The city feels like an endless buffet, but it's hard to know where to begin. To find the best cuisine from all over the world, I ask taxi drivers to take me to their top spots. They always surprise me. —Layne Mosler, 35, creator of taxigourmet.com
Everyone needs to get lost in the Strand, an 80-year-old family-owned bookstore. If the shop lined up all of its volumes, the result would stretch 18 miles (828 Broadway, strandbooks.com). —Elena Snyder, 33, lawyer
A line starts snaking through the lobby at Le Parker Meridien by noon for the city's most bizarrely located dive: Burger Joint (119 W. 56th St., burger $7). —Ryan Servais, 26, foreclosure prevention counselor
The Ravel, a 63-room boutique hotel across the river in Long Island City, has skyline views and swank rooms for a fraction of what you'd pay in the city (ravelhotel.com, from $99).
Part boutique, part bar, The Dressing Room sells clothing by emerging NYC designers (75A Orchard St., thedressingroomnyc.com). —Aisha Thomas, 36, hotel concierge
Head up to the High Line, a new elevated city park, where you can walk all the way from Gansevoort to 20th Street (thehighline.org). —Eugene Ashe, 44, playwright