Union Square Pavilion

When my Mom visits we like to just...walk.  We don't usually make a strict plan ahead of time and we stop whenever we see something interesting, whether that's a restaurant or boutique.  On the first day of her vistit we made "village" our general destination.  We didn't even specify East or West so we started by walking from my apartment to Union Square, which is right in between the two.  It's also a great place to start because it is a bustle of activity with the market vendors proudly displaying everything from flowers to maple candy.  We thought we would stroll around the green market and then forge our way further downtown for lunch, but then we realized the best option was to make the green market, itself, our lunch.

It took years, but the renovation of the eponymous square was finally completed and the central restaurant, Union Square Pavilion opened in May.  The menu is constructed around the best the green market has to offer, so you can expect lots of fresh veggies.  That's exactly what we were in the mood for so we made sure our orders were farm fresh.  My mom went with the goat cheese and tomato tart (with lavendar - so fragrant and lovely...reminds me to buy a new sachet for my underwear drawer - is that TMI?) and I ordered the kale salad with salmon.  I also think everything tasted better because of the pavilion's open walls.  Your salad is bound to taste delicious when you can see the market stall that provided the lettuce.  You're somehow both inside the safe walls of the square while also being out in the open.  My Mom commented that it looked just like the places featured in rom coms where the two friends meet for lunch to talk about how frustrating boys can be.  That means we felt like celebs while we were dining.