About

Why Our Site Is Different

Chih-Yu and I have lived in New York for just over ten years. That’s important for two reasons – first, we’ve lived in New York for long enough to discover a lot of the city, and to develop insight about a lot of off-the-beaten path spots locals know. Second, we haven’t lived here long enough to lose our sense of awe and wonder at what the city has to offer. Chih-Yu is from Taiwan, and brings a strong appreciation for beauty, ravenous appetite for good food and drink, and total impatience with bad food, service or ambiance. I hail from Montana, and bring that small town perspective with me – I’m both obsessed with urban beauty and conscious of the need to get away from the noise and crowds.

We’re not professional tour guides – we’re just New Yorkers and aficionados of city life. We looked for a website that we could offer to friends and family traveling to New York from abroad and within the US that would showcase the outer boros – the best part of the city, especially for a second or third visit – in a coherent way that allowed an out-of-towner to plan outings, but found none. Bingo – here was where we could help!

Here’s what you’ll get on NYCBeyondManhattan.com that you won’t find elsewhere:

1) Excursions to the outer boros aimed optimized for public transportation and walking. When Chih-Yu and I travel to other cities, we often have to cull through guidebooks, Yelp, and google maps to plan our own daily activities. The Outer Boros Blog does that for you – if you click on Park Slope, we link to all the information you need to get there from Manhattan on a single train, plus all the attractions you might be interested in, and everything is walkable from a single subway stop. Plan a brunch or lunch, then check out the shopping or sights, grab a cup of coffee or tea, then retire to a pub, wine bar, or catch some music. Do any, all, or none, of the above. Just one subway ride out from Manhattan, one ride back.

2) We eat/drink/shop/play at bad spots so you don’t have to. Let me make this clear – when we vouch for a spot it’s because it’s the effing bomb. Coffee in Williamsburg? There are a million place, but only two, Blue Bottle and Oslo, made our list. Ditto restaurants. Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens are littered with literally hundreds, and so far only three – Ki Sushi, Buttermilk Channel, and Court Street Grocers – made our list. We’re continually adding new spots and reviewing old ones, but if we haven’t personally eaten/drank/hung at a spot more than once and experienced excellence every time, it’s not included. We encourage you to make use of Yelp – it’s a great site and we use it liberally – but we’re aiming to extend on what yelp does by combining reviews with geography.

Ready to get started? Choose a neighborhood and jump in! See you soon,

Nate and Chih-Yu