If you’ve been keeping up with me on my Instagram, you know that I just got back from a quick trip to NYC. The trip in itself was actually not for the blog/business-related…I was there to visit my best friends who are interning in the city for the summer. Because of this, I got to spend a lot of my time in the city just exploring and wandering around.
I’ve been getting a lot of DM’s from you all about where I recommend eating/hanging out in NYC, and because of that, I’m writing this quick ‘lil recap post so you can all see where I was this past week and which spots I enjoyed.
Coffee + Cafes
Because I work from my laptop most days, I was on the hunt for some great coffee shops with strong wifi to work out of during my trip. (Looking for places to work out of in Chicago? Check out this post of mine.)
The coffee shop I was especially stoked to check out was Happy Bones NYC. I had seen it on Instagram a million times, and finally bit the bullet and made the trek out to see it in person. I love the no-bullsh*t vibe this place has, with a simple menu and only a short list of beverages. I got a piece of their banana bread and an iced latte. Check out my Instagram post from Happy Bones below.
Breakfast + Brunch
If we’re being honest…I slept in most days in NYC and didn’t really get breakfast on most days. (I’m a huge night owl if you don’t know by now, so I stay up late and sleep in late 😂.)
However, my favorite thing to do when I did wake up early enough for breakfast (or if I had too many vodka cranberry’s the night before), was to grab a fresh bagel, cream cheese, and an iced coffee from a nearby shop. I love finding a little hole in the wall places in the city…that’s where the bagels are the best and FRESH AF. On one of my last mornings in the city, I grabbed my bagel + coffee and headed to Central Park to enjoy the food in the park. So serene.
I also indulged in a bottomless mimosa brunch in Chelsea one morning with my best friends. We had breakfast at Lasagna Ristorante, a cute little Italian spot. I had Buttermilk Pancakes, a hot coffee, and of course….bottomless mimosas. The deal for bottomless wasn’t bad at all and we had so much fun all catching up and drinking too much champagne.
Lunch
I discovered a couple of new places in NY for lunch on this trip, and they were all really good.
My first favorite is The Butcher’s Daughter in Soho. The exterior/interior design is so cute and definitely Instagrammable. The food is just as good, too. I treated myself to the Spicy Kale Caesar Salad (kale, avocado, almond parmesan, toasted almonds, crispy shallots, and croutons) and the 7 Minutes in Heaven smoothie (coconut, dates, almond butter, almond milk, vanilla.) I say treated myself because the smoothie alone was $10…but it was worth it.
I also met up with one of my friends one day and got lunch near her office in Midtown at La Pecora Bianca. I loved the interior of this place and would recommend getting a reservation next time you’re in NYC. My friend and I split the asparagus (grilled jumbo asparagus, stracciatella, pine nuts, herbs, watercress) as an appetizer, and then I had the Campanelle pasta (roasted wild mushrooms, arugula pesto, garlic confit, pecorino) as my entree. This “made in-house” pasta was so good I wanted to lick my bowl clean.
I also had lunch one day at sweetgreen but that’s not new or exciting as I get it all the time in Chicago, too.
Dinner
I love going out for fancy dinners in NYC. One of my favorites this trip was TAO Uptown. The interior of the place was so. freaking. cool. A group of my friends and I went out with a company for dinner, so we were treated to an extravagant dinner here. I can barely remember all the food (and wine!) we drank here, but a few of my stand-out favorites were definitely the pork fried rice, spicy tuna roll, orange chicken, chocolate lava cake, and banana pudding.
My friend also recommended we try out one of her favorite Mexican spots in Hell’s Kitchen, Tacuba Cantina Mexicana. The food was amazing and I loved the busy and bustling atmosphere inside. I had the best frozen margarita I think I’ve ever had in my life here (get the mango flavor and thank me later.) We started off dinner with an order of the chips and guacamole. For my entree, I had the carne asada tacos (skirt steak adobado, avocado, chipotle salsa roja, onion, cilantro.) They were SO GOOD and I recommend adding cheese to the tacos because they put a sh*t ton on and make it all melty and ooey-gooey.
Have you been to any of the spots I mentioned in this post before? What are your favorite spots for food/coffee in NYC? Let me know below.
