NYC: Brunch Lunch & everything inbetween
So having just come back from our most recent trip to NYC last month, I thought I had better get cracking on letting you all know what we got up to the second time round. As you may remember from my last post when I first visited NYC I posted all about the generic tourist things we visited mainly in the Manhattan and Brooklyn areas. I completely forgot to tell you all about the wonderful places we dined and drank at last year, so I thought I would add a few of these places to my list we made this year for a full overview.
Both times we visited the City we ate A LOT. I'm talking every single day was spent out enjoying, breakfasts/brunches, late lunches, dinners and the all important snacks whilst taking in all those amazing sites. It really is no wonder how I didn't put on 3 stone from my last visit, but ahh everyone knows America is famous for its portions, so you tend to just go with it for a few days. That isn't to say the city doesn't have any healthy alternatives, because It absolutely does and we found some great places to dine in that was just that little bit lighter- who knew salad was an option in NYC? I think I'll have a green smoothie to go with my Quinoa Salad please.
But on a serious note now we ate so much that I actually had to keep a food diary, just to remember all the amazing places we visited and what was eaten (honestly looking back at said diary is horrific, but very motivating on diet days). I actually made three restaurant lists in NYC, 1. The food/places we wanted to visit prior to our trip 2. The places we actually visited & 3. The places we wanted to visit on our next trip. In this post I am going to talk you through a few places from said lists and where you can find them! See if you can spot your favourite.
So I have decided to start off with my favourite brunch spots in the city. If you know me well, you will know I LOVE brunch and often have it during the weekends here back in London. I am not an early riser or a morning person, so the very fact that I can have a lie in on holiday and still eat my favourite foods after Breakfast is a massive win for me! I also love adding some brunchy booze to my meals, my favorites are Bloody Mary's and anything Prosecco based, Peach Bellini's in the morning or traditional bucks fizz is what I usually opt for. I love that in NYC brunch is celebrated, there are so many amazing brunch spots but here are my favourites.
Menu: When we visited we chose from their gorgeous menu a bit of everything which we shared between us. We ordered a portion of their banana bread which was lovely and moist. Then we opted for one portion of their Adovacdo with egg and smoked salmon on toast plus some of their home-made Tahini yoghurt with apricots. All dishes really complimented each other so well, but what really did it for me was their stunning selection of cocktails. I went out of comfort zone a little bit and ordered a coffee infused rum based drink with rye and chilli. It was extremely refreshing and certainly woke me up!
Breakfast is served Mon-Friday between the hours of 8.30am and 4pm, 9am-4pm during the weekends, but if Breakfast doesn't take your fancy they are also open for Lunch and Dinner the restaurant closes at 10pm during the week and 11pm during weekends.
You can find De Maria at: 19 Kenmare Street
Closest Subway station is Bowery Station on the J and Z lines.
My number one tip when ordering from here, would be dont over do it with the filing! You may be hungry when you order, but these are very filing due to the generous portion sizes they give you. I could only manage half of mine in the end, but it was gorgeous none the less. We will definitely be visiting again!
You can find this branch spot at: 170 Elizabeth Street.
Nearest subway is: Bowery Station on the J&Z lines.
This a restaurant I had already heard of before our trip! I had been recommended to come here-by just about everyone I knew really, so of course we had to check it out when we walked past one sunny lunchtime. It was a very busy mid morning (as it throughout most of the day time too) when we joined the queue for a table here the next morning, but I am glad we waited for one in the end because this is now one of my favourite brunch spots in the whole city. I am already looking forward to my return and quite possibly already know what my order will be!
This place is so friendly, and I don't just mean the fantastic staff, who were all superb despite the busy conditions. We actually ended up making friends with the couple who were in front of us in the queue- we got chatting for ages which helped passed the time and even swapped mobile numbers in case we fancied meeting up one evening so shout out to Laura &Tom from Newcastle who helped take our mind off our hunger- we will see you again next year for some Pancakes (as unfortunately we didn't have time to meet this holiday!)
The Menu is very extensive, which is always great if you love brunch like me, it just about caters for everyone! I won't spoil the magic, you should check it out for yourselves here. The pancakes were a winner for me, remember to ask for some!
You can find Jack's Wife Freda in two locations in the city AND even better they also do delivery so you really have no choice but to give them a try.
Address: 224 Lafayette St (between Spring & Kenmare St)
50 Carmine St (between Bleeker & Bedford St)
Nearest Subways: Spring Street (lines 4 &6) & Houston St (line 1)
So there we have just a few special places we ate out both last year and this year in NYC- I could honestly be here all day talking about each place, but I hope you got an idea of whats already out there. Have you spotted some of your favorites among these? I have a few firm favourites included in this list, which I know I will already be returning to on my next trip. We also hit quite a few bars on our first trip, which I am going to include in a separate post similar to this one very soon.
Both times we visited the City we ate A LOT. I'm talking every single day was spent out enjoying, breakfasts/brunches, late lunches, dinners and the all important snacks whilst taking in all those amazing sites. It really is no wonder how I didn't put on 3 stone from my last visit, but ahh everyone knows America is famous for its portions, so you tend to just go with it for a few days. That isn't to say the city doesn't have any healthy alternatives, because It absolutely does and we found some great places to dine in that was just that little bit lighter- who knew salad was an option in NYC? I think I'll have a green smoothie to go with my Quinoa Salad please.
But on a serious note now we ate so much that I actually had to keep a food diary, just to remember all the amazing places we visited and what was eaten (honestly looking back at said diary is horrific, but very motivating on diet days). I actually made three restaurant lists in NYC, 1. The food/places we wanted to visit prior to our trip 2. The places we actually visited & 3. The places we wanted to visit on our next trip. In this post I am going to talk you through a few places from said lists and where you can find them! See if you can spot your favourite.
Brunch Spots
So I have decided to start off with my favourite brunch spots in the city. If you know me well, you will know I LOVE brunch and often have it during the weekends here back in London. I am not an early riser or a morning person, so the very fact that I can have a lie in on holiday and still eat my favourite foods after Breakfast is a massive win for me! I also love adding some brunchy booze to my meals, my favorites are Bloody Mary's and anything Prosecco based, Peach Bellini's in the morning or traditional bucks fizz is what I usually opt for. I love that in NYC brunch is celebrated, there are so many amazing brunch spots but here are my favourites.
De Maria
Number one on my brunch list is the very trendy, and every so popular De Maria located in vibrant Soho (Downtown NYC). This is a firm favourite among locals and tourists alike, but you can reserve a table here (even on the busy weekends), so make that the first thing you do before you plan to eat here! You can reserve online and get all their info from their website here. The best thing about the food here is that it is all healthy and organic, it makes you feel so good once you have eaten, and not bloated or too full up like some breakfast cafes do.
Menu: When we visited we chose from their gorgeous menu a bit of everything which we shared between us. We ordered a portion of their banana bread which was lovely and moist. Then we opted for one portion of their Adovacdo with egg and smoked salmon on toast plus some of their home-made Tahini yoghurt with apricots. All dishes really complimented each other so well, but what really did it for me was their stunning selection of cocktails. I went out of comfort zone a little bit and ordered a coffee infused rum based drink with rye and chilli. It was extremely refreshing and certainly woke me up!
Breakfast is served Mon-Friday between the hours of 8.30am and 4pm, 9am-4pm during the weekends, but if Breakfast doesn't take your fancy they are also open for Lunch and Dinner the restaurant closes at 10pm during the week and 11pm during weekends.
You can find De Maria at: 19 Kenmare Street
Closest Subway station is Bowery Station on the J and Z lines.
Black Seed Bagels
Another brunch spot in Soho I want to rave about is Black Seed Bagels. (Sensing a bit of a theme here?).. They actually have three scattered around the city, but we went to the one closest in Nolita which can be found on 170 Elizabeth Street (They also offer local delivery for convenience), a stones throw away from De Maria.
Bagels are my all time favourite breakfast I could literally eat anything in a bagel. I love that you can eat these pretty much anywhere. My favourite though is the classic Cream Cheese, but seeing as we are in NYC home of the Bagel I thought I would get a little more creative with my filling. One morning we were in a bit of a rush to get about so instead of opting for a full blown sit down brunch we decided to try take out instead and found this gem of a place. There are lots of options to choose from, you can pretty much have whatever filing you like (and bagel bread style).
Menu: The menu is broken up into different categories and we both opted for something a little different. I went for the poppy bread, with cream cheese, avocado, bacon & tomato.
My other half opted for something a little less healthy, Bacon, Eggs, Cream cheese & Avocado.
My number one tip when ordering from here, would be dont over do it with the filing! You may be hungry when you order, but these are very filing due to the generous portion sizes they give you. I could only manage half of mine in the end, but it was gorgeous none the less. We will definitely be visiting again!
You can find this branch spot at: 170 Elizabeth Street.
Nearest subway is: Bowery Station on the J&Z lines.
Jack's wife Freda
This a restaurant I had already heard of before our trip! I had been recommended to come here-by just about everyone I knew really, so of course we had to check it out when we walked past one sunny lunchtime. It was a very busy mid morning (as it throughout most of the day time too) when we joined the queue for a table here the next morning, but I am glad we waited for one in the end because this is now one of my favourite brunch spots in the whole city. I am already looking forward to my return and quite possibly already know what my order will be!
This place is so friendly, and I don't just mean the fantastic staff, who were all superb despite the busy conditions. We actually ended up making friends with the couple who were in front of us in the queue- we got chatting for ages which helped passed the time and even swapped mobile numbers in case we fancied meeting up one evening so shout out to Laura &Tom from Newcastle who helped take our mind off our hunger- we will see you again next year for some Pancakes (as unfortunately we didn't have time to meet this holiday!)
The Menu is very extensive, which is always great if you love brunch like me, it just about caters for everyone! I won't spoil the magic, you should check it out for yourselves here. The pancakes were a winner for me, remember to ask for some!
You can find Jack's Wife Freda in two locations in the city AND even better they also do delivery so you really have no choice but to give them a try.
Address: 224 Lafayette St (between Spring & Kenmare St)
50 Carmine St (between Bleeker & Bedford St)
Nearest Subways: Spring Street (lines 4 &6) & Houston St (line 1)
Lunch Spots
I am just about done with Breakfasty Brunch Spots, now onto to something a bit lighter, its time to hit the cafe's, deli's and Sandwich bars for some delicious traditional NYC lunches.
As we all know (and have seen often enough on the TV) New Yorker's are constantly on the go. They might have a show to catch on Broadway, or simply need to rush back to their desks at work. This is why you see so many Cafe's and take away Sandwich Bars scattered across the city. Even though we were on holiday and didn't have to rush back to work, we still had an itinerary which needed to be kept to, so like the locals we too opted for quick lighter lunches, with that in mind here's a few of my favourite Lunch spots we tried out.
Alidoro
This Sandwich shop we actually come across on Time Out's website on our first lunch time in the city. We wanted to opt for something a bit more upmarket than your average Subway and boy did we find what we were looking for in Alidoro the little Italian Sandwich shop in Soho, they also have shops in Midtown and Noho (open from 12pm till 8pm every day) and offer a delivery services too. They do everything from Baguettes with mouth watering filings such as prosciutto ham, Salami and Italian Cheese to Capresse Salads and It really is an Italian dream!
I opted for the Lucia which had prosciutto ham, smoked mozzarella cheese and sweet roasted peppers, I also asked for some Salami which i think was around 3 dollars extra. My sandwich came to 14 dollars which is around £10.00 odd in gbp, not bad considering the size of the sandwich, you can choose different types of bread also for a bit extra. The menu is honestly so huge you will be there a while just deciding on your filing. Take a look here for their full menu.
Be careful here though as Alidoro is a cash only establishment, and it gets very busy so if you forget your cash you may get sent to the back of a very long queue. It also has limited seating, we took our sandwiches to the green outside the shop and had a little mini picnic!
Alidoro's can be found at: 105 Sullivan Street
Nearest Subway: Spring Street (A,C,E lines)
The Boat House, Central Park
Okay so The Boathouse is a restaurant, cafe and outside bar all in one complex. Perfect for a lazy lunch or a quick bite to eat and I just had to feature their lunch menu on here because it was really good and of course who can forget about the amazing views of Central Park? We checked all the Lunch time menu for the restaurant and the cafe and decided the Cafe was more for us on this occasion. The menu is great for both, but I really fancied a cheeseburger, as did my partner so we both got one of those each and some chips. We decided to take our meals away and sat outside to eat them and it was lovely, a very relaxing and enjoyable lunch which was made even better by the views of the park.
You can find The Boathouse at East 72nd Street
Nearest
E 72nd St, New York,
Dinner
During the evenings we tended to eat bigger main meals early in the evenings say around 6pm to 7pm and then we would head out for drinks or to a club a little bit later on say around 9pm-10pm. Here is just a little round up of some of the best places we dined at during the evenings of our holiday.
STK, Downtown
We love the STK in London and have visited so many times since its opening, its no secret on this blog now that I LOVE Steak so we both thought we would try out STK in NYC There's two STK's to choose from but we chose the Downtown restaurant as they also have a lovely roof top for drinks afterwards. The restaurant was lovely (as you can see from my photo I took above). I had my usual Filet Steak cooked medium- well done (more on the well done side than medium), we shared Triple-cooked Parmesan chips & a side of greens which we paired with a lovely Pinot wine from their amazing Wine list. I opted for one on their delicious warm chocolate chip cookies served with hot fudge sauce and vanilla ice cream. You can check out the rest of their menu here.
You can find STK Downtown & Rooftop at 26 Little West on 12th Street. The nearest subway from the venue is 14th Street/8th Avenue serving A,C,E & L lines.
Riverpark, Kips Bay
If like me, you like dining or drinking with a view then you need to come to Riverpark ASAP! Located in Kips bay neighbourhood (close to Madison Square & not far off from the Empire State Building) this rooftop restaurant is one not to be missed, especially in the warmer months leading up to the summer. It is a very popular spot with the younger twenty somethings crowd, so we felt very much at home here, it gets very busy during the weekends (all day), so be sure to reserve a table. This is definitely not a last minute destination! We tried to come in for a bite to eat one evening on our way back from The Empire State, and no could do they had to close the restaurant because it was that full, so we booked for the evening after!
The menu is really what this place is all about, and I think one of the reasons we wanted to come back so much. The style of cooking in my opinion is a quite British, they serve Pork Chops, Chicken and delicious roasted vegetables- much like what you would expect on a typical British Roast Dinner. The ambiance is cool and calm and you could quite easily sink a lot of drinks here. They offer an amazing brunch menu here too so I think we will need to come back on our next trip!
Here you can find all the delicious food they serve, as well as their drinks menu. They also offer a more relaxed bar menu if you don't fancy a full meal.
You can find Riverpark at: 450 E, 29th Street
Nearest Subway: 28th Street serving 4 &6 lines.
I am just about done with Breakfasty Brunch Spots, now onto to something a bit lighter, its time to hit the cafe's, deli's and Sandwich bars for some delicious traditional NYC lunches.
As we all know (and have seen often enough on the TV) New Yorker's are constantly on the go. They might have a show to catch on Broadway, or simply need to rush back to their desks at work. This is why you see so many Cafe's and take away Sandwich Bars scattered across the city. Even though we were on holiday and didn't have to rush back to work, we still had an itinerary which needed to be kept to, so like the locals we too opted for quick lighter lunches, with that in mind here's a few of my favourite Lunch spots we tried out.
Alidoro
This Sandwich shop we actually come across on Time Out's website on our first lunch time in the city. We wanted to opt for something a bit more upmarket than your average Subway and boy did we find what we were looking for in Alidoro the little Italian Sandwich shop in Soho, they also have shops in Midtown and Noho (open from 12pm till 8pm every day) and offer a delivery services too. They do everything from Baguettes with mouth watering filings such as prosciutto ham, Salami and Italian Cheese to Capresse Salads and It really is an Italian dream!
I opted for the Lucia which had prosciutto ham, smoked mozzarella cheese and sweet roasted peppers, I also asked for some Salami which i think was around 3 dollars extra. My sandwich came to 14 dollars which is around £10.00 odd in gbp, not bad considering the size of the sandwich, you can choose different types of bread also for a bit extra. The menu is honestly so huge you will be there a while just deciding on your filing. Take a look here for their full menu.
Be careful here though as Alidoro is a cash only establishment, and it gets very busy so if you forget your cash you may get sent to the back of a very long queue. It also has limited seating, we took our sandwiches to the green outside the shop and had a little mini picnic!
Alidoro's can be found at: 105 Sullivan Street
Nearest Subway: Spring Street (A,C,E lines)
The Boat House, Central Park
Okay so The Boathouse is a restaurant, cafe and outside bar all in one complex. Perfect for a lazy lunch or a quick bite to eat and I just had to feature their lunch menu on here because it was really good and of course who can forget about the amazing views of Central Park? We checked all the Lunch time menu for the restaurant and the cafe and decided the Cafe was more for us on this occasion. The menu is great for both, but I really fancied a cheeseburger, as did my partner so we both got one of those each and some chips. We decided to take our meals away and sat outside to eat them and it was lovely, a very relaxing and enjoyable lunch which was made even better by the views of the park.
You can find The Boathouse at East 72nd Street
Nearest
E 72nd St, New York,
Dinner
During the evenings we tended to eat bigger main meals early in the evenings say around 6pm to 7pm and then we would head out for drinks or to a club a little bit later on say around 9pm-10pm. Here is just a little round up of some of the best places we dined at during the evenings of our holiday.
STK, Downtown
We love the STK in London and have visited so many times since its opening, its no secret on this blog now that I LOVE Steak so we both thought we would try out STK in NYC There's two STK's to choose from but we chose the Downtown restaurant as they also have a lovely roof top for drinks afterwards. The restaurant was lovely (as you can see from my photo I took above). I had my usual Filet Steak cooked medium- well done (more on the well done side than medium), we shared Triple-cooked Parmesan chips & a side of greens which we paired with a lovely Pinot wine from their amazing Wine list. I opted for one on their delicious warm chocolate chip cookies served with hot fudge sauce and vanilla ice cream. You can check out the rest of their menu here.
You can find STK Downtown & Rooftop at 26 Little West on 12th Street. The nearest subway from the venue is 14th Street/8th Avenue serving A,C,E & L lines.
Riverpark, Kips Bay
If like me, you like dining or drinking with a view then you need to come to Riverpark ASAP! Located in Kips bay neighbourhood (close to Madison Square & not far off from the Empire State Building) this rooftop restaurant is one not to be missed, especially in the warmer months leading up to the summer. It is a very popular spot with the younger twenty somethings crowd, so we felt very much at home here, it gets very busy during the weekends (all day), so be sure to reserve a table. This is definitely not a last minute destination! We tried to come in for a bite to eat one evening on our way back from The Empire State, and no could do they had to close the restaurant because it was that full, so we booked for the evening after!
The menu is really what this place is all about, and I think one of the reasons we wanted to come back so much. The style of cooking in my opinion is a quite British, they serve Pork Chops, Chicken and delicious roasted vegetables- much like what you would expect on a typical British Roast Dinner. The ambiance is cool and calm and you could quite easily sink a lot of drinks here. They offer an amazing brunch menu here too so I think we will need to come back on our next trip!
Here you can find all the delicious food they serve, as well as their drinks menu. They also offer a more relaxed bar menu if you don't fancy a full meal.
You can find Riverpark at: 450 E, 29th Street
Nearest Subway: 28th Street serving 4 &6 lines.
So there we have just a few special places we ate out both last year and this year in NYC- I could honestly be here all day talking about each place, but I hope you got an idea of whats already out there. Have you spotted some of your favorites among these? I have a few firm favourites included in this list, which I know I will already be returning to on my next trip. We also hit quite a few bars on our first trip, which I am going to include in a separate post similar to this one very soon.
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