A Saturday in NYC

On Saturday I spent all day with a friend who was in the city visiting her younger sister. I absolutely love it when people visit, even for a day, and who want to do anything/everything...especially EAT! We had a blast catching up and exploring the city. The weather started out great (high 70s, some clouds) and by 4pm it started raining - but that didn't stop us!

Here's what we did, in order, along with my recommendations. See the nifty Google Map at the bottom! :)

• Hester Street Fair: a small craft/food market in the Lower East Side. I'd never heard of it but this was our meeting spot at 1pm. I'm not much of a crafts person...but I was all about the food! After having only a light breakfast, I couldn't resist the descriptions of the empanadas at the La Sonrisa stall. The coconut curry chicken empanada was AMAZING and I'm definitely going back just for that! It was $3 and worth every cent. I also had the pulled pork slider for $3.50 because I was hungry and it was good, but it didn't come close to the empanada!
  
  
• BisousCiao macarons: after lunch, we wandered up and down the awesome, fun streets of LES. We stumbled upon this macaron shop that I've been to before and since my friend had never had one, I said we had to stop in! I got the rose and she got the lavender and honey. A fantastic dessert! Macarons are $2.50 each. When you buy a box of any size, starting at 6 for $15, they package them up beautifully and it makes you feel like you just walked out of an overpriced boutique...which you basically did!
  
  
• Delicatessen: We then made our way from LES to SoHo in search of afternoon refreshments aka cocktails. We were hoping for something outdoors or at least with an open-air concept. The wait at Delicatessen wasn't bad and ended up with a table right next to the sidewalk which was perfect, especially when it rained for 30 minutes during our time. We split an order of the truffle parmesean fries and I had an outstanding lychee-ginger martini. It was exactly what I was looking for! Light and sweet, but not overpowering. While the service was a bit lacking (the hostess came up to our table at one point and asked us how long we had been there, basically trying to kick us out even though we were clearly eating/drinking) and the place was packed, it was really fun. I'd go back here for the fries and the martini! My share was $20. We tipped well because our awesome waiter saved us from the hostess and basically told her off. Win.
  
  
• Shopping near Broadway in SoHo: A quick gander through some stores on/near Broadway in SoHo. It gets crazy with tourists and locals alike, so head down the side streets. Check out some of the street vendors off of Broadway for interesting pieces. I've bought good quality, semi-pricey necklaces and bracelets (~$30 each) here before and there are a lot of unique finds!
  
  
• Dinosaur BBQ: My friend (plus her younger sister and entourage) were determined to go here. Even with the daunting wait time of TWO HOURS! I'd never been to an actual BBQ restaurant before. This was a blast! The bar definitely took some of our money during the waiting time and I'd highly recommend the Donkey Punch which is rum + fruit punch served in a mason jar. For $8, it was more than enough to last me through the wait AND dinner! For dinner, I got the 1/4 rack BBQ pork ribs. It came with 4 ribs, a small piece of cornbread and two sides (I had the mac & cheese and vegetable which was collard greens) for a mere $10.50! And I had leftovers! Definitely worth the wait time. Note: I learned via Yelp that they DO take reservations, which is fairly new.

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