Places Zesra Wants to Go

Read a book next to a Midtown waterfall.

The one-stop shop for all of your superhero (or evil arch-nemesis) needs.

Hidden in Central Park's Ramble is a troublesome cave buried just beneath the surface.

The feral felines of Roosevelt Island have a small army of allies and an abandoned hospital all to themselves.

New York's oldest magic store.

Mysterious 500-year-old tapestries depict a unicorn hunt.

Sniff the Titan Arum's rotting flesh.

This museum dedicated to the history of the medical bone trade and human osteology.

A miniature rainforest is growing inside of a Midtown Manhattan office building.

A treasure trove of artifacts, books, and artwork from the "golden age" of exploration.

A tiny museum housed in a New York freight elevator specializes in the "overlooked, dismissed, or ignored."

A crumbling hospital from the 1850s on Roosevelt Island.

More than 250 sakes are available in an izakaya hidden in the basement of a Midtown office building.

Here, exhibits come with a side of edible history.

Come for the waffles, stay for more waffles.

Discover the taste of mold.

All of the Malaysian sweets at this shop are made daily with a whole lot of love.

Dine on dumplings at the oldest dim sum restaurant in New York.

Once a month, an Indonesian feast appears inside an Elmhurst church hall.

This family-owned bakery is one of the last places in Brooklyn to sell the Nation of Islam–inspired bean pie.

In Little Caribbean, an ice-cream shop serves up regional flavors, including soursop, Irish moss, and "greatnut."

Deliciousness abounds at a Guatemalan restaurant masquerading as a pizzeria.

Shop while you wait for a table in this tiny Indonesian eatery within a mini-mart.

Chefs from Tibet's Kham region offer steaming meat pies and noodle soups in this nook behind a jewelry store.