I ❤️ New York — RachiePie

I love New York. We lived in Manhattan for seven years and have so many wonderful memories and amazing friends who continue to live there. I still can't believe we left over four years ago! Each time we go back, I always have a list of favorite places and I constantly struggle with balancing visiting our "old haunts" and taking the time to explore new ones. Alex and I have gotten better about trying at least one new restaurant while in the city and then re-visiting all of our old favorites.

We were back in New York a week ago and were able to spend time with good friends, eat some delicious food and attempt to try and survive the 95-degree temps! Overall, it was a great weekend and I'm so glad we were able to visit.

After an unexpected detour to Cincinnati, OH due to the airports in New York shutting down because of lightening storms, we arrived to the city around 8:30pm. After jumping in a cab and checking into our hotel, we walked to Washington Square Park for a late-night dinner of burgers and fries at Shake Shack. Already this trip was off to a great start! : )

Our friends invited us to brunch on Saturday morning to visit and see their now one-year old. It is always great catching up with old friends. Plus, you can never go wrong with a New York bagel for breakfast! Our friends live in SoHo, so after brunch, we spent some time walking around the neighborhood and popping in and out of shops to avoid the heat!

I always love a good farmer's market and the Union Square Greenmarket on 14th Street is one of my favorites. There is so much gorgeous produce and I love to browse the stalls.

Saturday evening was Girls Night! Alex went to dinner with his friends and I went to dinner with mine! We had dinner and drinks at Mercer Kitchen in SoHo and it was so nice being able to catch up with old friends.

Sunday morning, in an effort to avoid a bit of the heat, we headed out early and took the train to Brooklyn. We spent some time walking around Downtown Brooklyn and Brooklyn Bridge Park. From this area, there are beautiful views across the East River of the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan skyline.

By this point, we were getting a bit hungry and decided to take the subway back over to Manhattan. We grabbed lunch at one of my favorite restaurants in one of my favorite neighborhoods, Mary's Fish Camp in the West Village. I love the West Village! The neighborhood exudes charm with its beautiful brownstone apartments and winding streets.

After lunch, we walked along The High Line. The High Line is a public walkway and park which was created from an out-of-use railroad trestle. It sits above street level and provides a unique and special vantage point of the city.

Our final stop for the day was to The Frying Pan. Built in 1929, the Lightship was in service for over 30 years before being relieved of duty and brought to NYC in 1989. The ship was converted into a restaurant and bar and a perfect place to find some shade and grab a drink.

My friend Monica recommended Banzarbar as a pre-dinner option for some fun cocktails. The cocktail bar is above the restaurant, Freeman's Ally, in the Lower East Side. We were only planning to stay for an hour, but the bartender, Natasha, was such a sweet and engaging person that we ended up staying for over two hours! She even let us sample the cocktail she created for the fall menu. Alex and I had a blast and I know this will be added to my list of must-go places next time we are in NYC.

Since we stayed a little longer than anticipated at Banzarbar, we ended up canceling our dinner reservation and stopped at Mighty Quinn's for some barbecue. When we lived in New York, we used to visit their food truck on the weekends, but they now have a brick and mortar store. It did not disappoint and was the perfect way to end the day!

On our last day in New York, we started with brunch at Jacob's Pickles. This restaurant has always been one of our favorite places, but they had a very bad fire a few years ago which closed the restaurant for almost a year due to renovations. This was the first time it has been open since we came back and a no-brainer stop in my book! The biscuits and gravy is an all-time favorite!

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Central Park and finding a shady spot to relax and people watch.

Our Old Apartment Building - the tall Brown & Ivory one in the middle

New York - you sure are special and I can't wait to be back!