what i ate in NYC!!

my boyfriend and i came to NYC for 4 days for our anniversary and were SO excited to chow down. we stayed in the midtown area by bryant park but spent a lot of time in west village. i was very excited for the asian food scene and he was super excited about pizza & bagels… naturally. we pulled most of our recommendations from other FoodNYC users or local friends, but just happened across a few spots too. of all of my ratings, my biggest green flag was the lemon snapple. they’ve stopped selling it at a lot of our local grocery stores (NC) and it’s been breaking my heart the last few years, i’ve never been so happy to see it everywhere lol. anyway~

here’s everything we ate(+ a few drinks) in order!!! my rating first & my boyfriends second.

Best Bagels & Coffee – 6/10 & 7/10

– got a sausage egg & cheese on a plain bagel, boyfriend got egg & cheese on everything. the vibe of the whole place was exactly what i expected out of a little NYC bagel spot! i thought the plain bagel was super bland, wish i would’ve gotten the everything bagel, but a solid first spot!

Momosan – 9/10 & 9.5/10

– came for lunch after the met and really enjoyed it, one of my favorite meals of the whole trip. i got the lunch special of tonkatsu ramen, with a california maki roll & an order of edamame. boyfriend got the tuna poke bowl. the pork in my ramen was suuuuper thin and shockingly sweet, definitely a little unique. the tuna in the poke bowl so soft, melt-in-your-mouth good. i would definitely recommend this place, it was delicious and cute!

LOS. TACOS No. 1 – 9/10 & 8.5/10

– i got 2 carne asasa tacos, boyfriend got 1 and all 2 chicken, and we split some chips & guac! we got corn tortillas and everything that came on it! saw a lot of people posting about this place and it was absolutely worth the hype!

L’industrie – 9/10 across the board

– we got super lucky and managed to hop in line when there were only about 10 people ahead of us. the line moved fast and we just had to fight for standing room to eat(which was fine). i got a slice of white pizza and my boyfriend got a slice of marg & a slice of l’industrie. the white pizza was yummy & not too greasy, which i was definitely appreciative of!! by the time we left there was a line down the block. not sure i thought it was worth more than a 15 min wait in line, but definitely worth a visit!

Dante NYC – 8/10 all around

– expensive little cocktail bar but man if i didn’t adore it. i saw someone else with a tasty little drink with a thick head of cold foam and told the bartender to gimme that without checking that i’d like it — spoiler, i didn’t! but that’s on me. i got the espresso negroni and my boyfriend got the dante manhattan, which i thought was delightful. even though i didn’t like the drink itself, the espresso negroni was cute and had a fun little design printed on the cold foam, which i hadn’t even seen when i pointed it out. i would go again purely for the vibes and get a different overpriced drink (:

Bubbies – 10/10

– stopped on a walk to get out of the cold for a bit and grab a drink. boyfriend got a hot chocolate which was nothing special, but i specifically just want to recommend the pickle bloody mary. so delicious. i can’t stop thinking about it.

Dead Rabbit – 10/10

– vibes were fun! bar was cool! guinness’ were flowing! but I’m so dead serious that this is the yummiest popcorn i’ve ever had.

Shawarma Bay – 8.5/10 & 8/10

– we obviously forgot to take a pic of the before… the line for adel’s halal was i n s a n e. so we pulled audible for this place instead (my boyfriend had some halal cart map? idk i was along for the ride). i got the chicken shawarma platter, he got the wrap, an we got an order of hummus. very good but definitely only hit the spot because we were a few drinks in… would recommend drinks in your system if you go (: would skip the hummus!

Utopia Bagels – 8.5/10 & 7.5/10

– sausage egg and cheese on plain & the “worth it” bagel on everything. both of these were sooo stuffed full, definitely worth the price in weight of ingredients and the sandwiches themselves were super yummy! i once again botched it not getting an everything bagel, don’t be like me.

Pull-Tab Coffee – 9.5/10 & 7/10

– saw this on someone’s list and just thought it looked fun, didn’t look up what it was or anything. passed by it and stopped by on a whim! i got the coco matcha thinking it was just a coconut matcha…. when it came out i thought i had fucked up just looking at it, but it was easily one of the most fun and unique things i’ve tried before. loved it a lot! would absolutely recommend it if you want to try something new!

Tavern on Jane – 6/10 & 5.5/10

– honestly our only miss of this whole trip. got their turkey burger and fries & boyfriend got some brunchy egg dish, no pictures. the patty itself was soooo bland and the fries were just nothing special, and they were weird when i asked for dipping sauces. the prices were cheap compared to everywhere else we went and the spot was a pretty cute atmosphere. we met up with our friends who have a baby and it was super accommodating for them & their stroller!

Tanoshi Omakase – 9.5/10 & 9/10

– neither of us are very pretentious foodies, but we waned to do something special for our anniversary. it was a super small, intimate location that only sat 8 of us. we made reservations about 2 weeks out and had 0 problems getting a spot. i’ve never done anything like this before and man it was just a really, really cool experience. it was about 8ish nigiri made before us and then a maki roll, a hand roll, and a lil bowl of miso soup. they gave us an additional little heart shaped roll for our occasion, hehe. my favorite was the salmon belly with cherry blossom leaves(not pictured ): ) — it was sweet!! genuinely worth the price tag if you love an experience. was trying to be respectful so i didn’t take a ton of photos!

Tartinery – 7.5/10 & 8/10

– stopped by here because it was close to our hotel – the matcha was pretty lackluster but sharing this purely because the chocolate croissant was SOOOO good. get it.

Liberty Bagels – 8/10 & 6/10

– we had seen this on a few lists as touristy but stopped by because it was on the way for us — i recognized the rainbow bagels from instagram and was immediately laughing. we almost got one just because, but opted to split a jalepeno bagel w egg & cheese — happy with my choice to not get a plain bagel for a 3rd time. super flavorful and unique! honestly, it was way better than i expected (as far as touristy spots go) and i’d definitely go again! there wasn’t a long line which would absolutely influence our willingness to go in.

Bleecker Street Pizza – 8.5/10 & 8/10

– we got a white basil slice & a margarita slice! the cheese on the white pizza was soooooo good, but the slice itself was pretty oily. the marg was standard and yummy! a quick little stop that i would definitely go back to!

Shack Shack– 10000/10

– when in rome (the airport, fighting a 3 hour delay)