One of the best curated visual art books in New York and the World, with a bent towards a crossover of music/art/psychedelics. A place to feed the art habit, remembering that the greatest images are still locked in books and not online.

Somewhat off the beaten Williamsburg-track, Brooklyn Art Library is nestled on a mostly residential street. It’s home to tens of thousands of artist sketchbooks known as “The Sketchbook Project”. Over 100 countries are represented and their “collection houses books from small communities in Mongolia next to professional illustrators from New York.” You can donate one of your very own! All the sketchbooks have been cataloged for easy searching of their vast shelves, by artist and subject, and visitors are invited to browse what feels much like a hands-on museum. The Art Library also remains one of the few places to find art supplies (while limited) in the neighborhood, and if you’re in the market for a special gift (including books, totes and the cutest retro pennants) for your favorite art-lovin’ bibliophile, you might just get lucky here.

Otherwild carries a little bit of everything: small-batch beauty products, artist-made ceramics, witchy necessities like incense and sage, punchy graphic tees, and everyone’s favorite feminist activity book: The Cunt Coloring Book. The LES shop is a great place to find unique gifts, but it also bills itself as a community gathering place.

Most of the food here is meant to be eaten family-style with everyone sharing all the dishes on the table. Most of these dishes are best when accompanied by rice: Northern and Northeastern Thai dishes with sticky rice, Central and Southern Thai with jasmine rice. In Thailand, only a spoon and fork are used: the spoon to eat with and the fork to push food onto the spoon. We encourage you to try this method as it is the easiest way to eat many of these dishes. Some things are traditionally eaten with the hands such as grilled meat and sticky rice. Please ask your server for guidance if you wish. Chopsticks are normally used only when eating noodles, Vietnamese or Chinese food (they will be supplied if appropriate with a certain dish), however chopsticks are available upon request.

The Ear Bar has been in New York longer than any of us. In a city of vacuous fleeting trendy bars the Ear Bar (which is really called the Ear Inn but I've never called it that) is the real deal.