Great Decor, Great Food, Good Fun.

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.

One of the only things I enjoy about taking the subway these days is seeing the defaced ads on the L train. Whether it's random chance, high schoolers or street artists the result is always good.

My favorite neighborhood fancy chinese spot. Quality soup dumplings (it's obligatory to get an order). Mock eel (mushrooms), ants climbing a tree (noodles), salt & pepper fry (fresh daily), and mu shu duck are some of the go-tos. It's spicy and filling—worth a night of feasting. 

Bowling, beer, and pool - what more could a girl ask for? I'd like to start a bowling league here in the fall. Some possible league names include The Crystal Bowls, Disembowled, and Ebowlo Virus. I'm open to suggestions.