My friend Robert has lived in New York his entire life, save the four years he attended Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.  We met at the university, and became forever friends, and it is he I hold partially responsible for my love affair with his hometown.  Throughout the years I have been to visit him many times, each time he lives in a different neighborhood.  First in Queens, where is originally from, then in Alphabet City, to the Upper East Side, to Brooklyn to Chelsea.

We both have a bit of an indulgent side when it comes to food.  Not that we a lot, but in that we love different flavors, and one thing about the best restaurants New York City offers, is that each one will have its own uniqueness, its very own kind of flavor.  Flavor in the food, and flavor in the atmosphere.  During my last trip, which was only a short three day visit, I experience more of a variety then I do in an entire year in Phoenix.

And it started the night I arrived.  We ordered out for pizza.  Simple mushroom and spinach pizza right?  Wrong, okay it’s a cliche, but New York pizza truly is the best.  Some say it’s the water, I don’t know.  Perhaps it’s a bit of that, combined with the view of the city skyline from the apartment window, a bottle of very fine Chianti and the company of a dear friend.  I think it’s a bit of all of that combined.  The next day we headed for a falafel sandwich, for $2.50.

Now there are good Mediterranean restaurants in Phoenix, but nothing beats walking just to the edge of Korea Town in New York and sitting in a crowded little place that has been there for 40 years.  We later ate at an Italian bistro in the East Village.  For the next two days, it was Dim Sum in Chinatown, a hot dog on Fifth Avenue, a cupcake from the Magnolia Bakery, and garlic knots from Ray’s in Times Square. I left New York with a bit of a belly ache, but it was worth it.