The design and photography floor at Barnes & Noble bookstore in Union Square.

I have been getting burgers here since I first moved to NYC. I think it is 1000 years old or something like that. Only two types of burgers, with or without bacon. I like easy decisions and this place is full of them. There is usually a line to be seated, but it always seems to go fast with $2.50 mugs of McSorley's. It's also at this strange vortex in the west village where 4th street and 12th street cross. Maybe that's why the line never takes too long and everything is so cheap.

The reputation of Mission Chinese Food is for being cool, weird, and extremely eccentric, which tends to mean that you either love it or hate it (an assessment that is at least somewhat correlated to your personal tolerance for spice).

If I lived closer to the West Village I’d go over to Jack’s every morning for a coffee and occasionally having what is probably the best chocolate chip cookie in New York (and it’s just a dollar!). Even though it’s rarely in my way I try to go here now and then, maybe in combination with a stroll down the beautiful Bleeker Street or to read a book sitting in their window.

Best lobster roll outside of Maine. The brunch is a well kept secret. Chicken and waffles and shrimp & grits are my picks for brunch.