For the first time in Manhattan we lived on 14th street – this nice and cozy café around the corner (on 16th) still is our favorite place for delicious breakfast or brunch... Think they have tons of meals on their menu, quite affordable for huge portions.. Plus, good music.

I probably frequent here twice a week, because I am obsessed with Mexican food, and I'm fortunate enough to live in close proximity to this place. Taqueria Tepango is definitely a sapphire in the rough since there are a lot of terrible/over-priced Mexican restaurants in NYC.

This little French-Morroccan restaurant is a perfect place for meeting artist friends and, of course, great escargot.

Love it or hate it...If I'm in NY I want to feel it and see it, the view here is just incredible. Pretty people, strong drinks and late nights...

I'm a huge Japanophile: if there's one other place I'd like to live, it's Tokyo. I must have been there seven or eight times, most recently just after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Anyway, EN is a gem on Hudson Street, serving real Japanese cuisine. It turns out that EN is a chain in Japan; there are a lot of branches making lovely bosky food in cosy neighbourhood locations. But their New York incarnation is grand in scale and ambition, with solid, warm interiors (not unlike if the Whitney were a Japanese restaurant, oddly) - a remarkable hybrid of this city, and the other one that I'd love to live in.