grown-ass mum-mum

Here are some places I like to go in New York.

Via Quadronno 25 East 73rd Street

The place that got me drinking coffee, VQ also has panini I can't get enough of; my favorite thing there, though, apart from the unbeatable cappuccino, is probably the Crostino Centro Nord, which I discovered after seeing it brought to someone else's table (and, like some kind of plant spore or parasite,* it continues to spread: I don't know how many times I've ordered it and someone at the next table has said, "Ooh, what is that?"). I used to go to this place ALL THE TIME, but now that I'm hemorrhaging money, it (like cookies) is a "sometimes" place.

Lombardi's 32 Spring Street

Probably my favorite pizza in New York City. I do also love John's on Bleecker (where the pizza is, as I once oddly observed, what you might call deliciously rubbery if rubbery didn't have any negative connotations), and Una Pizza Napoletana is so ridiculously good that it almost justifies the $21 price tag on a personal pie...but Lombardi's will always have a special place in my heart and (even more so) in my expanding gut. Note: the pepperoni is so good that people who say they don't like pepperoni (who are these people?) end up eating their words, or at least their pepperoni.

The Spotted Pig 314 West 11th Street

Another "sometimes" place on account of cost (not to mention the frequent 1¾-hour wait), the Spotted Pig is near the top of my list if only for the devils on horseback and the chicken-liver toast. Found this place when the English Department at the school where I used to teach had its end-of-the-year party there, learned the word "gastro-pub," drank Old Speckled Hen.

Grand Sichuan 19–23 St. Marks Place

My favorite Chinese, not that I'm an expert—favorites being the red cooking pork with chestnuts and the dry & sautéed string beans (which also involve pork). Next to a Chipotle and a SuperCuts; not as good for delivery.

Back Forty 190 Avenue B

I can't decide whether I prefer the brunch or the dinner; I guess at some point I'm going to have to put them in a pit together and let them fight it out. Dinner favorites include the pork jowl nuggets with jalapeño jam (I'm serious), and at brunch you can't beat the doughnuts—great beer and cocktails, too.

PDT 113 St. Marks Place

A charmingly pretentious pseudo-speakeasy that you enter through a phonebooth: too expensive, and hard to get into, and sort of ridiculous, but what can I say? I enjoy it.

Ceci–Cela 55 Spring Street

Found this place in 2005 by following the incredible French patisserie smell. Oh, those almond–chocolate croissants.

Levain Bakery 167 West 74th Street

Yes, each cookie is like eight cookies, and it will kick your fat ass, but I'm also partial to the banana chocolate-chip bread. Mmmmmmm.

Gray's Papaya 2090 Broadway

Put it this way: I don't especially like hot dogs. I like Gray's Papaya. EAT IT.

Clinton Street Baking Company 4 Clinton Street

At this point I feel like I'm just being obvious, but—the blueberry pancakes? Get right outta town. Yeah I want to wait 90 minutes out on the street!

Gone but not forgotten:

All State Café 250 West 72nd Street [CLOSED]

One of my all-time favorite cheeseburgers, ideally consumed with a pint of McSorley's. Damn you, New New York!

* Sorry, maybe not the best analogy.