Flatiron / NoMad

Two floors of spices and dried chilies on Lexington Avenue, open since 1944 and the reason cooks call this stretch Curry Hill. Rice and tea fill the rest of the shelves. There is a counter upstairs selling sandwiches if you want to eat something there. The stock runs to hundreds of varieties and the staff know where all of it is.

Mon to Sat, 10am to 8pm. Sun, 11am to 7pm

Six acres between 23rd and 26th with a reflecting pool and a rotating outdoor art commission that changes a few times a year. The benches under the plane trees face the Flatiron Building. It is the nearest green ground to the Jazz Gallery by a distance.

6am to 11pm from November 1 to May 31, and 6am to midnight from June 1 to October 31. Lawn access daily 10am to 7pm, weather permitting

The New York branch of the Italian publisher, moved to 1133 Broadway in 2015 after losing its West 57th Street building. The stock leans to art and architecture, with design and photography alongside, in a two-level space with a painted ceiling and chandeliers. It is the ground floor of the same block as the Jazz Gallery.

Mon to Sat, 11am to 8pm. Sun, 11am to 7pm

The old Eisenberg's counter at 174 Fifth Avenue, reopened under new ownership in 2022 with the original exterior signage left up. It is still a row of stools facing a griddle, and the tuna melt is still the order. The kitchen runs to 8pm, later than the shop ever managed as Eisenberg's.

Mon to Fri, 8am to 8pm. Sat and Sun, 9am to 8pm