Happy Birthday Marie!

Do you have a friend you know will always be a part of your life until the last breath you take? I do, her name is Marie. I met Ms. Marie in 5th grade when my parents moved me kicking and screaming from public school to the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. I didn’t want to leave my Birmingham friends, but it was one of the best moves of my life. That year I formed a bond with Marie, the rest is history.

She’s the type of friend that no matter how many days or months go by before we see each other again, it feels like we’re back in the good old days when we saw each other every day (except for junior year) doing silly Megan and Marie things (which won’t be shared here!!). We always talked about living in the Big Apple together. She’s been there since graduation and I’m slowly making my way.

Enough of the history, what you need to know is now I’m only a 40min train ride away! Because I’m so close, the two of us celebrated Marie’s Birthday together (March 3!). We LOVE being in the know and enjoy experiencing the finer things in life! So, it only made sense we celebrate at one of the celebrity hot spots we’ve been dying to try (yes, we have a list). Our pick: The Waverly Inn (the hot spot you read about Bono, Gwyneth Paltrow, the Hilton’s, P. Diddy and just about any and all of the big celebrities dining at). We tried to make a reservation by calling the listed number. Turns out, it is fake, just a busy signal every time we tried. This was a big night, Marie’s birthday, so we decided to take a chance and just go. We arrived at the West Village eatery just before 7:00pm, walked through the green wood plank type door and tried our luck. Marie asked if there was room for two, after the maitre d’ gave us a quick once over, he said yes. We were in!

I have to agree with Marie, usually these hip New York City places are more of a draw for the people you will see not the food you will eat. I’d say the Waverly Inn food passes the test. We both tried the Waverly Inn biscuits. They were delicious, served with the lightest honey butter. If these were any indication of what was to come, this was going to be a great night of fine food! For the first course we ordered the Rocket salad. By the sound of it, I wasn’t expecting much, greens, roasted red onion, shaved parmesan, typical salad. Once I placed a fork full of the three ingredients in my mouth, I understood where the name came from; a rocket of flavor took my taste buds to a new place. Each flavor played off of each other creating the most refreshing salad I’ve had in a long time. So far so good! Now to the main course: Marie had the Salmon, she said it was delicious, good taste, well cooked. I decided to go for a home cooked type meal, the Chicken Pot Pie. What a good choice! First of all my eyes popped out when the staff placed this enormous pie in front of me. The dish is the size of a soup bowl, the crust spilling over the sides, perfectly browned. For me, the crust and the sauce determine whether or not a Pot Pie is going to be worthy of a second going. The Waverly Inn version hit the mark on both. The crust was so flaky it just fell apart when you touched it, perfect not so thick it would take away from the flavors inside. Time to make our way into the meat of the dish, the filling. A simple and light cream sauce coated cooked to perfection chicken, mushrooms carrots and peas. I hate mushrooms, but these didn’t end up on the side of my plate, they were great. Like any meal we have, a side of fries accompanied our four-star meals! At the suggestion of our waiter we had the fries coated in truffle oil: ADDICTING, enough said.

Our bellies were full but we got into the Waverly Inn, so we were going to enjoy a three-course meal! Marie polished off a piece of cheesecake, she said it was good. I went with the ice cream, a scoop of double chocolate and one scoop of caramel. Chocolate lovers would have gone crazy over the first, for me it was a bit too rich. At first taste I thought my second scoop was a delicious vanilla with a hint of caramel, once I hit the middle the most delicious caramel oozed out creating what I would say was the best ice cream I’ve ever had (and I’ve had my fair share of ice cream!).

At the end of the night, we were stuffed! I’d give the Waverly Inn a 4 out of 5 on the Megan Meter!

(Side note: in true Megan and Marie fashion we didn’t recognize any celebrities but Bono was there the night before and Will Ferrell arrived just after we left…typical!)

Happy Birthday Marie, where shall we go next!

☺