Going for a stroll on Atlantic Beach is a fall Sunday must. I rarely go to the New York beaches in summer because of the crowds, but standing on an empty, windy beach is a total mind soother. Make sure to take a peek at the Miami-colored Catalina Beach Club. Beaches close mid-September.

I can never decide if I like pies or thighs more. Figure it's not the worst problem to have. Chicken biscuit is so good it should be listed as a narcotic. If you live in NYC and you haven't been, GO! If you are visiting and you find yourself in Williamsburg, GO!

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.

Where New Yorkers escape when the heat wave hits the city. Easy to access with subway and buss but less crowded than Rockaway.

Of all the many museums in New York, this one is the most striking to me because of the unique experience you have while viewing the art. This Frank Lloyd Wright building integrates art with architecture in a way that makes it unique to this city. No matter where you are standing you get an incredible, extremely thought out detail of his work and the exhibited work.