NYC recommendations

Friends often ask me for recommendations of what to visit in NYC, so I collected my recs here. I’ll try to keep it up to date, but I make no promises that everything on this list is still around when you visit. Bars and restaurants are closing like crazy.

This list primarily focuses on Manhattan, since that is where most people visiting NYC stay. If you want other boroughs, let me know!

Big things to hit (restaurant ideas and parts of the city broken out below):

Times Square

Empire State Building

Grand Central

A show on Broadway

Central Park

The Met

Statue of Liberty

9/11 Memorial

High Line

Chelsea Market

Wall Street Bull

Guggenheim

Cloisters

High Line

Rockefeller Center

Intrepid Air and Space Museum

MoMA

New York Public Library

Bryant Park

Shopping on 5th Ave

Upper East Side (Around The Met):

Papaya King (Great NY hotdogs. Get a Papaya drink, too.)

Lady M (high quality dessert)

Bemelmans Bar (inside is decorated by the same artist who did the Madeline books)

The Met Museum

The Guggenheim

The Frick

J. G. Melon has great burgers and oysters

Midtown:

Grand Central

Food court in the entrance and in the basement

Empire State building

Chrysler building

Urbanspace food hall

Num Pang Sandwiches

Xi’an Famous Foods (Great noodles)

Milk Bar (great desserts!)

Oyster Bar in Grand Central

Kalustyan’s – Herb and spice emporium. Lots of great curry around here, too.

Koreatown is on 32nd st – We like the Korean BBQ at Jongro.

FAO Schwarz toy store

Radio City Music Hall & Rockefeller Center

For sightseeing, going to the top of the Rock is cheaper and has shorter lines than the top of the Empire State building

Keens Steakhouse – If you are looking for a classic NYC white tablecloth steakhouse but dont want to trek over to Brooklyn for Peter Luger, we love Keens. My favorite dish is the mutton chop, but the steak is excellent, too.

NY Public Library

There are often cool exhibits here.

Across the street is Muji, a fun design-oriented store with well-designed products.

Behind the NYPL is Bryant Park, a good place to relax and eat lunch on nice day.

Hell’s Kitchen:

Intrepid air and space museum

Gotham West: Chicken sandwiches, burgers, ramen, coffee, oysters – Something for everyone

Room Service (great Thai)

Totto Ramen

Flatiron & Madison Square

Eataly – Fun italian food market + food stalls and restaurants

Blue Smoke

Shake Shack (original location in the park)

Museum of Mathematics

Really cool hands-on exhibits for kids

Union Square

Union Square Cafe (Highly recommended!)

The Strand (incredible bookstore)

Hu Kitchen (paleo restaurant)

Meatpacking/Chelsea:

Chelsea market (shops and food)

Spotted Pig (April Bloomfield’s first NYC place)

Frankies 570 Spuntino

High Line

The High Line is a fantastic walk – Old train tracks turned into a park above the city streets

Lower East Side:

Katz’s Deli (huge sandwiches, cash only. Where Harry Met Sally!)

Raclette – They cover your food in delicious cheese. We love it.

Baohaus

Momofuku Noodle Bar

Momofuku Ssam Bar

Milk Bar

Amor y Amargo (My favorite bitters bar in the city)

Crif Dogs

PDT (Inside Crif dogs through the telephone booth – Speakeasy style)

SOHO/Bowery:

Cafe Habana (Cuban)

Tacombi (street-style tacos served out of a VW van parked inside a restaurant)

Lombardi’s (first pizza in U.S.)

Prince St Pizza – Great spicy pepperoni slice

Rice to Riches – Fun rice pudding shop

Greenwich/West Village:

Murray’s Cheese

Stonewall Inn

Van Leeuwen Ice Cream

Employee’s Only bar

Fat Cat Jazz Club

Big Gay Ice Cream

Takashi (Japanese yakiniku)

Dominique Ansel Bakery (home of the Cronut and other great things)

Via Carota and their sister bar across the street, Bar Pisellino. Excellent rustic Italian food. Better than anything in Little Italy, which is a tourist trap in the worst way.

Financial:

There is a great food court in Brookfield place that has a Fuku in it. Excellent fried chicken sandwiches from David Chang. Good resting place after taking in the 9/11 memorial.

9/11 memorial

Staten Island Ferry

Budget at least 2 hours for the ferry, and when you board, find the steps to the upper deck ASAP and go outside. It will be fantastic. You can see the statue of liberty from the ferry!

Wall St Bull

Walk in Battery park

Alexander Hamilton’s gravesite in Trinity Churchyard

Harlem:

Amy Ruth’s

Harlem Shake

Charles Country Pan Fried Chicken

Even further north, Ft. Tryon Park:

The Medieval wing of the Met, The Cloisters. If you are into that, it is worth the cab ride. They have the Unicorn tapestries there!

Chinatown:

The Great NY Noodletown

Xi’an Famous Foods

Good food guide: http://seriouseats.com/where-to-eat-in-new-york

Bonus food guide from Zeldman:

Welcome to NYC, don’t miss this! (Food Edition)

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