The perfect pizza in my books. Felt like a sweet spot between New York style pizzas and the classic Neapolitan 

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.

Manhattan's Chinatown is my second favorite neighborhood next to Fort Greene. It's full of people, odors, bars, clubs, cafes, and restaurants. There's always something going on here.

Easing in the park, the city facing you and traffic honking its way over the Brooklyn Bridge. Best enjoyed on a late-summer afternoon/night.

Intimate east village record shop with an excellently curated selection of second hand and new vinyl.