Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Show: Hair (I've been 7 times, and everyone I bring goes back on their own. It is THAT good, and a bit more exciting than South Pacific.) Or, if you want a new show, Next to Normal is the best new show I've seen in years. My good friend saw it 10 times Off Broadway, and now that it is on Broadway he's seen it 6 times.
Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art...really, everyone should see it.

As for food, I would say DiFara...

i would say otto chinatown and p.s. 1 (also lots of great inexpensive food in long island city) or the guggenheim

Veselka. Momofuku Noodle Bar. Dim Sum in Chinatown.

@producestories: DId you just mean any dim sum place in chinatown or is there a place actually called Dim Sum? I found this.

Haha, well ok, if you're looking for something to entertain guys, then I DEFINITELY recommend the BODIES exhibit in the Seaport. It's outrageously amazing. I think they say you can do the whole thing in an hour, but it's not a whole lot of fun that way -- I'd set aside at least two, and probably three. It's very, very cool.

@steamsoldier - Just dim sum in general - I'm sure there are recommendations somewhere on SE or you can find a consensus of the best elsewhere online. My favorite is Vegetarian Dim Sum House, but not everyone is vegetarian.

Oh, and I forgot your Broadway show recommendation: Passing Strange. Saw it in previews and loved it, and I am a total Broadway skeptic.

Show: Fuerzabruta in Union Square. It is a 60 minute intense, audience interactive show. I cannot describe it, but it is one of those experiences that when it's over you say, "only in new york." it is a mixture between cirque du soleil, blue man group, and a rave. Here is site: http://fuerzabrutanyc.com/

Food: I would go to casaville beforehand - reasonable priced, Moraccan/Middle East/Turkish food, great sangria. http://casavillenyc.com/ or try Pipa Tapas y Mas

If you head over to Brooklyn check out the food vendors at the Brooklyn Flea.

Pretzel croissant from City Bakery is a must. Coffee from 9th St. Espresso. Ooh, a sandwich from Murray's will not disappoint.
Momofuku Milk Bar for desserts.
Ippudo for ramen, Caracas Arepas Bar for arepas, Clinton St. Bakery for amazing breakfast.
All affordable, New Yorky, and delicious.

Guggenheim or Whitney museum.
Hmm, Broadway play - I'm not sure. I loved Spring Awakening, but don't think it's playing anymore. I'd actually recommend an off Broadway, like the new Neil LaBute that's out right now.

Jackie
Devour this

You should check out Ed's guide to Serious Eatin' in New York. Lots of good stuff in there that's wallet-friendly.

Does your friend like "ethnic" food? (I am not a fan of the word "ethnic" in this context, but can't think of another one to use.) I think New York has a lot of unusual ethnic neighborhoods that might be worth visiting if he hasn't been--Kum Gang San in Koreatown, one of the Indian places on sixth street, (I also like Veselka, which is Polish, I guess), etc. Vanessa's, which Robyn reviewed here on SE, is really really cheap and delicious (Chinese dumplings). If he does not like "ethnic food," I would even splurge for lunch at Bouchon Bakery in Time Warner Center (though it is in a mall), a sandwich at Zabar's on the UWS, Di Fara or Totonno's (if you want to see Coney Island).

I like the Museum of Natural History best, but it's not everyone's cup of tea. It's like a crazy relic of animal dioramas.

Also, try the TKTS at South Shore Seaport--no line and good choices for half price seats. You can also get cheap opera seats on the day of, during the weekdays, if he's still here. Try looking at the city's website nycgo.com too--they have a lot of info and suggestions. (Full disclosure, I occasionally write for them, but I really do think it is a useful site.)

@steamsoldier - Both Wicked and Avenue Q are probably the only 2 shows on Broadway worth seeing now. I could NOT stop laughing at Avenue Q when i saw it - the humor is much along the lines of Family Guy - no boundaries. I haven't seen it, but maybe Spamalot?

I agree with the Fuerzabruta rec! If you do go, don't bring much with you...cos you'll have to carry it around the whole time or check it in (the whole show is standing and you move around). I chose to carry everything, which would've sucked less if I hadn't been wearing a heavy coat. Don't carry any bags made of paper because they'll probably get wet and disintegrate. My friend learned that the hard way..

BUT YEAH, IT'S FUN!

The Frick Collection is nice too on the topic of...art things.

And I too loves me some shake shack.

Welp, let me just start out by saying I wasn't able to visit a single place I had researched for my trip. I realized that for a foodie, the destination is always the food but for a normal person the food is just a stop on the way to another destination. That being said, I had an amazing weekend and got to sample some great cuisine. Instead of writing paragraphs and paragraphs about the weekend I'll just do a little list:

Spice Cove - Lunch - Excellent meal for under $7. The garlic nan was the best nan I've eaten to this date. The roasted garlic pieces embedded in the bread were little nuggets of heaven. The Mango Lassi was the best way to spend $3 in NYC that I've seen. The vegetable samosa was great. The Lamb Korma was the first curry I've had that was subtle enough to where you could taste the lamb. It was very different from past curry dishes I've had. I really enjoyed the strong lamb presence in the dish.

il laboratorio del gelato - Awesome flavors. My personal order was espresso and coconut. It tasted like a mounds bar on crack. Other flavors I sampled were chocolate hazelnut, banana, mint, and strawberry. The banana and mint were both noticeably smoother than the other flavors and the overall group favorite was chocolate hazelnut.

Una Pizza Napoletana - Arrived at 9pm Friday night and as expected it was closed after running out of fresh dough. Bah!

Driggs Pizza - Late night dinner - The grandma slice, which was the recommended slice was terrific, my first slice of genuinely good NYC pizza. The rest of the slices on the table (white, buffalo chicken, eggplant, plain) were mediocre and pedestrian.

Mesa Grill - Brunch - Once we found out that our first brunch destination shut down (The Neptune Room) we hit the net and found that the brunch menu at Mesa Grill was reasonably priced. We made our res and rushed out the door. This was probably the culinary highlight of the trip. I could write tons and tons here but let me highlight a few brief points. The jelly which accompanied the complimentary baked goodies at the beginning of the meal was delightfully spicy. The carrot mango juice was shunned in the aftermath of the almighty mango lassi from spice cove. Both the barbecue pork quesadilla and the salmon and tuna tartare appetizers were great. The high point on the quesadilla was the terrific cunchy slaw. My entree was arguably the best plate of food I've ever eaten. I had the spicy chicken with sweet potato hash and poached eggs with green chili hollandaise. The sauces smeared on the plate were bliss. I've never been a huge poached egg fan until that meal. Creamy fluffy clouds of joy. The cubes of sweet potato were perfectly tender. My only complaint was the chicken didn't have much of a presence in the dish, which was odd since it is the first ingredient in the name of the dish. I ordered both grits and home fries. The grits were the shining star of the meal. The entire table raved over them. The south needs to learn a thing or two from Bobby Flay on how to cook grits. Wow. The hash browns were mushy, flavorless, and needed salt. Oh yeah one thing I forgot to mention was the mango glazed bacon. Yeah, if bacon could get any better than it already is, it just did.

Emack & Bolio's - This place was a nice little treat. The Grasshopper Pie ice cream is their best seller, and for good reason, it was delightful. A friend of mine got a scoop of cookie dough ice cream in a fruity pebbles encrusted cone. In my opinion they could serve dog pooh in that cone and it would still be good. I wish they sold the marshmallowy fruity pebble goop by the bowl, then they would have a new best seller. My malt was bursting with super malty flavor but it overpowered any flavor the ice cream was meant to provide.

Dinosaur Barbecue - Dinner - I am a barbecue skeptic since I do my own backyard smoke barbecue, so I was trying to go in with an open mind. And my mind most certainly got opened at Dinosaur. And my mouth. Repeatedly. Besides Mesa Grill's grits the other high point of the trip were the garlic chipotle wings at Dinosaur. Wow. I have always been a die-hard fan of fried over baked/grilled but Dinosaur single-handedly turned me. The black spots of sauce were little plateaus of charred wonderment. The wings themselves looked like they were butchered from the freshly slain carcass of a massive prehistoric terror. The sauce itself captured the wonderfully delightful smoky edge of chipotle and garlic with enough punch to round out the full-bodied experience that most vintage wines would be jealous of. Unfortunately, the Tres Hombres plate following the wings was barely noticed and mostly consumed due to the greasy testosterone-charged meat eating frenzy the four of us were caught up in. The brisket was tender, the ribs and pulled pork were average. The beans were very good and were the only thing one the plate that really fired my taste buds after the wings. They presented a blend of spices that none of us could pinpoint and were very satisfying. The mac and cheese was thankfully hot and creamy in the middle, but nothing to mention otherwise.

Europa Cafe - Breakfast - We stopped here while waiting for our bus to depart from Penn Station. I ordered a swiss hot chocolate that murdered anything you can get in a packet. My rice pudding was good but a little bland. It could've used a sprinkle of cinnamon on top, which may have been at the condiment bar, I neglected to look. And finally, the key lime bar was a super-creamy neon green gelatinous block. Terrific.

I miss NYC already. I don't think I could ever live there permanently, but I would love to move up there and eat for a few years.

Take him/her to Caracas Arepa Bar in Brooklyn - afterwards you can just do some bar hopping in the area...that would be the best introduction to the city.

I guess you two didn't read the thread, eh? Hehehe. Thanks for the suggestions though.