Eastern Standard (Boston)

This past summer I was in Boston for client events and loved everything about it- having a car, driving down the adorable Newbury Street and staying at Hotel Commonwealth, a luxury boutique hotel located in downtown Boston. The room alone was impressive- complete with a lounging area, a king sized bed, and a large bathroom.
We hosted the welcome dinner at the restaurant adjacent to the hotel, Eastern Standard. The restaurant was completely accommodating for our large group. For our group of 20 we decided not to do a private room but the restaurant was still able to create a custom menu for us that featured a specialty cocktail, designed specifically for our program. [MAP to Eastern Standard]
Our menu included a variety of appetizers served family style- like calamari and flatbread, calamari. For our entrees everyone could choose one of three options, I forget all the other choices but I had the seared salmon served on a bed of vegetable ratatouille.
And again we were given a few different choices for dessert something chocolatey (forgetting at the moment), Pumpkin Bread Pudding and Angle Food Cake.
Going to Boston any time soon? I definitely recommend staying at Hotel Commonwealth and walk to the nearby Eastern Standard restaurant.

Tart

After an afternoon of shopping at The Grove in LA I met up with a group of friends for dinner at Tart- located at 115 S. Fairfax Ave, attached to The Farmer's Daughter Hotel. We sat in the courtyard section of the restaurant which was decorated with strung Christmas lights.
The restaurant serves freshly baked American Fusion dishes including Tart Fries- french fries made from French, Sweet, and Purple potatoes, served with a three different dipping sauces; Fried Green Tomatoes served with a toasted corn salsa; and amazing organic salads like the Roasted Beets Salad- red and gold beets, mixed greens, goat cheese, and a lemon vinaigrette; big entrees of fish, meat, sandwiches and more. (Tart is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.)
A couple weeks ago on The Hills Heidi Montag had lunch at Tart with her mom, which was included in YumSugar's Episode Eight The Hills Food Quiz- part of question number 5.

Atlantic City

Need to get out of the city and in the mood to gamble some money away?!?
A trip to Atlantic City may be exactly what you need. It's nice that such a place exists so close to Manhattan. Although I must admit even though I liked all the lights and loved the people watching, I definitely found out that gambling is not really my thing. However, I did enjoy the fine dining at Wolfgang Puck American Grille at the Borgata Hotel.

We listened to our friend's advice and spent the night gambling at the Borgata Casino Hotel but stayed at the Trump Marina Casino Hotel. It was definitely entertaining to see all the people who stay up all night gambling. Literally, the same people we saw at the tables before going to bed at 1:30am were still at the same tables when we left the hotel at 10am!

Gramercy Park Hotel

Having been to the Gramercy Park Hotel for drinks at the Rose Bar I knew I had to go back just to spend more time in luxury boutique hotel. I knew my parents would love the chic sophistication of the GPH's decor, designed by Ian Schrager, so I took them to Wakiya.
Located to the left of the lobby, opposite Rose Bar, Wakiya is amazingly sleek and serves a modern Chinese cuisine by Japanese celebrity Chef Yuji Wakiya. Our fabulous waiter recommended that we order our dinner according to traditional Chinese tradition, from cold to hot. From the menu, I recommend the Vegetable Dumpling, XO Omelet Fried Rice, and Field Green Salad. There are pictures of these and other things we ordered below.


Recommended cocktails at Rose Bar: the Long Berry and the Rose & Lychee Martini
Reservations for Wakiya can be made via Open Table