7 months before moving to New York I visited for the first time. I was immediately enraptured and felt a deep connection to the city that I had never experi- enced. It was in this massive hall at The Met that I decided I would be leaving Los Angeles and coming to NYC as soon as I possibly could.

I’m crazy for pork buns and ramen. The wait is always long at Ippudo but I never regret it.

Needs no introduction.

Now in its tenth year, the Division Street restaurant has proven its staying power in a city of amazing eateries. Bacaro’s wine bar and small plates (“cichetti”) are modeled after the “bacaros” of Venice—workingmen’s pubs that serve snacks and small glasses of wine.

I am definitely a creature of habit, some good, some bad, and some worse. This is one of my better ones. Pretty much stop here every day on my way to the studio for caffeine. They brew up stumptown and always see someone I know from the neighborhood. When I get to the front of the line there is already a large coffee ready for me.