5 New York City businesses I can't go a week without
Because the intricacies of weekly routines and being a true regular are so special
Movement in the morning, even if it’s just a walk. A solid hour of water before caffeine hits my tongue. Cooking at home. At least….(we’ll shoot for) three times a week? The sauna and a four minute cold plunge if a weeknight or my checking account allow. One nice dinner. If….a weekend…or my checking account allow.
A routine, especially a good routine, is difficult to craft and unbelievably difficult to follow. Every winding turn of my young adult life has led me to try out some new and improved routine. Probably a routine that I learned about half asleep on my phone on a Tuesday night…knowing that part of my new and improved routine was probably to stop scrolling on social media right before bed.
But we all know how these things go- life gets in the way, things rarely stick. But if there’s one thing about food within a routine and going out to eat in New York City, for most of us, it seems like visiting the same places over and over certainly doesn’t stick. The concept of being a regular isn’t really that regular.
And if I was a restaurant owner, I feel like my dream would be to have regulars, for the sake of business, and also for the sake of community. But because trends here blow over faster than a west side wind tunnel, I always wonder how many establishments actually feel like they’ve achieved the concept of having regulars. Or how many people consider themselves to be regulars. Is this something businesses even care about anymore?
I love a discussion based newsletter, so if you do own an establishment, I’d want to hear your take on this concept.
One of my best friends strives to be nothing but a regular. And this goes for her routine in New York City and her routine everywhere she travels. Being with her deeply grounds me and helps me pause on the tiktokification of my constant running list of must-trys because she doesn’t have a running list. In fact, if anything, she has a list of personal contacts at every coffee shop, bookstore, fabric store, grocery store, and restaurant she frequents. Hosts and waiters sit at our table when I dine with her as if they’re a close friend. Local people in the community are updating her on their personal projects because she’s so invested in making New York feel small.
She could potentially feel differently, but coming from someone who writes a newsletter on the nyc restaurant scene and does…to some degree love to try new places, it’s nice to take a page out of a book from someone who has no hit list. To crave the platonic intimacy of seeing the same 3 baristas on rotation every morning, depending on the day of the week. To actually consistently support small businesses in our corners because lord fucking knows we need to right now as the world is on fire.
So with that being said, and pardon my emotional and sprawling intro, I’d love to talk about five local businesses I practically can’t go a week without. Places that make up more of my DNA than my top 10s of all time. Places that make me think…why wouldn’t this place be my #1 restaurant in NYC based on sheer frequency. Instead of a 4 Charles that I get to go to maybe once a year.
1. Oslo Coffee
Getting your footing at a nyc coffee shop takes time. I would describe my own personal progression of this to start at a different ‘cute’ new coffee shop every weekend, probably one that had some sort of cream top drink, sometimes hot, sometimes cold…to (now) quite literally only spending money on cold brew at one location, Oslo.
There’s about 3 seats in the whole place at tables that look like they were bought at an estate sale for a closed down public school. The wood and the smell of them are elementary and familiar, and if you sit back too far you’ll be sure to knock over one of their many antique trinkets or printed photos that clutter the walls above. There might even be a few pieces of gum stuck to the bottoms.
It’s not a place you’re meant to linger, but a place to get a damn strong cup of coffee that brings you to your next destination as a much better human. If I could bottle up the caffeinated feeling of my first twenty minutes with my Oslo coffee, I would pour that feeling into a martini glass with dinner, roll it up into a joint, or take a shot of it out of a small plastic cup at the bar.
I’m not encouraging you to be the person that buys the $7 coffee every single day. This is a Friday and Saturday morning special for me. Something that genuinely gets me out of bed in the dark winter months to see the baristas on a Saturday morning who are too cool to even recognize me, but fill the void of familiar faces in my story.
Who knew I could churn out a few paragraphs about a cold brew.
2. The Ssam
I have been hooked on summer rolls for years and have always been grossly jealous of those summer roll only places in LA where you get to build your own and stuff the stretchy rice paper with pickled mango and peanut goodness. I also loved my precious time with my summer rolls in Vietnam, the country I’ve traveled to with the most colorful, digestible, and vegetable forward cuisine thus far.
These hyper-fixations led me down a golden road to the The Ssam, an unassuming storefront that only sells summer rolls with both Korean and Vietnamese ingredients. I also happen to crave Korean food to the point of eating Gochujang paste on a daily basis right out of the box, so this fusion simply scratches a different level of itch. These summer rolls are the size of chipotle burritos. They are busting at the seams with bulgogi beef, cucumber, mango, vermicelli noodles, carrots, and (another drinkable) pickled pineapple chili sauce to further brighten every bite.
They don’t have a huge public presence, but everyone who I’ve ever ordered from at the tiny establishment has been nothing but kind. I also am guilty of getting this delivered to me at least once a week, so maybe they do know my name by now.
3. A massage at QQ
Finding your masseuse is similar to finding your cup of coffee in NYC. I’ve tried lush and aesthetic places like Spencer’s, and also a few spots in Chinatown and have never found a massage as incredible as the one at QQ Nail Spa on Christopher Street in the West Village.
Here’s what you’re going to do. You have to call, because they’re primarily nails, not massages, but you’re going to call and ask for a 30 minute back massage with Kriti. This massage is not even the type of massage where you’re lying flat in a back room, it’s the kind where you’re propped up so she’s able to untangle every single twist and turn in your neck.
If you’re someone who cares more about arms and legs, this isn’t the massage for you. This is the massage for all of you Substack writers that have a moat of knots around every single muscle and head and sinus pressure. She’s able to detect exactly where the body needs to let go, and I always walk out of there awaiting the greatest sleep I’ll have had all week. And yes, I go every single week. It’s the best $45 I’ll spend.
4. St. Agrestis Drinks
A little habit I’ve adopted from college is the habit of making myself a fun little drink to sip on as I’m getting ready for a fun night out. Regardless of how old I get, the combination of music, mascara, and now…a mocktail is integral to the concept of romanticizing a night of unknowns in New York City.
I still love to have a few martinis, but I am completely and totally obsessed with the Phony Negroni x St. Agrestis Phony Negroni mocktails (the white is my favorite), and I love sipping on one to feel like I’m doing something indulgent before a night out, but not actually increasing my number of alcoholic beverages. They’re based in Brooklyn, which makes me love the brand even more, and I had the pleasure of chatting with a fellow restaurant lover on their team recently, Paul Hagopian, who also writes a great column.
The difference in two martinis versus three martinis is actually pretty steep in contributing to my thoughts, feelings, and dreams the next morning when I wake up with a headache, so making this swap has become a special and intentional part of my routine now.
5. Weekly takeout faves
I thought I would just make a list for this one instead of highlighting one individual spot because I go in phases with my weeknight takeout staples. Some current ones at the top of my list are:
Locanut- their kale chicken caesar wrap is to die for. My hack is to add buffalo sauce into the side dressing they give and shake it up to be a ~buffalo chicken caesar wrap
Poke rice- the freshest poke that I’ve sampled with amazing pickled toppings. I always do half rice half greens and drizzle a ponzu
Springbone- I know everyone obviously knows about Springbone, but their new tomato cheddar soup has been on rotation for me
Ginger and Lemongrass- another one of my favorite places in the city for summer rolls and a coconut lemongrass pho
Rooted- the first few times I had it I thought it was a tad bit too salty, but their new steak is cooked to perfection and I crave their spaghetti squash
6. (Honorable Mention) Tomo 21
The only reason Tomo 21 is an honorable mention is because I can’t afford to do a whole sit-down sushi every single week, but if I could, I would go to this unassuming slice of heaven as part of my routine. It’s the type of place you’d probably miss if you were standing across the street, but if it happened to catch your eye, the foggy private windows would show cozy, solo diners with plates of large rainbow squares over white pressed rice.
It’s also very reasonably priced for a whole nigiri set ($48) with huge pieces of the freshest nigiri, but part of me always feels a tiny bit guilty getting this on a weeknight. The exact scenario you’re going to want to get Tomo 21 is a Friday night when you want to stay local, wear no makeup, and enjoy a hot cup of green tea and huge plate of sushi, all to yourself, and enter into what the kids are now calling a “flow state”.
The staff is so kind and the hand drawn sushi art and stickers all over the walls makes me feel like I’m in their home. Clearly they opted for family member’s doodles over hiring an interior designer, but it feels so fitting because they’re more invested in buttery fish than an art collection.
This is a 5 star substack post. Dream situations happening in all of the photos. Wow. I violently craved sushi. Need the coffee. Need that massage. Need a boyfriend need all of it
My biggest point of pride is being a regular at my favourite bar and introducing anyone who comes to visit me in the city to everyone who works there