Penelope: A Fantastic NYC Lunch Spot

We arrived in New York the afternoon before the Santa Margherita Great Taste Challenge in time for a late lunch. Thankfully, we had done some research beforehand; we were so hungry after we landed that we probably would have gone to the first place we saw! We had decided on a little restaurant called Penelope, so we made the short walk from the hotel to Murray Hill.

Penelope felt really quaint even though it was just blocks from the hustle-bustle of Midtown. The weather was beautiful, so the floor to ceiling windows were opened up to the street.

We ordered the guacamole as soon as we sat down. It turned out to be a huge portion alongside different types of toasted bread, which was a nice change from standard tortilla chips. As you can see, we sort of dug in before I got a chance to snap a picture:


It was a tough call, but I decided that the BBLT was calling my name. It had double the bacon of a regular BLT, a black pepper balsamic mayo, and was served on toasted sourdough bread. It was, by far, the best BLT I’ve ever had.


Katie went with the panko-crusted calamari salad with spinach, papaya, mango and a green goddess dressing. I stole a bite (or two), and it was also amazing.


I’ll definitely be back!