It's Christmas year-round at Panna II, as the walls and ceilings are completely covered with festive string lights. A great restaurant for a group dinner, Panna II offers small sharable plates in a fun and lively atmosphere. It's BYOB with no corkage fee so stop by the liquor store beforehand to pick up all the wine, beer and liquor you can carry.

Dia:Beacon is a short train ride from the city in a former Nabisco box printing factory. This art foundation has 240,000 square feet of art from the 1960s to the present. Dia features the work of Sol LeWitt, Imi Knoebel, Andy Warhol, Dan Flavin, Agnes Martin, On Kawara, Bruce Nauman, and many others. I love going during the summer to enjoy the gardens surronding the building.

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.

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.

Really great coffee and bread.