If you’re in Paris like us, you’ve noticed that the city is slowly emerging from hibernation; businesses (like ours!) are reopening, inboxes see fewer OOO replies, and many of us are already pulling our fall & winter wardrobes out of storage in anticipation of cooler climes.
We’ve been busy planning lots of exciting happenings at Abricot this month, but before we look ahead, we wanted to bask in the sunshine of our respective California/New York holidays a little bit longer. If you’re already back on the hustle and want to fast forward to the upcoming news, just scroll allllll the way down! ⬇️
New York I Love You
It’s been a year since I was back home, and while much has changed (it’s kind of New York’s thing, after all), I’m happy to report that many of my favorite spots, flavors, sights, sounds, and people remain.
I checked off the crucial items on my list right away: solid quality time with family and friend-family, bagels (sesame with olive cream cheese), pizza (with a Manhattan Special on the side), karaoke (Branded Saloon on Thursdays, iykyk), more bagels (with a Cel-Ray this time), wandering all over Brooklyn and Manhattan (and even a ferry to Governor’s Island!), board games (finished the last chapter of Betrayal Legacy after 4 years!), and an escape upstate for a hit of nature.
While the focus was on friends & fam, you know I had to get some R&D in, and thankfully that means cocktails. I put myself in the capable and knowledgable hands of my friends Haley, and Jen, and got to check out some new-to-me sweet spots.
Super Bueno was so nice, I went twice (in two days!). Nacho and his team have something really special going on, with warm, high energy hospitality, and utterly crushable cocktails (the Vodka y Soda really is all that!)
I’ve been out of NYC long enough to be lured by the promise of killer views, and Manhatta and Overstory have those in spades, with cocktails to match. Still thinking about the ‘everything’ pull-apart bread with mustard butter at the former, and the Pink Tuxedo and TATER TOTS at the latter, which are ginormous and come with a trifecta of dipping sauces. Somebody please bring tater tots to Paris! Hmmm, maybe we should?? 🤔
It wasn’t all city living on this trip, I hopped the Amtrak upstate to spend some major QT with my mom Rhonda, brother Corwin, his partner Laura, and my perfect angel on earth nephew Calloway, which included a couple of nights in the brand-new jewel box cabins at the Deer Mountain Inn. Is my brother the chef here and therefore am I biased? For sure. But I also know good food, and the cuisine, cocktails, wine, and accommodations here are truly exceptional, reflecting love and respect for the history, wilderness, and agriculture of its mountain surroundings.
It feels good to be back in Paris, which feels more and more like home, but it’s the reconnections with my “forever home” that make this life abroad sustainable.
À la prochaine, New York,
Allison
California Dreamin’
You can take a girl out of the sunshine state… but she keeps finding her way back. It’s a funny thing to leave California and to raise my kids in Paris… California is home for me in a way nowhere else will ever be, and yet, for my boys, Paris is home and California is a deeply foreign land. They’re not wrong ;), but I had fun being their local tour guide… And I needed a little re-orienting myself. Thank yous in particular to Little Item and MctMeg. It’s been a minute, but you gently showed me the new cool spots, while kindly treating me like I’d never left.
I got my dose of the mostly sunny LA, along with my now-annual helping of Birdie G's kugel, and the fatty noodles I dream about from afar - paired with some truly unique and crushable cocktails by DadsDrinks at Little Fatty /Accomplice Bar. Sipped a memorable coconut freezer martini, and a healthy bit of amontillado with Rhum Muffin at Bar Moruno, which was such a treat with the very best of company. And Ruby Fruit, you’re an Abricot spirit sister. Love this new sapphic wine bar meets resto across the street in Silver Lake.
Did some vegan ‘research’ as well, in the home of some of the best indulgent vegan food around… a wonderful list I’ll save for another day, except to say Just What I Kneaded gave me my first real huevos rancheros since I stopped eating eggs, for which I am eternally grateful.
On to an all-too-brief SF moment. Fit in family, a couple of my dearest friends, and a little Michelin star action at the Thai restaurant Nari. (‘Nari’ means ‘women’ in Thai, and is a tribute to the women that laid the foundations of Thai cuisine.) Situated in a transformed Japantown, it was familiar as ever and still a far cry from the divier days of my first apartment at Fillmore & Geary. I had to balance all this fancy with some serious — and equally delicious! - Mission-style burritos… Al Pastor Papi, your vegan al pastor (in your bright pink pop-up truck) is a thing of beauty. I wish my grandma could have had a taste, I bet she wouldn’t believe it could be done.
And to bridge the SF/LA divide? If I had one persistent urge during the Covid lockdown days, it was for a trip to the Madonna Inn, my quintessential comfort spot both as a child and adult… It’s a roadside Inn from the 1950’s and a world all it’s own with 2 restaurants (check out the hot pink ‘steakhouse’ in our reel!), a pool, and a theme for every room, halfway between SF and LA. With so many changes - and yes, I know that inevitably everything changes, especially in the life of an expat coming home only a handful of times over the course of the years - it’s nice to find a place that seems to stay, at least very nearly, the same. It’s a little piece of dated and dilapidated hot pink heaven, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Who says you can’t go home again? :)
Love you, California. Come visit me in Paris,
Jen
Ok that sounds amazing, now tell me what’s happening at Abricot this month!!!
As you can see, we’ve got lots in store for the month ahead, from live music to guest shifts to book launch parties! Speaking of parties, we’ve got a couple of privatisations on the books already in September, if you or your entreprise would like to fête the rentrée in style, hit us up to learn more! And follow us on insta for all the updates as they happen, we’re busy bees over here!
Cheers to new beginnings and falling leaves 🍂
Bisous,
Allison & Jen 🧡🍑