This simple Manhattan salt house is shaped like a monumental grain of salt. The Shed is an effort by the city to make even their most utilitarian architecture into unique pieces of art.

When I first moved to New York, enamoured by its parks and museums and design firms and restaurants and bars, I never imagined that there could be much more to its geography than that. How wrong I was. My first drive across the George Washington Bridge was jaw-dropping - the cliffs of New Jersey are astonishingly tall, covered in a dense thicket of trees. But that was just the tip of the iceberg. Drive up 87 to the Catskills or the Adirondacks and you'll witness the Hudson River winding its way through spectacular scenery and unforgiving seasons. Now I can't get enough; just two hours up the road, it's like the city never existed. Perfect recuperation after a long week.

Roll N Roaster is a fast food place in Sheepshead Bay that has been open since 1971. Get the roast beef sandwich with cheese and a bottle of Moet champagne (not joking).

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

Unlike a lot of neighborhoods the sidewalks in this area are often still paved in the original slate slabs. You can see “extra” pieces sometimes chained up outside like this…. Why pour concrete?