NYC – Fries, Museums, and Sore Feet

This was a quick trip, but I packed a lot in. I definitely had some fries and mocktails that are obvious fits for the blog, but I’m also excited to share the general itinerary of my trip. I’ll share more details about the fries and drinks in dedicated posts and keep this entry as a summary. It was my first real trip to New York City and overall I’m pretty happy with how everything played out.

Quick Details

• Trip Dates – Aug 23rd to Aug 27th, 2023. Three full days plus two travel days (cross country flights)
• Hotel – The Michelangelo Hotel (51st St and 7th Ave just north of Times Square)
• Museums – The Met Cloisters, The Met, MoMA, Mmuseumm
• Restaurants – Dirt Candy, Nowon, Plant Junkie, Empanada Mama, Los Tacos No. 1, Very Fresh Noodles, Pommes Frites, Bleecker St Pizza, Faicco’s Italian Specialties, Gray’s Papaya, Junior’s, (Shake Shack), Joey Bat’s, L’Ami Pierre, Angelina Bakery, Ray’s Candy Store
• Shows – Here Lies Love, Back to the Future, & Juliet
• Bagel Shops – Absolute Bagels, Ess-a-Bagel, Broad Nosh Bagel
• Neighborhoods – Times Square, Hudson Yards, Chelsea, Washington Heights, Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO, Financial District, Greenwich Village, East Village, Central Park
• Total Cost – $4,136
• Total Steps – 77,729

Condensed Itinerary

Day 1 – Travel Day

• Leave home at 5:15am to catch 7:45am flight. No problem.
• Fly 5.5 hours from Seattle to JFK. Stuck on tarmac for an hour. Leave airport at about 4:45pm.
• AirTrain to Jamaica station, E Line to Times Square. Arrive at 5:45pm.
• Check into hotel, leave for Hudson Yards
• Fries and shake from Shake Shack to take the edge off
• Enter The Edge at 7pm, arrive on platform around 7:20pm. Sunset is great.
• Quick drink with a friend at taqueria nearby
• Uber to Lower East Side, arrive at Dirt Candy at 9:15pm for dinner reservation
• Long meal, head back to hotel via subway at about 11pm. Unpack. Sleep.

Day 2 – Museums

• Wake up at 8am. Get ready, debate breakfast.
• Subway to Absolute Bagel. Longish line (20 minutes).
• Subway up to Washington Heights, walk through Fort Tryon Park to the Met Cloisters. Should have taken a bus that was more direct. Arrive at 10:45am.
• Explore Met Cloisters museum until 1pm. Walk back to subway.
• Ride down towards Central Park, visit Gray’s Papaya for a quick lunch (1:45pm)
• Walk through Central Park to the Met (15 minutes)
• Explore the Met until 5pm
• Bus down towards hotel. Grab curry bowl from Plant Junkie to share before play.
• Walk to Broadway Theater for Here Lies Love musical. 90 minutes, no intermission.
• Wander West into Hell’s Kitchen, eat at Empanada Mama and discuss the play.
• Cookies from Insomnia Cookies (meh), back to the hotel for sleep.

Day 3 – Walking Everywhere

• Wake up around 8am. Grab fancy croissants from Angelina Bakery nearby.
• 9:30am, meet our volunteer tour guide from Big Apple Greeter in hotel lobby (Hi Steve!)
• Subway to Brooklyn while learning some general subway strategies and NYC trivia
• Walk around Brooklyn Heights and learn a lot about the neighborhood and religious groups. Almost converted to a Maronite Catholic congregation (details below)
• Walk along waterfront to DUMBO (get a bagel at Ess-A-Bagel).
• Subway to Financial District and the Oculus (say goodbye to Steve). 1:30pm.
• Visit the World Trade Center 9/11 memorial wells
• Discover the African Burial Ground National Monument and explore the exhibit
• Continue walking north to Mmuseumm
• Bus to Greenwich Village. Eat fries at Pommes Frites.
• Share Italian Special sandwich at Faicco’s Italian Deli, share slice on Nona Maria pizza at Bleecker St Pizza.
• Stare at the door of Taylor Swift’s old rental house on Cornelia Street.
• Subway back to hotel, visit Nintendo store and Rockefeller Center. 6pm.
• Back to the Future musical at Winter Garden Theater (8pm)
• Epsom Salt foot soak and snacks. Bed.

Day 4 – Odds and Ends

• Wake up at 8:30am, simple breakfast at L’Ami Pierre
• MoMA at opening (10am). Wander until 1pm with a stop in the gift stores.
• Subway to Chelsea Market. Visit Los Tacos No.1, Joey Bats, Super Fresh Noodles, Li-Lac Chocolate, and Market Basket.
• Played around in the Google Store with their new tablet, watch, and foldy phone
• Walked along the High Line for a bit and got eaten by flying insects
• Bus over to East Village (4pm). Visit Ray’s Candy Store for an Egg Cream while resting in Thompson Square Park.
• Dinner reservation at Nowon at 5:15pm
• Walk forever to a subway station back to hotel, arrive at 7pm.
• Walk to Stephen Sondheim Theater for & Juliet musical
• Visit Junior’s diner for two slices of cheesecake (to go)
• Soak feet in Epsom Salts at hotel while eating cheesecake

Day 5 – Go Home

• Wake up around 7am. Order bagels from Broad Nosh (some to eat, some to take home)
• 9:15am E line to Jamaica for AirTrain station. Get confused and almost miss the stop. AirTrain to JFK.
• Catch flight at 11:45am (about 30 minutes slow to take off). Land at 3:45pm in Seattle.

Expenses

Overall, we spent $4,162 on the trip. That seems expensive, but it wasn’t extravagant. Here’s where that money went:

There were a few cheaper hotels, but not by much. We used a companion fare on the airfare, so that could have been worse as well. The musicals were relatively cheap due to getting rush/lottery tickets for 2 out of 3 of them. We did both Met museums in one day which saved entrance fees. Dirt Candy and Nowon were expensive meals, but I think we balanced it out with stuff like Gray’s Papaya and bagels. If my wife didn’t buy a t shirt for every play, then we’d have pocketed another $120. If push came to shove I could trim about $1,000 off the total for a cheaper trip.

The Hotel

I had a really hard time deciding on a hotel. I didn’t want to be too close to Times Square, but it also made sense to be near the theaters and in a central location. The Michelangelo was probably the most highly rated hotel within the price point I was searching ($200 to $300 per night), and it was also a bit removed from the main Times Square noise a few blocks to the north. The Moxy in Times Square looked like a fun option as well, but the room at the Michelangelo was at least 50% larger than the Moxy, so we went with it. We got lucky and were upgraded to a Jr. Suite, so the room was actually about 4X as big as what we would have received at the Moxy. Very lucky.

Our suite had a comfortable mattress, a large bathroom, a European bidet, a coffee table, couch, desk, and arm chairs. It also faced in, so we did not hear much street noise (but it was a little dark). Other than being a bit dated (the couch looked like a thrift store find), it was a great home base and I wouldn’t mind coming back in the future. The “resort fees” are lame ($40 per day?), but I believe all the hotels are doing this. It’s justified by providing you access to the wifi, two bottles of water a day, and a $10 credit to the hotel bar (never used it). No breakfast, but we probably wouldn’t have used it. I found my rate through AAA and it seemed like a competitive deal.

The Museums

While it’s not on most people’s first trip itinerary, we decided to visit the Met Cloisters in Washington Heights. In defense of other travelers, it’s a bit of a journey to get to. Construction started back in 1933 and was built to showcase the Medieval art and architecture. The collection is fascinating with all kinds of religious artifacts, paintings, and furniture. More unexpectedly, the building itself incorporates recovered pieces of Medieval architecture into its construction (doors, stained glass windows, archways, ceilings, and even whole structures). The Unicorn Tapestries are one of the more notable exhibits and I was impressed with their metaphoric retelling of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. It was a peaceful and interesting museum that lacked the commotion and crowds of the midtown museums we visited later.

If you visit on the same day, you can get into both The Met and the Cloisters with the same ticket. It’s a long day, but it’s doable. We took the subway down from Washington Heights, grabbed a couple hot dogs at Gray’s Papaya, and walked through Central Park to the second museum. We arrived around 2pm and prioritized some of the more modern exhibits. The Met is FULL of incredible exhibits, but seeing Washington Crossing the Delaware, various Picasso’s, and Tiffany stained glass masterpieces were pretty memorable for us. I’ll definitely visit again. There were a lot of people to wade through, but it was worth it.

After visiting the 9/11 memorial wells I accidentally discovered the African Burial Ground National Monument. This is a good example of the darker side of our country’s history that many would prefer to forget. In the early days of New York City, African slaves suffered significantly. They buried their dead outside the city’s original perimeter in unmarked (and often uncasketed) graves. This was later built over (many times) before an effort was made to appropriately recover the remains. I’m glad we found it and were able to read through the information in the exhibits.

While looking through Atlas Obscura I noticed a strange museum in Lower Manhattan called Mmuseumm. It’s a free museum created within an abandoned elevator bay. The exhibits change periodically, but they’re always novel. I really appreciated the Cornflake Taxonomy. My wife didn’t share my enthusiasm. If you’re walking through the area then I’d recommend dropping by, but it’s perhaps not a solo destination unless you’re really interested in a gallery of bottled air.

On our last full day in the city (a Saturday) we visited the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). It was probably the most crowded out of the museums that we visited, but it had some of my absolute favorite pieces. Jackson Pollock, Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh, Dalí, Kusama, Matisse, Miró, Warhol, etc. etc. The audio descriptions are also worth exploring as you wander the exhibits. I learned quite a bit about the artists and the context in which they made their pieces. 3 hours was about enough for us to feel like we had seen enough for one day.

Broadway

We decided to purchase tickets in advance for one play and then see what else we could find once we were there. Here Lies Love seemed like a priority in part due to it being such a unique concept. They tell the story of Imelda Marcos and the People Power Revolution of the Philippines through a dance club layout and music by David Byrne (Talking Heads) and Fatboy Slim. It was impressive, unique, and engaging. Since the format requires such dramatic modifications to the theater it’s performed in I worried that it wouldn’t be able to tour as easily as other shows. We chose seats in the mezzanine at the Broadway Theater instead of standing room tickets on the floor. Great show, and very educational.

I entered the digital lottery for several musicals performing the next day, but only succeeded in winning a chance to purchase tickets for Back to the Future. Instead of paying $200 retail, we only had to pay $40 plus some fees. The seats were in the balcony, but we could clearly see the stage at the Winter Garden Theater. The musical itself was a blast and adapted the energy and humor of the movie really well. The practical effects were especially impressive. It’s a popcorn musical, but if you enjoy that kind of thing I’d recommend finding time to see it in New York, or hopefully during a touring production. Great Scott!

I didn’t win lottery tickets for anything the next day, but I was able to get digital rush tickets for a musical called & Juliet. Again, the price was about $40, the seats were back in the mezzanine, but the view was great. The Stephen Sondheim theater had the least comfortable seats out of the three that we visited. The play itself was very well done. The premise starts with William Shakespeare and his wife debating the ending of Romeo & Juliet and imagining what would happen if Juliet didn’t kill herself. They pull in a lot of assumptions about the playwright himself, but also a series of empowering side stories of Juliet and supporting characters. It’s a jukebox musical that borrows heavily from 90’s boy bands, Katy Perry, and other power pop classics. Overall the music worked (and the performers were stunning), but it felt a bit forced to me and would have been more impressive with original music. That’s one man’s opinion.

Food

We ate well in the city. I wish I had another stomach or two because I ran into capacity issues on more than one occasion. There were so many places we wanted to eat but ran out of time and appetite. Here’s a summary of what we did eat and my quick thoughts.

• Dirt Candy – Fancy five (plus) course vegetarian tasting menu. I loved this experience because the food was both delicious and creative (felt like a show). $95 each including tip, and then we bought some mocktails as well. It can be tough to get a reservation, so you should start looked a few weeks in advance. I checked back constantly to find an opening and locked in a 9:15pm seating the day that we were flying in. Highly recommended. Here’s a link to a dedicated post for that meal.
• Nowon – I had seen this place on Instagram, and a friend recommended it as well. We were too full to enjoy their pre fixe meal, but we shared their popular Korean smash burger, chopped cheese rice cakes, honey butter tater tots, and a whipped ricotta toast. The mocktails were on point, too. I really liked the food, but it was a hot day and we were seated outside. That took away a bit of the enjoyment for me. Inside looked really loud, so it might have been difficult regardless. I’d still recommend it because the dishes were a really fun fusion of Korean/NYC staples. Here’s a link to a dedicated post for that meal.
• Empanada Mama – A perfect after-show meal. I liked the flour empanadas much more than the corn, but there are dozens of great fillings to choose from. Buffalo chicken, Cuban, and Brazil were all great. We visited the Hell’s Kitchen location, but there are two other spots.
• Plant Junkie – A quick meal of opportunity, it wasn’t bad. We shared a curry bowl, and it was a perfect pre-show light meal to share. It’s a chain, so you can find one around.
• Faicco’s Italian Specialties – This Greenwich Village deli will serve you a tremendous italian sandwich to feed two for $20. I got the italian special, and it was divine.
• Bleecker St Pizza – This slice shop is quick and no-nonsense. I loved the Nona Maria slice for about $3.50 (I think). I know that NYC is known for pizza, but damn…it was great. The crust is thin and crispy but still tender enough create perfect bite marks. The toppings are perfectly balanced and bright. Somehow this was my only slice of pizza the entire trip.
• Pommes Frites – A Belgian fry shop located in a dark cave in the West Village. The fries were awesome, the sauces were fire, and it was a relaxing and pleasant detour. Worth a stop!
• Los Tacos No.1 – They have several locations, but we went to the one in Chelsea Market. I did not enjoy visiting Chelsea Market on a Saturday (was soooo busy), but Los Tacos was delicious. Waited in line for about 15 minutes and ordered the spicy pork (adobada) and carne asada tacos on flour tortillas. The adobada is cooked on a trompo (vertical spit) with pineapple and guacamole. The carne asada is grilled and chopped. There are probably better tacos in the city, but these are among the top tier tacos I’ve ever had. Again, the Chelsea Market location is a bit congested, but find another location and get your taco fix.
• Very Fresh Noodles – Again, this was a massive line at Chelsea Market. I chose this line because it was long and was confident that it would pay off. It’s a simple menu consisting of hand pulled noodles with a few different presentations (soup, dry, etc.). We chose the Tingly & Spicy Cumin Beef with dry noodles, and it was a delightful medley of springy noodles, semi-tender beef (tender enough), Sichuan peppercorn, and chili oil. I really enjoyed it, but the 30 minute line was tough. In hindsight, I think that a paid food tour of Chelsea Market might be a good hack to try these various restaurants without the lines, but maybe it’s better to just not go on a Saturday.
• Joey Bats – Not a meal, but I bought some Portuguese egg tarts (pasteis de nata) from here while waiting in line for something else. I’ve had pasteis de nata in Lisbon, and these were an excellent version. The custard is so creamy and satisfying, and the puff pastry crust is perfectly crispy.
• Gray’s Papaya – I used to sell hot dogs in Seattle, so I’ve been familiar with the concept of a NY hot dog for a while. Gray’s Papaya has been around for a long time, and it’s well known for being cheap, fast, and good enough. The Recession Special (2 dogs and a tropical drink) was $6.95. We shared that before our walk through Central Park to the Met and it was the right amount of food to the take the edge off. Very good hot dogs with sauerkraut and saucy onions, but the pina colada drink was too sweet for me.
• Ray’s Candy Store – This was a side trip, but I had to visit this adorable store in the East Village to not only try an Egg Cream, but also to see if Ray was working. He’s a 90 year old man who has run this sweet shop for ages. The menu is listed on various paper plates scribbled on in Sharpie and taped to whatever surface is convenient. The woman working (Stella) told me all about how Anthony Bourdain used to visit and even stopped by 2 months before his death. The egg cream was great (Fox’s Chocolate Syrup, milk, and seltzer water), but the conversation was top notch. She even talked me into a medium because the “ratios are better”. If I wasn’t going to dinner immediately afterwards I would have ordered some Belgian fries or deep fried Oreos, but maybe another time. Wikipedia has a nice write up. I also wrote my own short blog post.
• Absolute Bagels – Long line, but my everything bagel with scallion cream cheese was great. I didn’t get it toasted because it looked very fresh, and I thought it hit the right combo of crispy and chewy. My wife thought hers was too tough, but still enjoyed it.
• Ess-a-Bagel – They have a few locations, but I went to one in a food hall in DUMBO. I ordered a sesame bagel with scallion cream cheese, toasted. It was terrific. I don’t have access to good bagels near my house, so maybe everything tastes good??
• Broad Nosh Bagels – This was my last meal in NYC, but also a souvenir to take home. My sesame bagel with scallion cream cheese was huge, but tasty. I took home another 20 bagels land froze them for future breakfasts. These are gigantic bagels.
• Angelina Bakery – Just a quick breakfast of croissants. We bought Nutella and pistachio cream croissants and thought they were pretty great. If it’s close by, consider it.
• L’Ami Pierre – Quick breakfast quiche and fruit cup. It’s a cute cafe with nice pastries. Close to the hotel, so it was convenient. Not cheap.
• Junior’s Cheesecake – This was very tourist trappy, but we wanted a dessert after a show and this was on the way back to the hotel. We got a slice of raspberry cheesecake and an original and ate them while soaking our feet in epsom salts in our hotel bathtub. Honestly, the original cheesecake was better than the raspberry, but they were both pretty good. The raspberry one just lost some consistency (became a bit watery). Don’t spend a lot of time here, but don’t be ashamed to get yourself a treat. Several locations to choose from.

Other Activities

We visited The Edge at Hudson Yards on our first night. If you arrive in the afternoon, then I recommend this as a good first night activity. It’s touristy, sure, but you get to step outside on the 102nd floor with a panoramic view of the city skyline. The sunset was subtle the evening we visited, but pretty. Start to finish we spent about 45-60 minutes in the building and took some nice photos. I paid a little extra for the flex passes so that we wouldn’t be locked into a specific entry time and could adjust our arrival for any unexpected delays.

Big Apple Greeter isn’t very well known, but it’s also difficult to lock in. The program relies on volunteer tour guides who get matched up with you based on your mutual availability and your tour preferences. I submitted a request to the program to introduce me to Brooklyn where my grandpa grew up in the 1930’s and 40’s. My volunteer greeter met us at our hotel, accompanied us on the subway to Brooklyn while telling us all about the transit system, and then walked us around Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO with a wealth of talking points about the neighborhoods’ histories and character. I especially loved his insight into the religious history of the neighborhoods and how individual blocks were influenced by specific churches and immigrant groups. One great example was a Maronite Catholic church that we visited. The building itself had bronze doors that were recovered from the SS Normandie, and this branch of Catholicism was one that I had never heard (Lebanese/Syrian roots). The DUMBO neighborhood felt much more “built for Instagram” than Brooklyn Heights, but it was still an interesting place to visit.

The four hours we spent with our guide flew by. Did I mention that this service is free? There are similar programs in Chicago and elsewhere around the world. If you want to book a guide make sure you submit a request several weeks/months in advance. Even then it’s not a guarantee.

Final Thoughts

I loved this trip and am already thinking about what to do on my next visit. The food trucks in Jackson Heights are really appealing. A dedicated pizza tour in Brooklyn would be a blast. Riding bikes through Central Park would be nice. I’m not sure if I would stay at the same hotel again, but it certainly wasn’t a bad experience. For food I would still take the strategy of getting one or two reservations in place for fancy stuff that would be “special occasion” dining. Beyond that, being opportunistic to the neighborhoods where I’m at would be fine. I’d bring shoes with better arch support, and I’d probably wear a sling bag for the longer days away from the hotel. The subway was fine, and now that I’m more familiar with it I think I could navigate around with a bit more confidence.

Overall, I would try to fit less into individual days. For my first trip, and this trip specifically, I don’t regret it. But…it’s not relaxing, and wouldn’t be nearly as fun if that was the pace of every adventure. I hope you enjoyed this write up! If you need help thinking through a trip to NYC, I recommend watching some YouTube videos from Jon Barr. His overviews gave me a lot of context that DRAMATICALLY helped me plan this weekend.