Serendipity 3
225 E 60th St.
New York, NY 10022
I admit it, I have never seen the movie Serendipity. I had not even heard of this restaurant until a week before I was leaving for New York. That is when the girls at the bank asked me if I had Serendipity on my list of places to try. I told them no, but after they mentioned Frozen Hot Chocolate and other ice cream treats, I had to succumb and add Serendipity to our food parade of the Big Apple.
Serendipity 3 was started by three friends back in 1954. Named after a crossword puzzle clue, the three amigos decorated their place with Tiffany lamps, started selling kitschy items and started hawking frozen treats. Serendipity just kind of took off. They had lines around the block and famous clientele, Andy Warhol, Bill Clinton, and Katie Holmes to name a few. Wait times for a table have said to be about three hours on a busy day. Luckily on this night we only had to wait an hour. Let's take a look inside.
Serendipity kind of had a Farrell's feel to it. Being here made me feel like stepping back in time. Their menu is huge and looked very intriguing. Two items caught my eye.
If I had not just eaten dinner I would have tried the $69 hot dog, just to say that I have had it. Really it is not that much more than you pay at the ballpark. Okay maybe a little bit more, but I could have justified it because I was on vacation. I do not think I would ever be tempted to eat a $1000 sundae. The sundae is covered in 23 karats edible gold leaf, rare chocolate, and even comes with a spoonful of Grand Passion caviar. A little too rich for my blood, so we settled on these items.
Katie could not resist the Frrrozen Hot Chocolate. This oxymoron was actually quite good. It tasted just like a frozen hot chocolate. A great rich chocolate flavor in this. Katie had no trouble finishing this up by herself after we all took turns trying it.
For as long as I can remember my Dad has loved ice cream sodas. He likes them only one way though, a chocolate ice cream soda made with chocolate ice cream. Unfortunately, there are not too many places that still serve these. Lucky for him though, you can still get an ice cream soda at Serendipity. I could tell that he was very pleased with this nostalgic drink.
My Mom saw three scoop sundaes on the menu and immediately asked if they had a smaller size. The waiter sold her on this Two Scoop Sundae. Two scoops of vanilla ice cream combined with rich hot fudge with real whipping cream and a cherry on top. A sundae from long ago, this tasted very good. I am sure my Mom could have finished the three scoop sundae with no problems, but she has great willpower.
I really chickened out here. I should have gone big, but I chickened out. I ordered the Coward's Portion Banana Split. This traditional banana split came with vanilla, strawberry and chocolate ice cream, rich hot fudge, whipped cream and a cherry on top. The ice cream here was very creamy and held the coldness in very nicely. It was great to have real whipping cream for a change, instead of out of the can. It really made a difference.
Serendipity might be a trendy place to eat, but it is definitely worth the buzz. Although we only ate desserts here, they were all very good, and we were pleased to have been here. The service was fair, they were still really busy when we walked out of the restaurant at 10pm. Worth the wait, but they do take reservations for dinner in case you want to try the $69 dollar hot dog.
Out of five chocolate chip cookies, (because chocolate chip cookies were invented through serendipity), five being best to zero being worst, Serendipity gets three chocolate chips cookies.
For more information on Serendipity, click here: https://serendipity3.com/
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