I’ve been meaning to write a post about New-York for a while now. It’s one of my favorite cities in the world and the only place I’ve traveled to where I’ve always felt right at home. If the cost of living wasn’t so expensive, I really could easily picture myself moving to New-York and living there. I’ve visited that city countless times and so far, I’ve never been bored. Ever.
Every time I come back is like a new experience. There’s always something new to do, visit, taste or see. New-York is, in my opinion, one of the greatest cities in the world. It’s packed with life, excitement and adventures while at the same time, it’s also steeped in pop culture. So many films and TV series were shot there over time, that I’ve always felt like the city is part of my life.
I could go on and on and on about New-York but in this post, I will try to condense it all to some of my favorite things to do and mostly, eat.
Accommodation
There are numerous hotels in New-York, ranging from the super fancy to the downright awful. Do your research properly to find the right hotel for your needs and budget. For our last trip, we stayed at the CitizenM Bowery Hotel and we absolutely loved it! The hotel is relatively new, is in a great neighborhood, close to a subway station and to a Wholefoods (don’t roll your eyes, that’s important!), the decor is cool, original and modern and the rooms, though a bit small, give way to a spectacular view! The service is impeccable, there’s a 24-hour cafeteria as well as an awesome rooftop bar.
The streets of New-York
You could just organize a trip to New-York and spend your whole time there just walking around. The streets are rife with history, architecture, design, pop culture references. Try to stray away from the very tourist-y areas like Time Square, and just wander in the streets and parks, look around you. The graffitis alone are worth being explored. Here are just a few.
Things to do
Alright, so if you are tired of walking around and exploring the streets, there is plenty else you could do.
Museums
Of course, there is more than a handful of museums, like MOMA, the Guggenheim, the MET, the Natural history museum, just to name a few. If you are a movie buff, I highly suggest that you pay a visit to the Museum of Moving Images. It’s awesome. There’s a permanent Jim Henson exhibit and, if you plan to go to NYC between January and July 2020, there will be an exhibition about Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey! There is also the Morgan Library and Museum, if you are, like me, into old books. The Morgan library is among the very few institutions in the world that possesses a copy of the Gutenberg Bible!
Morgan library
Rooftop views
Some hotels allow you to take advantage of their rooftop bar even if you did not book a room with them. My personal favorite is the Library Hotel because it’s not too crowded so you can actually sit, have a drink and enjoy the view peacefully. Though not as high as some other NYC rooftops, the Library Hotel provides something that few other New-York places offer: intimacy. Their cocktails are also pretty good!
Of course, you could go to the top of the Empire State building, but everybody goes there. There are other options, like the Rockerfeller Center and the One World Observatory, the latter being my personal favorite. Whether you choose the Empire State Building, the Rockerfeller Center or the One World, one thing’s for sure is that you will not be disappointed. The view is spectacular! Don’t be surprised that it’s crowded, though! If you do not want to waste time waiting in line to purchase tickets, I highly recommend that you do so beforehand and buy them online. The only inconvenience is that you have to select a specific date and time, so think ahead and plan your trip carefully. But buying online will save you a ton of time because the lines are crazy long. All ticket prices are around 35-45$, but they could be a bit more expensive depending on the packages you choose. Evidently, it’s always better to be there around sunrise and/or sunset.
If feeling in shape, you could also climb up the stairs of the Vessel. It is definitely not as high as the above mentioned skyscrapers, but it is a superb piece of art that provides a beautiful view of the city. Same day tickets are free but you must reserve them beforehand, due to the popularity of the place. Check it out! It’s worth it.
Roosevelt Island Tramway
If you find the rooftop options too crowded, try the Roosevelt Island Tramway. It’s awesome. This 15-minute ride will give you an aerial view of New-York from 59th Street and Second Avenue in Manhattan to Tramway Plaza on Roosevelt Island and the best thing about it is that you only need an MTA metrocard to have access to it! The view is unbelievable! Too bad I cannot load videos here because my films are a lot more representative of the view and fun we had on board!
Ferries
Boat rides are a must! They are so much fun and provide a view of the city from a different perspective. To purchase tickets, it’s easier to download the NYC Ferry app, choose a route (there are currently 6, with 2 more to come in 2020 and 2021!) and pay! An adult one-way ticket is only 2,75$, so if it’s nice out, you could pretty spend a whole day on a boat, floating around the island!
There’s also the Staten Island ferry that I absolutely love. It runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, it is free, there’s a ferry docking every 30 minutes or so, and provides an upclose view of the Statue of Liberty. What more could we ask for?
Parks and the likes
NYC has over 1,700 parks, playgrounds, and recreation facilities. This information comes directly from the Official Website of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. Some are more interesting than others but bottom line is that you have ample choice! Obviously, Central Park must be visited at least once. It’s huge and awesome. I personally enjoy the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park. It opened fairly recently, in 2012, is almost entirely made of granite and offers a spectacular view of New-York. It is accessible by any means possible but the tram or the ferries are my recommended modes of transportation to get there. You could walk to the border of the park, sit there and admire the sunset over NYC. Trust me, it cannot get more beautiful than that. If that’s too far for you, check out the High Line. The High Line is a historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on Manhattan’s West Side that was repurposed into a beautiful park. Magnificent plants and flowers, food and drinks, art works, the High Line is a marvel of urban planning.
The Oculus
If you go to the One World Observatory, make sure to check out the eye-catching Oculus, right next to it. Its construction was completed in 2016 and it serves as a transportation hub.
Great food!
So, so much can be said about the food in New-York! The choices are endless, enough to satisfy all tastes and needs. Being a melting pot of so many different culture, NYC gives you access to the best meals from all around the world, right there, at your finger tip. How awesome is that!?! You can eat at some of the best 4 or 5 star restaurants in the world just like you can eat the best meal for less than 10$. There are, however, some pretty terrible places, so do your research well and check out reviews before stepping into a new place to eat.
In this segment, I will quickly name some of my favorite places, ranging from higher end to street foods. There are so many culinary options in the city that you will need a whole book to cover it all. Taking picture of the food I eat is only a habit I developed recently, so I apologize in advance for not having any photos to accompany some of my recommendations.
High-end restaurants
I must admit that I haven’t been to that many high end restaurants in NYC. Primarily because I’ve never really felt comfortable in these types of environments but also because my wallet would not permit me to eat there. I can only recount 2 or 3 times I’ve eaten in a “fancy” restaurants (and they are far from being the fanciest!) and they are: the Gramercy Tavern, The Modern and Keens Steakhouse. As I recall, the culinary experience at the Gramercy was fine. The food was delicious but not mind-blowing. As for the Modern, which currently holds 2 Michelin stars with a third one on review, we did not exactly eat there; we had a table in their bar room where the food is less expensive as it mainly consists of bites. As for Keens, well, they have pretty good steaks.
That being said, when I go to New-York, I do not aim to eat in these fancy, expensive restaurants (though if invited to, let’s say the Bernardin, I would not say no!). They dig too big a hole in my pockets. I want to eat and enjoy the most food as possible and you do not need to spend too much to eat well.
Burgers
You have ample choice in NYC if a good burger is what you crave. My personal go-to places are the Shake Shack (yes, it’s a chain but a good one!), the Burger Joint and the Black Iron.
Hot-dogs
There are hot dog stands pretty much everywhere in the streets. But if you want something a tiny bit more elevated, of course there are staples like Gray's Papaya and Papaya King, and on our latest trip, we tried out Crif Dogs, which was awesome. They have a wide variety of hot dogs with different toppings, theirs prices are more than reasonable and the place is pretty cool as well! There’s a phone booth in there that leads to a secret bar, if that’s your thing.
Breakfast
Maybe I should have started with this but anyways… Diners are my favorite places to be in NYC. Maybe it’s because of all these TV shows I’ve watched since I was a kid, but I’ve always associated NYC with diners. Like everything else in life, some are terrible while others are pretty great with a lot ranging in between. Follow your gut and common sense. On our last trip, we went to the Landmark diner. We pretty much stumbled on it accidentally by simply looking for a cheap breakfast place near our hotel on Google Maps. Little did we know that this little unassuming diner is a SoHo staple that serves pretty awesome food! The service is incredibly quick, the coffee amazing and the food, though typical American diner meals, is excellent. Of course, when we think NYC diner we immediately think about Katz’s or Tom’s restaurants but go there only to take pictures from the outside. Because they have become hot tourist attractions, they are often crowded and expensive.
Russ & Daughters is also a great place for breakfast or brunch. Though way more expensive than a regular diner breakfast, Russ&Daughters serves some of the best lox and bagels you can find. Make sure you get there early enough because there is usually a long line. We were lucky enough to have a table available for us upon arrival but that doesn’t always happen. This is were I discovered something that changed my life: pastrami-cured salmon. Never in my life have I tasted it before and it was a revelation! Now I cannot stop thinking about it!
Pizza
When it comes to pizza, there is only one place for me: Joe’s Pizza. I ate there several years ago and it was the most perfect slice I had ever had. The crust was super thin and crispy, the tomato sauce tasted incredible and there wasn’t too much of it, neither was there too much cheese, and the pepperoni was slightly crunchy. Ever since, I never stopped thinking about that slice and I never could find anything like it at home. This year, we finally came back to NYC and I could finally eat my slice again. I was disappointed they did not have pepperoni available but their cheese slice was just as perfect as the first slice I had a few years ago. I am sure there are countless other great pizza places in New-York but my heart belongs to Joe’s.
More food recommendations
If you like food on sticks, Yakitori Totto is the place to be. Their food is out of this world, and among the best yakitori I’ve ever had. You could also go to Nonono, which is a great place for yakitori as well, but I do feel that they do not grill their meats as much as I would have liked.
Selection of yakitori from Nonono
If, however, you feel like eating noodles, there are innumerable places in New York where you can find affordable and delicious noodles. Just walk around Chinatown. Last time, we found this great little place called Spicy Village. Their noodles are, as mentioned in the restaurant’s name, pretty spicy, but super delicious! The meals we had there are pictured bellow. As for dumplings, well, same advice as for noodle meals. There is a crazy amount of places that make incredible dumplings (steamed, fried, boiled) but it became a tradition of ours to always go back to Mimi Cheng’s. Yes, it is a chain, and no, they do not serve the best dumplings around but truth be told, they are not bad either!
For something a bit different, check out Bao Haus. Their specialty is steamed buns stuffed with either pork belly or fried chicken. There is something so comforting about steamed buns; I cannot explain it. We tried their Birdhaus Bao and it was delicious!
If you are a big fan of fried chicken, or of chicken and waffles, I would recommend that you try either Sweet Chick or Pies-N-Thighs. Their fried chicken is crispy, flavorful and so tender inside, while the waffles are soft but crunchy on the outside. Heavenly!
Chicken and waffles from Pies-n-thies
There are a whole bunch of other places but I really cannot remember them all. I am hitting myself on the head right now for not having written every name and restaurant down as I go along…
Lastly, if you are as big an ice cream fanatic as I am, here are a few recommended places: Van Leeuwen, Big Gay ice cream and Soft Swerve.
Our last trip to NYC took place during a major heat wave so we were looking for something light and refreshing to help us deal with the heavy heat. That’s when we found Bonsai Kakigori and it became a life-saver. We practically came back there every day! Last year, in Montreal, I discovered the bingsoo which is a Korean dessert made of shaved frozen condensed milk with a variety of different toppings. That discovery was a revelation for me because I had never had anything so refreshing in my life! In New-York, under the scorching heat, I was looking for a similar dessert. Then, with some research, I found out that there is a Japanese version of the dessert, called kakigori. And lucky us, there was a kakigori place a few streets away from our hotel! These frozen treats are incredible! So, so light, packed with flavor and textures, they are highly addictive!
You could also walk around Koreatown and you will find the most awesome desserts there is. One of my personal favorite is Grace Street, which serves the most beautiful plates of shaved snow. That place is always crowded but the staff if so efficient that the lines move along very quickly and smoothly. Their shaved snow is like a super creamy bingsoo that is just as light and delicious. At Grace Street, you could choose among the 5 available flavors or you also have the option of assembling your own, by selecting your preferred shaved snow flavor with the toppings as well as the sauce of your choice! The first time I went there, I went for the O.G. which is a black sesame shaved snow, with a condensed milk sauce, and strawberries, mochi and red beans on the side. Delicious! One would think that black sesame would be too heavy but it’s not! The second time, I assembled my own dessert! They are pictured below. Aren’t they just beautiful?
So this is pretty much it for New-York. I could go on and on some more but honestly, it’s best to just let you go there and experience the city for yourself. No amount of words could describe what it’s like to be in one of the greatest cities in the world. It really is something that must be lived.
If you want to see more of New-York and learn more about its music scene, I collaborated with Stephane Richard on a series of Youtube videos called New-York City music & food. You should check it out!
Enjoy and have fun!