Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (II Corinthians 5:17 NKJV)

As a new creation, we are an improvement from who we were yesterday. As we had the honor to visit the 9/11 memorial site, we remembered the past with the hope of something new and better. We admire how tasteful and honoring the new tower is coming out to be; in fact, the Freedom Tower stands behind the two reflecting pools, each pool represents the exact location where the twin towers stood. All the names of the 3000 people that passed away in 1993 and 2001 are imprinted on the edges of each pool. Although we didn’t know anyone who died, tears were no strangers and a sea of emotions crashed into us. After today, we’ve realized how angry we can still get just thinking about what happened that day.

This theme of old and new was a recurring one. We were in the mood of eating authentic NY pizza, so we went to the first pizzeria in the whole USA, Lombardi’s (est. 1905). Located in Little Italy, Lombardi’s seems to attract a lot of tourists, but don’t let that fool you. The reason why they have been there for so long is because of the quality of their amazing pies!

We arrived at a great time, because as we were walking out, there was a waiting list. Our Margherita pizza (San Marzano tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella) with pepperoni was delicious. We ordered a large, 8 slices, and we ate it all! After we ordered we saw how large they were so we tried to change it to a smaller one, but our server insisted to stay with the large because the pizza crust is very thin and light…she was right! Pizzas come out fast, and the service is very quick too! They truly want to turn those tables over and keep the pace. Our server was a little rushed, but she was very helpful and friendly.

To get to our table, we had to walk through the kitchen into an narrow room that had tables on both sides. The brick walls had a lot of pictures that depicted some history of the place. We were sitting in a two top table, and at times it felt a little crammed to be sitting there.

One thing I didn’t like was that they only take cash…no debit cards or credit cards, but they do have an ATM on site that will charge you a $3 dollar fee for using it.

Food: 5/5
Service: 4/5
Decor/Ambiance: 3/5

After lunch, we headed towards Midtown Manhattan to Rockefeller Center, where we had a reservation for the NBC Tour. The tour also had the recurring theme of old and new as the pages, Dean and Allie (tour guides or think Kenneth from the show 30 Rock) told us a bit about the older NBC shows and the ones to come. A cool fact was how Jimmy Fallon wanted the studio where Johnny Carson used to do The Tonight Show. The Tonight Show is currently taped in LA, but it is soon returning back to NYC and Jimmy Fallon will be hosting it! Late Night with Jimmy Fallon will soon be Late Night with Seth Myers. They also showed us the SNL studio and where Brian Williams does his news show. They also informed us that Brian Williams will no longer do Rock Center with Brian Williams in the fall, but maybe something like it will replace it. The theme old and new kept reappearing…

Since we went to a traditional lunch, we decided to go for something more contemporary, Morimoto NYC. Morimoto is a very popular chef, arguably the best Iron Chef there is! Kenny has been there in the past, but he really wanted to have he tuna pizza again! Located in the Meatpacking District, Morimoto NYC is right across the street of Del Posto, so the neighborhood is quite familiar. Also, this is where the Food Network and the Chelsea Market are!

The decor of the restaurant was very modern and all white. Even the restrooms have this futuristic feel to it…the toilets are electronic, so as soon as I come into the stall, the lid comes right up! It was very weird but so funny that I had to mention it!

The food was amazing! We started with the tuna pizza with olives, anchovy aioli, jalapeños, and all these ingredients were placed on a tortilla crisp, topped with micro cilantro. This dish was an inspiration to Kenny and I was able to see why! We also ordered Japanese Lobster Fritters with pickled ginger, scallion, lobster reduction, and spicy mayo. The fritters were my favorite dish out of everything we had. They were so full of flavor and the texture was excellent. For main course, Kenny had the Angry Chicken, a marinated half chicken with roasted finger peppers and spiced jus. This was a great dish but it wasn’t big enough. Thankfully, I ordered the chirashi sushi, which is a bowl of rice with some seaweed and 12 different type of seafood and Japanese vegetables and sweet soy. This is a common dish in Japan and it was so filling that Kenny was more than happy to help me with it!

Kenny’s favorite meal was dessert. Normally, we don’t order dessert at an Asian restaurant because quite frankly that’s not their specialty. But this is Morimoto! He is known for doing a lot of fusion within other cultures and we were curious to see more of his creativity! We shared the Mori-Monkey Bread with banana chocolate chip ice cream, banana cream and spiced milk chocolate sauce. Kenny and I were fighting for the last piece, that’s how good it was! My only complaint was that it was too small for two people!

Food: 5/5
Service: 4/5
Decor/Ambiance: 4/5

Old and new: the truth is they both need each other! The one wouldn’t exist without the other…