Have you seen the The Best Thing I Ever Ate? It’s on the Food Network (which should be in 5D, right!) and chefs and food people describe the best thing they ever ate (duh). A few months ago I found a map with a list of all the places, and I made it my goal to go thru the list. Can you say YUM??

And though there’s 111 dishes for NYC, I noticed I had already been to a lot of the places… So I decided to put MY personal favorites on paper, and.. voilaaaa!

Writing this post took a while though: I had to constantly get up. The only thing I have in my apartment close to the EXPLOSIVEMASSIVEDELICIOUSNESS from the things listed below is a lot of chocolate, dulce the leche, and nutella. Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Bars kept me inspired (and sitting) through this though. It wasn’t easy.

And because living on donuts and cupcakes is frowned upon, here’s a little mind trip of my favorite eats in NYC. I am not claiming they’re the best (yes, I AM!)  I have had a lot of other amazing things, but these are the ones I wake up thinking about… I almost included pictures here, but I figured it would be too cruel.

SWEETS FIRST, OF COURSE

City Bakery / Hot Chocolate, with marshmallows.

Levian Bakery / Chocolate Chip Walnut cookie.

Magnolia Bakery / Banana Bread Pudding.

Juniors’ / Brownie Marble Swirl Cheesecake.

Rickshaw / Warm Chocolate Dumplings.

Crumbs Cupcakes / Cappuccino or Blackout or Brownie cupcakes.

La Maison du Macaron / Macarons!

MarieBelle Chocolates / Molten Chocolate Cake.

Donut Plant / Creme Brulee Donut.

Butter Lane Cupcakes / Maple Pecan Cupcake.

Cupcake Stop Truck / French Toast with Bacon Cupcake

Corrado Bakery / Chocolate Muffin

Grom Gelato / Bacio and Stracciatella.

now… SAVORY too…

Katz / Pastrami sandwich.

Otto / ANY of their pizzas.

Megu / Kobe Beef Sirloin Slices.

Grand Central Oyster Bar / Oyster Pan Roast.

Burger Joint / Cheeseburger with the works and fries.

JG Melon / Cheeseburgers.

The Stanton Social / Kobe Beef Burgers and French Onion Soup Dumplings.

Momofuku / Pork buns.

and… uh, head explosion: SWEET AND SAVORY!

Wafels and Dinges Truck / Bacon Syrup Wafel and the Brussels WMD (Wafel of Massive Deliciousness). Yeah. YEAH.

Flex Mussels / Fra Diavolo Mussels and the Flex Donut Collection.

Shake Shack / Double Cheeseburger, with cheese fries & Caramel Shake and/or Custard. Hands down my favorite burger, and Shake, and Custard, and fries. The custard flavors change every day and they are 2die4!!!

La Petite Abeille for mussels and delicious appetizers.

Libertador / Short Ribs. Get them Medium. Get the Fries (a la provencal). And the most delicious Flan you’ll ever have. It’s the most amazing meal on earth…

San Matteo / Delicious pizza and panuozzo

Still, my favorite coffee, crepes, lemonade, and gelato (outside of Italy of course) are still in Philly, along with the only beer I like… And my favorite Italian in the US is in Boston… but…

But then…

then there is treat I dream about for months and months, and is the simplest one of all:

Mcintosh Apples at the Finish Area of the NYC Marathon.

Nothing on earth ever tastes as juicy and delicious and energizing and nutritious and well earned. Nothing, nothing.