Rachael Ray
From Every Day with Rachael Ray November-December 2005
Rachael shares seven of her favorite city spots below—to see all 15, pick up the magazine on newsstands today or subscribe here for more great stories like this one.
Slide Show
Every year when I was a kid,
my mom and dad would take my sister, my brother and me for a magical holiday weekend in New York City. We would see a Broadway show, then go out to dinner at the old Mamma Leone's, an Italian restaurant with strolling troubadours and accordion players. Pasquale was always our waiter. He wore a badge on his short coat that proudly displayed his years of service at the restaurant. I watched that number change from 20 to 25 to 30. When I was just 5 or 6, he carried me around on his shoulders, singing to me. Mama would order pink Champagne and sneak us a sip—rosy cheeks all around. I would eat olives off my fingertips and stuff myself with pasta and spumoni.
After dinner we would leave by horse-drawn carriage for a late-night ride past the colorfully lit forest of trees behind Tavern on the Green in Central Park. The next day we would go to FAO Schwartz, where we drove the toy cars and played with the games and puzzles for hours.
Just For Chocoholics
Chocolate Bar Boxed chocolates, T-shirts and chocolate drinks for grown-up tastes. (48 Eighth Ave., chocolatebarnyc.com, 212-367-7181)
Jacques Torres Chocolate Haven Watch chocolates being made before your eyes while you dip chocolate lollies into cups of cocoa and spin into sugar overdrive. (350 Hudson St., mrchocolate.com, 212-414-2462)
Vosges Haut-Chocolat Cocoa with attitude. Have a cup. I like the hot cocoa with chipotle and the chocolate bar with curry. Just try it—you'll more than like it. This candy is one sexy gift, too! (132 Spring St., vosgeschocolate.com, 888-301-9866)
We could each choose one toy as our gift, and then we'd walk along Fifth Avenue to look at the shop windows. We would hover in front of the tree at Rockefeller Center in an ocean of Santas, taking the same pictures we had shot the year before, posing among the angels below the giant tree. On our last night, we would see The Nutcracker performed by the New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center. When I was a girl, I saw New York City as a huge, glowing planet that was synonymous with holiday joy.
Today, I live in both the Adirondack Mountains and groovy Greenwich Village in New York. The city has become my second home, rather than just a holiday spectacular. When I compare my daily life in the mountains to my urban day-to-day, I am struck that my city life is more community-oriented—it's friendlier and surprisingly cozy. The Greatest City on Earth has heart and soul. It's a patchwork quilt made up of many villages, each neighborhood with a personality all its own. I see the same faces at the market and am on a first-name basis with my local artisans and shopkeepers.
My New York holidays are still special, and I still go to the tree and take the same five pictures from the same angle for my scrapbook (though my hairstyle, hair color and weight change yearly). Many of my city picks are good-to-go, not just for the holidays but for every day.
