NYC

Restaurant Map 

Why did you choose to map out restaurants in NYC?

I just asked myself why I personally love NYC so much. I LOVE food and trying new restaurants and apparently, there are about 16,700 restaurants in Manhattan... A different one to eat in every day for 46 years. Manhattan is clearly the perfect place for a foodie like me.

I wanted to create something that would point to why I love this city, so mapping out the places where I feel the happiest, seemed like the right direction.

In one of my past blogs for Sense of Place, I questioned whether it was only possible to have an intimate relationship with a place if we don’t have an intimate relationship with a person within that place. This project is an illustration of how restaurants in particular have become important elements in the equation for my own love for NYC.

Why did you choose to map out these restaurants in particular?

I chose each of these restaurants because they mean a lot to me. Each restaurant represents someone close to me because of the memorable experiences I had with each of them at these places.

This is not a listing of my favorite restaurants solely in terms of food quality. (Although I must say, most of the restaurants on the list are incredible.)

I am well aware that two of these seven restaurants listed, are scoffed upon by foodies, which I can completely understand. Unlike the other restaurants, these two do not focus primarily on the quality of their food. They can be known as “tourist traps”….or just the restaurants that amateurs believe are top notch restaurants.

Will you please elaborate on the memories and/or people that each of these restaurants represent?

Absolutely.

Estiatorio Milos, an incredible seafood restaurant uptown, reminds me of my Dad.

I loved every time he would come visit me in ny on business trips. It was our time of bonding. I come from a big family, and so this was the only opportunity we had for one-on-one time. The two of us would choose restaurants to try out together and always had a blast.

At this particular restaurant, I remember my Dad ordering a glass of wine for each of us. It was the first time I had my own glass of wine at a restaurant. (I was underage of course.) When the waiter asked my dad if the wine was to his liking, my Dad, with a serious look on his face, lifted the glass, delicately twirled the glass in his hand, then placed the glass under his nose and moved the glass side to side as he took in the wine’s aroma…….then he just nodded his head up and down to the waiter, to say yes . Once the waiter walked away, my dad suddenly puts a big smile on his face and says to me “I have no idea what the hell I just did.”

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