Sunday, February 25, 2007

Gluten-Free in NYC - Day Two


The family split in two on the second day of our sojourn; I brought my eldest daughter to visit the Fashion Institute of Technology on W. 27th Street and 7th Avenue while Dan squired number two daughter up Fifth Avenue and into Central Park to check out the zoo. F.I.T. has a great museum (free!) inside which featured rainbow-colored designer fashions and some interesting alumni art work. We also went to the student-run Style Store inside the college which features some new and student-designed clothing and jewelry and some vintage designer clothes. It's cash only, but there are great deals for the frugal fashionista.

The Central Park Zoo was also a hit, especially the seals, puffins, polar bear and the Rain Forest area, which was warm and toasty on this blustery day. You are right inside with the animals and the birds and deer are enchanting. The enormous fruit bats crawling up the trees by their hooked claws are less so.

Now, for the gluten-free dining report. Once reunited and rested, we ventured forth for dinner to the Bombay Grill, which we had spied the night before at 344 Lexington Avenue (between East 39th and 40th streets). This turned out to be everyone's favorite NYC meal. There was a huge selection of meat-free, wheat-free options, as long as we steered away from the naans, pooris and other breads. We tucked into some great Shrimp Tikka Masala, Fish Curry, Kadai Paneer, Vegetable Biryani and lots of basmati rice and raita. The prices were reasonable, our server was knowledgeable and attentive and we all enjoyed the Indian music in the background as we scraped the sauce from every dish. Four thumbs up!

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