You might recognize La Bonbonniere from the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, for which the interior serves as a set in season four. It’s basically a Greek diner offering predictable breakfasts and lunches — though these are of relatively high quality, especially the pancakes.

Across the street lies Abingdon Square, with its landscaped flower gardens and 1921 statue of a World War I doughboy. South of that is a playground for kids where wealthy New York parents have left cast-off toys for everyone to share. Further south along Bleecker Street find Magnolia Bakery made famous by Sex and the City.

The blocks north of Abingdon Square along 8th Avenue are a great place to stop for a treat. There’s Barachou, turning out multiple flavors of cream puffs, and Aux Merveilleux de Fred, improbably specializing in meringue lumps smeared with frosting. But the best place to stop is Gelateria Gentile, a branch of an ice cream joint hailing from Bari, the capital of Apulia, Italy. Often incorporating fruit imported from Italy, the product is rich and creamy, and the chocolate gelato is the darkest in town. Also consider the fresh-fruit granitas.

Originating in a hardscrabble downstairs mall in Flushing, this noodle shop has expanded to many branches and in the process turned into a New York City icon. It was a key institution in popularizing regional Chinese cuisines, in this case, that of Shaanxi in Central China. Look for broad wheat noodles, spicy lamb and chicken dishes, and steamed-bao-based “burgers.”

Auntie Guan’s specializes in northern Chinese cooking, especially from the provinces of Dongbei, long ago known as Manchuria, which border North Korea. There are cold dishes and hot dishes, depending on what the day is like, and a larger menu of dumplings than you’ve probably seen before.

Depart the bus on 6th Avenue (a/k/a Avenue of the Americas) for a walk south to Washington Square and back, a round-trip distance of about a mile along 6th Avenue, which takes you past the architecturally distinguished Jefferson Market Library, a former courthouse, and its lovely backyard garden.

It started back in 1976 with seven farmers, and now there are dozens and dozens on the days the Union Square Greenmarket is held (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday). The market starts around 8 a.m. and goes till 5 p.m. or so, with booths beginning at 15th Street and Union Square West and wrapping around the northern end of the park. Wholesome snacks like yogurt, stone fruit, cherry tomatoes, old-fashioned pretzels, and wonderful apple-cider donuts are available even in the dead of winter. If you go on a non-market day, Union Square itself is worth a stroll, with big box stores on the south and a giant Barnes & Noble bookstore on the north.

Zaragoza doesn’t look like much when you step inside — a tiny Mexican bodega with crowded shelves of tortillas, dried chiles, jarred sauces, boxes set on the floor filled with tomatillos, and a refrigerator case of white cheese. These raw materials go into perfect evocations of southern Mexican cuisine, including tacos, enchiladas, and quesadillas. There’s cozy seating in the back where you can drink a bottled beer with a meal.

This hipster bagel spot can be wildly popular around brunch time, but it’s worth standing in line for its bagels and bagel sandwiches — which can be conventional, or totally innovative and screwy. Pick a bagel flavor you like — say cinnamon raisin, plain, or everything bagel — then match it with one of the flavored cream cheeses.

Take your treat to nearby Tompkins Square Park, the throbbing heart of the East Village, and sit by the Temperance Arch or the General Slocum Memorial.

The Korean corn dog phenomenon hit the city like a ton of bricks two years ago — but they weren’t really corn dogs, dipped instead into a rice batter in which various substances like potatoes or Cheetos can be incorporated. Sometimes the hot dogs inside are not even meat, but rather cheese, tubular rice sticks, or a combo. Investigate this new form of street food if you haven’t already — or you can also get a plain old American corn dog.

If you long to feel like the proverbial kid in a candy store, Economy is your place. All sorts of candy are available in individual packages or in bulk, and for a healthier snack, there are top-quality dried fruits, too. The place prides itself in a candy selection that includes many that you might have thought were no longer being manufactured — Turkish taffy, Mary Janes, and Squirrel Nut Zippers, for example.

Though the original dates to 1940, the current evocation of the Essex Market moved into a glitzy apartment complex in 2019. It’s part of two floors of food-court action, including retail vendors, prepared-food stalls, and even self-contained restaurants. Choices include Eat Gai (Thai-style Hainanese chicken), Shopsin’s (a decades-old cafe featuring creative comfort food), and Taqueria Nixtamal (from a legendary Queens tortilleria).

This classic Lower East Side institution reinvented the doughnut for New Yorkers in 1994 and became wildly popular for its elaborately conceived and frosted round pastries fit for breakfast or a sweet snack. The creme brulee doughnut crackles when you bite into it and pudding squirts onto your shirt, while the black-and-white transforms the signature cookie of the city into a doughnut.

The Dominican lunch counter is a Lower East Side classic, and El Castillo is one of its most distinguished representatives. Steam-table dishes rotate on a daily basis and include the garlicky roast pork pernil, the chicken stew called pollo guisado, and for organ lovers, a tripe soup called mondongo, but there are many made-to-order dishes, too. For the budget minded a Cuban sandwich is just the thing.