Eating our way through NYC
Steven and I didn’t really approach our trip to New York City as a “sightseeing” trip. We had both already been there once (not together), and were really just going to see our friends, Gina and Steve! So instead of planning out things to do or see during our trip, we planned out things we wanted to eat. And actually, when I say “planned,” it makes it sound like we did a lot of work and research. In reality, we just came up with a wishlist of foods to try and Gina and Steve coordinated it all for us! On our list:
- NYC style pizza
- Babycakes vegan bakery
- Fries in a cup
- NYC style bagels
- Street cart falafel*
- Local restaurants
And as you’ll see below, a few things got added to list!
Friday
We had dinner at Mojave, a “Southwestern Mexican” restaurant really close to Gina and Steve’s home in Queens. I loved Gina and Steve’s neighborhood. They live on a quiet little street, but can walk a few blocks to a mainstreet area where there are shops and restaurants (and where they can get on the subway).
This is the only place I didn’t snap a picture of my actual food! I had awesome fajitas. I loved that the menu already had vegetarian and even vegan options called out! That is one thing I found about NYC – it was very easy to eat vegan while there.
And I should mention, it was in the high 50s/low 60s on Friday. Awesome!
Saturday
On Saturday, we drove in to Manhattan, which worked out perfectly, because it was really windy and a bit cold outside.
For lunch we went to the Peanut Butter & Co Sandwich Shop. It wasn’t on our list, but Gina mentioned it the day before and I wanted to check it out. It was our first experience (of many) of ordering and dining in a super tiny little shop, with lots of other people. A lot of the places we went to turned out to be this way – just little slivers of space with people packed in. I guess we hit up a lot of popular places!
The Peanut Butter & Co Sandwich Shop had a huge menu and we all ordered something different, as well as a sampler platter with all 8 kinds of their peanut butter! I got “The Elvis” – PB & bananas (but not grilled) and Steven got “The Club” – a double-decker sandwich which I included in the photo above.
After lunch we checked out Economy Candy, a huge candy store,
and Babycakes. Steven and I bought five things to try – a red velvet cupcake, a carrot cupcake, a cookie, a cookie sandwich and a doughnut. We didn’t dig in to our Babycakes sweets until we got back to Gina and Steve’s place after dinner Saturday night. We all thought that the sweets were really good, but too expensive. It was about $18 or so for the five things we bought! I know the ingredients are all natural, but wow. It was still a fun place to try though! And it’s always nice to walk in to a bakery and know that I choose anything from the menu.
For dinner, we ate at Buona Notte, a restaurant that Gina and Steve recommended, in Little Italy. Walking through Little Italy was fun. Nearly every Italian restaurant had someone outside luring people in to eat. Steve and I kind of ignored them, but Gina and Steven had some fun talking to them!
I ordered Penne all’ Arrabbiata – (whole wheat) penne sauteed with arugula and hot peppers in tomato suace. Nom nom nom. I ate it all!
Sunday
We started Sunday off with New York City style bagels from the Brookyln Bagel and Coffee Company near Gina and Steve’s home. Steven and I actually decided that the bagels were the best thing we tried throughout the entire trip. I can’t even begin to describe how delicious they were – just so chewy and dense and filling. Just what I like! Oh, and did I mention they were huge?
I thought it was fun to go in to a shop and see a zillion different kind of bagels spreads. I tried the tofu spread on my Everything bagel. Steven got a whole wheat bagel with butter and jelly.
After our bagels we took the subway in to Manhattan and hung out around Times Square,
then made our way to Famous Original Ray’s Pizza (811 Lexington Ave.), so Steven could have a slice! The criteria for the pizza was that it was huge and Steven had to fold it in his hand to eat it. Check, and check!
There are actually a ton of Ray’s pizza places in NYC. We’ve even seen a documentary on the Food Network about them. Of course, while in NYC, we couldn’t remember which one was the actual original.
After lunch, Steven, Steve and Gina split a Black & White cookie that Steven picked up at Zaro’s Bakery near Union Station. Another item that was not on our list, but luckily, we thought to pick one up since Steven loves them!
We went to the Guggenheim Museum (just to see the building, not the art) afterward, then strolled through Central Park. The weather turned out to be great – sunny and less windy than Saturday. I loved seeing all of the runners in Central Park! I will have to come back and run there someday… maybe I can get in to the 2012 NYC Marathon lottery! Ha.
After our stroll, Steven and Steve went to a cigar shop to smoke cigars, and Gina and I went to the mall on Columbus Circle. We thought we were making chili for dinner**, so we bought all of the ingredients at Whole Foods, went to Borders (where we saw Robin Williams) and then had tea at Argo Tea Cafe. Steven and Steve weren’t done with their cigars until close to 8:00. We got back to their place at 9:00 and decided it was too late to make chili, so we ordered local diner food, which was fun!
I got a stir fry type thing and Steven got the Mediterranean sandwich.
Monday
We made vegan pancakes for breakfast, then headed in to Manhattan for one of the last things on our wishlist – fries in a cup. Steven swears my sister had fries in a cup in NYC when she was there in August, and that is where he got the idea. My sister does not remember said fries, but luckily, Gina came up with something for us to try – Pommes Frites, a restaurant that only sells, you got it, fries in a cup (well, cone really, but let’s not get technical).
Originally, we planned on having our fries as an appetizer, but we all ordered one, with different sauces to try, and that ended up being lunch! It was a really fun experience. There are 26 different fry sauces to choose from, then you sit down (if you can find a seat) at these tables with holes in them, where you place your fries. Fun!
After lunch, we decided we wanted something sweet, and we stumbled across Viva Herbal Pizzeria (179 2nd Ave.) – a vegetarian and vegan pizza (and other items) shop! I had wished I wasn’t so full and could get a piece of pizza to try, but we just got a cookie and sort of cookie sandwich to share with Gina and Steve. I will have to check out that place more the next time I’m in NYC!
We all decided the vegan sweets from Viva Herbal were just as good as the ones at Babycakes – and a lot cheaper too!
We had to leave Manhattan after eating our sweets and head straight to the airport. Wah!
So, did this post make you hungry? Have you ever taken a “culinary” vacation like this? (Well, if I can call it “culinary.”)
This trip ended up being awesome. It felt low-key, even though we did a lot. We were never rushed or felt like we “had” to do something. We were kind of just going with the flow, having a great time chatting and telling jokes. Usually my vacations are not like that – they are usually “go go go!” but this was so nice. We stopped a lot, just to sit and chat, which I really enjoyed. I need to do that more often!
*We never got around to our falafel – we’ll have to save it for next time!
**Which literally fell through, we got home too late, and I dropped the bag and one of the glass jars inside broke (hence the “literally fell through”).
Themocracy
YUM. My dream is to take a culinary vacation through Europe…how amazing would that be?!
That would be SO SO AWESOME! I don’t regret any of the weight I gained while living in Italy. I ate awesome food every day!
I love how you put the pictures together! Very nice! I just ate lunch and all that stuff still looked good!
Thanks 🙂
I am getting hungry again too, especially for a bagel. Dammit!
Wow, looks like fun, and yes I am hungry now! It was kind of cruel of you to post this just before lunch.
Going to Peanut Butter & Co. would be a dream come true for me. I am a PB fiend, and I have tried several of their jarred varieties.
Oh gosh. Trying all the different PBs was so fun. I loved maple. And white chocolate. And dark chocolate. And Cinnamon Swirl. Ha ha.
I love this!! I need to check out some of the places you mentioned. 🙂 I’ve heard of Pommes Frites and someone actually mentioned it last week…I love fries so I definitely have to go there!
Super glad you caught the good weather on Friday!
I think you will like Pommes Frites! Although, I have to warn you, I had a french fry aftertaste in my mouth all day (could have been the “Mexican Ketchup” I tried).
I am sorry we didn’t get to meet up. We were just hanging with our friends all weekend. I thought of you when we went to Central Park 🙂
Um….where do I START????
First of all, I didn’t realize PB&CO had a sandwich shop??? They definitely need one of those here!
Looking at all of your food is making me VERY hungry….and…I already had lunch. 😉 Those fries look so good, too, and I’m not even a huge fry person!
I love the idea of a culinary vacation. I think it’s so fun to “eat your way” through a new city, because it really is true how every city (yes, even Indy!) has something different to offer!
Wow, I would love to go back to NYC. Hazel (my better half) has never been so I’ve been wanting to take her for ages.
Love your culinary adventure!! 🙂 Living 6 miles outside NYC, I never get around to really going crazy with the food, although it’s on my must do list soon! I’ve been dying to go to PB&Co since they opened years ago. Babycakes was ok for us. We weren’t fans of their cupcakes but loved their brownies and cookies. Yum!
Ooo, I hope you make it in to the city and try some new stuff and tell us all about it!
I just ate lunch and now I’m hungry again! I love how Steven’s pizza had a million olives on it!
Ha! You know it would, right?! 🙂
KIM!! You did an excellent job with this post! The pictures came out so good – I love the layout! It was so much fun reliving one of the best weeekends ever! I like how in the Baby Cake picture I look like I ate about a thousand donuts and stashed the rest in my pocket! Nope, just peanut!
Ha. I wish you would have stashed some (stolen) donuts in your pocket. Those were damn good.
And I am happy you finished off the stir fry thing. 🙂 I was hoping you would.
I want to come back. Now!
PS…I ate the rest of your stir fry thing for dinner last night : P
Pommes Frites is Mr. P’s all time favorite!!!
oh it looks all good!! And thanks for the link to Babycakes! That’s my friends nickname and I think I’ll get her a coffee mug for helping me out lately!
Peanut Butter & Co. Shop?! You’re kidding. I need to go right now.
This sounds amazing and I now am really craving pizza, bagels, and of course peanut butter. My roommate is from NY and she always raves about the “NY style bagels and pizza”. It looks delicious.
The bagels were really different. We weren’t sure how they would be, but they were just so dense and chewy and awesome. Sigh. I could go for one right now!
Yes this post made me hungry!! It looks like you guys had a great time and had some really awesome eats! I loved the way you layed out this post and it was fun to read.
Aww, thanks! I am happy you liked all of my pics! I had fun putting them together!
Nice job on the summary Kim! The pics and logos came out great. Hope you come back soon.
Thanks! And thanks so much for taking us all over! You really are a great sport! 🙂 Or just super nice. Hmm, probably super nice.
We are already talking about our next trip back! We still have to eat some falafel, and Steven said he is bummed we didn’t sit around and pick at each others accents. And we have to meet PEANUT!!!
Oh, this post made me sooo hungry! LOL. I’ve never taken a culinary vacation but I am SO planning on going nutso on my cruise in May. I can’t wait! 🙂
OK, PB&Co. Shop is now definitely on my list for my next NYC trip. And maybe the Pommes Frites place as well.
My goodness, look at how much you influence me: I got my wife a Tea Box for Valentine’s after you mentioned one.
Aww, cool! Did she love the tea box? I really like having ours 🙂
She did! I got this one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002EVOXN8
Cool! Our friends that we stayed with last week had one like that – it had 8 or so kinds from one brand in it. It looked very nice!
Kim, I am drooling right ow. There used to be a Pommes Frites near my office in NYC and I used to eat there nice a week. I mss that place, your post made me miss NYC.
Wow! Everything looks so good (except that pizza with the olives on it. Boo to olives!) that even though I just finished dinner I am drooling. That ice cream sandwich in my freezer just won’t be the same.
And a whole place devoted to peanut butter??? I’m in love.
http://mamouns.com/ — BEST FALAFEL EVER! Next time, go there. I’ve only gone to the MacDougal location, which is the original. A whole in the wall, super cheap and just incredible (also open 24 hours, I think — it was my go-to place after a night out when I was younger). It was the first falafel I ever tried, and totally spoiled me for all the other falafels, as I’m always disappointed when I try it at a different place.
I wish I would have had that recommendation before! I will have to check it out next time 🙂
That sounds like a great trip! M & I have picked travel destinations based on food… so good! It sounds like you had an awesome time there, and I wish I was eating a bagel right now!
Everything looks so good! Yes, this post totally made me hungry and made me want to go on a culinary vacation. (I think we’re taking some kind of eating road trip over Spring Break, so I’m pumped about that.) I’m totally sad that you can’t get good bagels in the Midwest, or, at least, not in Champaign-Urbana.
By the way, are the black-and-white cookies lemon-flavored? I have a friend who is really obsessed with them, but I’ve never had one. I found a couple recipes, and some say that you have to add lemon flavor to them, which sounds gross!
Where are you thinking of going over break?
Sorry it took me so long to answer – all of the B&Ws we’ve ever had have had a slight lemon flavor. Steven said this one did. It’s actually quite good!
Sounds like you had a great balance in your trip! NYC and environs are such a nice area to explore without necessarily doing the museum-thing. Our trips usually do involve SOME food – at times, more so than others, either going to a ‘foodie-haven’ or returning to a place that we know and love.
I’m on the train tight now and this post is making my stomach growl 🙂 everything looks so yummy!
This was such a cruel post! Spokane has such AWFUL food and your pictures look so delicious.
I love this! Joey and I often plan out stuff we’d like to eat whenever we travel to places. We love food so it’s part of the allure when we travel. Our tastes are not always “sophisticated” though and we often end up at fast food places that we don’t have here in MD. 🙂 An eating tour of NYC sounds fantastic. Those fries look amazin! And now I want a bagel.
this is my dream come true!!!! I’d definitely do this on trip by myself. I map out all the food places that i’ve seen on tv and need to visit. I’m planning on hitting some in MN in a month or so!
Oh my gosh, yum yum yum!!!!! So much of that looks absolutely delicious!!!!!
Wow. What an awesome trip! I am practically drooling at my computer. I think it is awesome that you went to pb&co! Love their peanut butter. The NY style pizza looks amazing too. As does, well, everything! 🙂