New York, NY - Fuerza Bruta

If you don't have the budget to do a Broadway show, try Fuerza Bruta. It's not a play or a musical - it's really just a visual spectacular. You stand the whole time (so if that's a problem, this show isn't for you) and throughout the show, ushers move you around to make room for set pieces coming in and out. Almost everything happens over your head and it's a lot of awesome aerial acrobatics with dramatic lighting and music. It will blow your mind. At one point they lower a shallow pool of water over your head (it's plexiglass on the bottom) and women swim/dance through it. At the end, you might get wet - it starts "raining" in the studio and the performers come and dance with you in the rain, but you don't have to stand under the rain if you don't want to. You just might accidentally be under it to begin with, so be prepared to possibly get wet. But it's really a fun time and is just visually such a treat.

I realize that if you're reading this in the future, they show may not still be running. But it has been running for almost four years now, so I suspect it will stick around for a while longer. If you stand in line for rush tickets earlier the same day as you want to see the show, they're only $25. However, if it's a nice day out, you'll have to stand in line for maybe 3 hours or so to be sure you get tickets. They're $79 if you order them the normal way, though they have promotions all the time (you can follow them on Facebook to be alerted of these promotions).

They also have performances of Fuerza Bruta set up in other cities across the world, so check that out too if you're not going to be in New York any time soon but would like to go.

New York, NY - Risotteria

One of my favorite, more affordable restaurants is Risotteria, in the West Village. The menu is primarily - you guessed it - risotto. They also have gluten-free pizzas and panninis, but the risotto is to die for so I'm not sure why anyone would get anything else. On top of almost everything on their menu being gluten-free, they also have tons of vegan and vegetarian options so it's a great place to go if you have a group of people with dietary restrictions.

Unfortunately, logistically it's not so great for groups. It's TEENY TINY and they don't take reservations so there's always a wait around the dinner hours. I would not recommend going with a group of more than four people. And honestly, I don't know why they don't get a bigger space. Customers are constantly going elsewhere because of the long wait and I'm sure they could rake in enough money for a bigger space with the added customers. Plus people might be able to sit further than 4 inches away from each other. They do have take-out though, so maybe that's the best option.

New York, NY - Park Avenue: Winter (or Spring, Summer, Fall)

My favorite restaurant in New York City is Park Avenue: Winter. Or well, Park Avenue: (insert season here). They change the menu and the decor of the restaurant with every season, but most of the times I've been there have been in the winter (not intentionally, it just worked out that way) so I think of it as Park Avenue: Winter. Winter is pictured above and Spring is pictured below to give you an idea of how much it changes. It's pretty pricey (think $30-50 per entree) but the food and the customer service is amazing. And actually, it's really not that pricey considering the overall experience.

I found out about the restaurant because they were featured on Gossip Girl and they had a promotion, which was listed on one of the "cheap things to do in NY" blogs that I read. The promotion was that if you came dressed as a school girl, you got a free meal. FREE. So I went with five friends on St. Patrick's day of 2009 and I was thinking it would be, you know, a free entree and everything else you had to pay for. Nope! They gave us a free appetizer, free entree, two free side dishes, two free alcoholic drinks AND a dessert. The whole meal would've cost probably $120-140 per person had we paid for it. Not only that, but they still treated us like royalty even though they knew we were eating for free. At this same meal, I had the most delicious filet mignon I've ever had (to this day).

I have to say, this whole free meal thing was a genius move on their part. While at first we wondered how they weren't losing massive amounts of money on this deal, I have been back to the restaurant several times since, as have most of my friends. And I've recommended it to countless other people. So they've definitely made their money back off of at least our free meal, and then some. The second time I went really stood out to me, as well. For one thing, they had this side dish of broccoli and cheetos that was surprisingly amazing (albeit rather incongruous with the rest of their menu) and secondly, the table was wobbly so my drink spilled on my skirt and they rushed to make it right immediately: they put something under the table so it wouldn't wobble, they gave me soda water for my skirt and (best of all) they took a few items off of our bill. Really, their customer service is amazing. You really feel like your business matters to them and I find that improves my restaurant experience almost infinitely.

So if you can only afford to splurge for one meal during your time to New York, make it Park Avenue: Winter (or Spring or Summer or Fall depending on the time of year you go).