Pizza:

Joey’s favorite slice joint is Rosario’s Pizza in the East Village. Joey recommends a neopolitan/grandma slice.

Samantha’s favorite slice joint is Little Italy Pizza on 33rd St between 6th and 7th. She recommends the margherita or barbecue chicken slices. She also only vouches for this specific location!

One of our favorite take-out pizza dinners is Milkflower in Astoria. We recommend the wood-fired Van Dammer pizza (brussels sprout and eggs, yum!) or the Spicy Soppressata pizza.

Bagels:

Our favorite weekend breakfast is Brooklyn Bagel & Coffee Company, which has several locations in Astoria and Manhattan.

Samantha also highly recommends Best Bagel in Midtown. Be warned - the bagels are big in addition to being the best!

Other Food and Drink:

You might have noticed that we like Mexican food - our wedding dinner was originally planned at a Mexican restaurant! Also, of the many global cuisines Joey cooks for us, Mexican is frequently on the menu. And when Joey doesn’t cook, especially late night after a gig, our favorite is the El Rey del Taco truck in Astoria. It’s typically our only non-vegetarian meal in a week. We recommend the carnitas burrito or tacos.

Another food-truck-food that we enjoy is falafel over rice. Samantha’s favorite is the truck on the corner of Broadway & Steinway in Astoria. We also recommend King of Falafel and Schwarma which has locations in Manhattan and Queens.

One of our new favorite restaurants is Spaghetti Incident in the East Village. Samantha discovered Spaghetti Incident with Chelsea before going to see Joey play at Rockwood Music Hall. Samantha strongly recommends the spinach fettuccine.

We also love a date at Ofrenda in the West Village. (More Mexican food - but we prefer to go here for happy hour drinks and chips&guac) Remember we’re having a similar cuisine on Friday night!

After Ofrenda, we love to split a mermaid ice cream sundae at Big Gay Ice Cream which has many locations throughout the city.

Also downtown is our favorite ramen, Ramen-Ya. Be prepared to wait, bring cash, and get the shoyu regular or spicy.

If you’re looking to see a “normal Queens neighborhood”, we love the vegetarian Indian restaurant Samudra in Jackson Heights. Joey discovered this restaurant while teaching private lessons near there.

Seva Indian food in Astoria is another go-to take-out order for us. Joey discovered his favorite, vegetable samosas, when they gave them to us for free because Samantha placed a pick-up order in the pouring rain to grab on the way home from work. The vegetable tikka masala is better than the chicken version, trust us.

There are plenty of fun bars and breweries around the city but Joey’s favorite beers are from Other Half in Carroll Gardens Brooklyn. During quarantine, one of our three fridge shelves was entirely dedicated to Other Half pint cans!

Activities:

If you want to go to the top of a building, our recommendation is the Top of the Rock. Being in Rockefeller Center allows you to see where the ice skating rink and Christmas tree are during the holidays as well as be in the building where all of your favorite late night shows are taped. Also, from the top you actually get to see the buildings you’ve heard about like the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building, Samantha’s favorite. Also, because you’re further north you have a better view of Central Park! You should buy tickets in advance.

Speaking of Central Park, our recommendation is that you start in the middle or the top of the park and then walk south rather than starting at the bottom (59th Street) and walking north.

A good place to enter is on the west side by the Natural History Museum - our #1 recommendation for museum as that’s the one we’ve visited the most.

Also great is the Metropolitan Museum of Art which is in the park on the east side.

For more outdoor beauty with a touch of history, we love Roosevelt Island. You can get to/from there by tram and you only need a normal subway card to ride! That ride gives you a very cool view of New York City’s “grid system.”

We’d originally planned for wedding photos in Brooklyn Bridge Park so we definitely recommend going there: not only to see the bridge but also the Statue of Liberty & Freedom Tower in the distance. If you’re considering walking the length of the Brooklyn Bridge, we suggest walking west from Brooklyn to Manhattan for the best views of the city!