Since I started @healthyespo and followed food Instagram accounts I knew I wanted to go to New York or LA to try all the trendy and healthy restaurants featured in those accounts. A close friend of mine @simplybysabri (who is also a fit foodie) lives in New York so it was just a matter of saving up the money and buying my ticket.  I also had to take into consideration that I could not take a weekday off at work so that left me with no choice than to take a flight out of Dallas Friday night and go back Sunday night. That is the reason why this is a 48 hour New York Guide. So happy I got to go and spend time with Sabri and try so many amazing places in this wonderful city. Anyways, here is the exact schedule we followed. Hope you enjoy and let me know if you ever visit any of these places!

Friday

Arrived and ordered Eat by Chloe.

This is one of the most popular and trendy vegan fast-food restaurants committed “to maintaining a sustainable and vegan lifestyle and actively contributing towards lowering their carbon footprint and preserving the planet’s water supply through an animal-free menu, mindful ingredient sourcing, and eco-friendly packaging.” Pretty cool huh? I ordered the quinoa taco bowl made with chopped romaine, quinoa, spicy seitan chorizo, black beans, sweet corn, avocado, tomato, tortilla strips, tofu crèma, and agave-lime vinaigrette with a side of sweet potato fries. Filling and full of flavor, the “meat” actually tasted like actual taco meat.

Saturday

9:30 60-min Survivor Class at SoulCycle

11:00 Brunch at Two-Hands

This is a super cute and small café  “taking inspiration from Australia’s forward-thinking culinary scene and relaxed beachside lifestyle” in New York.  Literally felt like I was experiencing a bit of the Australian lifestyle; even our servers had an Australian accent! We ordered a banana bread topped with espresso mascarpone, toasted buckwheat, walnuts, and honey to share. I ordered the Zoe’s Marketplace bowl made with two poached eggs, avocado, watercress, roast tomato, sweet potato, beet relish & quinoa. The almond milk lattes are also delicious!

12:00 walk up to Soho towards NYU and Dō

Okay so this isn’t healthy by any means but you must try raw dough. It’s a life changer…the 3 of us shared one scoop of confetti mix dough. It’s so sweet that two bites in you’ll be having a sugar overdose.

12:30 Hu Kitchen

– After dō we walked towards The New School and made a short stop at Hu Kitchen. I would have probably dined there if I hadn’t just had brunch, but this is a restaurant committed to cutting out all the bad stuff from the food industry. They use only organic eggs, poultry, fair-trade coffee, tea, kombucha, Hu-style chocolate, wild fish, sea salt, coconut oil, real extra virgin olive oil, minimal grains, quality sweeteners, housemade condiments, pure non-dairy milk, and everything is made from scratch. Basically, you can trust every part of their process and enjoy all of their foods. I bought the yummiest Reduced Sugar Almond Butter Chunk Granola from Healing Home Foods with only 3g of sugar per serving. I also bought the Hu Kitchen Almond Butter and Puffed Quinoa 70% dark chocolate bar which I finished in less than 30 mins as I wrote this blog.

1:00 went home and showered

2:00 took an Uber to Levain Bakery

This is an NYC must-go. Literally best chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever had. It was chewy and warm and delicious. You’ll realize the line is worth the wait, plus it goes by very quickly.

2:30 walk to central park and eat cookie there

We enjoyed our cookie at Central Park. The weather was perfect at 22 C and the park packed with people because it was the first day of warm weather in New York. We sat on the ground and chilled for a while.

3:30 walked to The Plaza Food Hall

So many amazing things there! It’s a food hall filled with places such as Lady M with the famous crepe cake, Doughnuttery mini doughnuts, Piada pizza, La Maison Du Chocolat, and Vive la Crepe. You can have anything you can think of including pizza, sushi, and candy but I ended up ordering a coffee at Epicerie Boulud. We had a cup of coffee there and bought some small souvenirs for my friends

4:00 take an Uber to Chelsea Market

Another amazing place for foodies. So many options I felt overwhelmed. We ordered a Nutty Buddy Rice Paper Wrap from Beyond Sushi made with baby greens, soba noodles, jalapeño peanut butter, carrots, cashews, avocado, baked tofu, cilantro, and ponzu sauce. This restaurant is one of the first plant-based sushi restaurants and believes me you’ll forget about missing out on seafood after your first bite of this wrap. We also had a soup from Hale and Hearty Soups and tried the famous tahini desserts from Seed + Mill. Even if you don’t know what the heck tahini is, ask for a sample of their “Halva” caramel cake; such an interesting and different flavor.

6:00 took a cab home to chill before dinner

8:30 dinner at Clover Cafe

This restaurants menu was created “with the help of a nutritionist aiming to shave off calories wherever possible.” The menu has delicious dishes made with healthy alternatives. They use almond flour instead of regular flour and serve flax seed crackers instead of regular crackers. For starters, we ordered a Loaded Sweet Potato with maitake, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, green chili aioli. Our second course was the Sprouted Grain Risotto made with sprouted rye, ivory lentils, butter, parmesan, roasted mushrooms. As our entrees, we had the Organic Scottish Salmon with sunchokes, bok choy, and mushroom ginger broth with a side of Bok Choy a la Plancha loaded with pickled goji berries, ginger, cashews (my favorite).

Sunday

9:00 am walked to Chacha Matcha

Ordered a coconut milk latte and took hundreds of pics at such an Instagrammable place. If you are in the area walk past Chalait as well just to check out what they have.

10:15 class at Barrys Boot Camp

First time going to one of their classes. HARD, but doable. I really thought I wasn’t going to make it, but the class is split into 13-minute circuits so just when you think you are about to give up, you’ll get a break and switch to another circuit. Highly recommended.

11:30 Brunch at De Maria

This restaurant is located in the hip Nolita district next to The Butchers Daughter (I wish I would have had time to go to both). The interiors are modern and minimalistic, but the plates are full of flavor and color. Don’t expect a big meal, but each one of our plates was delicious and made with unique flavors. I ordered the Tiger Bowl made with coconut grains, house-cured salmon, avocado, hijiki, black sesame, leche de tigre, and a side of toast. For drinks I highly recommend the iced matcha made with oat milk. De Maria and many other restaurants have stopped serving nut milk because of how unsustainable it is, but the oat milk is creamy and thick so try it out!

1:00 Dessert at Pressed Juicery

We did not order dessert at brunch so we could walk up to the famous Pressed Juicery. This was probably the place I was most excited to try because so many people post about it and recommend it. Apart from the cold-pressed juices, they sell soft serve made only with water, dates, cacao, nuts, and sea salt. It’s gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan. I tried all four flavors: matcha, chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. I went for the vanilla flavor topped with sea salt, almond butter, chocolate chips, and granola. I might or might not have gone back for a second serving….

1:30 went home to shower and pack my stuff

2:30 walk to Blank Slate

Had heard so much about this place, but was still on a sugar rush after those two orders of soft serve. Still I made a short stop and took some pictures and ordered a tea. This place is super cute and serves small dishes as well as desserts.

3:00 Dr. Smood

Made a quick stop here to buy a to help me as I felt I was getting sick. I asked the lady at the counter for her recommendations and told me to get the Detox No.9 made with lemon, lime, honey, ginger, turmeric, echinacea, orange oregano leaf, and cayenne. She also told me to warm the pressed juice to help me beat my cold and cough. I also bought a date ball that was AMAZING.

3:30 Souvenirs at Eataly

Made a quick trip just to get some souvenirs for some friends. Wish I could have had more time to dine here an grab a piece of pizza and a gelato…next time.

4:00 Inday to-go for the airport

Last stop before grabbing my Uber. Since I had already had so much food that day I could not bear taking another bite of food. I had wanted to try Inday for the longest time so I decided to get it to-go. Honestly the best nourish bowl I’ve ever had; even though I ate it hours after buying it on my way back to Dallas. This is an Indian-inspired healthy casual dining restaurant with so many options to build your bowl. Since you set foot at the door you can smell all the different flavors and spices used in their dishes. I ordered a base of quinoa and spring mix, chickpeas, beets, pickled cucumbers, tomato, coconut chutney, charcoal eggplant hummus, baked falafel, crispy shallots, and the golden curry sauce (AMAZING).