A New Yorker born and raised, Kristen Lam has built a large social media following—55.5k to be exact—of people who enjoy keeping up with her innate sense of style and big city living. She recently moved to the lower east side and has been able to explore some amazing local eateries and cafes.
“The lower east side is great because you get to walk everywhere. There’s so many different cafes popping up every week and they all have a cool new twist.”
We caught up with Kristen as she gave us the low-down on the lower east side’s most hidden gems for eating out or grabbing a cup of coffee.
First on the list? Pietro Nolita. We met up with Kristen here at the inside-out pink palace of a restaurant (aka a Petite Studio wonderland) for our Sunday morning meet up. Along with it’s most Instagrammable decor and interiors, it’s a great place for coffee and morning meetings.
Just down the street from Pietro Nolita on Elizabeth is Cafe Integral; a café that sources and produces their own Nicaraguan coffee. It’s popularity and transparency is why this place has two other locations; one on Grand St. and one in Chicago. Plus, along with its neighbor, Pietro Nolita, the interiors are pretty social media worthy.
Apparently the place where people line up for the grilled corn—including Kristen— and their delicious Cuban-Mexican fused eats is Café Habana. It’s divey decor may not match its nearby cafés like Pietro Nolita and Café Integral, but hey, don’t we go for the food anyway? It’s definitely why people line up out the door. A major plus? It’s affordably priced with its most expensive food item priced at $20.75.
Another must try according to Kristen? The tuna salad at Jack’s Wife Freda of course!
“I’ve only had the tuna salad there. It’s amazing. I don’t even know what they put in that.”
The immigrant love story of husband and wife is what has made this eatery with delicious American-Mediterranean so coveted and ALWAYS packed. What people will do for some good food.
Now, we have some serious café hopping to do and will no longer be taking an hour to decide on where to eat—at least for a while anyway. Thanks Kristen for all the recommendations!
Look out for Kristen’s travel vlogs to Amsterdam and Paris on YouTube soon!
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