My friends, Dee & Ricky, recently opened up their own restaurant at the ripe age of 24 in the Clinton Hill neighborhood. I stop in here every now and then for the roti. Also, there's a really cool (Nigeria-owned) sandwich & smoothie spot next door that is not pictured.

A good flat white is hard to find but this is one place in NYC that has coffee that tastes like it does back in New Zealand.

My favorite restaurant in Manhattan, it's super fresh, vegan/vegetarian and tasty and the staff is wonderful.

This is one of my favorite bars in Manhattan. It has a courtyard in the middle and they only serve a large selection of Belgian beer. It's always dark with red lights so it's like a giant darkroom with everyone developing hangovers instead of film. The courtyard creates a front bar that is open on the weekends, so if you get cornered talking about architecture you can escape over to the front bar and watch people walk down 4th street.

The best place to see a dramatic sunset is right by Valentino Pier in my neighborhood of Red Hook, Brooklyn. This was right after a storm. It's wild and brilliant and peaceful all at once.