Eating in New York City

Last year for spring break, my husband and I dropped the kids off with the grands and took off to NYC! Are we terrible parents? Maybe. But I think it was terribly clever – after all, our kids are not adventurous eaters, we would’ve spent twice as much on airfare and lodging if they joined us, and we definitely would’ve skipped The Comedy Cellar with kids in tow!

This was our second visit to Manhattan. Once again we stayed in a shared apartment in Hell’s Kitchen through AirBnB. I had some recommendations from friends as far as places to eat, and Pinterest was a gold mine for fun lists like “Best Steamed Buns in Midtown” or “Desserts You Must Try in NYC.”

This time around, we eschewed scheduling any fancy dinner reservations ahead of time in favor of flexibility around which plays we could get into (we did not score tickets in the “Hamilton” lottery, but my husband won $30 seats for “Wicked”!). On our previous visit, however, we booked a dinner at Butter and the duck was amazing. This is Alex Guarnaschelli’s restaurant in midtown (if you’re a Food Network fan, she is an Iron Chef and a judge on several FN shows).

We also returned to Ippudo, just blocks from our apartment. Oh my word, the steamed pork buns and the ramen bowls. I feel sad that in the two years since our first visit, we haven’t found anything comparable in Denver (I’ll never give up!). We tried some different bagels but went back to Ess-A-Bagel, our current fave, and we also treated ourselves to a fabulous passion fruit doughnut at Dough Doughuts at the City Kitchen location.

New to us this time:

Momofuku Noodle Bar – the brisket bun was literally (LITERALLY!) the tastiest bite I HAVE EVER EATEN.

Empire Cake – specifically, we had the Swiss cake roll and black and white cookies. Let me tell you, these are not typical NYC black and white cookies, which are traditionally dipped in flavorless fondant (we’ve tried many!). The Empire Cake version is a light vanilla sponge dipped half in white chocolate and half in dark chocolate. We bought extra to take home. So. Darn. Good!

Russ & Daughters Cafe – Never in my life would I guess that I’d be pining for a bowl of whitefish chowder, but that’s how my life will be, evermore, after savoring it at Russ & Daughters Cafe. The original deli is just around the block. As with most big cities, if you eat slightly earlier or later than traditional mealtimes, you can avoid having much of a wait in New York. There’s not much seating at R&D but we only waited fifteen minutes because we don’t care about sleeping in or being cool.

Shake Shack – I’m not 100% sure the burger was better than Smashburger (my fave) but the cheesy bacon crinkle-cut fries give them an advantage. The chocolate-pretzel “concrete” was also muy delicioso.

Big Gay Ice Cream – I don’t usually care about soft serve, but the mix-ins and “cone treatments” made this place worth the 10,000 calories (just a guess). I had the s’mores cone – the outside of the cone was slathered in MARSHMALLOW FLUFF and then TOASTED. I can’t even tell you. SO good.

Suggestions if you plan a NYC trip:

• Consider AirBnB and don’t be shy about a shared apartment if you’re not traveling with kids. Both visits we rented someone’s spare bedroom, and our interactions with our hosts really rounded out the cultural aspect of the visit! I always imagine, “What would it be like to live here?” and chatting with people who do offers insight that you can’t get at a hotel.
• Definitely go for discount tickets at the TKTS booths, and see a show that is exclusive to NYC! We got 50% discounted tickets to “Lobby Hero,” which was only playing in NYC, for just 10 weeks. Previously we saw “The Front Page” starring John Goodman, John Slattery and Nathan Lane – a limited engagement in a fairly small theater. The TKTS app lets you see which shows are on offer at each location ahead of time.
• There’s an in-person lottery for “Wicked”! It’s limited to a 30-minute window so it won’t ruin your whole afternoon, waiting to find out if you win. My husband’s was the second name called, which got us two tickets for $30 each! (Tickets at the box office that night were around $100.)
• Consider a food delivery service if you’re craving something but you’ve already walked 12 miles around the city and you just can’t head out the door again. It’s indulgent, but the fee will be less expensive than delivery to wherever you flew in from!
• A friend of mine had a really great experience on a Chelsea Market food tour. I found out about it too late, but I just pinned this blog post for my next trip.