The NYC Bucket List

Racing against time to finish our New York City bucket list, while reflecting on NY’s greatest hits.

 

Buckets of Joy

Now that we’re on the precipice of packing up our studio and hitting the road for several months, I want to make sure that we get the most out of our last weeks in the big apple before bidding it farewell.

As with most places I go, I start forming a checklist of things I want to do while I’m there, restaurants I want to sample, and sites I just have to visit. Eventually, after the gathering phase, that list is edited and codified into a checklist because I work in operations and I just can’t help myself. Now that it’s been over two years since moving to New York, I have dragged Brian through much of the list and no surprise — even now — I am still adding to it!

The Main Affair

Early on, we sought out the major attractions:

• Strolling the High Line
• Seeking the perfect Peking duck in a Chinatown window
• Hurrying through Times Square as quickly as humanly possible (hint, it’s all about the elbows)
• Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge (again, I recommend the liberal use of elbows)
• Buying beer solely for the free pizza at Alligator Lounge in Brooklyn
• Picnicking at the Cloisters
• Exploring every inch of Central Park

Post elbow-throwin’ our way into Brooklyn

Show Time

We’ve seen shows on Broadway, an old man rock concert, and an immersive “theatre experience” (to be pronounced in your flounciest accent) and very uncomfortable stand-up comedians. We’ve been to The Metropolitan Opera several times, we were speedy enough to nab the coveted rush tickets that afford luxury seats to plebs like us for the paltry price of $25. That’s right ladies and gentlemen. Once, we got very cheap tickets, I’m talking like $7, to a classical concert at Carnegie Hall. Turns out that they were so cheap because you had to sit through two hours of the Silicon Valley Children’s Choir before the professional performers began their performance at 10pm on a Tuesday. Lesson learned.

We’ve also experienced plenty of the unique weirdness that defines New York. I participated in a 6am yoga-sesh-turned-dance-party hosted by Daybreaker, complete with kombucha shots and dancing vegetables. Thanks to our pal April, we’ve seen not one, but THREE pop-up concerts in a bakery after hours (and other uncovential locations) (#sofarsounds). But, The Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governor’s Island is, hands down, the most fun thing we have done in New York. A summer’s day of art deco, gin cocktails, and swing dancing. What’s not to love about goofing around in a fedora and a tassel skirt?

The Food, the Bad, and the Ugly

If you’ve read our other posts, you won’t be surprised to learn that we’ve made a point of seeking out memorable culinary and cultural experiences during our time in the land of grub trends and haute cuisine. We’ve consumed our way through multiple Restaurant Weeks, Papaya King dogs of every topping combo, and Cronuts (#nuffsaid #fatties #proud).

Last spring, we found a dimly lit cocktail bar/speakeasy in the Lower East Side called Nite Owl, where we watched ‘artistes’ mixing what were surely potion ingredients out of small, mysteriously-colored bottles and glass vials to serve us frothy, gold-dusted beverages with mermaid stirring sticks and containing imported Bolivian liquor. What made this dark basement speakeasy even more fun was that when we tried to visit it again, it was moved and we had to rediscover it all over. Sneaky!

Brian’s favorite thing to consume in New York (or anywhere for that matter) is oysters at happy hour. The best oyster HH we’ve found is at The Mermaid Inn (UWS, Greenwich Village, and LES) which serves $1 oysters, inexpensive seafood appetizers like fish tacos and calamari, and half price beers and wines. Plus, their oysters are deliciously fresh, so you don’t end up feeling suspicious about the low price or the possible danger to your gut (for all you hypochondriacs out there). My favorite part of The Mermaid Inn is that the meal is always concluded with a small, complimentary pot of chocolate mousse (thanking you) and one of those red cellophane fish “fortune tellers” you place on your palm. Depending on the way it curls, it predicts you what mood you are in and apparently “passion” is a common mood.

Secret Life of a Hangry Couple

We’ve found the all best bites in New York, so you don’t have to. Sure, these opinions may be controversial, but it’s our blog so we get to make the rules.

Our smoked meat party at Fette Sau

• Best Bagel: Absolute Bagel, Broadway near Columbia, Manhattan (warning: cash only, if you even know what cash is)
• Best Burger: Saxon + Parole, Bowery, Manhattan (don’t forget to order with the bone marrow béarnaise) (Brian is salivating reading this)
• Best Cannoli: Madonia Bakery, Arthur Ave, The Bronx (I am salivating reading this)
• Best Coffee: Astor Row Cafe, Lenox Ave in Harlem, Manhattan
• Best Doughnut: Donut Pub, 14th Street, Manhattan
• Best Draft Beer Selection: West End Hall, Broadway near Columbia, Manhattan
• Best International Cuisine Area: K-Town (Koreatown), between Broadway & 5th Ave, Midtown Manhattan (extra special experience when they cut your food with bloody scissors)
• Best Ice Cream: Emack & Bolio’s, Amsterdam Ave, Manhattan, near the Natural History Museum
• Best Meat Sweats: Fette Sau, Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn
• Best Pizza: Pete’s Pizzeria, 3rd Ave in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn (with a heaping side of old school Brooklyn accents)
• Best Sandwich: Katz’s Delicatessen, Houston St, Manhattan
• Best Soul Food: Streetbird, 116th St in Harlem, Manhattan (purely because of the cornbread with chicken butter)
• Best Vegetarian: Vatan, 3rd Ave in Murray Hill, Manhattan (all-you-can-eat Indian, complete with plaster monkeys dangling overhead)
• Best Wine Bar: The Owl’s Head, 74th St in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn

Katz’s pastrami makes for an unforgettable sandwich

Going Down the List

So, what’s outstanding on our list? Food wise:

• DŌ – Cookie dough. In a bowl. With a spoon. Need I say more?
• Greek food in Astoria
• Galaxy Dumplings in Flushing
• Artichoke Pizza, of drunken fame, in the Lower East Side
• Dinosaur BBQ
• Dominique Ansel – Given that the Cronut blew my mind, I want to try frozen s’mores and the legendary DKA.
• More African cuisines in Harlem, maybe even try Senegalese this time (the Ethiopian food at Abyssinia was lick-the-plate-clean good, which is saying something since you literally eat your injera plate).
• So many absurdly fancy restaurants that I can’t afford

Meat and vegetable combo platter at Abyssinia

Beyond food (if there even is such a world) I’d like to:

• Explore Roosevelt Park
• Visit Coney Island (but there’s no way in hell I’m getting on those rickety old rides)
• See the United Nations building (ridiculous that I haven’t seen it yet, given my interests in international policy and development…oops)
• Win the Hamilton lottery, but alas, I live in reality
• Play hooky to see a TV show taping
• Watch the ballet at Lincoln Center
• Rent a kayak in Red Hook, Brooklyn

Despite the obvious limitations of time, money, and patience for other humans, we are now hustling through the remainder of our list, as our remaining days dwindle. There’s no way to do it all, but we’ve made a good attempt. If nothing else, we’ve had the opportunity to live in New York City and, hey, that’s pretty cool I think.

Adios, New York!

What would be on YOUR New York bucket list? Anything we’re missing? Let us know before we leave! Please share thoughts in the comments section below.

-Sophie