Tea with Eloise
Posted by bibliomom Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:07:00 GMT
So after all these years, I finally got to go to New York. Not that it’s ever been super high on my list of places to go, but it’s there. Besides, I was getting really tired of mumbling, “Yeah, still haven’t been …” at dinner parties.
Scott had to go on business (again) and this time he made sure that I got to come, too – sans children. Museums, subways, getting lost (repeatedly) in Central Park – and yet one of my favorite moments was getting to have Tea at The Plaza.
Some of you might remember the old Eloise books, or at least the newish Eloise movies featuring a mischievous little girl who lives at the top of The Plaza hotel in New York. After getting lost (twice) on the way to MoMA and a full morning of museum crawling, I was tired and hungry and more than a bit overwhelmed. As Van Johnson said, “It’s not the heat – it’s the humanity.”
Needless to say I decided that much like Eloise, I needed tea at The Plaza immediately and charge it, charge it!
And it was nice, a true relief from both the August heat and the New York humanity. It was quiet and cool with big comfy chairs and a harpist. The few other guests who where there seemed to mostly be mothers and daughters having an Eloise moment. And as The Plaza has both an special Eloise Tea and a portrait of Eloise peaking in from the hall, the atmosphere in the Palm Court remains light, despite the gorgeous Tiffany style skylight and the wonderfully restored gilt and moulding that festoon the room. It could feel stuffy and ominous, oppressive and overly formal, but somehow it doesn’t. It’s rather like going to have tea with a sweet old neighbor lady. Yes, she has antique, fussy furniture and antique, fussy teacups, but she’d rather see them enjoyed and broken than mouldering on a shelf, so please sit down and help yourself. There’s plenty, and have you ever had this kind of tea before?
So I had tea. Four courses of the most expensive tea I’ve ever had, just so you know before rushing over and making an appointment. A course of tiny tea sandwiches, filled with delectables like Peekytoe crab and lamb loin; two lovely, flakey scones: one blueberries, one with currants; a nice berry fruit salad, with no melon filler so I could actually eat it; and a finishing plate of tiny little desserts like lemon tart and miniature eclairs.
Mind you, the food varies on the tea you order, but there really isn’t a “just a scone and a cup of tea, please” option. It’s Prix Fixe all the way, at a Prix that blew my food budget for two days.
The service was attentive but leisurely. Occasionally a bit too leisurely, as in “there is food coming at some point, right?”. I think I was there around two hours, start to finish.
Still, the tea itself was quite good, and the food was all well prepared. It was a lovely break for both the body and sprit on a hot and noisy summer day. Best of all? Whenever I’m reading Eloise with my own daughter or my beloved nieces, I can finally say, “And I’ve been there, just like Eloise.”
