Marc goes to New York
Marc takes a trip to NYC to meet with the Classic
Car Club founders
Well, this is the first blog entry that I've
written in a long time... and even this one is late getting up. There's a
reason Lauren has taken over maintaining the blog - she's much more responsible
and punctual than I am :-)
Anyway, I took a rather spontaneous trip to New York in order to meet with the founders of the Classic Car Club. For those of you who don't know, I met Lauren's cousin Jessica's fiance, Zac, at Thanksgiving and he told me that he was one of the first franchisees of this UK-based company called the Classic Car Club. Essentially, they have created a concept that works like a time-share for classic sports cars. They get members to pay a yearly fee and they maintain a fleet of classic cars for the members to reserve and take out. I can't think of a more Marc-oriented business, can you? Needless to say, I could barely sleep that night and couldn't wait to hear more about it!
This trip solidified everything. They were a great group of people and we had a good time talking through all the details. Essentially, the only way for me to really get into this business is to start an Austin franchise. I now have all the data and will spend the next few months deciding if this is something I can or want to do. I can't thank Zac enough for this opportunity - he has been sooo helpful in getting everything set up and helping me coordinate with the founders.
In addition to the Classic Car Club meeting, I got to spend some time with one of our best friends, Pat! She let me stay at her apartment while I was there and we had a great time dining and going out at night. Since it was just us, you'll have to suffer with one of my classic one-arm-shots where you get to see Pat and my nostrils:
Now, Pat's place is TINY. I could practically brush my teeth in the bathroom and turn the channel on the TV with my foot. With such a small apartment, you don't really have much space for food:
Needless to say, my trip ended up being a culinary excursion each night. The first night, Thursday, Pat got us reservations at Ono which is a new trendy Japanese restaurant in the Meat Packing District. It was incredibly cool and HUGE. We walked upstairs to our table where we could look down on the first floor diners through these very cool lantern-like chandeliers.
Our table was amazing - beautiful view from the second floor and we were surrounded by black lacquer and very modern Asian design. The food was extremely good and we ate extremely well - fois gras custard terrine, wonderful sushi, and one of the most interestingly prepared lobsters I've ever seen.
After dinner we went to few bars in the area and had a great time.
The next day, Friday, I spent most of the day working and so did Pat, but we had big plans for the evening. Pat had managed to get us reservations at one of the top Italian restaurants in New York, Il Mulino, and we were excited! This place is legendary and I can't even begin to describe to you what our meal was like. Suffice it to say we saw Howard Stern leaving as we came in, we sat down and were immediately served an array of amazing appetizers and were coached through ordering one of the most amazing meals I've ever eaten. From the lobster risoto, to the mushroom raviolis, to the sage and garlic crusted veal shank, to the shrimp fra diavlo, it was decadent and amazing!
We left there wanting to go home and fall asleep but we rallied and went out to a couple clubs and bars. It was freezing but we had a great time running from place to place trying not to get caught by the winds coming off the river!
I had such a great time in New York and I owe it all to Pat - she was a wonderful host and it was so nice to spend time with her just like our years in Austin.
Anyway, I took a rather spontaneous trip to New York in order to meet with the founders of the Classic Car Club. For those of you who don't know, I met Lauren's cousin Jessica's fiance, Zac, at Thanksgiving and he told me that he was one of the first franchisees of this UK-based company called the Classic Car Club. Essentially, they have created a concept that works like a time-share for classic sports cars. They get members to pay a yearly fee and they maintain a fleet of classic cars for the members to reserve and take out. I can't think of a more Marc-oriented business, can you? Needless to say, I could barely sleep that night and couldn't wait to hear more about it!
This trip solidified everything. They were a great group of people and we had a good time talking through all the details. Essentially, the only way for me to really get into this business is to start an Austin franchise. I now have all the data and will spend the next few months deciding if this is something I can or want to do. I can't thank Zac enough for this opportunity - he has been sooo helpful in getting everything set up and helping me coordinate with the founders.
In addition to the Classic Car Club meeting, I got to spend some time with one of our best friends, Pat! She let me stay at her apartment while I was there and we had a great time dining and going out at night. Since it was just us, you'll have to suffer with one of my classic one-arm-shots where you get to see Pat and my nostrils:
Now, Pat's place is TINY. I could practically brush my teeth in the bathroom and turn the channel on the TV with my foot. With such a small apartment, you don't really have much space for food:
Needless to say, my trip ended up being a culinary excursion each night. The first night, Thursday, Pat got us reservations at Ono which is a new trendy Japanese restaurant in the Meat Packing District. It was incredibly cool and HUGE. We walked upstairs to our table where we could look down on the first floor diners through these very cool lantern-like chandeliers.
Our table was amazing - beautiful view from the second floor and we were surrounded by black lacquer and very modern Asian design. The food was extremely good and we ate extremely well - fois gras custard terrine, wonderful sushi, and one of the most interestingly prepared lobsters I've ever seen.
After dinner we went to few bars in the area and had a great time.
The next day, Friday, I spent most of the day working and so did Pat, but we had big plans for the evening. Pat had managed to get us reservations at one of the top Italian restaurants in New York, Il Mulino, and we were excited! This place is legendary and I can't even begin to describe to you what our meal was like. Suffice it to say we saw Howard Stern leaving as we came in, we sat down and were immediately served an array of amazing appetizers and were coached through ordering one of the most amazing meals I've ever eaten. From the lobster risoto, to the mushroom raviolis, to the sage and garlic crusted veal shank, to the shrimp fra diavlo, it was decadent and amazing!
We left there wanting to go home and fall asleep but we rallied and went out to a couple clubs and bars. It was freezing but we had a great time running from place to place trying not to get caught by the winds coming off the river!
I had such a great time in New York and I owe it all to Pat - she was a wonderful host and it was so nice to spend time with her just like our years in Austin.
Posted: Sat - January 15, 2005 at 10:43 PM
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Published On: Jan 23, 2005 10:43 PM
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Published On: Jan 23, 2005 10:43 PM