Thrillist New York

Get away without going away via these tours, shows and festivals -- and still make it home in time for dinner, in case you have to get back to reality sooner than you’d like.

Thrillist New York

Here is everything you need to know before you go to NYC’s best picnic spots, where to pick up provisions nearby, and what to do when you get there.

Thrillist New York

Maybe leave the open flames to the pros, but sampling peculiarly prepared unusual ingredients may inspire you to toy with tinctures, embrace infusions, or at least add a dash of bitters now and then. Get started with NYC’s most novel tipples that taste as good as they look.

Thrillist New York

As long as you make an effort to stay relatively hydrated, fortify with whatever Benedict, omelette, breakfast burrito, or maple syrup vehicle you ordered to justify mid-morning’s raison d’être, and choose from this list of eggcellent options, you’ll be a brunch pro before happy hour.

Thrillist New York

It’s no wonder that what started as a trend integrating yoga with wine has extended to pairing other kinds of wellness practices with cocktail hours and beer tastings. Both wellness -- a recently maligned word-turned-slogan that really just amounts to any fitness-adjacent activity -- and a little liquid courage are necessary now that the zeitgeist seems in want of an exorcism. And this type of self-care is particularly alluring during this time of year, when the heightened indulgences and intensity of the holidays juxtapose with the looming expectations of being your best self come the new year. Adopt an early resolution and take care of yourself. Here is everywhere you can chase your relaxation with libations in New York City.

Edible Manhattan

Lest you leave thinking Good Beer didn’t also mean good food, every vendor who came to feed us did it right. Like our beer options, the foods on offer spanned continents. Spicy and salty flavors seemed to be the unofficial theme of the night, as evidenced by my personal favorite bites of the night from Little Tong, whose salted cucumbers with bang bang sauce, chili and fried garlic were so perfectly integrated that I went back for more three times, and Blue Smoke, whose pimento cheese-sausage-jalapeño crackers were a master class in hors d’oeuvres preparation. My patience in waiting until the end of the night to taste the sweet treats paid off when JoMart Chocolates’ beer truffles and beer and pretzel caramels melted in my mouth as I departed, sufficiently buzzed and appetized, into the gorgeous night.

Edible Brooklyn

In other words, we ate well. We drank well, too: The second course, Kimchi Shakshuk, was paired with Green Juice, allowing Ben to really spotlight his approach to the meal’s cocktail program—“I thought about the pairings as if I would include the ingredients [of the drink] with the dish itself.” He combined the juniper-forward Sipsmith with the sweet and vegetal flavors of the Chartreuse, and added the cucumber and herbs to amplify the kimchi and shrimp in the dish.

Edible Manhattan

Both the walking tour and the dinner, like the other tours, encourage thoughtful dialogue and give you a chance to consider your own food memory, how food helps shape our senses of identity and the geographic realities that make some foods endemic to certain places (not to mention what it means for those foods to travel away from their “homelands”). Both experiences also challenge you to think about what our varying interpretations of “American food” say about American culture, and the role food plays in our economy and politics.

Edible Brooklyn

Unsurprisingly, Kiara has big dreams for her future. After high school, she wants to attend Johnson & Wells University, where she’ll continue to grow her culinary talents then work as a chef in the Air Force. Ultimately, she hopes to own her own bed and breakfast, which will have a garden onsite and will of course source ingredients from nearby farms.