TL;DR

• Stay
  • Hilton Garden Inn New York Times Square South, 326 W 37th St, New York, NY 10018
    • In the words below, you’ll quickly understand why — but I CANNOT in good conscience endorse this hotel. I booked this hotel through AAdvantageHotels.com to get the loyalty points and basically a housekeeper stole my stuff or threw it away. Read on.
• Eat/Drink
  • Potluck Club, 133 Chrystie St, New York, NY 10002
    • Outstanding modern take on Cantonese comfort food in a hip environment.
    • Read this write up: https://ny.eater.com/2022/8/25/23298975/potluck-club-restaurant-opens-nyc
  • Ground Central Coffee, 888 8th Ave, New York, NY 10019
    • Charming, dark interior with excellent coffee. A small seating area in the back gives some ambiance, a few small tables and one bigger table in the front are where I would choose to sit.
  • Jing Fong Restaurant, 202 Centre Street New York, NY 10013
    • I never came here when it was a big, celebrated and venerated dim sum hall and event space. The current iteration of Jing Fong is small but mighty, and the ladies pushing the dim sum carts descend on you fast, carrying hot (or sometimes not, depending on the item) and fresh items to satisfy your hunger.
  • The Independent, 147 W 40th St, New York, NY 10018
    • Charming bar with short ceilings, excellent drinks, and an impressive menu
  • Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao, 24 W 33rd St, New York, NY 10001
    • No reservations – just walk in’s allowed. But this Taiwanese restaurant serves up some excellent food.
  • New York Birria, 1300 6th Ave, New York, NY 10019
    • Outstanding tacos, mulitas, and consomme.
  • Black Fox Coffee, 70 Pine St, New York, NY 10005
    • If you’re in the FiDi and need a place to work, this suffices. A very dark spot with limited natural light and good coffee.
  • Lounge on Pearl (inside the Wall Street Hotel), 88 Wall St, New York, NY 10005
    • If you’re meeting people here for a drink, admire the beautiful interior, the wellmade cocktails, or the free chips.
  • Pecking House, 244 Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217
    • Came to this place with high expectations that sadly weren’t matched. Chinese-influenced, salted egg flavored fried chicken is tasty, but somehow lacking.
  • Miss American Pie, 86 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217
    • A super cute place for a coffee and a snack – but don’t go super late or they’ll be out of everything (like we discovered! Ha)
  • Westville Hudson, 333 Hudson St, New York, NY 10013
    • The Southwestern Brunch Bowl, piled high with avo, black beans, poached eggs, rice and more will set you up real nice for a good day.
  • Birria-Landia, East Houston St & Bowery, New York, NY 10002
    • Spring 2020 – right around the time of the Covid lockdowns, this TV show drops on Hulu called Eater’s Guide to the World. Episode three is called The Ass Crack of Dawn in New York City, and one segment of that episode is available on Youtube for free. To say that this episode and this show is what kept me going through the pandemic is no mere understatement. Watch that segment, then understand why it meant so much to come here.
  • Ladurée New York – Soho, 398 W Broadway, New York, NY 10012
    • While this place is the NY outpost of the famed Parisian macaron empire, I opted for a traditional breakfast of coffee and an open-faced bacon and egg sandwich (and it was excellent)
• See/Do
  • Book Club, 197 E 3rd St, New York, NY 10009
    • Their description is: “The East Village’s independent bookstore and bar.” Makes sense. Coffee and books in the AM. Drinks and books in the PM. No computer policy after 6 PM (sad but makes sense). And a charming outdoor seating area out back. Also note: no wifi.
  • Pearl River Mart, 452 Broadway, New York, NY 10013
    • A cute shop that’s been around since the 1970’s and carries a variety of Asian-themed products (clothing, homewares, cards, etc.). Worth a visit!
  • The Apollo Theater, 253 W 125th St, New York, NY 10027
    • The famed home of comedy is a mecca that must be visited to be understood. Seeing Jiaoying Summers headline as the first Chinese comedian at the Apollo was a really cool experience.
  • Tour the United Nations, 801 1st Avenue (at 45th Street), New York, NY 10017
    • Start at the address above to check in and get your security badge. Then go across the street to the long-ass line to get inside the building. Or be like me and walk to the front of the line to feign ignorance “Do I go to the back of this line?” and have the security guard wave you in if you’re one person…hehehe.
  • Jaeger Reverso Stories Exhibition (at Iron23 event venue), 29 W 23rd St, New York, NY 10010
    • Sadly this was a temporary exhibition but if you’re a watch buff, this traveling show is something you should see.
  • Planet Omega in New York (at the Chelsea Factory), 547 W 26th St, New York, NY 10001
    • Sadly this was a temporary exhibition but if you’re a watch buff, this traveling show is something you should see.
  • Thai Massage NYC Village Thai Spa, 315 Madison Ave #515, New York, NY 10017
    • Long day of walking in the city? Sore feet, back or neck? Stop in here and
  • Broadway Theater – Here Lies Love, 1681 Broadway, New York, NY 10019
    • Here Lies Love was a show based on the life of Imelda Marcos, the former first lady of the Philippines whose shoe collection and wasteful spending while serving as the first lady defined her reputation. A brilliantly produced show that sadly closed too early due to financial reasons.
  • Nederlander Theatre – Shucked, 208 W 41st St, New York, NY 10036
    • Shucked racked up nine Tony nominations for good reason – it is a charming and funny story about farmers whose corn crop begins to die, the shady con man who tries to finagle the townspeople into thinking he can fix it, and the love stories therein. Well worth a watch if you see a production near you.

Trip Background

This was my third trip in three weeks post-getting layoff – and part of me felt really guilty for taking so much time away from my family. But I was also grateful for the opportunity to see friends and family friends. I also took time on this trip to meet a ton of people…both former colleagues from the company that laid me off, professional acquaintances whom I’d engaged with in business or on LinkedIn, and serendipitous meetups with friends who happened to be in NYC.

Without intentionally doing this, this trip also revealed one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had at a hotel – the theft of my items. Don’t worry – that story will come shortly.

Before and after that incident was excellent though – so if you’re in need of new places to eat and drink (and things to see and try ) in NYC, this is the post for you.

Day 1 (November 8, 2023)

After dropping my kids off at day care and school respectively, I came home and finished packing before taking a Lyft to O’Hare Airport. By now, my pre-flight routine is down to a repeatable process. Get through security, go to the Admirals Club, grab a coffee and fill my water bottle, and enjoy a comfortable wait for my flight.

The flight to New York was short and the approach into Laguardia took us over Brooklyn this time, giving us a nice change of pace compared to when we fly in over the west side of Manhattan and get to look down into the skyscrapers popping up around Central Park.

I got to my hotel (the Hilton Garden Inn New York Times Square South) around 4:30 PM, which gave me just enough time to check in, unpack, and get out the door to meet two family friends at Potluck Club. My “uncle” Arlan and “aunt” Lillian aren’t blood relations but Arlan was my late mother’s best friend growing up, and they’re basically my adopted parents when I come to New York. I invited them to join me at Potluck Club, a new modern Cantonese restaurant, in part based on this Eater article from 2022. And let me tell you – the food did not disappoint.

• Hamachi’s tuna crudo (I think this was a special)
  • Cilantro avocado crema
• Jellyfish Tiger Salad
  • This is a dish some folks don’t like, but it will always bring nostalgic memories of family dinners in San Francisco’s Chinatown to mind. Served with cilantro, Chinese celery, scallion and sesame.
• Fried chicken
  • Super crunchy skin (just like I like it), served with these fluffy scallion biscuits!
• XO Fried rice
  • Corn. Lap Cheung. Shrimp. And plenty of wok hei. If you don’t know what that is, I saved your lazy ass one google search.
• Oyster Mushroom Rice Roll Noodles, with Steak
  • The mushrooms. Dude. Asparagus. The tender beef.  This actually reminded me a bit of chao nian gao (fried rice noodle cakes, often attributed to Shanghai) but not as chewy as nian gao.

I got a Lunar Hard Selzer, as I’d wanted to try it and I was meeting the company founder the next day! And we ended the meal with a super tasty ice cream (not the one on the menu…and I can’t remember what it was, but it was damned good).

I get back to my hotel. I enter the elevator and a woman frantically runs in asking me to hold the door.

“What floor, I ask?”

“Six!” She screams, then adding for context, “I really need to pee!!” as she moves her legs up and down in order to keep her from relieving herself in the elevator.

I push six and tell her not to worry, she will be good.

“Why aren’t there more women’s rooms in New York?!?” she asks, to which I shrug. We arrive at her floor and she thanks me profusely before sprinting down the hallway.

Ah New York, you never cease to amuse me.

Day 2 (November 9, 2023)

The morning began with meeting my former Pinterest colleague Alexis at Ground Central Coffee – a place which has since become one of my regular spots for meetings and meet ups in midtown. We commiserated over my layoff, talked about her impending life changes, and it reminded me how much a little effort means to me.

I moved down to Book Club down in the East Village to see if this combo bookshop/coffee shop which turns into a wine bar at night was worth a visit. Indeed it is, if you can find a place to sit. I bought a coffee and found a spot in the back where I could do a little work on my laptop for an hour. It also afforded me to opportunity to inadvertently hear the young woman sitting two tables away from me say, “I feel the caffeine hitting my veins. It feels so good.” Preach, lady.

My afternoon continued with lunch at Jing Fong Restaurant with Kevin Wong, a co-founder of Lunar Hard Seltzer. If you haven’t tried their lychee flavored hard seltzer, please do. It’s not just a rare example of an Asian-owned CPG brand but also a great drink. I walked over to Pearl River Mart to pick up some gifts for the wife and kids, then back to the hotel for a quick workout.

The social train continued chuggling along that night with a drink with Deepak at The Independent. I hadn’t seen Deepak in at least 10+ years and we met back in 2006 when we were both younger, dumber, and far from being parents/responsible adults. Realizing how easy it was to reconnect with someone I hadn’t seen in forever made me infinitely grateful for him, but also broadly for friends with whom reconnecting is natural. Those are rare in life. 

While walking to dinner, I noticed that I always scan the faces of those who walk by me or beside me in New York hoping to see someone I know. That hope of recognizing someone’s face and being able to reconnect with them is indeed a rare occurrence, but it’s happened before and it really is a lovely moment of spontaneity that needs to happen more often.

My night continued at Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao with my friend Tina, who runs the DC chapter of a nonprofit that I am involved with (I run the Midwest chapter). She happened to be in NYC for work, she had a late night train ride back to DC later that evening, and upon realizing our serendipity, we indulged in xiao long bao (soup dumplings), chao nian gao (glutinous rice cakes), and a couple other tasty Taiwanese dishes.

The last stop on the night involved a subway ride up to 125th St. to go to The Apollo Theater but along the way I noticed a lot of young kids with their mothers selling candy on subway trains. A friend later told me it was the result of so many migrants being bused to NY from places like Texas. I think everyone who wants a chance at a better life should have one and I hope many of these families indeed get to live out that dream.

The reason for going to the Apollo? Jiaoying Summers – the Chinese comedian. She now held the distinction of being the first Chinese comic to ever perform at the famed Harlem theater and she crushed her set with her fast talking, foul-mouthed routine. My buddy Jason and I went together and laughed up a storm, and afterwards we were hungry for a bite. So we took the train down to Adel’s hoping to try what he claims is the best chicken and rice in the city – but the line (as expected) was terribly long. So instead we stopped at the nearby food cart, New York Birria, where I suggested mulitas (similar to quesadillas – tortillas, cheese and meat), tacos, and consomme. We were NOT disappointed!

Day 3 (November 10, 2023)

Day 3 kicked off with an experience I’d been meaning to repeat for years. In 1992, when I came to NYC for the first time, we visited the UN – but I had no idea what was going on. I was 10. Totally clueless about the world. Now as  a 41 year old man, I knew it was incumbent upon me to better understand the world around me. And thus, I decided to tour the United Nations. Even getting there was an interesting experience. I woke up later than I planned, and the 1.6 mile journey would have cost me $27. Disgusted by that option, I hopped on a Citi bike and paid zero dollars for my 14 minute ride. Winning never felt so good.

I booked the ticket in advance (which I recommend you do), and then headed to 801 1st Avenue (at 45th Street) to check in and get my security badge and photo taken. Then you go across the street to the long-ass line to get inside the building. Or you can be like me, walk to the front of the line and feign ignorance by innocently saying, “Do I go to the back of this line?” and have the security guard wave you in if you’re one person…hehehe.

While waiting for my tour to begin, I browsed the galleries nearby to learn about stories of people across the world who work for or benefit from the UN’s actions. Once our tour began, we got to see the Security Council and the Trusteeship Council, learn about the disarmament efforts, and end with the General Assembly (where sadly they did not permit photos). It was a deeply meaningful experience, punctuated by this quote:

“The goal of the UN is not to take mankind to heaven but to prevent it from going to hell.”

I can’t remember who said this or where, but I heard it that day – and it stuck with me.

I returned to the hotel for a workout, got lunch from the local bodega, and then I took the 2 train down to Wall Street to meet Gene Zhu at Black Fox Coffee. Gene runs Afar Foods, a brand of savory snack bars (I love their flavors) and we’d been connected for a few months before.

From there, I headed over to Lounge on Pearl, a Wall Street hotel a few blocks from where I used to live in NYC. I was there to meet another former Pinterest colleague Ed Tapan, so we could catch up on life. While we snacked on truffle oil chips and toasted on fancy cocktails, I regaled him with stories of being fired and he caught me up on his life.

Eventually Ed had to get home and I had to head into Brooklyn to meet my friend Chu for dinner at Pecking House, the brick and mortal location of Chef Eric Huang’s pandemic pop up. I learned two things during this dinner.

1. The phrase, “the camera eats first” is often used by and about Asian folks who photograph their meals
2. I really wanted to love the salted egg fried chicken, but I didn’t. It didn’t impress and I felt so guilty since I’d hyped this place up so much.

Once we left, I was unsatisfied with the meal so we wandered aimlessly until we got to Miss American Pie, a charming little shop that was good for a coffee or dessert. I wished we’d been there earlier in the day as they didn’t have much left – but that’s an opportunity for another day.

My day finally ended as I came back to the hotel – but I returned to a problem. A big one. I opened the door to my room and saw my bed had been made, my luggage had been moved/packed up, a garbage bag was loaded with my dopp kit and charging cables, and I was missing items.

What precipitated this was a number of thigns. I had booked two two-night stays so I would have four days total. When I checked in, I had asked the hotel staff member to link the reservations. Either that didn’t happen or it did and it didn’t get to the housekeeping team. The housekeep likely assumed I had overstayed and her protocol likely said “bag everything up.” But as I started to inventory my stuff, each passing moment got worse. They’d throw away some papers and receipts (annoying, but not the end of the world). They’d thrown away a bunch of my groceries and travel items (again annoying, but not the worst thing ever). Then I realized my Nintendo Switch was missing.

I immediately informed the manager on duty who gave me a couple Uber Eats gift cards and some drinks from the hotel gift shop, along with his contact info. What would follow would be a nearly six month affair involving back and forth communications, filing in New York City small claims court (that was a new experience), and eventually receiving a settlement from an entity I won’t name – but it was an exhausting process! See the Final Thoughts below on how that was resolved.

Day 4 (November 11, 2023)

I woke up early so I could talk to the manager about that whole housekeeping fiasco and the staff was apologetic and accommodating — but there wasn’t much they could do (or so they claimed). I had plans that day so I went to the Iron23 event venue for an event focused on Jaeger LeCoultre watches (the Jaeger Reverso Stories Exhibition). It was a really cool experience to see some of the most beautiful timepieces ever built in display, along with stories of how they are created and the innovations made over many years in timepieces.

I skedaddled to meet my friend Suzy (whom I hadn’t seen in over a decade as well) at Westville Hudson. If you’re looking for a recommendation, the winner would be the Southwestern Brunch Bowl, a hearty mix of cilantro lime rice, poached eggs, avocado, bacon, black beans, roasted corn, salsa verde and pico de gallo. NOM!

After Suzy and I parted ways, I continued my theme of time by heading to Chelsea Factory for Planet Omega in New York, a beautoful display of the Omega watch in key moments in history (namely the moon landings) amongst other celebrity ambassdors.

I walked along the High Line and passed by the Vessel (which was sadly still closed) and then made my way to the TKTS booth near Times Square to see if I could buy tickets for a show that night. I wound up not even using them and instead went directly to the theater to see what I could get – and I snagged a $79 ticket to the 3:30 PM performance of Here Lies Love at the Broadway Theater, a show based on the life of Imelda Marcos, the former first lady of the Philippines.

I wound up sitting next to a woman named Nancy from Arizona and while we waited for the show to begin, we chatted about what to expect and what she thought of Broadway shows. A great soundtrack by Fatboy Slim and David Byrne complemented a stellar stage/production environment, but sadly I heard the show closed a few months later for financial reasons 😦

After the show was over, I walked over to the Nederlander Theatre and to my delight, got a $97 ticket for the 8 PM performance of Shucked. This is a cheeky show that racked up nine Tony nominations for good reason – it is a charming and funny story about farmers whose corn crop begins to die, the shady con man who tries to finagle the townspeople into thinking he can fix it, and the love stories therein. Well worth a watch if you see a production near you.

To end my night, I went down to Houston Street in the Lower East Side to Birria-Landia, a food truck whose flavors I had dreamt about during the Pandemic. If you’ll forgive me a momentary time travel episode, let’s go back to March 2020.

Just as the Covid lockdowns are spreading across the world, a TV show drops on Hulu called Eater’s Guide to the World. Episode three is called “The Ass Crack of Dawn in New York City,” (one segment of that episode is available on Youtube for free). At the time, I thought I might never be able to go back to New York City (where the virus was raging) and I considered even the possibility that we would never be able to travel again. Imagining the story of Birria-Landia’s founder and wondering how good his food was sat in my mind for over three years. And even though I’d traveled to NYC in 2021 and 2022, I still hadn’t come to this place.

To say that that episode and that show is what kept me going through the pandemic is no mere understatement. Watch that segment, then understand why it meant so much to come here. Similar to my New York Birria order earlier on this trip, I got a mulita, a taco, and a consomme. It was just delightful.

I returned to my hotel to rest a bit before Shucked (which was outstanding) and then finally called it quits after an epic day of shows.

Day 5 (November 12, 2023)

For my last day, I met my friend Kathleen for breakfast at Ladurée New York – Soho, got a quick massage at Thai Massage NYC Village Thai Spa, then grabbed a ham, egg and cheese bagel from Ess-a-Bagel before taking a car to LaGuardia and flying back to Chicago. I was exhausted from all of the chaos, and just wanted to get home to my kids.

Final Thoughts

A whirlwind of a trip, no doubt. Let me first wrap up that hotel debacle, then bring this trip to a conclusion.

Over the next few weeks, I went back and forth with the hotel, Hilton Corporate, and hadn’t heard back from them for awhile. December came along and Hilton Corporate offered me some points as a concession, but ultimately we were unable to reach a solution. I eventually settled with a company that I won’t name for legal reasons, but it was all a terribly unnecessary experience.

Despite the chaos that trip induced, this trip brought out a number of incredible places that continue to make New York the beautiful city it is and always has been. Even if the specific restaurant changes or the Broadway show folds, the energy that every place brings out makes the city my favorite place in the world.