’s only four, so here’s one more from one of my favorite topics, New York City. Jeremy has once again given us a blueprint for discovering the gems we may not have heard of before. I’m so heading to Roosevelt Avenue in Queens for dip into Latin American culture the next time I am in New York.

By, the way, have a wonderful Trick or Treat or party, or whatever you’re up to. Hopefully, your fall day is as gorgeous as mine is.

See Banksy’s “Pet Store” exhibit in NYC for the last week

by Grant Martin on

Rebel artist Banksy‘s Pet Store exhibit enters its last week starting today, so if you haven’t had the chance to see the creepiness first hand, stop by Seventh Ave. to check it out. The exhibit, featuring a variety of animatronic foodstuffs (and vice versa) closes this Friday and is a dialouge on the treatment of animal’s in today’s culture.

Says Banksy:

” New Yorkers dont care about art, they care about pets. So Im exhibiting them instead. I wanted to make art that questioned our relationship with animals and the ethics and sustainability of factory farming, but it ended up as chicken nuggets singing. I took all the money I made exploiting an animal in my last show and used it to fund a new show about the exploitation of animals. If its art and you can see it from the street, I guess it could still be considered street art.”

So just how creepy is the exhibit? Take a look at some of these chicken nuggets hanging out near the henhouse and tell me that you didn’t just lose your appetite. Yuck.

Quote, with thanks, from FYCgallery.

Dine for charity at The Palm

by Jamie Rhein on

If you’re looking for a reason to splurge on a restaurant meal, here’s one. The Palm Restaurant group, as part of its aim to raise money for the non-profit organization Dress for Success, has a special menu for lunch and dinner through October 31.

If you order from the Fall for Success lunch or dinner menus, part of the proceeds will go to this charity that provides “economic independence of disadvantaged women.”

Menu items are creative and yummy. Ordering a meal isn’t required. There are appetizers, side dishes, salad and a desert if you’re on a tighter budget.

I’d go for the Parmesan Truffle fries for $8, or for a splurge the Nova Scotia Lobster Nachos for $18. Molten Chocolate cake is the desert offering. (Click here for the rest of the menu.)

The history of the restaurant is another reason to head here regardless of giving money to a worthy cause.

Although there are 25 Palm restaurant locations from Boston to L.A., and in Mexico City and San Juan, the Palm Group is still owned by the family who founded it. The original Palm Restaurant on 2nd Avenue in Manhattan, now a historic landmark opened its doors in 1926 as an Italian eatery featuring dishes from Parma Italy.

This restaurant is one of those famous places worth heading to for its history alone. Back when it first opened, the family couldn’t afford artwork so whenever local newspaper men came to eat, they were given a free plate of spaghetti in exchange for a drawing on the wall. The walls still boast the caricatures and cartoons of their efforts.

Here’s a detail that anyone who has traveled to another country and has struggled to say the name of a place correctly can relate to. The family really wanted the name of the restaurant to be Parma, but when applying for a business license the person who applied had an accent that made Parma sounded like Palm. Considering the restaurant’s expansion to California, perhaps this was unwittingly visionary.

Crashing parties to get free food and drink is on the rise

by Jamie Rhein on

If you saw Wedding Crashers, you are familiar with the story idea of people pretending to be connected to the bride or groom in some manner in order to have access to the single women attendees.

The possibility of a sexual tryst is not the only reason to pretend to be what you’re not.

According to this article at am New York, there are some people in New York City who pose as reporters in order to get into “swanky” events. The desire for free food and drinks is presented as one of the motivations. Another is to have up close and personal access to important people.

Lately, according to the article, the number of folks sporting fake ID or phony media-style business cards to gain access to party bliss, has dramatically increased. Another result of the economic doldrums, perhaps? Maybe it’s the stockbrokers who are off the A-list looking to regain the glory days?

It doesn’t sound as if those who try this tactic have a heck of a lot of success, although, they must have some because they keep trying.

A psychology professor who was asked to come up with reasons why people might attempt such antics said that it might be because people who try to get into fancy events who don’t belong may have a low sense of self worth and want to feel better about themselves.

Harumph! I’m thinking it’s because it’s a game to play. That, and the free food and libations.

Who hasn’t eyed that pastry tray laden with goodies or enormous piles of cubed cheese with toothpicks for dainty eating, the cornerstone of convention center events. There they are just inside the door of the room that is connected to the hallway through which you’re passing. So yummy looking. . . So free.

I’m not saying I’d grab one, not even an almond croissant, but isn’t temptation one of those fleeting thoughts?