NYC Weekend Eats + NYCWFF

* This is a sponsored post in collaboration with Capital One. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

If you dine out and grocery shop as often as Naomi and I do, you need a card like Capital One’s new Savor Card. Of course we are Capital One partners, but even if we weren’t, there’s no denying that we would still carry the Savor card in our wallet.

Who can say no to a credit card that rewards customers with unlimited 4% cash back on dining and entertainment purchases, 2% at grocery stores and 1% for all other purchases? – um, not us.

With that, we spent the weekend in NYC, attending the New York City Wine and Food Festival and eating our way around the city . . . and wait for it . . . hear it—CHA-CHIING! Yep, racking in those cash back rewards doing what we love.

I know, I know—let’s focus. Let’s start with New York City Wine and Food Festival. It’s the event to attend to knock off all those restaurants on your must-eat list. The event houses some of the best eats around town while pouring sips of all your favorite wines and spirits—and sips you have yet to discover. The latter being my favorite thing about the event. For me, it’s all about trying to discover, or at least predict, the next food trend at events like this.

Next stop: street food. Did you even go to NYC if you don’t order food from one of these street stands?

From street to slurp, we had to do Xian Food Express. This was on both of our lists. Lamb curry noods – yes! And by the way, the only way to eat this is to slurp, so forget the table manners your mom taught you—slurp without apologies, everyone else is doing it too.

Another day, another breakfast. This time we traded in the seat and table route for stand and scarf (not the thing that makes your neck warm, although I could have used one—it was so cold for this SoCal guy), and did a breakfast sandwich from a little kitchen smashed between an office and apartment building. I’m not even joking when I say it was the size of a closet and completely nondescript—kind of like the sandwich, but the flavor was anything but bland.

Is it me, or does everything just taste better in New York City? I mean, there has to be something there because it didn’t take me long to move from a brisk walk to a food coma pace. Never mind all the little stops we made walking from one side of the city to other. I wanted to eat the city, but Naomi told me that was a bad idea, but I still tried. At least we broke it up some with shopping and exploring.

We ended our day with my favorite place in Koreatown called Third Floor. It overlooked the city, which was cool, because by then I was tired of walking it but not too tired to take it in. We ate, laughed and LOVED that we took a trip for two without kids in tow. Yeah, it’s a big deal for us, because we so rarely do that. But some things never change—like when we dine out—Naomi orders appetizers as a meal. I went rather flat with my choice and ordered a bowl of bulgogi with a poached egg and skipped the veggies. Naomi filled herself up with Gogi sliders and pork buns.

No complaints. Okay, well one complaint, I wish we had had the time to catch a show or a sporting event. But next time we are back, Naomi and I are planning to do just that. We didn’t have time on this trip, but we do have a trip planned with the kids for December, so those two entertaining events are top priority.

And as I mentioned, who can say no to eating out, and earning 4% cash back? No one. With that, anyone have any recommendations for a big city with good eats and entertaining? I’m thinking Portland, Naomi is pushing hard for Detroit. Anyone have suggestions for February travel? It’s my birthday month, so I’m planning to go big. If so, let me know in the comment section below!