Photo: Rhododendrites , CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons Every week, someone books a hotel "in New York" that turns out to be a shuttle ride from an airport runway, and their whole trip inherits the mistake. Where you sleep in this city shapes everything: what you see out the window, where you eat breakfast, how much of your vacation you spend underground on the subway. The good news is that there's no single right answer — there's a right answer for you. Let's find it. First trip? Stay central, but not that central Midtown makes sense for first-timers: you can walk to Times Square, Broadway theaters, Rockefeller Center, and Central Park, and every train line in creation passes underneath. The trade-off is soul. Much of Midtown empties after office hours and the blocks immediately around Times Square never stop being Times Square. My compromise pick: stay south of the chaos, in the 20s and 30s — NoMad, Flatiron, Chelsea. You're fifteen minutes from ev...
Ask New Yorkers what defines their city’s food, and three things come up again and again: the deli, the bagel, and the slice. These are not fancy foods. They are everyday staples, perfected over more than a century and woven into the fabric of daily life. To eat them well is to taste the real New York. This guide is your introduction to the city’s holy trinity of casual eating. The Jewish Delicatessen The New York deli is an institution born of Jewish immigration, and at its best it is a temple of cured meats and comfort food. The signature dish is the towering pastrami or corned beef sandwich, piled high on rye with mustard. A handful of legendary delis have served these sandwiches for over a century, their walls lined with photos and their tables packed at lunchtime. A proper deli meal is an experience: order a sandwich that two people could share, a side of crisp pickles, and perhaps a bowl of matzo ball soup. These places are not cheap, but the quality and the histor...