Thursday, October 20, 2011

Ink48 - is heaven in hell's kitchen


Our two night stay in New York City was a dream. Literally, I still feel like I dreamt the whole thing. From arrival to departure Ink48 exceeded every expectation. It exceeded expectations that I didn't even know I had. When our family of 6 pulls up in our big vehicle with all our shit stuff most places flinch. Not here - we were greeted with open arms and big smiles. As the bell hop unloaded our car we were whisked away to our suite.  Let me put a small disclaimer in at this point - we were meeting another family at INK48, the father of this family happened to be the GM of the hotel at the time so we were fortunate to be staying in the ultimate luxury this hotel has to offer. We were on the top floor of the boutique hotel located in midtown Manhattan. The 1,100 sq ft penthouse suite has a view that offers the best of both worlds - the Hudson River on one side overlooking the historic Intrepid and on the other overlooking Hell's Kitchen with the skyline of Manhattan as the backdrop.
Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum Complex
Skyline of Manhattan from our private 2,200 sq ft top floor deck
In addition to all the cool modern interior suite space we had our own private 2,200 sq ft multilevel deck complete with an over-sized deep soak jacuzzi hot tub. The deck was furnished with comfy hip outdoor furniture and had it's own sound system. Even the kids danced the night away. To help further emphasize how ass kicking this penthouse was - we overlooked the hotel's rooftop bar, PRESS. Yes, I said OVERLOOKED!
Our private deck (lower level)
Hangin' at PRESS Ink48's Rooftop Bar
The suite itself had a king bedroom with a huge bathroom, living area, dining area, a half bath and the option of an additional connecting king (which was our room). The hotel provided air mattresses for the kids that were so inviting I almost crawled in with them each time I said goodnight.
New York Edition Top Trumps (one of our family favorite games)
The staff at INK48 was the perfect mix of attentive and service oriented without being annoying. I was ultimately impressed with the head concierge Jeffrey Behrens who really has a flair for his job. Every reservation and request we made was met beyond our expectations (yet again!). His attention to detail is unmatched. Be sure to hang with Jeffrey during the complimentary wine hour from 5pm-6pm each night in the lobby living room.  You can even try your hand at the Wii or visit with local authors they bring in for wine hour from time to time.
Kids digging into the treasure box during Wine Hour in the Lobby's Living  Room
Devil Rubber Ducky from treasure box ~ Hell's Kitchen (get it?)
We didn't have the opportunity to meet the staff person I am going to highlight next. Executive pastry chef Heather Carlucci-Rodriguez masterfully created a birthday cake for my middle daughter's tenth birthday. Heather is one of the nation's top pastry chefs and it very evident that she has honed her craft just by looking at her artwork. The red velvet birthday cake with cream cheese frosting was delectable, I swear it was like eating a dream. I kept saying, "Aubrey, do you realize how blessed and fortunate you are? Not every 10yr old girl gets a famous pastry chef to make them a birthday cake.". Although, we didn't get to eat at PRINT, INK48's restaurant we had the BEST birthday cake and room service for the kids. Best fries and buttered noodles I have ever tasted, I must say.
Aubrey's Amazing Red Velvet Birthday Cake
The location of the hotel was perfect not only did we get to experience the sunset on two sides of us, over the Hudson and reflecting off the entire Manhattan skyline. But it is a pleasant walk to Times Square and so much more Manhattan has to offer. There is so much I would love to share about this fabulously unique hotel but I would love for you to experience it for yourself. This level of luxury was a true gift. I am still stunned about the way we got to experience New York City. I felt as if God smiled on us and said take this present & enjoy it. Still more NYC posts to come....
Sunset on BOTH sides over the Hudson AND off the skyline of Manhattan

Photo taken from Top of the Rock with my AWESOME camera
Our kids waving to us from our suite while they have a sitter and we have cocktails at PRESS!

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2 comments:

kfischer said...

You are amazing - what a great blog!!!

kara said...

NO YOU ARE!