A place for when you only have a day and your soul needs the smell of an ocean breeze and to feel sand between your toes. You can watch all the craziness of Coney Island from across the water.

Christina Tosi's magical bakery of deliciousness.

Favorite date spot in town with my favorite food on earth.

In 1963, the Italian-born sculptor Costantino Nivola filled a playground that covers an entire city block with avant-garde abstractions. In the middle of an Upper Manhattan housing project, there are cuboid cutouts sculpted in cement, a fountain made with two diamond-shaped boulders, concrete play horses, and a sand-casted relief carved high into a wall. In the northeast corner, a matriarchal figure known as “The Nanny” rises from the ground. The artist’s sculptures were built in an era when urban development incorporated art in its effort to uplift communities and express democratic ideals. “A work designed for a public space is less a work of art than a civic act,” Nivola once said. “It concerns the ways in which we live together, and in which we influence each other.”

Another Gramercy all-star, I really like this place, you need a reservation or early arrival, sitting in the bar is always fun and the food is amazing!