Pepper Me Up

There are the trips where you come home feeling like you saw everything. And then there are the trips where you saw so much but still come home feeling like you didn’t see enough.

My first visit to New York City was the latter.

I arrived in early summer of 2026. No itinerary, just a little list of things I had to see: Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment, the Flat Iron Building, Central Park, Chinatown, and my childhood best friend Hannah, who’d been living in the city for about a year. I trusted her and her corgi Rosie to guide me around and help me cosplay as a New York resident. Consider that goal achieved! I got to experience everything I set out to and then some, yet I know I barely made a dent in all the magic that NYC has to offer.

The city represents everything I love—all kinds of people from all kinds of places with all kinds of stories—so food was my main way of embracing as much as I could. From Thai food to Moroccan cuisine, tacos, dumplings, pizza, and more cafes than I can count, I experienced countless perfect bites and sips (plus lots of inspiration for what to make in my own kitchen).

And, notably, I ate a lot of bagels. Every single morning, in fact.

Whether you’re looking for some recommendations for your next visit, or curious about all the options the city offers, I fear my list hardly scratches the surface. But I loved it all so much that I just have to share! So without further ado, here’s everywhere and everything I ate in NYC:

Day 1: Thai food in Hell’s Kitchen

LumLum

I arrived on a Thursday, eager to spend a long weekend with my longtime friend. We spent the majority of the day wandering around and catching up in Central Park. When the first wave of hunger was calling to us, she asked what I was in the mood for, and, overwhelmed with options, I pitched an ol’ reliable: “Thai food?”

She took me to her favorite spot, LumLum, which is on W 49th St. We ate at a table outside, cozied up in the shade provided by the buildings on the street, and our server couldn’t have been friendlier. We even got a front-row viewing to an angry truck driver honking for someone to come out of their apartment across the way, to which many of our fellow restaurant patrons started yelling iterations of, “AYYYE, Whaddya doin’ that for?!”

As my introduction to the culinary and cultural tapestry that is NYC, it was magnificent. Here’s what we ate:

• Me: Pad Ki Mao (Drunken Noodles) – rice noodles tossed with egg, green peppercorn, and Thai herbs (I ordered mine with tofu)
• Hannah: Pad See Ew – broad rice noodles with sweet black bean sauce, egg, and gailan (she ordered hers with chicken)
• Mai Tais – aged rum, rum, lime, orgeat, and orange curaçao, served up with some dramatic garnishes (see photo!)

Both dishes were exactly what I wanted after traveling: comforting, full of flavor, and spicy enough to wake me back up after a day of exploring.

Day 2: Bagels in Columbus Circle, French Fries in Midtown, and Sicilian in Hell’s Kitchen

Broad Nosh Bagels Deli & Catering

No NYC trip is complete without a bagel. So I had one every morning. At Broad Nosh’s 58th St. location on day two of my visit, I ordered what I now consider to be my death row breakfast meal. Here’s what we got:

• Me: Bacon, egg, and cheese + jalapeño cream cheese on an everything bagel with an iced chai latte.
• Hannah: A sesame bagel with tofu cream cheese and an iced vanilla oat milk latte.

Broad Nosh gave me the quintessential New York City food experience: a long yet efficient line of people, a noisy and cramped yet controlled atmosphere, and mouthwateringly delicious food that was worth waiting for. We enjoyed our bagels on a bench in Central Park (we went here a lot; I loved it very much) while planning what to do with the rest of our day.

Bryant Park Cafe

One thing I loved about NYC was that there was always somewhere to pause. Sometime in the early afternoon of my first day there, we stopped at Bryant Park Café for a little reset before exploring the New York Public Library.

We split a giant basket of fries, each got a prosecco, and just sat for a bit. The area was bustling with people, including dancers who were practicing for a performance on the park’s big stage, but there were still plenty places to sit and plenty of quiet to have a quality chat with a lifelong friend. That was the ongoing juxtaposition of the city: so much activity, and yet still so much autonomy.

Norma

This is where we ate dinner before seeing a play on Broadway! Specializing in Sicilian cuisine, Norma is one of Hannah’s favorite Italian spots in the city.

We started with Aperol spritzes (a recurring character in many of our meals), bread, and olive oil.

What I ordered:

• Tagliolini al ragu di agnello e caprino (Homemade spaghetti with braised lamb served with scrambled goat cheese)
• I finished with a shot of espresso because, when I visited Italy, I loved concluding heavy meals with some lovely acidic and bitter espresso; plus, I wanted to feel extra awake for the show.

What Hannah ordered:

• Pasta alla Norma—paccheri pasta from Gragnano with tomato, garlic, basil, eggplant, pecorino, and ricotta salata—a classic Sicilian dish.
• A glass of red wine, whose name I regrettably did not catch, as it was quite delicious.

If there’s one thing about me, it’s that when there’s an opportunity to eat authentic Italian food, I’m going to take it. Nothing is closer to perfection to me than multiple courses of drinks that feel like summer and dishes that feel like hugs. Norma delivered that; I could taste the freshness in every sip and the love in every bite. If my eyes had been closed, I could have sworn I was back in Italy (one of my favorite places I’ve ever been); but, I was in New York City, which in many ways is just as great! I can’t wait for my next visit so I can try more from Norma.

Day 3: Tacos in Chelsea, Greek wine in Greenwich Village, and Japanese small plates in Hell’s Kitchen

LOS TACOS No.1 (Chelsea Market)

This location of LOS TACOS No.1 constantly has a line spilling into the hallway, but it moves quickly and feels part of the experience rather than a deterrent. When you’re in a city like New York and see a line out the door or around the block, odds are it’s probably for something worth waiting for!

We stopped here after a visit to The Whitney Art Museum and before wandering Chelsea Market—hungry, slightly overstimulated, and ready for something hearty and incredible.

I wanted to try a bit of everything, so I ordered:

• a carne asada taco (steak taco), “con todo” so, “with everything”; everything = onions, cilantro, salsa, and guacamole
• a pollo asado taco (chicken taco), con todo
• an adobada taco (pork taco), con todo
• Mexican Coke

Hannah ordered:

• 2 carne asada tacos, con todo
• chips with guac and salsa for us to share

These tacos were some of the best I ever had, second to only some tacos I had on the side of the road in Mexico. They were simple but so high quality: warm tortillas, perfectly seasoned meat carved fresh, fresh garnishes. I love food that doesn’t need to prove anything and just is exactly what it should be, and that’s what these tacos were.

Stafili Wine Café

On our way to Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment (a very intentional detour, obviously), we stumbled across Stafili Wine Café during happy hour and decided to surrender ourselves to where fate had led us.

I had a glass of orange wine (Roditis Icon R from Acheon Winery), and Hannah had an Aperol spritz.

With our sunset orange drinks in hand, we people-watched the customers who found themselves in the same space we did. Lots of beautiful people wearing cool clothes sipping on classy beverages, which made me happy, because of course this was the neighborhood where our Sex and the City protagonist Carrie Bradshaw loved to live.

Manhatto

We kept dinner light this night after our big taco lunch and helpings of happy hour drinks, and decided to try out Manhatto, which was a newer Japanese spot in Hell’s Kitchen we had walked past several times during our strolls to and from Hannah’s apartment. We were going to another Broadway show (a musical this time!) after dinner, so needed something that’d hold us over but not weigh us down.

I ordered:

• Yuzu Caesar Salad – classic Caesar with a bright yuzu-ponzu dressing
• Salmon nigiri
• Hibiki whiskey, neat

Hannah ordered:

• Hell’s Kitchen Roll – sweet potato tempura, pickled radish, shiitake, white seaweed, chive, Japanese curry mayo
• Quiet Garden cocktail – Japanese gin, lemongrass, yuzu bitters, and herbal notes

Small but mighty, this meal felt balanced in every sense—fresh, light, and refreshing after a full day of walking. The atmosphere was also very cozy but still cool. Not too dark, not too light; lively but still quiet, warm, and inviting. During another visit with more time on our hands, I could’ve seen us staying for at least an hour or two, eating family style, trying different drinks, and enjoying the ambience.

Day 4: Moroccan in Brooklyn and Korean in Hell’s Kitchen

We started the day slowly with some bagels at Hannah’s apartment before heading out to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, for a full day of shopping and very selective decision-making (because this city will absolutely tempt you into buying an extra suitcase’s worth of things).

Café Mogador

Recommended to us by a colleague who lives in the neighborhood, this might have been my favorite restaurant of the entire trip.

Café Mogador is located on Wythe Ave, and I genuinely think it might be one of the most beautiful eateries I’ve ever been in. We sat in the back greenhouse-like space—covered, airy, and filled with plants—and it felt like stepping out of the city without actually leaving it, because it was still full of people! But in a cozy/secure way, not a crowded way.

I ordered:

• Tunisian pita sandwich – house-made merguez sausage, hummus, tahini, Arabic salad, pickles, and shifka pepper, served with fries

Hannah ordered:

• Couscous with chicken – complete with butternut squash, carrots, zucchini, turnip, cabbage, chickpeas, caramelized onions, and raisins, plus the most incredible orange vegetable broth that we were both basically eating by the spoonful

We both had glasses of their sparkling lemonade with mint.

This was my first time having Moroccan food, and I left feeling that bittersweet sensation of happy that I discovered something new but sad that I hadn’t found it before. Everything was spiced to perfection and deeply flavorful but still light and comforting at the same time. I catch myself daydreaming about it even when I’m not hungry.

The Jin

Later that night, exhausted from all the 20,000+ steps we took that day, we kept things chill and ended up at The Jin for a late dinner back in our home base of Hell’s Kitchen. We hadn’t had Korean food yet, and we were both craving some.

I ordered:

• Japchae (Stir-fried glass noodles, made from sweet potatoes, and other veggies) with beef

Hannah ordered:

• Bibimbob (Rice bowl with assorted veggies, proteins, and sauce) with beef

I’d always wanted to try Japchae, and it was delicious! It had a really lovely mix of textures to it—soft and chewy noodles and beef with crisp veggies that, even though they were cooked, they still had a nice crunch to them—and the sauce brought everything together. This meal was exactly what we both needed after a full day in Brooklyn: generous portions, lots of plants and animals (veg and meat), and comforting flavors. We both ended up with enough leftovers to have for a full breakfast the next morning.

Day 5: Deli in Hell’s Kitchen, dumplings in Chinatown, and a slice of pizza in Nolita

Our last day was intentionally slower: more snacks, fewer sit-down meals, and a lot of wandering before catching my evening flight.

Kitchen Valley Marketplace

We started the morning with our leftovers from the day before, alongside some sesame bagels toasted at home and cappuccinos from Hannah’s favorite neighborhood bodega/deli. An elite combo if you ask me!

North Dumplings

Chinatown was actually one of the few things on my list of must-dos when I arrived in the city (the others were Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment, Central Park, and Broadway). I had North Dumplings bookmarked because I learned about it on social media and figured it’d be a great quick bite to grab while exploring the neighborhood.

We ordered:

• The #1: chives and pork pan-fried dumplings (10 for $4)

Fast, hot, crispy. Endlessly satisfying. The kind of food that makes you immediately understand why people come back to it over and over again. Definitely make a stop here if you’re ever in the area, but they’re cash-only, so be prepared with some, or be ready to use their ATM!

Prince St. Pizza

You can’t leave NYC without pizza. I’m pretty sure they arrest you if you do, actually, or at least beat you up on your way out of the city limits. I couldn’t let that happen to me. So I set my target on Prince St. Pizza, which was in our vicinity as we made our way from Chinatown and the Lower East Side through Little Italy to SoHo.

What I got:

• a slice of The Naughty Pie — spicy vodka sauce made with prosciutto, topped with pepperoni, fresh mozzarella, ricotta, and Zab’s hot honey

Hannah did not order anything because, alas, my homegirl is allergic to dairy, which makes pizza pretty off-limits. But she did not want her ailments to hold me back from enjoying some iconic New York pizza. She took me to the cutest little park in the area that was full of stone statutes and greenery where we found a table for me to chow down.

While arguably not a ‘quintessential New York slice,” this pizza was popular for a reason. It had an effervescence and originality about it, bold in its thickness and square shape in a city that claims big floppy foldable triangles as their trademark. It required both hands to eat, slightly messy (as every pizza should be), and absolutely perfect in that “this is my last day in the city, and I must indulge” kind of way.

There was something in knowing that a slice like this makes people form lines out the door that made my Midwestern self feel like I too belonged in this city that many outsiders think is just going to chew you up and spit you out; like, if this pizza was a hit, maybe I could make a life here too.

Bonus Chapter: Cafés & Coffee Stops

Between meals, we found ourselves stopping in cafés. Sometimes planned, often on a whim, always a good idea.

A few favorites and what set them apart:

• Frame (Upper West Side) — cappuccino + a camera-filled café with a vintage TV photobooth
• Dot’s Café (Hell’s Kitchen) — iced lemon almond milk latte + strawberry matcha
• Coffee Project New York (Hell’s Kitchen) — cortado + a barista who complimented us on our pizza-slice temporary tattoos
• Copper Mug Coffee (Williamsburg) — iced lavender latte + a long outdoor patio recovery break after shopping
• Le Gaz (Chinatown) — chai lattes in a café attached to a chic clothing store (and a mental note to return for Vietnamese coffee next time)

One thing I noticed about NYC cafés was how many of them had no laptop / no WiFi policies on weekends. At first, I thought it was odd, but quickly realized it created something better: people actually talking to each other. No one was parked for hours on a computer. Tables turned over. Conversations stayed present. It made the spaces feel more like places to gather than places to work.

Big feelings for the food of the Big Apple

I left New York feeling full in every possible way. From the food, but also from everything surrounding the food: the walking, the catching up, the sitting still in parks and cafés, the small decisions that turned into memories.

NYC is overwhelming in the absolute best way. Endless great options for everything, from food and shopping to art and entertainment, making decisions difficult but exciting in not always knowing where your choices could lead you. What I didn’t expect was how many of my favorite moments would come from slowing down inside all that excitement and movement.

And now I understand why people pay the big bucks to call a shoebox in Manhattan home. I already want to go back, so if you keep following my blog, watch out for new additions to this page!