Our horrible transportation karma really came to a head on Friday.  On our way from Kim’s house to Boston’s airport, we found out that our flight was cancelled.  Delta had “thoughtfully” put us on the next flight, at 2:30.  Well, the weather got really bad at LaGuardia, so our flight was delayed.  And delayed.  And delayed again.  We finally bailed at 5:30 and DROVE back to New York.

As if this wasn’t bad enough, we had awesome plans for Friday night which we had to cancel.  Friends of ours from home were also in New York, so had pre-arranged to meet for dinner at Tabla (where we had a fantastic meal during our trip in December).  It was really disappointing to have to cancel the dinner.  We already had dinner reservations for Saturday and Sunday night, and we didn’t want to cancel either of those.  My mom said we might be able to go to Bread Bar (the casual downstairs restaurant) on Monday for lunch since our flight was late in the afternoon.

We finally got back to New York at midnight on Friday night.  What a very, very long day.

Saturday was pretty low key.  My mom had lunch plans with a friend, so the rest of us went to see Transformers.  It was only okay for me.  My brother and dad probably thought Megan Fox deserved an Oscar for her AMAZING performance!

We went to Flex Mussels for dinner on Saturday night.  I had the same appetizer (bitter green salad with fennel) and main course (fish and chips) that I had in December.  My brother wasn’t with us last time, so this was new for him.  New for us were the crowds and noise (thank you, NY Times review!).  It was very loud this time, which was not as fun.  We shared some awesome desserts (a peach cobbler and some donuts), though.  The food is really good there.  Maybe I’ll actually try the mussels next time.  We’ll see.

Sunday night was Locanda Verde, which is in Tribeca.  I don’t know much about New York neighborhoods, but this one is very far from my grandparents’ apartment.  We took the subway there, which wasn’t too bad.  This restaurant is an Italian family style farm-to-table place.  It was AMAZING.  It was just as crowded as Flex Mussles but not nearly as noisy.  (My mom said that the bathroom was bigger than the studio apartment my aunt had in the mid-80s.  Wow – that must have been small!)  We had a ton of food.  I can’t even remember everything, but I do remember the chicken for two (or four, in our case) was delicious.  I would love to go back to this restaurant next time, too.

My mom came through for me on Monday for lunch.  We went to Bread Bar.  YAY!  (My brother and dad went to Shake Shack across the street.)  So, we get there and sit down.  The waitress was so nice to us.  The restaurant was pretty quiet since it was only noon, so she chatted with us for a few minutes.  I went on and on about our dinner in December and our cancelled dinner on Friday night.  Turns out that Chef Floyd was in the house, so he came down.  He said he thought I was older because the e-mails I sent were well written.  Hooray! Someone actually thinks I’m older than I am!  That never happens since I’m petite for my age.   Anyway, he was super-nice and friendly.

My mom and I shared everything.  Our first course was Bouchot Mussels Chilli Fry (mussels in with coconut, kokum, tamarind and chilis).  I didn’t know what kokum and tamarind were, so I just went with it.  So, I actually did try mussels on this trip, just not at a mussel restaurant!   My mom makes a great chicken tikka, so I had to try Tabla’s version.  We also shared the Saag Paneer Pizza since I love spinach all of the sudden!  Chef Floyd gave us some suprise treats, which were a chickpea salad (with two kinds of chickpeas I had never heard of before) and a really unusual halibut with watermelon curry (Really.  I’m not kidding.)  The halibut had a yummy crunchy coating on top.  Very cool textures.

My brother and dad came to the restaurant just in time for dessert (what a shock).  We ordered the Bread Bar Donut Holes (with three great dipping sauces) and the lemon pudding cake.  I was amazed when our waiter from December (Branden) delivered the desserts. I remembered him, and HE remembered ME.  That was so cool.  He told me they were all disappointed that we couldn’t come on Friday night (ME, TOO), and that they had reserved a great table for us.  What.a.bummer.  Anyway, the lunch was great, and I can’t believe how nice Chef was to me and my mom.  We talked about some really interesting things.  I can understand why my parents love the restaurant so much. My grandmother (who hates prix fixe menus) has even said that she and my grandfather will go with us.  That’ll be awesome.  The food and the staff are so great.  I surprised myself  by how much I liked it in December, and this time was even more special.

Next time we go, I’ve got to remember to get the popcorn recipe.  That stuff is addicting!  The waitress was nice enough to give us some extra to take with us on the plane.  Sadly, my brother took it away from me on the plane (he didn’t like the smell) and then HE LEFT IT BEHIND!!! He says it was an “accident”, but really.  How hard can it be to remember to take stuff off a plane, right?  Well, I guess that isn’t exactly true, but I was not too happy.

Thanks again to Chef Floyd and everyone at Tabla.  It was the end of a great weekend of food and fun (and finally, NO RAIN).