Friday Night in NYC

Miss Tea received an invitation to attend the first in a series of “Cultural Pairings in NYC” last night (4/24/09). Not knowing fully what this event entailed, Miss Tea seized the opportunity to snag Rocky Stillwell (colleague and confidante) as her date for the evening – woo hoo!

First stop was Pranna for their Weekday Warm-up Menu. Rocky and Miss Tea needed to prep up, in case there were no appies or alcohol at the event. Rocky sipped on the Emerald Bay cocktail (Sonnema Herb Vodka and St. Germain elderflower liquor, green tea, fresh lemon juice) while Miss Tea had her soon-to-be-usual Muscadet Cuve St Vincent Michel Delhommeau 2007. Both of us also tried the Penang Chicken Spring Roll with Tamarind Mustard and Paneer and Potato Croquettes with Homemade Banana Ketchup….both were sooooo good (ok, Miss Tea will tone down the gushing of food…soon). Seeing Pranna for the first time, Rocky thought it was a gorgeous restaurant and asked the servers about the crowd and ambience in the PM. Miss Tea informed Rocky of all the hidden spaces for private parties within the venue – even Condé Nast Traveler hosted their Hot List Party at Pranna last week (Natasha 98 and Miss Tea noticed them setting up).

Next stop was the Agatha Ruiz de la Prada NY Store, the venue for the “Culturing Pairings”. After walking around the wrong way because of wrong directions (Miss Tea still gets confused in the Village area), we finally found the cute and colorful store. Agatha Ruiz de la Prada is a Spanish fashion designer, known for her whimsical and colorful styles. Rocky and Miss Tea loved the cute clothing and creative designs. This soiree had a DJ and acoustic band in the front of the elongated store, painted all white with a few colorful stripes here and there.

On the tables were mini brochures promoting the designer and co-sponsor Global Events, a worldwide special events management company (www.global-events.com). Miss Tea was glad to see this party also promoted Vibrant Rioja, celebrating the wines of Spain. Check out www.VibrantRioja.com to learn about Rioja Restaurant Week in NYC (April 29th to May 2nd). While we checked out the crowd, Rocky shared a rather endearing line: “Food is the way to my heart, wine is the way to my bed.” Sigh. I can see it now: Greeting Cards by Rocky Stillwell.

After sampling the Rioja and a few passed appetizers (the chicken cups and tuna tartar on a fried wonton crisp were pretty good), Rocky and Miss Tea mingled towards Señor CL, my host for the party. An incredibly nice Spaniard, Señor CL told us about the concept of the Cultural Pairings – this event was the pairing of art and fashion. He told us how popular Agatha’s clothes are in Spain and this NYC store served as the perfect venue for exhibiting the works of four NYC photographers:

Jon Smith - www.jonathansmithphotography.com
Michael Creagh - www.michaelcreagh.com
Andrew Hetherington - www.ahetherington.com
Benjamin Lowy www.benlowy.com

After thanking Señor CL for the invitation, Rocky and I moseyed on to Pangea Restaurant for dinner, another favorite haunt of Miss Tea. Imagine my delight to greet owner Arnoldo, still looking fabulous and flaunty, and Douglas and Marek still serving it up! Rocky had a pear cocktail special (so delish!) as well as fried calamari, roasted bistro chicken and spinach and ricotta ravioli. Miss Tea LOVES Pangea because of the Meditrerranean-esque menu, the incredibly decent prices, and of course, for the friendly faces who welcome you back with open arms after months of absence. After dinner, Miss Tea showed Rocky the private party room in the back. Rocky’s planning a birthday party for Mama Stillwell so in hanging out with Miss Tea, Rocky got to see two potential venues – Pranna and Pangea. :o)

Finally Rocky and Miss Tea headed off to subway land. Kiss kiss, huuuuug, goodnight.

http://www.prannarestaurant.com/
79 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016
212 696 5700

http://www.pangeanyc.com/
178 2nd Avenue (between 11 & 12 Sts)
New York, NY 10003
212 995 0900

http://agatharuizdelaprada-com.blogspot.com/
135 Wooster Street (at Prince)
New York, NY 10012
212 598 4078