or heritage-breed meat. Stick with the theme and get a classic tuna melt— canned tuna, mayonnaise and cheese on toasted rye—and wash it down with an egg cream or a Dr Brown’s soda.
19 Dinner in the dining room at Gramercy Tavern
42 East 20th Street, Gramercy (www. gramercytavern.com) $$$ Consistently ranked by Zagat as one of the city’s top restaurants, this easygoing restaurant from owner Danny Meyer and chef Michael Anthony has a special ability to make customers feel not as if they’re in a popular restaurant, but guests at a close friend’s dinner party.
20 Two dogs and a papaya drink at Gray’s Papaya
2090 Broadway, Upper East Side & 402 6th Avenue, Greenwich Village (http:/ /grayspapayanyc.com) $ There are two branches of this minuscule hot dog stand, which, like its main competitor Papaya Dog, specialises in griddled hot dogs and saccharine-sweet tropical drinks. If that doesn’t sound fancy, it isn’t. But it is really satisfying— and a quintessential NYC experience.
17 Mid-day snacks at Eataly
200 5th Avenue, Flatiron District (www. eataly.com) $$ This huge Italian superstore in the Flatiron district—a joint venture between the Italian Eataly chain and celebrity restaurateurs Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich—is currently NYC’s hippest spot. Go in the middle of the afternoon and make a point of grazing at several of the shop’s many food counters. Il Pesce, the fish counter, is a standout.
photographs: noah fecks; virginia rollison
21 Offal at Takashi
456 Hudson Street, West Village (www. takashinyc.com) $$ Prime cuts of beef abound in New York’s steakhouses, but what of the off-cuts? Enter Takashi, a far-West Village ode to the gnarly bits: beef stomachs, cheeks, tongues, and aorta are all served, ready to be grilled at diners’ tables. Waits for two-tops are regularly quoted at threeplus hours, but luckily reservations are taken for parties of four people or more. 169
18 The tuna melt at Eisenberg’s Sandwich Shop
174 5th Avenue, Flatiron District (http:/ / eisenbergsnyc.com) $ Walking into this sandwich counter feels like travelling 50 years back in time, before anyone had heard of heirloom vegetables