My boss was horrified to hear of how I entertained (read: wooed) one of my favourite board members while we were in New York for conference. We had a 90 min break before our next session so we hopped the subway for a visit to the New York institution, Gray's Papaya. This place has been in many shows in and about New York including You've Got Mail, Sex and the City, For Love or Money, Glee and How I Met Your Mother.

Their hot dogs have a signature "snap" and are juicy much like a european weiner. They are famous for being open 24 hours, and selling an inexpensive, high quality hot dog and gets it's name from the papaya juice sold at the shop. They also sell orange, grape, pina colada, coconut champagne and banana daiquiri.

It's not a fancy place but it's quick and easy. I had chili dog and the sauerkraut dog with a papaya juice (Recession Special: $1.99) but would suggest you steer away from the chili as you can see from the picture, it was similar to dog food in tomato sauce. Being Chinese, thus tolerant of weird meats and possessing a sometimes ridiculous sense of thrift, I still ate it... but I wouldn't recommend you, my dear reader, do the same.