2 Days in TriBeCa

There haven't been any postings yet this week since I was out at our national sales meeting. Don't get all excited - there was no travel involved except for the A train to Canal to the Tribeca Grand. Luckily at the last minute one of my co-workers gave up her room to me (us NY'ers are typically penialized at these things for being cool enough to live in the city so we don't get rooms). Did I like it - yes! Room size was decent, bed was exceeding comfortable and the design was visually pleasing. Very minimalist.

But enough about the hotel. I have 2 restaurants to review here.

First up - Sascha. Had dinner there on Sunday night. It's a new bistro in MePa, more casual downstairs in the Gansevoort Room (where we ate) and a formal dining room upstairs. Attached is a bakery where all the bread is made. I have to say I was EXTREMELY disappointed because I've heard good things about this place. I made the stupid mistake of trying to order on a New England route. I started with the New England clam chowda. Funny, I've never seen yellow colored NEW ENGLAND clam chowda. The wasn't a lot of substance too it and the clam bellys were tough. I followed that up with the fried clam roll which TRULY horrified me! The whole roll was just clam necks, which had been cut off from the belly's used in the chowda. Um, WEIRD & BAD. VERY salty too. 2 people at my table had the chicken pot pie and liked it (it did look good) and one person had the penne which just seemed boring. Oh, and we started with a dungeonous crab app that was actually good. I don't think I'd go back here - well, maybe if it was free again.

Next up - a group dinner at City Hall in the Granite Room. LOVED the room - it's in the basement and sort of had that wine-cellar feel. Gorgeous and very atmospherical. Service was really good as wells. The pass-arounds during the cocktail hour were the best part - Vietnamese spring rolls, pigs in a blanket, crab cakes, shrimp. Dinner left a bit more to be desired. The appetizer was a marinated grilled portobello. Not bad. Since it was a prixe-fixe, we had a choice of steak, salmon or chicken on the bone as amin. Eeeww! I went with the chicken which was decent if you don't mind the bone (I do). The steak looked good. Salmon - don't even get me started - it's the most overrated fish and I hate it. There was red velvet cake to finish - I was disappointed in that as well. The room and service were so great though I would definitely recommend this spot for big group dining - just choose the main courses a bit more carefully.

Finally, a karaoke review. After dinner I took the group to BINY - a karaoke place at Thompson & Canal that I had passed a million times and had never been to. Now I know why! This place was pretty dreadful. When we first got there we got a private room. It was super hot in there and stunk of smoke to the point we had to leave it. Oh, and even though it was a private room you had to keep giving the waiter your songs on pieces of paper. No do-it-yourself remote! HORRIFIC! So consquently we ended up in the main bar. There were only like 2 other people in there so we took over and it ended up being fine. I just want to add that their song list needs a LOT of work. Not sure how the prices were as I didn't pay there either. They tout that BINY stands for "Best In New York" - I think they need their heads examined!