Eating through the Big Apple was simply an adventure! I’ve been meaning to brag…I mean, BLOG (lol) about the many places we ate on our trip to New York City. We talked about how excited we were to be going to NYC in our countdown post. I just haven’t had time or at least made time to share it with you all! The excitement of our engagement has taken over me, lol. That moment also excitedly happened while we were there! Well I’m finally ready to take a breather and share with you all our lovely experiences. There are just endless amounts of restaurants in the city itself, its lovely! From ‘Big known’ restaurants to ‘little hole in the wall’ places and just your average ‘everyday chain’ restaurants. None the less, food is… well food and food is yummy!! Lets just say that our bellies were extremely happy while we were there. I’m really excited to share all the places we had a chance to visit on our stay, they were all so delightful in their own ways. (well minus one, that i will mention and why it might have been a bad timing)
Before we got to New York, we made sure to do our homework, we searched many restaurants and asked some friends that knew of places in New York, we even had some fellow bloggers recommend some great restaurants. We tried to not only go to some well-known restaurants but also restaurants that fellow New Yorker’s enjoy on an average day. Well.. sit back and grab cup of coffee and a note pad and be ready to jot down some of these lovely places. You never know when you’ll be making an unexpected trip to the Big Apple and I’m sure it’ll come in handy, lol. I will literally take you on our food journey, day by day. We had quite the adventure and the best part was that my honey and I were together and we did it on a budget! It was a great success! I’ll give you some pointers on how we managed to stay in our ‘food budget’ and later on another post how to tour the city on a budget as well!
Enjoy!
{ARRIVAL DAY}
When we arrived in New York, it was about 5pm.. By the time we got a cab from La Guardia Airport to West of midtown where we stayed, and got settled in to our hotel, we needed a boost! We decided to go to a very well-known place and do what fellow New yorkers’ are best at.. Night life! So we headed out for our first stop. TAO restaurant. This place was pretty amazing. It definitely had a ‘loungy’ feel to it. We embraced our long day of waiting for our delayed flight and celebrated that we had made it to the city, FINALLY! this called for Celebratory drinks and appetizers.
I enjoyed a TAO-tini, which was delicious, I didn’t want it to finish! Xavier had some cold sake and according to him, it was good! Since we knew we had late dinner reservations that night, we opted out on dinner servings and had some appetizers which were also pretty amazing! (TIP: This btw, is a great way to get a taste for the food without spending $45 dollars per plate!)
Our second stop for the night was Bar Americain, a Bobby Flay restaurant. The ambiance was subtle and relaxed. And the food was delicious. After a long day of luggage, lines and waiting we wanted to make sure we went to bed with full bellies, we deserved it! So we did… very much worth the indulgence!
{DAY TWO}
Upon waking up we grabbed a cup of coffee for the road..well the subway, lol and headed out towards the lower east side of Manhattan. There we went to Clinton St. Baking Co. Can you say uh.. pancakes?!! They’re their best sellers and I got to taste why! Delicious. Word of advice here, it’s a well-known little place, so get there early! It’s a tiny little place and its known not only by the locals but more and more visitors are taking a trip to try their delicious brunches! We waited an hour! Thank goodness for the little park we found a couple blocks away from there. (TIP: Brunches are a great way to stay on budget, breakfast and lunch for the price of one!) We were so full, it held us till later on for dinner!
The next two places i must mention we went to right after Xavier proposed on the Brooklyn bridge! Hence, you’ll find these two cute little places in Brooklyn. These we found out through another lovely blogger from NYC, and her New York City guides, loveTaza.com. Thank you because they were delicious! No fancy dinners for us after proposal, just some lemonade and pizza! Perfection!
Lizzmonade concession stand under the Brooklyn bridge pier 1. We had the mint pineapple lemonade and it was AMAZING! they’re the cutest little concession stand, yet making lemonades with a bold statement! A must try for sure!
Our romantic proposal called for a romantic dinner…. PIZZA!! Juliana’s Pizza! Lets just say… one of The Best Pizza’s Xavier and I have had. We sat at their little bar in the back and had front row seats for the pizza making! Fresh ingredients everywhere! The staff and owner walk around and made us feel very welcomed!
We couldn’t leave Brooklyn without dessert, so like any normal person would do on a very windy cold night, we had ice cream! A little taste of some very delicious butter pecan ice-cream was eaten that night right under the Brooklyn Bridge at the Brooklyn Bridge Ice-cream factory. 
{DAY THREE}
Day three called for another great brunch at Friedman’s Lunch, this time in Chelsea. (This is another place you want to be early to) Don’t let the name fool you though, they have a great breakfast and brunch menu. And for all my Gluten free people, one of the biggest gluten-free menus I have seen. If you want a taste of some good comfort food, this is a good stop! Xavier tore away at the fried chicken and waffles!
Since our day was dedicated to Chelsea, we made our way towards the Hudson river to Pier 66. There we stopped for some late afternoon drinks at The Frying Pan. A historic lightship that is permanently docked at pier 66. Next to the Frying Pan is Maritime Bar and grill a railroad barge also permanently docked there. The view is breathtaking and the experience is unique, especially for us folks not from nyc. It’s apparently a hip spot in Chelsea and I could see why.
Our next stop in Chelsea, was probably one of my favorite places we stopped to eat at. Right in the middle of the meatpacking district you can find Fig & Olive. This lovely place was actually recommended by a fellow blogger and friend, Teresa, over at aleandtere.com. Thank you Tere because we were a very happy couple that afternoon. The restaurant is beautiful, the service is amazing, and the food is to die for. Simply Delicious.
{DAY FOUR}
We lined up for another brunch in Midtown West at 44 &X Hell’s Kitchen. The food here is simple, but good itself. And if you’re in NYC, why not go to Hell’s kitchen?? umm, I think, yes!
Ok so after getting some Chipotle in the afternoon and after much walking, we had searched for a bakery in the city that according to many was very delicious and known. Well that night we made it to Magnolia Bakery. While the bakery itself was super cute and decorated so wonderfully, our experience was quite the opposite. In their defense we made it to the bakery very late at night. The cupcakes we got there were super dry and the frosting was as stiff as a rock. At this point, we kinda wish we hadn’t found the bakery, lol. We told this to some people after returning home, and they were quite shocked.. so maybe we just went at the wrong time?
{DAY FIVE & OUR DEPARTURE}
This morning we just got some good Starbucks and headed to the city, there we ran into this little hole in the wall. A place called Dough, originally based in Brooklyn but now found in the city near 5th ave and 19th st. umm.. heaven. The most fluffy donuts we have had our hands on. A must try!! They have a great selection too! We were so happy to have run into this place.
After some walking and ending up in the Flatiron district, we made our way to Eataly! Well, because we couldn’t pass up the opportunity. So on we went to the rooftop of Eataly, a little Italian Market too cute and amazing to pass up, and landed at Birreria restaurant and brewery. The wine and cheese selections are war to good to pass up! trust me on this one.
Oh and you can’t go to New York and not get shake shack and head on over to central park and eat on the great lawn right?? well don’t worry we made we did! And after some good shake shack we needed an unforgettable send off back home to Florida…
So what better way than with the biggest, most soft and delicious cookies…um ever??! Enter, Levain Bakery! This place is found on the upper west side of Manhattan, a few blocks away from the American Museum of Natural history. TO DIE FOR! They were so good, we had to stop and sit on some New York style steps like in the movies lol to eat them! It was so big that I saved the other half for my flight! This place is definitely known by the locals.. super small, in the ground, at the corner of the block next to a little school. Lets just say I ordered what the little kids (and moms, lol) were ordering! Please please pay them a visit if you’re ever in the city!
I hope that this journey wasn’t too long for you all, I wanted to make sure I took you through our eating adventure in the Big apple! What better city than New York to not be on a diet!? There can’t be such thing when visiting NYC. No way Jose! May I add, that our experiences were all so great and we would do it all over again if we didn’t have to gain some extra pounds?? lol. I hope this little guide helps anyone whose paying New York a visit. I also hope that it makes you feel like a local and not your typical tourist in all the touristy dining places. New York for us was amazing this time around that we stuck to mostly experiencing local places and not your typical restaurants! Enjoy and Bon appetit!
With all the love in my belly from NY,
Jen ❤
*all images are property of La Vida, life as it comes
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For our one year wedding anniversary we knew we wanted to make it special… it really does only come around once! So, we did… We knew we wanted to travel somewhere for that date and had been talking about it for a while before we actually decided where we would go. At first, we thought we would go to a place we hadn’t visited yet and thought of Colorado. But.. shortly after we were thinking of our plans, we got pregnant! haha.. Our plans had to change, especially since we had been planning to do hikes up mountains, possible snow activities were also in the talk, and we surely did know that with a pregnant belly, none of those would be a good idea. So plans got placed on hold, we were now on a budget with baby on the way.. but last minute we found a great deal on flights to our favorite city! New York City! It only made sense, we have wonderful memories in this city and it holds a special place in our hearts. Not only do we love getting a taste of the hustle and bustle of the city, but this was the place we got engaged and one of the most memorable places in our love story. We couldn’t wait to re-live and re-visit some of those places and make more memories while documenting along the way. Hence this awesome photoshoot that I absolutely love and was so excited to share with you all! 
I always had this idea in my head that for our one year anniversary we would have a photoshoot and remember our day and what it meant to us, something small, and just personal. Luckily for us, I ran into the sweetest, nicest photographer! I also must mention, very talented and professional. If you’re looking for some great photos in the city at a great price, she’s your girl! She was so awesome and we were so happy with the end result!
gracefulfillinglife.com 