The Bourgeois Pig

Imagine a really fancy bordello. The bordello waiting room, perhaps, where you are served wine and cheese, maybe some chocolate fondue, before entering the palace itself. The image you now have in your mind is that of The Bourgeois Pig, a wine bar on 7th street in the East Village. I've been there twice, and every time is a dirty experience, even if all you do is just sit there and eat (amazing) cheese. Most people head here for the chocolate fondue, though, so keep that in mind. Also, keep in mind that a bottle of wine is half off on Mondays and Tuesdays...

Joe: The Art of Coffee

Yes! Sometimes what you need is just an ucomplicated cup of coffee. Joe's has that cup. No nonsense, nothing but magnificent coffee. Joe's - especially the one on Columbus between 84th and 85th - is perfect for sit and read while sipping a cup of joe (pun intended).

Veselka

Ukranian soulfood? What's that?

This was pretty much my first response to hearing about Veselka, after which I drunkenly stepped inside at 4am on a Wednesday night, and ate wondrous pirogis. Veselka is open 24/7 which is wonderful for the sole reason that it's the best place to stumble inside and eat your heart out after a night of debauchery. However, it's also plain nice to stumble in here in the daytime and eat a veggie burger (with pirogis, of course!).

Doma

Doma is what you would call "super chill". It's this haven for the sophisticated intellectuals that still manages to be low key and, yeah, chill. I remember reading Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man is Hard to Find in there and suddenly speaking to a woman about the religious views in it (I still believe there are negative notions on religion despite O'Connor's official beliefs in there), and that's exactly what you can find in Doma: chill intellectuals - and French speaking staff. Oh, what's not to love?

Bookcourt

As you may have discovered after reading my blog, I have a passion for books. In Manhattan there’s The Strand, and in Brooklyn there’s Bookcourt. It may not be as vast as The Strand (but what is?), but they have readings most night – and when I say most night, I mean, six out of seven. Those readings usually come with free wine and sometimes even food. Hooray for free drinks and appetizers! Last Sunday I was at one of these readings, and even though I wasn’t fond of the way it turned out (call me conservative, but when I go to readings I expects readings, not some dancing fool, a political debate and three bad songs), I still enjoy the silent poetry of just sitting inside Bookcourt. Their selection is impressive and their staff knows what they’re talking about.

Dyckman Bakery

I do try to stay away from them, but it's going to get a lot harder now after my friend Sarah (pictured to your left) told me that they were right in my neighborhood. I'm of course talking about cakes, those delish things that I could eat all day long. And now that I know Dyckman Bakery is in the world, it's going to be hard for me to just walk on by like I'm not affected by the delicious smell of sweet, sweet sugar.

Milady's

Just as I thought that lower SoHo was just a bunch of fancy boutique windows after dark, I go and find this place: Milady's. After an evening being intellectual and interesting in SoHo, my friend Brandy and I decided to head for the nearest dive. Enter Milady's, a friendly place in the middle of tourist mecca where you'd normally not expect to find anything this cool and divey.