While the current trend in noodles may well be ramen, this bafflingly-named Japanese restaurant just ten minutes from my apartment specialises in udon. Unless you are my friend Diego Zambrano it will probably take you several visits to get through all the things you need to try on the menu - the gyoza are otherworldly, the sushi 'tacos' clever enough without being silly. New York has thousands of awful Japanese places; this is not one of them. It's super nice to come in on a Sunday night and eat at the bar next to curmudgeonly old guys barking at each other in Japanese.

7 months before moving to New York I visited for the first time. I was immediately enraptured and felt a deep connection to the city that I had never experi- enced. It was in this massive hall at The Met that I decided I would be leaving Los Angeles and coming to NYC as soon as I possibly could.

Going here feels like traveling. I usually go for lunch or brunch and never leave hungry. Finish with a Cuban Cortadito.

Get a piece of the south back with a chicken biscuit from Pies & Thighs.

You've heard about the reading room at the New York Public Library, haven't you? Then I need not go on. Just look at it. And you're allowed to hang around in there!