Whew! March has been a whirlwind of traveling—after a fun work trip to Austin, Texas and a few days in Birmingham, I hopped on a plane to spend 72 hours in New York City with one of my best friends Nikki. Nikki lives in NYC, and this is my second time visiting her and my shortest trip yet. We hit up a few restaurants, grabbed way too much coffee and had a ton of fun. Sharing my recap in case you want to make the most of a few days!
NIGHT ONE: dinner + dessert
MASALA TIMES
We got in around 5PM on Tuesday and quickly ran to grab dinner and dessert! We didn’t have any specific cuisine in mind but when I mentioned craving Indian, we both knew it would be delicious. We found a spot called Masala Times in Greenwich Village that was delicious and had such fun Bollywood vibes. We both got Kathi rolls which are so so comforting and were the perfect first meal in the city.
FIGO
We walked across the street to grab a quick sweet treat at a gelateria called Il Figo. Nikki got their dark chocolate gelato and I got the maritozzo. This spot was so fun and had so many delicious dessert options, so if you’re in Greenwich Village, I highly recommend.
DAY TWO: pilates, coffee + Lower East Side exploring
METHOD COLLECTIVE
I knew this would be a short 72 hours in New York City and my biggest priority on this trip was taking a pilates class! I love workout classes in Birmingham and one of my favorite parts of traveling is incorporating what I already do in my day-to-day life in a new city. We wanted to find a pilates class near Nikki’s apartment, and Method Collective was about a mile walk, so it was perfect. We paid $30 for the single class and took cardio pilates at 7:30AM, and it was such a great way to start our morning! I felt so productive to get the day started on vacation before 8AM.
DEAR MAMA
Obviously we needed coffee after our pilates class, and Dear Mama was very close. I got a latte with vanilla and sage and while the latte wasn’t the best I had on the trip, the vibes of this spot were so worth it. It would be a great place to work from home or study for a day.
LA PECORA BIANCA
After getting ready for the day, we hopped on the subway to head into the Lower East Side. La Pecora Bianca was on Nikki’s list of places to try and wow. I will be dreaming of this rigatoni with vodka sauce and stracciatella. If you’re looking for spots to check out, I highly recommend heading here, especially for lunch where it’s not as busy.
ENLY
If you’re on TikTok, you’ve probably seen the viral tiramisu latte. It’s $10 which is obviously a splurge for a latte but it. is. worth. it. It was the best coffee I had on the trip, and the mascarpone cold foam made it taste more like a dessert! If I only had 72 hours in New York City again, I’d still make the time to come here.
ROMEO’S
We hopped along a few art galleries on the Lower East Side and around 5, we stumbled upon a bar called Romeo’s. I loved this spot! We grabbed martinis (FYI: they have a martini happy hour) and chatted with the bartender, Clayton, who was also from the South and truly so friendly and kind. This was the perfect pre-dinner spot, but they also have food in case you want to do dinner and drinks there!
UNIQUE OMAKASE
Okay, so we didn’t really do our research here—we originally wanted to grab omakase at a lower price point nearby but missed the time slot, so we decided to grab omakase at a spot we had passed on the way. Unique Omakase was $140 for 14 courses, and I will say these were more on the adventurous side. If you’ve never done omakase, I would start with something like Sugarfish because there were a few courses here that I really didn’t love. Regardless, the experience was amazing and the chef was so kind.
CECILIA
We walked past a bar called Cecilia and obviously had to stop in! This is a restaurant with drinks that are all made with soju, and the vibe is certainly moody and feels more like a restaurant than a bar. Major bonus: if your name is Cecilia, they’ll bring you a free Sundae?! Obviously took them up on that.
DAY THREE: Upper West Side brunch + West Village bar hopping
MAMAN
Our second full day, Thursday, was so gloomy, so we headed into the Upper West Side for some caffeine and brunch. I had seen a TikTok about a latte at Maman and ordered it, but I’ll be honest, it wasn’t my favorite! I got the salted honeycomb tahini latte and Nikki got the orange blossom caramel cappuccino, and neither were our favorites. Brunch was amazing though–the avocado tartan was perfectly fresh and filling. If you only have 72 hours in New York City, I wouldn’t go out of my way for Maman’s coffee, but I would definitely recommend their breakfast.
DAILY PROVISIONS
We didn’t want to head back to Harlem immediately, but it was so chilly and rainy that we only wanted to stay in the Upper West Side for a bit longer. We walked a few blocks to Daily Provisions for even more coffee and I grabbed a maple cruller that was so delicious and tasted like French toast.
DANTE
If you like a dirty martini, it’s well worth trying to make a reservation at Dante for their martini happy hour! We got lucky and got seats at the bar immediately, but Nikki told me it’s usually too busy to expect that, so if you want to go, be sure to plan ahead. If you’re not a drinker, I still have to recommend splitting the bread… it was so incredibly moist and the butter was the most perfectly salted butter.
BAR HOPPING
Thursday night is absolutely a blur, so I can’t recommend any specific bars unfortunately… we hit up a few and while all were fun, I think you could have the same experience bar hopping in the city at any bars! Next time I go, I’d still go bar hopping but I’d swap my drinks for plain Diet Cokes to avoid the next day hangover, lol.
MORNING FOUR: back home
Y’all, I definitely had time to do something fun on Friday morning before my flight home… but I was recovering from our aforementioned bar hopping. And on another note… my sobriety journey will resume because I just simply don’t want another hangover. We spent Friday morning watching Girls and I packed before heading to the airport around noon!
72 hours in New York City goes by so quickly, but it still felt like the perfect trip! Absolutely can’t wait to book my next flight. Thanks for reading and spending a few minutes with me!
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