The group.

Although living in a hoarder house was one of the more memorable and unique parts of my recent trip to NYC, there were many more adventures had.

Highlights include:

• Wa Jeal Sichuan Chili House, the best General Tso’s Chicken in NYC (well so said Yelp, and I’d be hard pressed to find any better).
• Bagelsmith, my first delve into New York bagels, which are certainly the best around.
• Smorgasburg, a food flea market in Williamsburg, Brooklyn featuring a fantastic view of Manhattan and some incredible food. My friends and I decided to split our food so we could try as much as possible. This included a delicious BBQ brisket sandwich, a lobster roll that was to die for, frozen s’mores, a frozen Arnold Palmer with mango and a Dulce de Leche donut.

BBQ sandwiches at Smorgasburg.

Sarah and me sharing a lobster roll.

The view of Manhattan from Brooklyn.

• The great markets and thrift shops throughout NYC, including Artists & Fleas and Chelsea Market. I found a really awesome Hawaiian shirt at a thrift shop in Brooklyn (so hipster) and bought a few prints from an awesome an art booth called Leroy’s Place. The artist buys old (and sometimes lame) landscape paintings from flea markets and draws monsters on them with a paint pen. You should check out the online shop here. I also met a fellow Arkansan in Chelsea Market looking at an Arkansas pendant. He was from Batesville and knew someone I used to do theatre with!

One of the prints I bought.

• A lot of fun dive bars (especially in Williamsburg).
• The Brooklyn Brewery, where you can drink some great beers and take a free tour!

Us at the Brooklyn Brewery.

• The High Line, a garden/park on top of an old elevated rail line. There’s some cool food booths, including the best iced coffee at Blue Bottle Coffee and a popsicle stand where I bought a mango chile popsicle that was actually spicy (and tasty!).

Polaroids on the High Line.

• Calle Ocho, a fantastic Latin fusion restaurant with a brunch that includes eight different flavors of all-you-can-drink sangria with purchase of entree. We ate here right before catching the megabus back home.Needless to say, we went out with a bang.

Brunch at Calle Ocho.

I left New York with much unexplored and will be returning at the end of August after I finish interning!