Zach Margolis's Recommendations

New York City

I’ve never lived in New York City (but I definitely fantasize about it). This is a lot of things I really love visiting when I’m there, on every trip back I try to hit as many of these as possible. Just like all my other lists, this is not meant to be a complete “how to NYC” list, it’s just my list.

I've marked a few favorites with a ★. I like pretty much everything on this list, but I love those.

Contents

Bars

• Flaming Saddles (Hells Kitchen): Kitschy, fun gay bar. At the top of the hour, the bartenders get up on the bar and do a little dance.

• Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club (Gowanus): a fun bar with board games and also shuffleboard. A little bit of a scene, but I enjoyed it.

Food

• ★ Levain Bakery (Upper West Side): I think these are the best cookies of all time. They’re giant mounds of delicousness. Has multiple locations.

• ★ Murray’s Bagels (Chelsea): My favorite bagels in NYC. Has multiple Locations.

• Budha Bodai or Bodhi (Chinatown): These are two separate restaurants that at one point had the same name. They’re both delicious all-vegan, kosher dim sum spots. I would just go to the one with the shorter line, or whichever location is more convenient,

• El Quinto Pino (Chelsea): A really charming Spanish tapas spot that I randomly walked by with a friend many years ago, and I love stopping by any time I can. Update: They’re closed now.

• L & B Spumoni Gardens (Gravesend): Sicilian square pizza, great pasta, a fun time. Apparently has an Italian Mob past.

• “Piroshki Lady” (Brighton Beach): Ok so this is probably not the official name, but there’s a woman who sells piroshkis (fried Russian pastries) just underneath the Brighton Beach MTA station, in front of the Rabinowitz Pharmacy. They are delicious and fresh and oily and amazing.

• Roberta’s (Bushwick): Great NYC-style pizza, has multiple locations.

• Shalom Japan (Williamsburg): Jewish/Japanese fusion food. I was excited about the Matzoh Ball ramen on the menu, but loved the mazemen much more than I expected to. Great to go with a group and share different things on the menu.

Museums

• Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum (Upper East Side): a Smithsonian museum that’s not in DC! They have a lot of fun interactive parts. You can rent a digital pen to interact with their exhibits. Update: They no longer rent out the pens.

• Guggenheim Museum (Upper East Side): Another iconic museum that always has great stuff.

• MoMA (Midtown): The Museum of Modern Art is super famous and often has great exhibits almost always.

• Tenement Museum (Lower East Side): Museum that focuses on tenements (shared living apartment buildings) that were popular in the early 1900’s for immigrants. Scheduled tours only, and the tours have a storytelling focus on particular families.

• Whitney (Chelsea): Another contemporary museum that usually has great exhibits that also has some cool decks for outside viewing. Also has a Ruth Asawa hanging wire sculpture as part of its permanent collection.