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For more than a decade, I've been leading music- and film-focused walking tours of Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. I've also written dozens of food guides, covering everything from Georgian dumplings and Southeast Asian pastries to Japanese omakase and especially pizza. When friends and family come to town, they usually want to see a mix of places they've seen on TV and things (usually edible) they've read about in my articles. But my favorite question from family and friends is "Where do you like to go?" And my favorite reaction before we say goodbye is always, "Wow, I didn't know this existed." So with that in mind, here are the NYC neighborhoods and the attractions and eateries within them that I take friends and family to when they come to visit.
The 7 train is my favorite way to show visitors the real Queens
When I want to show family and friends why Queens is known as the “World’s Borough,” I’ll take them on the 7 train. My westernmost stop is usually Macaron Craft Oizumi for Japanese cartoon character-shaped macarons, then I head to Woodside for the original H-Mart, which dates back to 1982. From there, a slight detour to the only designated Little Thailand on the East Coast and down to Eaterniti Burmese Street Food for what I consider to be the most underrated food from Asia. Then back to Roosevelt Avenue to hit up the momo trucks off 74th Street before a stroll along 37th Avenue to La Gran Uruguaya Bakery in Jackson Heights.
If family and friends ask me about Central Park, I pivot to Flushing Meadows Corona Park, which is my personal favorite. I’ve brought friends to the park to fly drones, play baseball, and kayak on Meadow Lake. My first bus tour stopped here for a walk around the 140’ Unisphere, which is the world’s largest model globe. If it’s between April and October, we’ll usually end at the nearby Queens Night Market. If not, it’s off to Flushing for either Shanghai-style soup dumplings at Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao or Xi'an Famous Foods for lamb noodles and a tour of the more upscale Tangram food hall.
The NYC pizza I take visiting friends to again and again
While Neapolitan and New Haven-style are my pizzas of choice, my favorite individual spot is known for the Sicilian-style thick crust pies where the whole milk mozzarella is baked into the crust and a sauce I’d put up against any in Naples or New Haven sits atop, while olive oil from the baking pans ever so slightly permeates the just crispy enough bottom crust. Since I first discovered L & B Spumoni Gardens in 2011 on the Slice of Brooklyn pizza tour, the Gravesend location (just one N train stop from Coney Island) has been the meet-up spot for friends I only see every year or two. And no one has ever said, “I wish we went somewhere else.” And these meetups have gotten a bit easier since L & B opened a DUMBO location in late 2024, opposite the Brooklyn Bridge underpass from the Time Out Market.
Why I recommend the Roosevelt Island Tram to NYC visitors
The Roosevelt Island Tram is my favorite method of transport in New York. For me, the five-minute enclosed ride at 250’ above the East River along cables is fun, scenic, you won’t have to wait long in line, and you can pay the same way you do for the bus or subway. Once we’re there, I enjoy walking the island’s perimeter from Four Freedoms State Park in the south to Lighthouse Park (home to NYC’s only stone lighthouse) at the northern tip. You can do it in a couple of hours on foot or less if you grab one of the Citi Bikes. It also helps that there’s a ferry stop and F train station to get to our next destination.
My favorite NYC rooftop view spans three boroughs
The William Vale is my favorite place for an NYC staycation. I’ve taken friends in the restaurant business and a pizza tour guide (all of whom I knew wouldn’t be easy to impress) to Leuca, the hotel's Southern Italian restaurant, which I insist has the best pasta dishes in Brooklyn. I usually try to time the dinner reservation so we’ll be done right before sunset. Then we head up to Westlight, The William Vale’s 22nd-floor rooftop bar with panoramic views of Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens.
Yes, NYC’s Little Italy neighborhoods are still worth visiting
Growing up, when my Italian relatives came to visit, they always wanted to see the neighborhoods where my great-grandparents’ generation settled after arriving in America. Yes, much has been made about how Manhattan’s Little Italy is only a few blocks of Mulberry Street now. Yet I still enjoy taking friends and family to Umberto’s Clam House for linguine alle vongole, Caffé Palermo for cannoli (and celebrity photos), and Ferrara Bakery, which has been in the same place since the 1890s. If the inevitable Sopranos question comes up, Il Cortile is the go-to place on Mulberry Street as former cast members James Gandolfini and Steve Schirripa have honorary tables, with the latter having lived above the restaurant, which also served as the going-away party venue when a cast member got whacked.
While Little Italy along 187th Street and Arthur Avenue in The Bronx feels much less touristy and has many more traditional bakery options, I’ve never heard any friend or family member express any disappointment in either Little Italy.
The best old-school Italian restaurants in Queens are out of the way but worth the trip
My Goodfellas Tour of NYC ends at Neir’s Tavern, which got the most screen time in the 1990 Martin Scorsese film. While the memorabilia in this neighborhood watering hole nearing its bicentennial screams tourist attraction, its location between Forest and Ozone Parks makes it too inconvenient for the casual strollers more comfortable below Central Park. And Woodhaven’s proximity to Howard Beach and old-school Italian restaurants like Lenny’s Clam Bar and cash-only red-sauce stalwart Don Peppe, where servers cut your veal with a spoon as if to remind you you’re eating the most tender veal in the five boroughs. I’ve taken dozens of tour guests and friends to all of the aforementioned. And when I land at JFK after a long flight (I hate eating in planes), I’ll often head straight to Lenny’s for linguine with clams or Don Peppe for the seafood salad.
Check out Top of the Rock over NYC’s other observation decks
While One World Observatory has the highest indoor observation deck in the Western Hemisphere and the highest outdoor one is at Edge, I prefer Top of the Rock for its proximity to Central Park and the fun things you can do on the 67th to 70th floors. I’ve done The Beam and SKYLIFT with fellow Gen X New Yorkers (who tend to be as jaded as they come) and watched them smile like pre-teens strapped in atop the recreated construction beam rotating 12 feet above the ground, posing with an apple in one hand and a soft hammer in the other. It also doesn’t hurt that, as someone with a sweet tooth, Ladurée, La Maison du Chocolat, and Magnolia Bakery all have spaces at Rockefeller Center. When friends or family want to try Magnolia’s banana pudding, I always push them toward the confetti cake, which is one of my favorite desserts in the city.
The NYC cuisine I recommend to well-traveled food lovers
Yes, Northeast Philly has a handful of Georgian eateries, and you’re even starting to see restaurants pop up in smaller cities like Greenville. But NYC alone has more Georgian restaurants than the rest of the country combined. So when friends come to town from other great food cities and ask, “What can I get in New York that I can’t get in Houston?" I’m not going to take them for Vietnamese or even Mexican food. Instead, I’ve introduced several well-traveled friends from cities with highly decorated food scenes to khinkali. These tennis ball-sized soup dumplings with the signature gripping knot at the top are, although potentially messy for novices, my favorite dumplings and the world’s largest in terms of everyday consumption.
If someone is in town on business and wants to meet in Manhattan, it’s usually Oda House or Chama Mama. But if there’s more time to explore, I’ll usually take said friend or family member to Bath Beach spots like 18th Ave Cafe G or ASSAIA Restaurant Club & Lounge, where live music is a regular feature and surrounding conversations are more likely to be in Georgian than English.
The Brooklyn Bridge is touristy, but I still tell everyone to walk it
I’ve walked and cycled across the six longest pedestrian bridges to Manhattan, and the Brooklyn Bridge is still my favorite. Yes, it’s more crowded than the other top five combined, but you can always take the subway, ferry, or Manhattan Bridge back. On a clear day, you can see the Statue of Liberty, and family and friends have mentioned that walking on the wooden-plank section reminded them of an elevated boardwalk with better views.
But the real fun begins on the Brooklyn side. For me, walking across the Brooklyn or Manhattan bridges is an excuse to explore DUMBO. There, you can try three of NYC’s most iconic pizzerias on one block or enjoy Thai street food in a small restaurant where the walls are adorned with images of giant elephants being playful around iconic NYC landmarks. Elephant District and the other restaurants along Old Fulton Street have dozens of outdoor tables with a river view. After exploring Old Fulton Street, I usually take family and friends to the Time Out Market’s rooftop terrace just before sunset.
This Hell’s Kitchen chicken rice is worth getting on a plane for
I usually only order chicken dishes at Indian and Peruvian restaurants. But the Hainanese Chicken Rice at Uncle Ray’s in Hell’s Kitchen has enough flavor that the three sauces served with it feel like an unnecessary distraction. That’s especially true of the poached option. Back when Ray was at what is now Time Out Market Union Square, I wrote that his chicken is worth getting in a plane for. And it still is.
Ray's namesake Hell’s Kitchen location is an ideal goodbye dinner spot before family or friends depart from Port Authority. I always order the (poached and roasted) chicken duo and insist friends try it plain before using any dipping sauces. Friends I’ve taken (who never seem too initially excited to try chicken and rice) agree that this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it 16-table poultry paradise deserved its spot on the 2026 New York Times 100 Best Restaurants in New York City list.
The NYC ice cream shop I take visitors to for something different
The ice cream guides I've written lean heavily towards gelaterias run by people either born in Italy or who at least trained there. But when family or friends want ice cream, I usually suggest Malai, where the focus is on South Asian ingredients. The result is some of my favorite flavors, including creative-sounding ones like royal cinnamon with black salt caramel and slight tweaks to otherwise boring flavors like vanilla. In fact, Malai's sea salt vanilla is the only vanilla I've ordered in decades.