We had a bit of a boo boo on Saturday in NYC.  We were to stay at a friend’s apartment on the Upper West Side while she was out of town.

We hopped up on the subway to the leafy area near Central Park and found the apartment.  It was rainy for the first time on our NY trip and we were suffering from a series of late night-induced fatigue.

We weren’t feeling too hot when we arrived at the apartment to find that the spare keys for our friend’s apartment were not working.  There was no way in. We were on the side of a rainy, although very pretty and leafy, New York City street with a pile of luggage, sore heads, and nowhere to go.

Luckily, the apartment was very close to The Peace Food Cafe on 460 Amsterdam Avenue at 82nd Avenue.  We hauled our gear in there and sat down for some lovely Gingerade and hot tea.  The waiter was the most friendly fresh faced young man I’ve seen in a while.

We were feeling a little stressed and our feet were soaked so the welcome peace and quiet and total calm of this lovely cafe helped raise our happy endorphins while we looked online for a last minute hotel.

I decided I needed a salad.  I chose the Fluffy Quinoa Salad for $9.95.  This was to be the most nutritiously rich meal I had in NYC, as it was packed full of delicious quinoa, beans, baby greens and sprouts, sweet peppers, fresh sweetcorn and onions, all tossed in a creamy lime mustard vinaigrette.  Delicious.

And all things work out in the end.  We ended up staying in The Ace Hotel for the following two nights.  It is, by far, THE coolest hotel I’ve ever stayed in.  It’s on 20 West 29th Street just off 5th Avenue so a perfect location for a visit to NYC.

The front lobby was like a happening bar in the style of an old school library and the room itself was outrageously alt.

Image found on NY Times website

Not only was there a Smeg fridge packed full of vitamin water and champagne, a record player and a choice selection of some great records (including The Ramones – this was NYC after all), there was also a guitar in the corner of the room, just in case one become inspired in the middle of the night and felt the need to write a song.  Awesome!

It was a little on the expensive side but for a special treat, I’d really recommend this hotel if you’re coming to NY.  The staff were great and the a definite plus was the cafe located in the lobby – the best coffee we had in NYC.  Apart from Dizzy’s Diner coffee in Brooklyn, of course.

Turns out this coffee shop was one of the first in NY to offer the famed Portland Stumptown Coffee.  Check out the debate on Stumptown Coffee over here on Cheap Eats.  Intriguing stuff!

Categories: Blog Trips Tags: Peace Food Cafe New York, The Ace Hotel NYC