One of the great things about moving to a place like New York City from far far away (California in my case) is that people always LOVE to visit! This is ideal for me since I can keep in touch and hang out with all my closest friends while being so far away. After playing hostess to dozens of people since moving here ~1.5 years ago (we jokingly call our apt The JTJ Hotel), I think I have come up with some pretty good itineraries for visitors who want to do "New York" things, but not the typical tourist stuff.

(I'll have to admit though that our target audience is definitely the 20-something year old girl who isn't afraid to eat to her heart's desire and likes to shop -- Emphasis on the eating)

Here is the recap of my weekend with Michelle and Janice (of Coastalpolitan) and Kim!

Our friends arrived on a red-eye from CA so of course we let them rest/shower/get ready first. After grabbing some food from Le Bergamote (best croissants ever!) we headed to Central Park to enjoy one of the best days of the year so far! Although Sheep's Meadow is still closed for the season, we walked through the park and saw cherry blossom trees and the lake. [iPhone pic from Michelle]

After a short walk through CP, we headed to the Trump Int'l Building where we had lunch reservations at Jean Georges (3 Michelin starred restaurant) for $29 per person!!!!!!!!

This is possibly one of the BEST DEALS EVER. The food was delicious, the service was unpretentious and we even saw Jean George himself walking around the dining room. Anyway, I think this is a GREAT deal for locals and tourists alike. We were lucky that we had Good Friday off as a bank holiday, so if you ever got a weekday off, you should make a visit!

Now it's time for my foodie pics.

Captions (left to right): Jean Georges' fancy plates (wouldn't it be cool if a whole restaurant had plates made after you? haha), the amuse bouche (thanks Andrew!) consisting of a mushroom soup, shrimp tempura and candied beet (tasted much fancier than what I just said of course), foie gras brulee (super rich and super yum... i did get full towards the end though), beef tenderloin with spinach, fried potato and a really good sauce (if only Kyle were there to help me w/ the ingredients! -- it was a very well made classic dish. so delicious!) and the (free) dessert... homemade vanilla bean marshmallow (which i put into my latte yum!) and rhubarb macaroons.

After lunch, we shopped around Columbus Circle, but eventually made our way to SoHo to visit the Young Designers Market. The market has independent designers of jewelry, purses, scarves and other accessories, usually much cheaper than mainstream retailers. Veronica introduced me to it late last year and I have bought most of my jewelry from there since! Unfortunately, on this particular day, a one day Toy Show took over the area! (booooo) Oh well all was not lost! We wandered into a boutique called Project 234 where my friends schooled me about Yumi Kim's designs. I ended up getting a one shouldered chiffon layered dress with rose details on the shoulder for only $78! Michelle posted about her New York good buys here.

On the way home, we stopped by Baked by Melissa where we got a dozen of her mini cupcakes! She has a window in SoHo that always has a huge line (Spring and Broadway), but also a store front on 14th street (between 5th and Union Square West). This is a must try too!

By now we were pretty pooped wandering around for 6 hours, so we went home for a bit to change for the night time activities.

There are SO many places to eat in New York, but one drawback is that all the "hot" places are almost impossible to get reservations at! I called ~10 restaurants 2 weeks ago just to find reservations for my friends and I on this night.

We ended up going to Malatesta Trattoria, a small Italian restaurant in the West Village and OMG it was so delicious. Yelpers told us to try the Spinach Gnocci and I'm so glad I listened. It really does melt in your mouth! Everything is delicious and affordable (~$13 for entrees and $7 for apps... got bottle of wine for $39). The place is super cute and the staff is nice too. In case you're wondering, here are the other places I tried calling because I really want to try! (Little Owl, Lupa, L'Artusi, Market Table, Otto, Laconde Verde, DBGB... just to name the ones I can remember off the top of my head). Definitely try Malatesta Trattoria though!

Afterwards, we took everyone to Cafe Wha, an underground lounge/club with a live band that plays fun, karaoke-type songs. The band is super talented and everyone there is having a great time, dancing, singing along, etc. We went for the first time for Janice's bf's birthday and took our friends this time and we love it! We danced/sang along to their music from 1130pm-3am!

Michelle, Kim, me, Janice, Tiffany at Cafe Wha w/ our yummy sangrias

And THEN (yup the night doesn't end here), we took a cab to 53rd and 6th to get the famed CHICKEN AND RICE! My roommates and I LOVE this Halal cart (esp. since we live so close!). Don't be fooled by imposters. Before 730pm, the REAL Chicken and Rice cart is on the southeast corner of 53rd and 6th. After 730pm, both southwest and southeast corners are the real original carts (save yourself the long wait at the southwest corner if it's freezing/raining/snowing). Sometimes when it's really busy, they put another cart at the northwest corner of 52nd and 6th. It's a family business, so each of these particular carts are all the same recipe/food and they have been personally tested by me to be legit =) My favorite is the Chicken and Lamb combo for $6! Get lots of white sauce and BE CAREFUL with the red sauce (it's VERY VERY spicy! my friend Larry also died b/c he put too much on there...). For your reference, they even have a website! [First photo by Inga Chen]

Anyway that's all for Part I. Part II will give more ideas for your friends when they come into town or for your own self guided adventures in NYC =)

Please also post any comments of your favorite to dos in NYC!

NYC: The Hostess' Guidebook (Part I)