Something neue.

I love it when Louisa comes to town. Not only because I get to spend tons of quality time with my best friend (living thousands of miles apart can be rough), but also because having her here reminds me to take full advantage of the wonders of the city.

When she was in town in September, we spent a day on the Upper East Side. We managed to do some shopping (thank you, Joe Fresh and J. Crew Collection), but before that could happen, we needed sustenance. Enter Café Sabarsky, one of the very best things within walking distance of my apartment.

Housed in the Neue Galerie - itself dedicated to German and Austrian art - Café Sabarsky is a recreation of the cafes of Austria, right down to the Thonet chairs, Hoffmann fixtures and sausage-rich menu. On this visit, we ordered a green salad to share, plus two different plates of sausage (my roasted bratwurst came with riesling sauerkraut and dijon potatoes; Louisa's was flavored with cheddar).

The food (and the coffee and hot chocolate we enjoyed afterward) was, as always, delicious. But, for me, Café Sabarsky is always about the experience as a whole. That gorgeous room, that wonderful atmosphere...that sparkly chandelier. I just love it there. I'd say it's something you could only find in New York, but that's obviously not true. But I'm sure glad it's here.

Getting some culture.

Last week, I had the glorious luxury of a day off. I spent the morning doing responsible things, like going to the gym and the grocery store, but my afternoon was devoted to pure New York-ness. After a homemade lunch (tomato and avocado salad), I hoofed over to Fifth Avenue for a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I spent a good deal of time wandering around the new - and incredible - galleries devoted to Islamic art, then made my way through Impossible Conversations, the Costume Institute's exhibit devoted to Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada. (Verdict? Really awesome, but nothing will ever beat last year's McQueen tribute.)

Eventually, I made my way up to the rooftop, which is one of my very favorite spots in the city. Because the museum sits just inside Central Park, it doesn't matter that you're only a few stories up - in fact it helps, because you end up feeling like you're perched right on the tops of the trees. The views are incredible to the west, north and south. That right there is Cleopatra's Needle, which sits just behind the museum. (Remember the last visit I paid to it? The weather was a bit different on Friday.)

Every summer, the museum hosts an outdoor exhibit on the roof. Like 2010's bamboo forest, you can climb this one, called Cloud City. (Nerd alert: my first thought was of Star Wars.) Created by artist Tomás Saraceno, the sculpture is a group of geometric pods, mirrored on some sides, open on others. Climbing through it must be pretty awesome, if a little disorienting. Sadly, I didn't get to find out on this visit, since I had to take off to run some errands. Before I left, though...

...I snapped this photo of the gorgeous apartment buildings on Central Park West. I once heard that one of the reasons Fifth Avenue apartments are more expensive (on average) than their crosstown siblings is because their view is so much better than the reverse. I don't know if it's true, but I'd believe it.

Queenie's Treasury

Happy weekend, my lovelies! It's been a crazy couple of weeks for me, what with work and SXSW and visiting Louisa, but I'm back in the swing and ready to share some goodies with you. Let's get started, shall we?

Baggu, who make my absolute favorite re-usable shopping bags (I own an obscene number at this point, but they are invaluable when the Greenmarket is in high season.), have started making iPad and laptop sleeves. I can't justify buying the adorable blue-and-white sailor stripe laptop cover (since both my work and personal laptops are already well cared-for in this department), but maybe you can?

The Selby's photo essay about Mathias Dahlgren (a chef with an eponymously named restaurant in Stockholm's Grand Hotel) is making me crave a trip to Sweden like nothing else. The architecture, the food, the gray, windswept skies. Give it all to me, with a side of strong black coffee.

Finally, a little something nerdy to finish off this edition of the Treasury. The Museum of the City of New York is currently featuring an exhibition called The Greatest Grid, all about the history fo the grid system in Manhattan. I love seeing how this tiny little island has evolved over the years, and I plan to pay a visit to the museum very, very soon. Time to get my geek on.

Queenie's Treasury

Happy Saturday, folks! It's a sunny day here in New York, and I'm about to head out in search of caffeine and merriment. Before that, though, let's talk Treasury. Today's edition is all German and Austrian, all the time.

The Neue Galerie on East 86th Street is focused on German and Austrian art and design, and is always an amazing source of inspiration. (And of pastry, thanks to chef Kurt Gutenbrenner's Café Sabarsky, which is modeled on a fin de siècle Viennese cafe.) Their current exhibition is entitled Vienna 1900: Style & Identity, and it looks amazing. I'll definitely be stopping by to visit in the next few weeks - maybe more than once, since it runs through June 27th!

Continuing the Austrian/German theme, check out this amazing apartment for sale in Berlin. I'm in love the with layout, the perfect galley kitchen, herringbone floors and huge windows. I don't know anything about Berlin's neighborhoods, but, according to the Times, at least, Friedrichshain is a cool place, and there's a farmers' market right around the corner. Give me some white paint and sign me up, baby!

Cultchah.

What better time than a staycation to brush up on my art? I spent an afternoon last week at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which, despite its lying only six short blocks from my apartment, I had not visited in almost a year.

It was a gloomy day outside, and the sky was that bright white color you see on chilly afternoons. The stone glowed under the filtered light, and the ladies decorating the cornices looked a bit forboding.

The Met can seem imposing from certain angles, but I love that its sweep of stairs is so often - day or night - softened by the presence of pairs of friends sitting, chatting, and possibly enjoying a hot dog from the vendors that sell them (overpriced, of course, this is tourist central) down on the Fifth Avenue curb.

This is the Upper East Side at its finest, all neoclassical and proper. The area near the museum is well worth a wander, especially on a nice day. Me, I spent my time checking out the incredible exhibition of the Limbourg brothers' illuminated manuscript, Les Belles Heures du Duc de Berry. An incredibly tactile and awe-inspiring experience, if I do say so myself. You can get within inches of the folios and examine them with a museum-provided magnifying glass. I felt like a proper Sherlock Holmes, searching for meaning in the detailed borders, and gaping at the pin-pricked gold leaf that sparkled like the sun.

Maybe I shouldn't wait so long next time.

Membership has its privileges.

Remember my glorious New York Sunday a few weeks ago? Well, I completely forgot to post about the wonder that is the Cooper-Hewitt, the National Design Museum (It's part of the Smithsonian.). I first fell in love with the Cooper-Hewitt a couple of years ago during one of my annual staycations, and have been going back regularly ever since. It's an easy walk from my apartment, and is a wonderful place to spend a few hours. (It will be even more wonderful once its renovations are complete and I can lounge in the back garden of the Carnegie Mansion on gorgeous days.)

On my most recent visit, I gave in to fate and signed up for a membership. This means I get to go whenever I want, get discounts on the awesomeness that is their museum shop, and attend members' functions with like-minded, design-obsessed folks. I couldn't be happier.

Moral of the story: the next time you're on Museum Mile, save an hour or two for the Cooper-Hewitt, wouldja? You won't be disappointed.

Austria,minus the plane ticket.

On Sunday, I treated myself to an I Love NYC kind of afternoon: early lunch at Café Sabarsky, a visit to the Cooper-Hewitt, a walk across Central Park, and a cappuccino at Joe. Let's begin at the beginning, shall we?

Café Sabarsky is part of Kurt Gutenbrunner's ever-growing empire of Austrian food. His other outposts include Blaue Gans and Wallsé. While Blaue Gans is a rustic, tavern sort of place, and Wallsé is all refined cool, Café Sabarsky is Gutenbrunner's tribute to fin de siècle Viennese café culture. Located in the Neue Galerie, the café's menu features an impressive assortment of Viennese pastry, delicious coffee and a bowl of spaetzle with tarragon.

For me, Café Sabarsky is typically all about two things: the Einspanner (double espresso with whipped cream) and the decor (reproductions of classic Austrian designs in a Gilded Age mansion's paneled parlor). This time, though, I branched out.

First up, a double espresso; more specifically, a Grosser Brauner, which is served with a teeny bit of milk on the side. As usual, it was delicious. I seriously wish I could stop here every morning for coffee. Rarely have I found more perfect coffee on this side of the Atlantic.

Once I'd caffeinated, I switched to water and ordered the wiener schnitzel. It arrived a few minutes later, piping hot, topped with lemon and accompanied by potato salad and lingonberries. I have to say, I was a bit underwhelmed by the schnitzel itself. The veal was tender and flavorful, but the breading was completely separated from the meat in most spots. The potato salad was tasty and creamy, and the lingonberries were tart and offered a lovely contrast, but all in all, I think I'll stick to the spaetzle from now on.

For dessert, I skipped the pastry (I do recommend the apfelstreudel, though.) and went for a Viennese hot chocolate. While it was a bit thinner than the Pierre Hermé version I make at home, it was deeply chocolatey and came topped with a generous amount of freshly whipped cream - both qualities I can get behind with little trouble.

Queenie's Take: Boston ahoy!

This week's Queenie's Take comes to you straight from Twitter, where I asked people to send their most pressing food and travel questions. So, today we'll be talking travel to Boston, and next week it'll be shopping & cafes here in NYC. Without further ado...

We're in Boston Sunday through Tuesday. What should we do? - Danielle (@foodmomiac)

Good question, Danielle! As a former denizen of New England, I have some Boston favorites to share with you - and since I know you have kids, I'm going to try to focus on stuff that you can all enjoy together!

Boston is one of those towns that brings out my nerdy side - American history, academia, great art - for such a small city, Boston has an incredibly rich cornucopia of stuff to tickle your brain. One of favorite museums is the Boston Museum of Science, with its awesome mid-century-version-of-the-future architecture and its Leonard Nimoy-narrated planetarium welcome. They also have a butterfly garden exhibition right now - something Dylan is bound to love.

My other favorite is the Museum of Fine Arts, which has an absolutely magnificent collection of John Singer Sargent's works (though we have my favorite - Madame X - here in NYC). He's one of my favorite artists, and seeing so many of his pieces together in one space is truly awe-inspiring.

For the adults, a wander down Beacon Hill's Charles Street might be in order. Filled to bursting with great shopping (clothes, home design, and the like) and good restaurants, it's just down the hill from the State House, and makes a nice afternoon walk. My cousin and her husband live up near the top of the hill, and I'm falling a bit more in love with the neighborhood on each visit.

Finally, for me, there was nothing cooler about my early trips to Boston than walking the Freedom Trail. Along the way you can choose to visit Paul Revere's house, Old North Church (in whose steeple hung the two lanterns signaling the approach of the British soldiers), and the USS Constitution. If your kids are anywhere near as geeky as I was (er, AM), they'll be psyched.

As far as food goes, you can't beat Boston for seafood, and for that, there are two spots I'd recommend. First, Barking Crab, downtown. Awesome lobster rolls, great fried clams, and great grilled fish, too. And, of course, there's the all-time classic, Summer Shack. Voted best lobster roll in Boston two years in a row, it's worth the trek out to Cambridge to visit the original location of Jasper White's seafood mecca. We ate here when my brother graduated from college, and I still think about it.

We expect a full report!

Photos courtesy of Pear_Biter, Shooothead, mkrigsman and Dan4th on Flickr.