City of Change: 'inoteca

I don't think there is a single restaurant/bar in the city
that I have been to more than 'inoteca.  Seriously.
I can remember the first time that I went, and it was
actually by myself in that glorious summer of
2006 when I lived only a few blocks away.













photo credit

I had just come back from a Jersey visit and wanted
to treat myself to something in my neighborhood,
so I sat outside with a glass of prosecco and a meat platter
and people watched. It was glorious, I was 22.
Later that summer I had a birthday dinner there in
the basement,  I drank countless bottles of bubbles, and it
became this kind of home base.

I moved out of the LES that August but I never stopped going,
it stayed a staple for girls night dinners, a place to take out-of-towners,
and in the last couple years it has been a birthday lunch must-have
for when my Mom/sisters/nephew came up to celebrate.
I've never felt to gutted to learn that a place was closing.

I know that NYC is an ever evolving place of openings
and closings, but very rarely do you find a place that becomes
so a part of your life and so engrained in your history with a city.
I'm going tomorrow night for one more truffled egg toast,
one more girls night, and a few more bottles of wine.