I wouldn’t call myself a foodie. I’m just a normal person who likes food and who loves to try new things. I had raw shrimp brains, raw chicken and sea urchin sushi in Japan. I used to be the kid who refused all vegetables, but somehow I wound up growing up to be a person who will eat just about anything at least once.

I’ve eaten some pretty cool things since I’ve gotten to NYC about a month ago, so I thought I’d take a sec to share, in no particular order:

Pretzel Croissant from City Bakery

I did not wander here on my own accord. I interned at Grantland, and it turns out one of the editor’s uncles started this joint. The pretzel croissant was highly recommended to me, so of course I checked it out. One word: heavenly. Cronuts, ramen burgers, [insert other ridiculous food mashup here] — got nothing on this. It’s flaky and salty on the outside, and full of warm, doughy goodness on the inside. Imagine the flakiest, most gorgeous croissant married the softest, perfectly salted pretzel. It’s so soft it barely pulls apart, then it melts in your mouth.

Birthday Cake Cream Cheese from Tompkins Square Bagels

NYC doesn’t know how to make burritos. However, I will say that all of NYC does bagels better than any West Coast place. On Sunday morning (err, I guess afternoon, technically), I was looking for a place to grab breakfast. I had gone to Bob’s Bagels (or Bagel Bob’s? – no clue) the weekend before, and I wanted to try somewhere new. I perused Yelp and saw “birthday cake cream cheese” — sold. This place was poppin’ when I walked in. I knew I had come to the right spot. The bagel sandwich menu is enormous. I stuck with the birthday cake cream cheese on a sesame bagel. It was sweet and everything I expected and wanted. Although, I felt like I was on a sugar high the rest of the day. Anyway, they also have a french toast bagel that I will definitely be going back to try. Stay posted.

Guinness Shake from Mark

Now, let’s get into desserts. Mark doesn’t look spectacular from the outside. I passed it a few times before actually going inside. There’s a sign outside that boasts “best sliders in New York City” — they aren’t kidding. The sliders are dope, the fries are crisp, the atmosphere is chill, the servers are always nice. Tonight I decided to ball out and go for the Guinness Shake. I’m a fan of the dark beer. The shake is exactly what it sounds like. It’s heavy. It was good, but it’s something you should share. I was only able to finish half of it. The sweetness of the ice cream doesn’t mask the prominence of the beer. It’s all there, which is amazing and a lot to digest at the same time.

Mark also has beers on tap, and yes it gets crowded on the weekends.

Cereal Milk from the Momofuku Milk bar

This is the soft serve ice cream flavor you’ve been craving all along — you just don’t know it yet. Corn flake & milk infused ice cream. Pause and think about that, because that is exactly what it tastes like. It’s a thick, icy soft serve, and you can also add “crunch,” which is crunchy corn flakes with some added salt. It gives it that sweet and salty combo that causes a party in your mouth. They also have other amazing looking treats such as crack pies (“toasted oat crust, gooey butter cake meets chess pie”) and compost cookies (“packed with pretzels, potato chips, coffee, oats, butterscotch and chocolate chips”), to name a couple. I tried a piece of the compost cookie that basically has every ingredient you’d ever want in a cookie inside it. It was dope. I’d recommend you save it for later or for your next visit. The soft serve doesn’t look intimidating in size, but it will fill you up and leave you extremely satisfied. And they have cereal milk soft serve in a milkshake form, if you’re into that. Don’t be daunted by the long line. It moves fast, and it is oh so worth it.

While I wouldn’t call myself a foodie, I do love food, so if you have any NYC recommendations, please send them my way. I’ve also had lovely BBQ brisket, delicious $1.50 dumplings, the freshest Artichoke pizza and the best falafel I’ve had since going to Israel, courtesy of friends’ recommendations. I’ll try anything.

One thing I should have added as a fifth dope eat, but sadly forgot to take a photo of, is the peanut butter and bacon burger I devoured this weekend. It was from Whitmans. I also had the blue cheese fries which were divine, and I don’t even like blue cheese. NYC, I love you, even if you don’t have good burritos or In-N-Out.