New York City Food Diary
If you’re looking for an amazing dog friendly hotel, Jerry and I LOVE StayPineapple! They have them all over, not just in New York (we stayed there in Seattle, too!) and the staff is consistently super friendly and amazing to both us and to Euler!
Dollar Pizza (literally everywhere)
One of my very favorite things about New York City is how many options they have when you’re looking for affordable food! Whether it’s pizza, hot dogs, etc. you can almost always find something to eat for less than $5.
When we got to New York, one of the very first things we did was find pizza! We dropped Euler off at our hotel, headed to a bar down the street to grab a couple of drinks, and then stopped at a dollar slice place (I honestly don’t remember the name because there are hundreds) on the way back and ate pizza in bed while watching Netflix. Definitely not a bad way to start off!
Lobster Garlic Noodles at Smorgasburg
Thai Sticky Rice Ice Cream with mochi, lychee, mango and coconut cream at Smorgasburg
Stuffed Calamari at Smorgasburg
Pineapple stuffed with grilled pineapple and thai fried chicken at Smorgasburg.
Smorgasburg Brooklyn
On Saturday, we made our way down to Smorgasburg in Brooklyn! It was the hottest day ever, but Jerry and I both say that it was definitely the highlight of our trip. There was SO much good food, and so many different options, and the prices were all shockingly affordable. My favorite thing we tried was the Thai Mango and Sticky rice ice cream, and Jerry’s favorite was the stuffed calamari, but everything was seriously AMAZING. We both agreed that if we lived there we’d be at Smorgasburg every Saturday.
Joshua Tree (Murray Hill)
We tried our best to explore different neighborhoods, since a lot of the times we’ve been to NYC we’ve spent most of our time in Williamsburg because it’s our favorite area. On Monday night we walked down a couple of blocks to Murray Hill for happy hour! We went to a bar called Joshua Tree, which was kind of a divey bar with good music, great bartenders and fun people, and ended up staying there the whole night because apparently happy hour specials are all night on Mondays!
Tipsy Scoop
Is this not the most extra looking sundae you’ve ever seen? I had heard of Tipsy Scoop, but honestly didn’t actually seek it out. I just happened to walk by it when I was out exploring on my own and was like “Alcoholic ice cream? Yes please!”. In retrospect the sundae was absolutely overkill, and I ended up having to throw most of it away because the candy made it pretty hard to eat, it was making my hand all sticky, and was honestly just wayyy to much for one person to finish, but it sure was pretty! lol I would definitely go back, but if I did I would probably skip the sundae and just get a single or double scoop!
The Calamari at Acqua Santa in Williamsburg
Margherita Pizza at Acqua Santa in Williamsburg
Acqua Santa, Williamsburg
If you only go to one of the places in this post, make it Acqua Santa! We found this spot on accident the last time we were in NYC two years ago, and loved it so much we actually went twice that trip and have talked about it regularly ever since. Naturally, we HAD to go back, and it was even better than we remembered it! The food is amazing, the staff is friendly, and the prices are SO reasonable. This pizza was only $10 during their lunch special, and I believe the calamari was around $10, too. I can honestly say that it was the best calamari that I have ever had.
Hibernia Bar & Grill
On our last day before heading back to New Jersey, we went walking around Hell’s Kitchen looking for a good place to stop for lunch! We were drawn to this little Irish pub for two reasons: the fact that they had a patio, since we had Euler with us, and for their super affordable lunch special consisting of a burger, fries and a beer for only $10! Like seriously, what a steal!
Places I forgot to photograph but would still recommend:
The Lucky Dog, Williamsburg - This is Jerry and my absolute favorite bar in New York! In the 10 days that we were there, I think we might have gone at least four times! It’s a dog friendly bar, so at any given time you’ll find like 3+ dogs wandering around! It has an old fashioned juke box, good drinks and cheap beer! I wish we had something similar here in Nashville so badly!
Let’s Meat Korean BBQ - All you can eat Korean BBQ in Manhattan. We went here with one of Jerry’s best friends (and groomsmen!) and it was so good! At a little over $30/person it’s on the pricier side, but it the food was really good!
Casellula Wine Bar - We met up with a good friend of mine from home who now lives in NYC here! It’s a quiet, quaint little wine bar in Hell’s Kitchen. They have light bites, wine and charcuterie. I honestly wouldn’t recommend the charcuterie because it’s pretty light for the price, BUT the wine was all great and I loved the atmosphere!
That’s it for this trip, BUT, if you want more NYC travel guides, check out my NYC Outfit Diary here, my first NYC travel Guide here, and my Dog Friendly NYC Travel Guide here!