You've heard about the reading room at the New York Public Library, haven't you? Then I need not go on. Just look at it. And you're allowed to hang around in there!

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

The design and photography floor at Barnes & Noble bookstore in Union Square.

Is the place that all the hipsters are eating at recently. Its speciality is noodles and it has a baroque, video game, retro, decor inside, complete with pac man neons and cheesy strip lights and mirrors. Think 1984 strip bar meets bourgeois chinese take out spot.

For art books, monographs and catalogs new and used at a discount. I can never manage to leave here without a bag full of books in tow.