I feel like I've watched this plant shop grow up because they've over doubled in size since I first started going! Speaks to the quality of the store and ownership. They have an excellent selection of healthy plants for a great value. This is my go to for green.

Getaway not far from the city. Nice beach, surreal pool. Next to Fire Island (which is also super nice).

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.

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.

This is probably my favorite restaurant in Manhattan, it's Spanish Tapas but like you never had it before. You can literally order any dish from the menu, everything is amazing. Tip, it tends to get busy - so head in and sign up for a table, then go around the corner to their bar Jamón only challenge is that you might stay there all night.