An Afternoon Spent in DUMBO Brooklyn and an “Adventure” in Dinning.

This weekend was lovely in New York, a bit hot but not unbearable. My friend Angela and I decided to head to DUMBO in Brooklyn for some brunch and a stroll along the water front. It really is incredible how many neighborhoods have changed over the years and even in the seven years that I have been back in New York I have seen a change in DUMBO. Mainly in the sheer number of people there now, it is starting to feel a wee bit like an amusement park, and I don’t know if that is a good thing. But the waterfront is beautiful, it was redone a few years ago and I can see why it attracts such large crowds. Though I must say it is still manageable compared to other areas of the city.

We met at Almar which is at 111 Front street and located in the heart of the business district. I have been to Almar before and have always had a great experience but this time it was definitely an off day for them. First we had a bit of wait at the door along with a small crowd of other people waiting to be seated. Then when I ordered what I wanted I was told by the waitress that she forget to inform us that what I ordered was no longer available, then I was going to go for the second item on the menu and she said that too was no longer available. So she brought the menu back for me to choose a third item. [blockquote]she did say she could comp a new drink, so after all that I was like yes please bring me another glass of wine![/blockquote]I placed my order and off she went. While we were waiting for our food the waitress returned and asked if we wouldn’t mind moving tables as we had been seated at three top and now there was a three person party waiting for a table. We agreed to move and off she went again. The waitress then came back again and informed me that the third item I ordered was also no longer available—umm what? They were out chicken. She said that they could make the same thing with turkey instead, I agreed to this but now my friend Angela was quite annoyed and asked to have our drinks comped. The waitress said she could not do that because the drinks were already in the system, again umm what? My friend continued to argue with her to no avail, however she did say she could comp a new drink, so after all that I was like yes please bring me another glass of wine! I don’t think I will return here for for brunch but I may consider dinner. The times I had been here before was for dinner and both the food and the service were excellent. I am not sure if the business changed hands or again it was just an off day. So for the time being I do recommend Almar for dinner, and I hope the next time I return it will be up to the standards that I have come to expect.

After this frustrating start to the day Angela and I headed out to walk along the water front and do a bit of shopping. Before heading to the waterfront we stopped in to Jaques Torres as Angela wanted to pick up some chocolates for a friend of hers who is going through a rough time. They had samples out of their frozen hot chocolate and it was de-lish! Perfect for sipping on our walk to the waterfront. As you can see the waterfront is spectacular with plenty of photo ops to be had. DUMBO is a unique neighborhood with two bridges crossing over in to it. It is a bit loud due to the off ramp and the bridge traffic. I don’t know if this is a place I could live, but it is a great place to work and visit, and in fact another friend of mine has a studio located in this neighborhood. After our stroll along the waterfront we headed back to the business district and popped in to West Elm and then to their sister store West Elm Market. I picked up the new Oh Joy book at West Elm and at The Market I bought a fun quirky item that I will be sure to write about in an up coming post. Well that was what my sun filled urban get away weekend was all about, how was yours?

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