Nelson Blue, 36 Peck Slip, Manhattan

Lured by the possibility of deals and a short commute, Pat and I are looking at the Financial District as a potential place to live. He hadn't explored the neighborhood yet (despite working there) so we did a little poking around last night.

The theme of the evening was blue. I wore a blue sweater. Pat, who had not been informed of the theme, wore a dashing grey pinstriped suit with a gold tie. Just FYI.

We had drinks in the Blue Bar at the India House. This was not actually what I expected. It is a lovely space and the drinks were tasty, but the lights could have used some serious dimming, and the music was atrocious: the BeeGees, Barry Manilow, Whitney Houston, Dolly Parton. Were we in a happy hour hideaway in the fast-pased financial district in the world's most interesting city, or were we taking a break between shuffleboard games on a Sunday morning in Fort Lauderdale? Hard to say. My Not For Tourists bible had said to go up the stairs and to the left to the secret bar, and while we did go up a few stairs, and to the left, we couldn't help but feeling there must have been more stairs or a further left to reach what we were seeking. I intend to inquire with NFT about this.

I took Pat down Stone St. for a taste of the ambiance, and then down Front St. to our dinner destination, Nelson Blue. Pat went to New Zealand two years ago, right before I met him, and has since been waxing nostalgically about Speight's beer, which he had been told was unobtainable in the United States. I had looked on the Nelson Blue website and Speight's was on the menu, and I shared this with Pat as we entered the restaurant. Imagine the crushing blow when we learned that they stopped carrying it a year and a half ago. But Pat was touched nonetheless that I had tried to reunite him with his favorite beer. And then the food redeemed the place. He had the lamb lollipops ("lollichops"), and I had the crispy salmon in a coconutty, limey sauce with leeks. I only wish I'd had bread to sop up the sauce that remained after I tucked away the salmon. We wanted the cheesecake for dessert but they were out, so we settled for the pecan pie. While it was very good, we both agreed that it needed a dollop or two of ice cream (or schlag!) to cool it off and moisten it up a little bit.