Midtown Manhattan

Midtown is probably where some of the most iconic touristy stuff is located in New York City. One of the evenings we ate dinner at Mark's Off Madison (the name gives away that it's right next to Madison Square Garden).  This was Joel's only request because of the viral 50-layered lasagna.  In the end, the bechamel sauce was delicious, but he realized he prefers thicker noodles.  Little Lady had the best dish of the night.  The veal parmesan was scrumptious.  

From there we walked to the Empire State Building.  The sun set while we were in the building, so we got a beautiful night view of the lights in New York City.  It started to sprinkle a little bit while we were on the observation tower.  

There are all kinds of fun things to see and eat in Midtown.  We stopped in St. Paul's Cathedral on our way to the Rockefeller Center. We also spent some time at FAO Schwartz.

As part of the City Pass we went to the observation deck- The Top of the Rock.  I loved this view, because it gave you a view of the Empire State Building but also Central Park and St. Paul's Cathedral.

The food is also really good!  Our 2 sweet treats were hits.  We tried the famous Magnolia's banana pudding and their key lime cheesecake.  Our only sadness was that we didn't get more than one of each.  We were trying to just sample things, but they were so good we almost went back.  

That's alright, because we had Dough Dougnuts later that afternoon.  There was mixed reviews in our family about this one.  Joel did not love his plain sugar cinnamon doughnut and Little Man felt like there was too much nutella in his filled doughnut.  Those of us that got flavors (Mango and Lemon Blueberry) absolutely loved them, so I guess it matters which one you choose.  

We also had lunch and dinner in Midtown and both restaurants were so good!  We had lunch at Utsav.  It was really good Indian food.  We liked everything we tried, but I think the kids liked the butter chicken the best.  The decor was really fabulous as well. We loved all the purple. The one funny thing we didn't know going into it is they charge for the rice that comes with the dishes.  I've had Indian hundreds of times, and that's definitely a first.  It made it pricey, but it was definitely worth it.  

We had dinner at Mitr Thai.  This was a lot different than what we typically eat, and I can't even tell what the dishes were called, but all of them were delectable.  One of them was a form of Panang that I really loved.  The mango sticky rice was also spot on.  It was located right off Time Square, so it was an ideal spot right before going to see a Broadway show.

We saw The Outsiders on Broadway, and it completely lived up to our expectations.  We all loved it!  Little Guy got so ridiculously excited when it got to his favorite song.  It was almost just as fun to watch his reaction.  It reminds me why we love Broadway so much.  If we didn't have to pay for all of our kids we would have gone to see a second show.

The show was definitely one of the highlights of the whole trip.  Here's a couple of pictures of Time Square just for fun: