As some of you know, my fiancee and I will be moving to the big apple, New York City, in just a few short weeks. Those of you who read my blog regularly probably noticed a lack of posts in recent weeks, in fact, I think it has been two full weeks since my last post. Part of this can be explained by my new work schedule, packing for the move and my wedding, which is just 7 weeks and 6 days away (but whose counting).
As you can see from the above picture I’ll be living on the Upper West Side, Manhattan Valley, to be exact (if you have been missing in action for the last 2 decades, that’s the exterior of Seinfeld’s coffee shop “monks”).
Living in a new city, there will be hundreds of new restaurants to try, new groceries to shop in, CSA’s to find, and last but not least, recipes to be cooked in a new kitchen. The rest of this week, while still in Washington, DC., I plan to post daily on this blog, and once I’m settled in to my new home, I hope to continue the trend of posting almost daily.
PS. If you are from New York, or know it well, I’ll gladly take any recommendations of places I must try.
Mazel tov on the wedding, and best of luck on your move to NY. We are there every couple months, and sometimes more. You have a lot of eating ahead of you, and I look forward to getting good recs for the next time I'm in town! It truly is the greatest city in the world. (at least, in my opinion.)
Thanks. I am sure I will have plenty of new recs, and I'll probably post more restaurant reviews on here.
Wonderful! My list of To Eat in NYC is a mile long, but here are my UWS favorites:
Brunch at Popover Cafe http://www.popovercafe.com/
Brunch at Good Enough to Eat http://www.goodenoughtoeat.com/
Cookies at Levain http://www.levainbakery.com/location/default.aspx
Dinosaur BBQ comes highly recommended and will be in your neighborhood – http://www.dinosaurbarbque.com/nycIndex.php
Currently there is only one Trader Joe's, in Union Square, and it is usually packed beyond belief. But it's so affordable (as you probably know already) that you'll probably endure the line, and I think another is due to open eventually. Also TJ has a separate wine shop right next store, so you can pick that up faster (and they have plenty in the fridge). There is a Costco (!) on East 117th street, just an FYI.
And PS, the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle has my new favorite public bathroom upstairs – so clean, roomy, and pretty. Not so easy to find in NY, or any city. (This is more relevant for your fiancee–men don't find this recommendation that exciting.)
wow nice. thanks for all the recs! My friend who lives around 112th mentioned Dinosaur BBQ, we ended up not going though. I went to the Silver moon bakery, which was amazing (also his rec).
I may end up getting a costco membership, I'll have to see. I'll probably make the trek to TJs, though it is a bit of a haul, as ill have to switch lines. The Whole Foods on 96th wont be where i shop very often.
Oh hell yes…new Trader Joes coming to 72nd and Broadway!
And don't forget about the bus! Buses in NYC are approximately 2000x more useful than they are in DC as far as location, timeliness, and route.
I think you can tell I'm pretty excited for you. And jealous, of course.
haha. yea, I pretty much only use the buses in DC, hardly take the metro anymore. Might end up being the same in NYC.
Give a shout if you are in nyc. any time is a time to eat.
Hi Evan, thanks for your comment on my blog!
You can find recs for a billion Thai, Japanese, Mexican, and other "traditional" restaurants, but here are some of my favorite distinctly NYC things:
In terms of food shopping, I think Fairway is the way to go – yummy produce, fresh food, and good prices. Of course, it's always packed, but that's the price you pay.
You have to try Lombardi's pizza. In my opinion, it's the best pizza on earth. Some say it hasn't been as good in recent years, but it's definitely worth a try. It's in Little Italy.
This might sound weird, but there is an excellent Ethiopian restaurant on Macdougal. I am blanking on the name right now, but it's down a set of stairs on the West side of the street close to West 4th.
Chicken and rice is an NYC institution. It's the "new hot dog." It's some kind of Indian/Middle Eastern fusion of marinated chicken served over rice with a white sauce (maybe yogurt, maybe sour cream, maybe mayo, nobody really knows) poured over. Served out of street carts all over the city, but my personal favorite is on the NW corner of 39th street right outside Chase bank. The cart doesn't have a name, but the guys are there every weekday until at least 2 PM.
Finally, Shake Shack in Madison Square Park is a little gimmicky, but I feel like it's a badge of honor to wait on that line for an hour just to get a burger and a shake. They have an UWS location, but for some reason, I still prefer the long line. Maybe I'm just crazy.
Good luck on the move!
wow great recs, thanks
Very nice! New York City is one of the coolest places in the world (it really reminds me of Toronto in some aspects)! Great choice of a new place to live! Yes, you will have hundreds of new restaurants to try out. Until that, good luck with the move.
If you'll be on the upper west side/morninside heights, try out Pisticci. It's a really small local little Italian place on LaSalle. And I second the brunch at Popover cafe! Yum! You also have just got to go to Kefi. Truly my favorite restaurant in NY and the one place I MUST eat every time I go back to visit. Amazing orzo with shrimp, fantastic meatballs.
@Toronto Elli- thanks. Just one more week, and I'll get to start trying some.
@Katie – Popover is definitely high on my list, so one of my first brunches will be there. Thanks for the other suggestions