I landed at JFK airport just before midnight. It was a bitterly cold winter's night, and I was exhausted after a long, grueling day of travel from Bangkok to New York City by way of Manila.
I took a long taxi drive to my hotel on the Upper West Side and tried to sleep for a few hours. My jet lag had me up before the dawn. I was hungry, so I bundled up and stepped out into the freezing morning air to walk a few blocks up Broadway to get a bagel and coffee.
Well, that's not exactly accurate, I suppose. New York City is, after all, the "city that never sleeps", and even at 5am, people were bustling here and there and going about their business in the big city.
I had flown into New York for a few days to attend my brother's wedding. It was sort of short notice. Originally, the day was going to simply be a signing of legal documents at the courthouse with the actual wedding ceremony taking place next year. However, things sort of grew faster than Kyle, or anyone else in the family, could have expected! My brother's fiancé's family all decided to fly in from Israel, and when my parents and even my sister (who rarely travels due to being super busy with my two little nephews) announced that they would be flying in from Texas, I knew that I couldn't be the sole family member not to attend.
I arrived a few days before the rest of the family and was going to be more or less on my own in New York while I settled in and got over my jet lag.
Kyle had texted me a list of recommended things to do and see during my first few days alone in the Big Apple, and after the sun came up, I decided to walk down Broadway to check the first one off of my list.
First up: coffee and a snack at Zabar's.
Established in 1934 by Ukrainian immigrants Louis and Lillian Zabar, this iconic Jewish delicatessen began as a modest 22-foot-wide shop.
Over the years, Zabar's expanded into a two-story emporium, becoming one of Manhattan's largest and most famous supermarkets. It's celebrated for its extensive selection of bagels, smoked fish, olives, cheeses, coffee, and other specialty foods.
I spent some time exploring the store before visiting the deli counter. Kyle had suggested that I try cheese borekas, his favorite.
The shop is really big and a little bit confusing if you've never been there before. I couldn't find borekas, but I decided to order cheese blintzes instead, hoping that they were similar enough (they weren't).
Cheese blintzes are a sort of crepe-like pastry stuffed with sweet cream cheese. They were nice, but a little bit too sweet for my taste.
I was still jetlagged, so I went back to my hotel for a long afternoon nap before heading out once again in the evening to meet up with my brother in Harlem for dinner.
Kyle took me to Silvana, one of his favorite local hangouts near his apartment.
Founded by an Ethiopian Israeli family, Silvana has been a staple in Harlem for many years now. The Ethiopian Israeli community is not very well known outside of Israel, but numbers over 150,000 people.
Most Ethiopian Jews immigrated to Israel in the 1990s after war and persecution made life dangerous for Jews in their home country. One of the largest movements of mass refugees is known as Operation Solomon, which involved a famous flight which packed a Boeing 747 with more people than any other flight in history of human air travel.
We ordered a huge serving of dishes to share. My favorite were the lamb, pita, and hummus.
I also ordered a pot of peppermint tea to accompany my dinner.
Silvana hosts local musicians in their downstairs basement most evenings. After dinner, Kyle ordered a coffee, and we went downstairs to catch up while we listened to the music. The restaurant's philosophy is that food, art, and music can bring people together across cultures, religions, and backgrounds, especially in times of polarization and division like we see today.
I took the subway back home after dinner. It's only my second time in NYC, but the metro is super easy and intuitive to ride. I bought a one-week pass and took the train back to my hotel for the night.
I awoke the next morning around 6am.
It snowed during the night, and flurries were still falling as I crossed the street to a nearby deli.
It was warm and cozy inside the deli, and the workers greeted me like an old friend.
I ordered a breakfast platter, which came with an omelette, home fries, two pieces of toast, and a cup of hot coffee.
I've only seen snow once since moving to Thailand in 2013, and that was just a number of months ago in Utah!
The Blog of Michael Desrosiers: The First Snow
Seeing the city covered in snow was a special experience to me.
The Blog of Michael Desrosiers: The First Snow
Seeing the city covered in snow was a special experience to me.
As I walked around that morning, New Yorkers were shoveling their sidewalks, brushing snow off of their windshields, and getting ready for their day, despite the snowy weather to which they had become accustomed.
I tried to take a walk through Central Park, but the sidewalks were still icy, and it was too slippery for me to walk in my sneakers.
I was feeling a lot better on my second day in the city, and decided to head out to explore some more of the sites that Kyle had recommended.
After my brisk morning walk, I hopped on the subway to head downtown.
One of the things that I was most excited about (besides Kyle's wedding, of course) was trying some of New York's most iconic foods for my food blog, The World of Street Food. This morning, my first goal was to try the world-famous "Cronut".
There's actually only one place in the world where you can get a real Cronut (the name is trademarked!), and it's here in New York City at the Dominique Ansel Bakery.
In 2013, French pâtissier Dominique Ansel unveiled the now-legendary "Cronut". Within days of its introduction, lines to buy a cronut were wrapped around the block. People would literally camp out overnight to get their hands on one.
A Cronut costs $7.75 and is limited to two per person per day. The bakery has a notice about how to eat a Cronut (alongside a list of bakery etiquette) outside the shop. Cronuts must always be eaten room temperature (not hot or warm and never refrigerated) and should be eaten within six hours of ordering them. The chef takes great pride in ensuring that all of his pastries are of the top quality, and the bakery only produces 300 Cronuts each day.
There is no "original" Cronut. Every month, the bakery introduces a new Cronut flavor (never repeating) and sells it exclusively throughout the month. In February 2025, the Cronut of the month was made with raspberry jam and stracciatella, or white chocolate chip, ganache.
I ordered a Cronut and a coffee, and went to sit down in the cozy, heated, and enclosed garden room.
The Cronut, which as you probably know is a sort of hybrid between a croissant and a doughnut, was every bit as good as I had expected. The pastry was light and flaky, dusted in sugar, topped with raspberry ganache, and stuffed with sweet jam.
After my long morning walk, the coffee and Cronut were a nice hit of energy to keep me going through the rest of the morning.
Leaving the bakery, I walked on down Bleeker Street. I stopped in at Our Lady of Pompeii, a beautiful old Roman Catholic Church.
A few months back, my parents took a pizza walking tour of New York while visiting my brother. After the tour, my dad recommended that I should visit John's Pizzeria when I was in town, so I made it my priority for lunch on my only full free day in New York.
John's Pizzeria, established in 1929 by John Sasso, is a legendary New York City pizzeria known for its coal-fired, brick oven pizzas. In fact, their pizza oven has been burning continuously for nearly 100 years! It's so hot, that a single pizza takes just 3 minutes to fully cook.
The walls of John's Pizzaria are lined with photos of celebrities who have visited - I sat near smiling photos of J.K. Simmons and Danny McBride. It's a true New York institution.
Unlike other New York pizza shops, John's does not sell pizza by the slice, meaning that I had to order an entire pie for myself. Luckily the pizza was thin crust, and I had a big appetite; I ordered the John's Original, a classic New York pizza with mozzarella and tomato sauce.
Eating the entire pizza was quite the undertaking, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make for the integrity of my blog!
I was stuffed after lunch, so I decided to make my way back to the Upper West Side on foot.
My last goal for the day was to walk the Highline, so I headed northwest to continue my adventure.
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