Made the trip up to New York for Carlos’ 30th birthday. It was cold, but very enjoyable. We went purely to enjoy the food that NY City has to offer.

We stayed at the Renaissance New York Midtown on W 35th street & 7th Ave. The location was great as it was very convenient to everything we wanted to do. We used Uber to get around, which was a little on the pricey side, but it was great to be able to quickly grab a car and get to where we were going. New York traffic, though, is no joke!

While the room was a little small, that’s to be expected in New York. It looked to have been recently renovated. The bed was extremely comfortable, and we liked the exposed concrete walls. The bathroom was extremely nice, and I really enjoyed the walk-in shower with the rain shower head.

We ate at a few places we saw on Instagram. We’ve been burned by the Instagram hype train before, but we thought the food looked too good for it to not be worth it. We ended up finding our favorite pizza place (ate there twice), a fun taco spot, and a great breakfast spot with the best service!

Here’s the list of food spots, ranked:

1. L’industrie Pizzeria West Village – Located on Christopher street, this was by far the best pizza I’ve ever had. The crust was perfectly cooked, the toppings were amazing, and it was surprisingly priced well (or at least I thought so). My favorite was the honey fig & bacon, but the sausage and pepperoni were outstanding as well.
2. Clinton St. Baking Company – Located at the corner of Clinton Street & E. Houston Street, this was a cute restaurant with great brunch options. The pancakes were the main draw. They were crispy on the outside, but soft and fluffy on the inside. They were served with a fantastic maple syrup and wild Maine blueberry compote. The chorizo in the Spanish Scramble was extremely flavorful, and also not too greasy. I also enjoyed their take on hash browns. Finally, when they found out it was Carlos’ birthday, the brought him a carrot cake cupcake. It was absolutely delicious.
3. Santo Taco – Located at the corner of University Place & E. 12th Street. The tacos were fantastic, with the carne asada being my favorite. Each taco had its own salsa paired with it. Definitely try the steak trompo and carnitas. The shrimp taco was excellent, just needed a little more cabbage.
4. Din Tai Fung – Located at the corner of W. 51st St & Broadway. It’s actually downstairs from the street level. Our server was fantastic and made great recommendations. My favorite was the Sweet & Sour Pork Baby Back Ribs and the Black Pepper Beef Tenderloin. The soup dumplings (which they are known for) were really good, although I thought they could have used a little more seasoning. This was a fun, but busy, spot that was our first stop of the trip. Definitely worth the visit if you want small plates.
5. Tavern on the Green – Located within Central Park at W. 67th Street. This was the biggest disappointment. While the food and ambiance were nice, our service was rather rushed. This was the main birthday dinner, and it just didn’t live up to what I was quite expecting. While good, and I knew it would be pricey, just felt it could have been a little better. Was surprised by how small their menu was. We’ve had better meals in Atlanta at Ray’s on the River. However, their cheesecake was really good!

The hotel was surrounded by bagel spots, and we had a couple of fantastic breakfast sandwiches.

I was very pleased with the trip, and we had a great time. Outside of eating, we actually spent a good bit of time relaxing in the room. We didn’t feel the need to get out amongst the crowd to do the touristy things, plus with it being so close to Thanksgiving, they were still decorating and preparing for the parade and Christmas.