This Little Piggy Went to Town!

We spent last week in one of our favorite places to visit New York City. The kiddos were with us this time and we were able to see a lot of educational sites. But today I wanted to talk to you about FOOD!



We sure did our fair share of eating.

It all began with our layover in Chicago and McDonalds for the kidos.

I have to say this is one of the best investments that we got our kids a couple of years ago. They each have their own itouch and it makes for great traveling.

Here they have swapped to watch movies they have rented. I see it as a portable DVD player, Play station for games, music and we have even download books and homework tools.

 Upon arriving in the city and checking out the view from our hotel room {this time we stayed in the heart of Times Square}. We took the subway over to Madison Square Park to stand in line here

The original Shake Shack. Where we ordered singles with cheese, fires and black and white shakes, yum!

The next morning we went uptown to my single handed favorite place for breakfast in the city… Zabar’s!

Yes, I got my usual Nova, salmon, cream cheese on a bagel.

Hannah enjoyed homemade breads

and Gabe loved his #B2 breakfast. He asked to eat breakfast here every day! Now that’s my boy!

We then took the train out to Brooklyn and Coney Island….

Where we rode the Cyclone

the Wonder Wheel

 With views to your right of Manhattan

And to your left the Atlantic Ocean.

Walked out to the beach

 And then grabbed lunch at the original Nathans Hot Dog.

 I am glad to say that we made it out to Coney Island but it’s just a sad site to see what it used to be and what it is today. We won’t be going back there anytime soon.

 That afternoon, after walking Canal Street in Chinatown, we hopped on the Subway and took it over to the lower East side to sample the Doughnut Plant.

OMG…. We made it here twice on our trip but this first visit we arrived about 30 minutes before closing. Got all our doughnut's half off and then the owner was visiting with us and started to give us FREE donuts of everything he had left!! As well as his chi tea which was out of this world delish.

I forced Hannah to try the Tres leches cake donut, she HATES donuts! But when she tried this one….

It was love at first bite! I can’t say enough about how wonderful these were. We all loved the Tres Leches but I also liked the blackberry jelly doughnut with toasted peanut butter glaze..sigh……


We tried out a few new places this time like Five Points in Soho, not so good. I was sadly disappointed as all the reviews raved about this place.

The kids ended up eating a lot here

And by the looks of it

I think they liked it best!

Pizza is a must on each trip and this time we gave Bleecker Street Pizza a try.

This picture makes the pizza look a bit greasy but it was hands down one of the best pizza’s we have had in NYC. Just a step above John’s on Bleecker. Not to mention, in this Pepsi drinking town, I was able to find a Dt. Dr. Pepper here!


Walking a few blocks down Bleecker, one of our favorite streets to haunt, was Popbar.

A kid’s heaven with freshly made popsicles in just about any flavor.

Hannah licked down a double chocolate in no time flat.

Our trip would not be complete without a pastrami on rye from Katz’s deli.

Hannah was a tad skeptical

But dived right in…

Stopping at Russ and Daughter on the way out for some Turkish dried apricots and apples.

Our greatest disappointment was the Clinton St. Bakery. They had some fabulous reviews and were voted best pancake in NYC in 2008. New Yorkers really need to make a visit down South for some REAL breakfast cookin’.

It took us 30 minutes to get to the East side and then another 40 minute wait to be seated. This was at 11am on a Tuesday morning! So I was pumped as we watched through the windows as customers devoured their dishes with a smile.

Ryan ordered up the Banana Walnut Pancakes

I ordered what they are known for, the Blueberry pancakes.

Gabe got the Big Country breakfast.


Hannah just got a plain waffle and they charged us $15.95 for it!


We all dove in and said nothing…


The food was eatable but that was just about it. Little man didn’t even eat his bland eggs and we each left half a plate of pancakes behind.


Nothing can compare to The Original Pancake House in Dallas, TX. It truly is out of this world delish!


I plan to follow up with two more posts on our trip to the big city and then I will be back in the grove of crafting and fall cooking!