places to visit in new york restaurants

The 25 Best Restaurants In NYC

photo credit: Kate Previte

Bryan Kim, Neha Talreja, Willa Moore, Will Hartman & Sonal Shah

June 4, 2024

Have you ever woken up and thought, “Gosh, I’d love to eat at a second-best restaurant today?” Of course you haven’t. Whether you’ve lived here your entire life or are visiting for the first time, it’s human nature to want to experience the best of the best. And that’s exactly why we wrote this guide.

These are the highest-rated restaurants in New York City—the ones we seek out on days off. Food and experience are both taken into consideration, and any type of dining establishment is fair game. On this list you’ll find fancy spots, casual hangouts, food trucks, and even a few diners with more than just burgers and pancakes. Every city has its classics and its hot new places (check out our guide to the best new restaurants of 2023 ), but these are restaurants where greatness is always guaranteed. 

photo credit: David A. Lee

Best New Restaurants

Like a '90s nightclub plopped into the middle of Lincoln Center, Tatiana glows blue and chain-link gold, blasts Lauryn Hill and Biggie, and serves the most exciting food we've tasted at a fancy restaurant, ever. You’ll have just as much fun clocking tracks on the throwback playlist as you will dissecting all the menu’s references to NYC classics, from Afro-Caribbean hot bars to Chinese take-out. You’ll even find a nod to the Cosmic brownies at corner bodegas. We're especially fond of the absurdly tender short rib pastrami suya, served with caraway coco bread, inviting you to build sliders. Tatiana is one of the hardest reservations in town, but for a restaurant that feels like a paradigm shift in New York fine dining, it’s well worth it. Ask about the jello shots.

Le Bernardin

You could make the argument that old-school fine dining is boring and antiquated. And that would be a pretty compelling argument, if it weren’t for Le Bernardin. This Midtown institution, which has been open for over 30 years now, is a well-oiled machine that’s been fine-tuned to perfection. The service here skews north of impeccable, and the sprawling dining room's soft spotlights hit exactly where your plate goes. But the actual glamor of this restaurant—and the main reason why it's still an amazing place to eat after some three decades—comes via the seafood. Geoduck chawanmushi with uni and soft-crunchy sea beans in pork dashi, langoustine and buttery leeks in uni sauce americaine that tastes like New Orleans, slightly smoked sea trout tartare—you book a reservation at Le Bernardin primarily to get your hands on these.

We loved our meals at Uncle Boons over the years, but we can’t help but think of Thai Diner (from the same owners) as the restaurant Uncle Boons always aspired to be. The inside of this place sparkles like a disco ball, with golden Nolita light hitting its bamboo-weaved walls and bakery case of cakes and pastries. Big booths come equipped with coat hangers, bar stools are fastened to the floor, and servers bust through swinging doors holding diner concoctions we thought were only possible with the help of psychedelics at a sleepover in Bushwick. Most importantly, every section on Thai Diner’s menu has undeniable “f*ck yeah″ energy, from brunch through dinner. Order the disco fries smothered with massaman curry, the cabbage rolls stuffed with turkey and jasmine rice, and the sai oua breakfast roti whose blend of textures would win Project Runway .

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

L'Industrie Pizzeria

Williamsburg

The new quintessential New York slice is neither traditional nor made by someone who was born in New York. L’Industrie’s owner, a native of Tuscany, subjects his dough to a three-day cold fermentation, resulting in a crust that’s airy, crisp, thin as a saltine, and stiff enough to support dots of ricotta and strips of bacon. Whether you visit the original Williamsburg or newer West Village location —which has a bit more indoor seating—there’s going to be a line, but it’ll move fast. Place your order at the counter, then watch as they finish your hot slice with olive oil, parm, and torn basil leaves. Every single pizza they make is essential, but start your journey with the namesake one, topped with burrata and prosciutto. Always get the rotating gelato as well. Like its savory counterparts, it’s accessorized with olive oil.

East Village

Penny entered the small plates scene fully formed, but don’t call just it another wine bar (though they do have exactly 1,000 bottles on their full list). The seafood at this East Village restaurant is exceptional—from the moment we tasted the sweet, red Argentine shrimp in their signature Ice Box, we were on board. The menu is short, but full of delightful surprises, like plump oysters hiding under a cap of puff pastry, or an ice cream sandwich that actually looks like miniature sandwich. Watch from your seat at their long, white marble counter as chefs pluck raw shellfish off ice, pull hot brioche out of the oven, and wrangle live lobsters. In keeping with Penny's breezy, Summer Friday spirit, most seats are reserved for walk-ins, so the earlier you skip out of work to arrive, the better.

Taqueria Ramirez

The best tacos in the city are in Greenpoint, and if you disagree, you better have a specific place in mind that you think is better. That way, we can tell you, “We’ve been there, and you’re wrong.”  When you get to Taqueria Ramirez, there'll be a choricera and comal (both custom made in Mexico City), colorful plates, and a long line. Don’t worry, the line moves quickly. Get the suadero—which is stewed in lard and spices for three hours and served in a fat-soaked corn tortilla—or order our favorite taco, the tripa. The beef intestines have the consistency of bone marrow and are blowtorched seconds before they arrive in your hands. Every taco costs $5, and, after you stop by, you’ll forever view every $20 bill as an opportunity to get a four-course dinner here.

Out of all the French restaurants in this city, why does Frenchette stand out as one of the very best? The answer is (mostly) butter. The chefs at this Tribeca spot love to use it, and we frankly love to eat it. A couple of Balthazar vets opened Frenchette in 2018 and decided to create a menu of almost exclusively rich and decadent dishes, like duck frites and escargots over creamy scrambled eggs. The dishes here change daily, and it’s always worth stopping by to see if there’s anything new, but we’d have the same compulsion to eat at Frenchette even if the menu stayed the same. This place has one of the top natural wine lists in town, it feels buzzy and frenetic in a way all New York City restaurants should, and a table for two in the sepia-toned dining room is one of the best date-night moves you can make.

photo credit: Teddy Wolff

In New York City, standing in line for pizza is one of the most ridiculous things you could do. It’s like waiting for sand in the middle of the Sahara. But not only will we show up to Lucali before the restaurant even opens in order to secure a table—we’ll wait several hours at a bar nearby until that table is ready. Lucali makes us do irrational things, because Lucali serves some of the best pizza in the city. Their crust is thin, crispy, and just a little bit chewy, and it maintains immaculate posture while supporting velvety tomato sauce and three types of cheese. This is simple pizza made exceedingly well, and it’s greater than the sum of its parts. (The fresh basil is key.) Show up early, stand in line, and be grateful that you have the opportunity to wait for a table at this candlelit Carroll Gardens institution. Once you put your name in, pick up a bottle of wine. This place is BYOB , which is yet another reason why we’ll do foolish things to eat here.

photo credit: Emily Schindler

Shu Jiao Fu Zhou Cuisine

The Fujianese, cash-only Shu Jiao Fu Zhou has a gravitational pull that attracts tourists, locals, and anyone looking for an experience so pure it feels like a pilgrimage. At the revered Chinatown spot, the floors are industrial sheet metal, the tables are communal, and the pork dumplings with chewy, vivid chives are smooth as silk and bursting with flavor. Get six for $3 or 12 for $4.50, and add some soup with wispy, delicate wontons or a plate of the elegantly plain and creamy peanut noodles for a few dollars more. Meals here rarely exceed $10, and yet, even if you’re a regular, they always exceed all expectations.

photo credit: Miachel Breton

West Village

Sometimes, we’re wrong. It’s rare, but it happens. Our initial review of Via Carota, for example, was pretty lukewarm. But that was back in 2015, a confusing time when bone broth was the beverage du jour and electric hoverboards were catching on fire. With its perfect mix of casual, buzzy atmosphere and impressive, unfussy food, this West Village restaurant has grown on us immensely over the years. It’s currently our favorite Italian spot in Manhattan, slightly edging out the latest iteration of sister restaurant I Sodi , so swing by for some world-class cacio e pepe and a crisp, towering salad. Just be sure to arrive before 6pm. Via Carota is essentially walk-in only, with limited reservations, and we aren’t the only ones who love this place.

Between Dhamaka , Adda , and the fast-casual fried chicken depot Rowdy Rooster , the team behind Semma has opened more great restaurants than most of us deserve. We’re fans of every single one, but this is the crown jewel. This restaurant serves South Indian regional specialties typically made in rural home settings, and they do so in a narrow space with quintessential West Village charm. Highlights include the crunchy Mangalorean cauliflower and a masala-potato-filled gunpowder dosa that tastes like cheese even though there’s none present. No meal at Semma would be quite right, however, without a few of the meaty dishes that are harder to find in NYC. Try the lamb topped with fried curry leaves, and don’t miss the Goanese oxtail. If you want to go big, pre-order the whole dungeness crab.

L&B Spumoni Gardens

There are certain food-related rites of passage that come with living in New York City, and making the journey to Gravesend for L&B Spumoni Gardens is one of them. This south Brooklyn staple, which has been around since 1935, is known for its pizza and frozen desserts—and their square slice is the best in the five boroughs, with a layer of molten cheese welded to a focaccia-like crust, and tangy-sweet sauce baked on top. Lots of people come here to crowd around the outdoor tables eating pizza and spumoni, but it’s worth eating in the rococo fever dream of the indoor dining room at least once.

photo credit: Noah Devereaux

Keens Steakhouse

We could, and have, argued about the best steakhouses in New York until it turned into an episode of Family Feud . Emotional attachments to lore, legacy, or particularly idiosyncratic servers usually have a lot to do with it. Keens has a storied history of its own—this former pipe club in Midtown has been around for more than 130 years, and hosted everyone from Einstein to Babe Ruth—but we’re especially attached to the mutton chop, served with crisp bits of fat and a jar of mint jelly. With 40,000 antique pipes on the ceiling (and the playbill Lincoln was holding when he got shot, allegedly), it essentially doubles as a museum, where the main attraction is still the meat on your plate. Their best cut is the porterhouse, which is dry-aged, and funkier than most.

Le French Diner

Lower East Side

We don’t love Le French Diner just because their tender duck confit, garlicky escargots, and spicy grilled octopus are pretty close to perfect. We also love this Lower East Side restaurant because it feels like an underground dining club, and it doesn’t seem interested in being anything other than what it already is. Do they take reservations? Do they have a website? Can you find their current menu online? Could you fit an entire basketball team in their dining room? The answer to all of those questions is "no." Despite all these obstacles, this is still one of the first places we think of when we want a solo dinner at a bar or a late meal with a friend after a show at Bowery Ballroom. Similar to a sibling who you might not even be friends with if you two weren’t related, we love this place unconditionally.

By the end of a meal at Ayada, your group may start debating which dishes are the best. Was it the raw shrimp with the perfect amount of garlic, chili, and lime? Or maybe the crispy catfish salad with mango? Someone else might argue that one of the curries or the fried whole fish were the winners. Picking favorites at this Thai restaurant in Elmhurst is like picking a favorite Beatles song: it’s too hard, and it won’t do you any good. Bring as many people as possible, and order enough food that you’ll have to go all Tetris on the table to fit everything. The drunken noodles are the best in the city, and the prik king with sirloin steak is something you both want on your table and burned into your memory forever.

Every year, we think to ourselves, “Maybe this is when Lilia will become easier to get into.” And every year, we wind up disappointed. Lilia remains one of the toughest tables in town , and people still plan visits to this Williamsburg restaurant the way art dealers collect Basquiats or crypto-bros accumulate NFTs. Coming here grants you access to a special society: those who have eaten at the city’s most exclusive Italian restaurants. But the main reason to fuss over getting a table at this restaurant is the simple, perfect pasta. The rigatoni diavola arrives with just enough mildly spicy tomato sauce to fully coat the ribbed housemade noodles, and the agnolotti stuffed with sheep's milk cheese come perfectly al dente and painted with a honey-saffron butter sauce. At the end of your meal, order the gelato with olive oil, and enjoy it as you devise an elaborate scheme to get another reservation here.

Greenwich Village

On paper, Dame, an English seafood spot in Greenwich Village, might look like a Super Serious Restaurant. Two chefs stand behind a sleek white bar and cook the highest-quality seafood for miles. Grilled oysters are blanketed by green Chartreuse hollandaise, a bottle of $425 Champagne readily stands by, and, as soon as you finish one dish, several more will appear to take their position. Despite being a seriously high-caliber restaurant, this English seafood restaurant avoids taking itself too seriously. Disco blasts inside and out at a confident-party-host volume, and fish and chips take the metaphorical center stage on a menu that also includes things like cured trout, squid skewers, and butter beans with peekytoe crab and ‘nduja ragu. Go heavy on the small plates, and try the aforementioned fish and chips at least once.

Torrisi Bar & Restaurant

Sometimes, you want to go somewhere big and flashy, where you can wear something that oversells the strength of your closet and see someone who recently did a guest appearance on SNL . It’s a natural instinct. Don’t fight it. When it’s that kind of night, your best option is Torrisi. From the people behind Carbone and The Grill , this Nolita restaurant is a big-budget production with precariously high ceilings, crushed velvet booths, and servers dressed for a wedding in Southampton. It’s the sort of place where you’d expect food to be an afterthought, but every section of the Italian-ish menu is filled with highlights. Start with the fennel salad that’s infinitely more exciting than it sounds, and follow that up with the prawn raviolini and rotisserie lamb.

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With just 12 seats around a U-shaped counter in the basement of a Nomad townhouse, this modern Korean restaurant provides a level of care and attention that other fine dining spots can only aspire to. It’s nearly impossible for any meal to justify a $395 check for one, but Atomix recognizes the challenge and rises to the occasion. Wine is inspected for specks of cork, fresh napkins are delivered with tongs, and each of the 10 or so courses is accompanied by a notecard with an in-depth description. Expect things like grilled langoustine with silky foie gras custard, and a little buckwheat waffle topped with king crab salad and a disc of blood orange gelée.

Carroll Gardens

This Carroll Gardens restaurant is one place that we can truly say is better than ever. Plan a dinner here with a large group—because you’re going to want to taste as many things as possible. In an ideal scenario, you’ll eat a gigantic vegetable platter with a salted mackerel dip, a whole fried (and perfectly cooked) sea bream with crackly skin, and some creamy blue crab hor mok in banana leaf with coconut custard. Standout dishes aside, the service at Ugly Baby continues to be excellent, the wine and beer list is surprisingly big (with options from local brewers like Talea and Other Half), and everybody in the colorful, casual dining room will be having a sweaty, fun time when you stop by.

Taste Good Malaysian Cuisine

When it comes to “eating like a New Yorker,” it’s always pizza this, pastrami that. Everyone has different criteria for what makes something a New York food staple, but we’d like to nominate kari laksa. Specifically, the Singapore kari laksa at Taste Good. New York's sizable Malaysian community has been well-represented by this Elmhurst mainstay for more than three decades. In the small, narrow space—seemingly untouched since they opened in the '90s—you’ll sit perched on a wooden bench, elbow-to-elbow during the dinner rush, eating that creamy coconut laksa, or sizzling bean curd, or Hainanese chicken, or anything else that calls to you from the wall of food photos. Follow your heart, and know that they more than deliver on the promise of their name. It’s all going to Taste Amazing.

photo credit: Adam Friedlander

Birria-Landia

Jackson Heights

It’s often hard to pinpoint exactly where a dining trend began. But we can confidently say that this food truck in Jackson Heights is the reason why you can now find birria in almost every corner of New York City. Birria Landia certainly didn’t invent birria, and it definitely wasn’t the first NYC place serving it—but this place gave birria the headliner status it always deserved. The menu is tight, focused, and flawless. Order a few of the tacos on broth-dipped tortillas, and dunk a mozzarella-stuffed mulita into a cup of the mysteriously rich consome. For roughly $20, everything on the menu can (and should) be yours.

With the crispest fish tacos and the sauciest shrimp, Ensenada is not only one of our top Mexican restaurants , it’s also one of the most accessible (at least for now). Walk in to this seafood oasis in Williamsburg on a Tuesday, to find birthday-ready mezcal margaritas and hot-date-worthy raw fish, without a side of reservation angst. With Happy Hours, corkage-free Wednesdays, and fish doodles on the wall, it all feels very casual and low-key—that is, until three types of aguachile, velvety tuna tostadas, and their extremely slather-able pineapple butter arrive at your table, and you proceed to eat more fish than you have in several years. Did we mention there’s a nightclub underneath? Ensenada is so easy to love.

Absolute Bagels

Upper West Side

If you ever hear someone in New York City say, “I don’t care where we go for bagels ,” kindly ask them what city they’re from and how long they’re visiting. No one who has to pay taxes here would have such a casual attitude about bagels. If that person asks us where to go, we’d send them straight to Absolute Bagels on the Upper West Side. Each springy globe of dough here comes with a blistered, slightly crunchy bottom with a sweet, chewy, and soft interior. You can get all the expected additions like eggs, nova, etc., but we prefer their bagels untoasted with scallion cream cheese. However many bagels you think you want from this place, add three or four more.

Plaza Ortega

We initially found Plaza Ortega on a Bushwick taco crawl (something we highly recommend) and fell in love with their birria. There are a few tables outside and a few in the back of this place, along with stools at a long bar that faces a wall-sized mirror offering a glimpse into the kitchen. Everything you get here is going to be excellent, whether it’s birria ramen made with Cup Noodles, fish tacos, or a mangonada. The ready availability of Modelo tallboys, the cozy, homelike atmosphere, the TV playing Banda music videos on loop, and the endless supply of good food make this an ideal spot for a long catch-up with people you really love.

Suggested Reading

The Hit List: New NYC Restaurants To Try Right Now

We checked out these new restaurants—and loved them.

The 21 Best Pizza Places In NYC

The top 21 pizzas in NYC, according to us.

The Best Bagels In New York City

It’s easy to find a good bagel in NYC. But a great one? You’ll find those in this guide.

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Manhattan's 37 best restaurants

The best restaurants in Manhattan are not only some of the city's finest, but also the world's greatest.

Photograph: Courtesy of Eric Medsker

Choosing a restaurant in NYC, where new spots pop up all the time, is one of life’s most rewarding challenges, and any way to narrow the field presents a welcome edge. Price point’s a good place to start, and location is always imperative. Manhattan makes sense most of the time, and it just happens to have more than a few magnificent diners, cafes, bistros, power lunch spots and special occasion destinations. Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island all have their share too, but these are the best places to eat and drink on the island of Manhattan. 

RECOMMENDED: Full guide to the  best restaurants in NYC

Been there, done that? Think again, my friend.

Best Manhattan restaurants

1.  kochi.

• Hell's Kitchen

Sometimes, when you really love a piece of music, it stings a little to hear it in a convenience store or from a passing car. The song was your thing. Its easy for Kochi to feel like your thing, but you’ll want to tell everyone you know to go. “Go to Kochi,” you will shout, “it has a marvelous menu of skewers like doenjang-marinated grilled halibut, slow cooked pork tenderloin and crispy shrimp with charred eggplant sauce, all inspired by Korean royal court cuisine,” you will command, and then everyone will clap. Go to Kochi.  

2.  Crown Shy

• Financial District
• 4 out of 5 stars
• Recommended

Click and clack through the regal lobby leading to Crown Shy and know that you’ve made it. This is our top special occasion spot when reservations are available, ideally at a table in view of the elegant open kitchen. Our favorite order is still the reverently presented braised short rib that’s been on the menu since Crown Shy’s opening, a few Crown cocktails topped with all manner of lush botanicals, followed by the sticky toffee pudding for two. On no-occasion nights, we like to sit at the bar and start to feel like something good is bound to happen. Once we order the gruyère fritters, it usually does.

3.  Rezdôra

The last reservation we made here was for five doggone forty-five in the afternoon, because it’s too tough a ticket at primetime. And we snapped that early hour right up, as any opportunity to taste Rezdôra’s strozzapreti, tagliolini, cappelletti and other exquisite handmade pastas familiar to Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region is a golden one. We usually order à la carte, but Rezdôra also has one of the most memorable tasting menus in the city.

4.  Sushi Nakazawa

• West Village
• price 3 of 4

Sushi Nakazawa is at the top of its class without the prices to match. You can book its exquisitely sourced twenty-course tasting for $120 in the dining room or $150 at the counter. That is still a lot of money! But similar experiences at the best sushi restaurants in the city roll up into the hundred s . Nakazawa’s brilliant sake pairing is an additional $90, which is also relatively affordable compared to its contemporaries. 

5.  Atomix

• Midtown East
• price 4 of 4

The front door of this fine-dining Korean restaurant from the husband-and-wife team behind Atoboy is hidden in the foyer of a walk-up apartment building on the edge of Nomad. Beyond the bar, a flight of stairs brings you to the basement, where you can enjoy snacks on couches in the stone-floor lounge before taking a seat at one of the 14 chairs at the black-granite counter overlooking the kitchen.

6.  Dhamaka

• Lower East Side

Dhamaka was one of 2021's  best new restaurants in NYC  and in the world , and it’s practically peerless. Boasting recipes from “the other side of India,” its gurda kapoora (goat kidney, testicles, red onion and pao) doh khleh (pork with lime, cilantro, onion and ginger) and champaran meat (mutton, garlic, red chili) are all uncommon in the five boroughs. 

7.  Cote

One of NYC's  best steakhouses   and finest Korean BBQ spots  is tops for when it's time to impress. Smokeless grills at each table ensure each bit of beautiful meat is just the right doneness and create a little activity among parties. 

8.  Cadence

• East Village

Executive chef Shenarri Freeman’s Cadence quickly became one of NYC’s best restaurants of 2021 after it opened in a gleaming jewel box space last year. It has since moved to a larger, also lovely location right across the street to accommodate the consistent crowds hungry for the vegan soul food spot's can’t-miss dishes like southern fried lasagna. 

9.  Gramercy Tavern

• American creative

This NYC classic first opened in 1994, winning awards and fans over the intervening decades. It presently has two configurations. The bar-adjacent tavern is a little more casual, with à la carte items like roasted oysters, duck liver mousse, fish, chicken and pork mains. The dining room in the back is a confirmed splurge; $165 per person for a seasonal tasting menu that could include courses like marinated scallops, asparagus risotto, roasted duck breast and angel food cake. 

10.  Sushi 35 West

• Midtown West

Masa alums Kevin Chen and Jacky Ye brought their industry knowledge and expert knife skills to this two table sushi operation last year, soon securing a spot on our lists of the city’s best. Have a backup plan if the few available seats are occupied, but do not miss the fantastic sushi and sashimi they’re slicing on the spot here.

11.  Shukette

Executive chef Ayesha Nurdjaja’s follow-up to Shuka was impossibly popular as soon as it opened last year, and the crowds have not cooled since. The seasonal Middle Eastern menu includes the light and brightly garlicky toum, freshly baked breads, a great whole porgy and plenty of sensational red meat plates. 

12.  MáLà Project

• price 1 of 4

Chinese hot pot, customarily stewed with thinly sliced meats, vegetables and stock, gets a brothless showcase at this East Village eatery from owner Ning Amelie Kang and chef Qilong Zhao. Ma la means numbing and spicy, and the restaurant’s starring dish is a variation on Chongqing-hailing dry pot, a stir-fry-like spread built with a choice of 52 add-ins.

13.  Raoul’s

Situated on Prince Street since 1975, Raoul’s is made for red wine and romance. French by way of Soho with tartare, foie gras, moules frites and roast chicken on the menu, few places still feel as thoroughly Gotham-esque as Raoul’s sumptuous back dining room where the air is always a little electric. 

14.  Cosme

Enrique Olvera is the megawatt Mexico City talent behind Pujol, regularly ranked one of the 20 best restaurants in the world. His stateside debut Cosme, a bare-concrete Flatiron dining room, was similarly received upon opening and it remains popular today.

15.  Frenchette

Frenchette and its confounding knives have been wildly popular since it first opened in 2018. An abundance of comforting French fare like duck frites smothered in a bearnaise sauce and baked gnocchi showered with ham and cheese is worth the reservation platform two-step. 

16.  Sidney’s Five

Time Out New York Best of the City award winner Sidney’s Five is all about fun, but not in a way where they’re going to make you get up and dance to do trivia or anything. It’s more of a show-don’t-tell type of place, with a ton of martini options (including a cute mini trio!) and delicious andouille corn dogs. It feels like a lowkey party where you don’t know anyone and there’s no pressure for introductions. 

17.  Dirt Candy

• price 2 of 4

One of NYC's finest and most refined plant-based restaurants, Dirt Candy always innovates. Its five-course tasting changes with the seasons, and might include vegan "caviar," tomato tart with smoked feta and carrot gnocchi. 

18.  Contento

• East Harlem

Hits at this Peruvian-influenced restaurant and wine bar include a couple of ceviche preparations, duck liver mousse and short ribs with udon noodles in peanut sauce. Wine’s the thing here and the cocktails are terrific, too. Contento’s brick-lined space was designed with an ethos of “accessibility to all,” including at about half of its bar, which is positioned at a height to accommodate wheelchair users. 

19.  ABCV

Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s first meat-free venture looks like Gwyneth Paltrow’s sketchbook: The spacious room is a Goop-y stretch of white furniture, with pops of color courtesy of artisanal ceramic plateware, and rosy wall panels. Each menu arrives with a chart that details the health benefits of various vegetables, and each dish is delicious. 

20.  Kopitiam

• Two Bridges

If you aren't already an amateur food photographer, Kopitaim's beautifully plated dishes will inspire the new hobby. And there are more than enough items to capture. Order a lovely pandan chicken, nasi lemak or belachan wings and don't forget to enjoy 'em while you're racking up the likes. 

21.  Belle Harlem

• Contemporary American

Belle Harlem was fashioned to feel like an intimate dinner party when it first opened with an  à la carte menu in 2016. Its later shift to tasting menus seems even moreso; when’s the last time you ordered a particular dish at a pal’s pad? Previous hits included  mac-and-cheese spring rolls with bacon marmalade, buttermilk fried chicken with lemon-ricotta waffles and filet mignon with charred cream leeks and lollipop kale.

22.  Katz’s Delicatessen

This bright cafeteria is an NYC timecapsule—glossies of celebs spanning the past century line the walls, and the classic Jewish deli offerings are nonpareil. Start with a a legendary sandwich. The brisket sings with horseradish, and the thick-cut pastrami stacked high between slices of rye is peak form. Everything tastes better with a glass of the hoppy house lager; if you’re on the wagon, make it a Dr. Brown’s.

23.  Mamoun’s Falafel

• Central Asian
• Greenwich Village

Quick, convenient and satisfying, Mamoun's Falafel has been a MacDougal Street staple from morning until late since 1971. Its classic falafel sandwich in a soft pita with hot sauce and tahineh is a favorite, and shawarma plates, dips and pastries are available too.

24.  Joe's Steam Rice Roll

Canal Street is bursting with activity, including in its namesake food-hall. Canal Street Market's clear standout vendor is Joe's Steam Rice Roll, the first New York expansion of the Queens favorite. 

25.  Russ & Daughters

• Specialist food and drink

For New Yorkers, lining up at Russ & Daughters is a time-honored morning tradition. Pull a ticket, wait for your number to be called, then sidle up to the glass cases to gawk at the stunning sable and sturgeon. The routine hasn’t changed much since the smoked-fish emporium opened more than a century ago.

26.  Red Rooster Harlem

• Soul and southern American

Globally-inspired soul food takes center stage a t Marcus Samuelsson's Harlem bistro. T he former Aquavit chef-turned culinary celebrity's present menus include chicken and waffles, pan fried catfish and shrimp and grits. 

27.  Minetta Tavern

Minetta Tavern was one of the toughest reservations in town when Keith McNally gave it his inimitable treatment and reopened the erstwhile writer hangout in 2009. Today, you can still slip into the bar when dinner service begins at 5pm to witness a whirlwind of fast-filling tables, or book a reservation of your own for bone marrow, escargots, steaks, pasta and the much-discussed $38 Black Label burger. 

28.  Kajitsu

• Murray Hill

Kajitsu serves shojin cuisine, meat-free preparations that trace to Zen Buddhism, in a tranquil environment that will put you at ease. E ach course is an artful representation of simplicity and seasonality. 

29.  B&H Dairy

The lunch counter is tiny and cramped, but it’s also one of our favorite places in the whole city. Here, you'll meet people from all walks of life: Your neighbor, the mailman, the person you know you know from  somewhere . It's one of the last remaining old New York spots in the neighborhood.

30.  Teranga

• West African

Teranga serves West African–inspired dishes in a fast-casual café at The Africa Center, which is a cultural hub that’s “committed to an integrated approach for understanding all aspects of the African continent, including transforming narratives.” Chef Pierre Thiam’s menus help tell the story.

31.  Sylvia's

Sylvia's, a soul food restaurant in Harlem, has been a neighborhood staple since 1962. Today, its operated by "The Queen of Soul Food" Sylvia  Woods' family, and it still serves "world famous bar-b-que ribs & fried chicken," traditional collard greens and fried shrimp, catfish or whiting. 

32.  Keens Steakhouse

New York City's classic steakhouse, Keens is full of history and trinkets from guests of yore like Babe Ruth, J.P. Morgan and Teddy Roosevelt. It is the obvious destination for a filet, porterhouse or sirloin, but the mutton chop is popular too. 

33.  Momofuku Ko

You’ve got to make it through the reservations ringer to gain access to chef David Chang’s slim tasting menu. The ever-evolving 12 to 15 courses feature dishes like raw fluke in a coating of tangy, mellow buttermilk, poppy seeds and house-made chili sauce or a frozen foie-gras torchon, shaved over lychee puree and pine-nut brittle. Whatever the evening's order, i t’s all brilliantly executed.

34.  Estela

This spot sports a fashionably cookie-cutter decor—exposed brick, globe lights, hulking marble bar, you know the drill—but the true draw to the space is the talented Ignacio Mattos, the imaginative Uruguayan-born chef cooking in this Mediterranean-tinged spot. 

35.  Via Carota

Crowds started gathering at Via Carota, the first joint effort from chef power couple Jody Williams and Rita Sodi, when it opened in 2014, and interest in the trattoria only seems to keep growing year after year. Try your luck for a spot to see why people keep coming back for pasta, steak, fish dishes and one of Manhattan’s most famous salads. 

36.  Wildair

Wildair, the 45-seat sister restaurant to chef Jeremiah Stone and pastry chef Fabian von Hauske’s avant-garde tasting-menu den, Contra, is two doors from the original. Wildair is set with sardine-packed bar tables, a fuzzy midaughts soundtrack and neighborhood affability. And though its snacky, à la carte menu has less sharp-edged experimentation than Contra’s, you will catch the occasional low-key innovation.

37.  Hunan Slurp

Steaming rice-noodle bowls of the Yunnan province and tear-springing orders of spicy Szechuan dry pot are a celebration of regional Chinese cuisine at artist and Hunan native Chao Wang's slurp shop. 

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The 31 best restaurants in New York City

By Devra Ferst

Ask a New Yorker, “So, what’s your favourite restaurant,” and be prepared for a long answer. In a city with some 25,000 places to get a meal, everyone has at least five front-runners to accommodate their various moods, neighbourhoods, and price points – and three of those top picks may change the following week. It’s not indecisiveness so much as ambition. New York ’s extraordinary restaurant culture spans everything from hushed fine dining temples, to raucous burger joints, to family-style noodle shops and much, much more. You can dine out every night of every week or month and still barely scratch the surface.

That’s why we created this collection of some of the most interesting and exciting restaurants in New York City. These are places we recommend to locals and out of towners alike, and for which we refresh our reservations apps to secure our own tables. By no means an exhaustive list of everywhere worth eating in New York, it’s a delicious roadmap to start plotting your course. Here, 32 of the best restaurants in New York City.

Superiority Burger

Housed in a vinyl-boothed former Ukranian diner, this cutting-edge vegetarian and occasionally vegan restaurant is a cult favourite for good reason. Brooks Headley, the former pastry chef at fine dining temple Del Posto, has created a fun, free-wheeling menu and quirky-cool atmosphere that brings everyone to the party. In addition to the rightfully famous signature veggie burger, which is topped with confit tomatoes and melted muenster, there’s an excellent collard greens sandwich and a comforting Sloppy Joe’s riff called Sloppy Dave, which features tender tofu and crispy frizzled onions. All are served unaccompanied, so round out your meal with sides like a twice-baked potato, burnt broccoli salad, or sweet-and-sour pink beets on a jalapeno cream cheese schmear. Desserts are similarly inventive. Try the griddled banana bread with coconut gelato or a malted date shake made with Bautista Family fruit from California’s Coachella Valley.

Address: 119 Avenue A, New York, NY 10009, United States Website: superiorityburger.com

In 2022, when the owners of downtown’s perennially packed Frenchette restaurant opened Le Rock, it brought a much-needed jolt of energy to Midtown’s Rockefeller Center. Tables in Le Rock’s dining room remain among one of the hottest tickets in town, but the Art Deco-style bar possesses a buzzy scene all its own. The glittering space has the flattering sort of lighting that makes everyone look like they just got back from a week on St. Barths (many of the patrons likely did), and a 200-bottle wine list that skews French and natural. Creative cocktails like the strawberry-scented, sparkling rosé topped Chambery Spritz and a riff on the often overlooked Martini variation L'Alaska (dry gin, yellow Chartreuse) are perfect for happy hour people-watching (is that a Vogue editor, or just someone who looks like one?).

Address: 45 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10111, United States Website: lerocknyc.com

Chef Kwame Onwuachi’s ode to New York City’s Black Caribbean cultures occupies a glass-walled space in Lincoln Center – diners dress up for the opportunity to share elegantly plated dishes in the mod, bustling dining room. It's one of Manhattan's most challenging reservations to secure, which, depending on your personal worldview, may, in fact, make tucking into the extraordinarily creative menu all the more satisfying. Portion sizes are large, and there are too many good dishes to choose just one or two, so the best way to tackle the menu is to come with a group and share. Start the meal with crispy okra, Egusi dumplings, or elegant curried goat patties with mango chutney, then move on to mains like braised oxtails with rice and peas. If you have the appetite (and the bank account), it’s worth investing in the short rib pastrami suya, a glamorous reimagining of the delicatessen favourite made with Wagyu beef and served with velvety red cabbage.

Address: 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023, United States Website: tatiananyc.com

Keens Steakhouse

The only difficult choice to make when entering Keens is where to look first. Is it up, at the 90,000 pipes lining the ceiling? To the glass cases, where the most famous churchwardens – 15-inch pipes – smoked by the likes of Babe Ruth and General MacArthur are stored? In the bar, are you mesmerised by the Miss Keen painting (a nude, lounging on her bear rug) right away, or are you too distracted by the New-York-ad-men-in-the-'50s vibe? This steakhouse, open since 1883, delivers something new to look at every time you go. Keens was originally called a chop house, in recognition of its famous mutton chop, and although that is good and musty and intense, most people are ordering steak. There’s the porterhouse for two or three, the chateaubriand, and the filet mignon – which is actually fabulous here. You want the béarnaise or au poivre sauce on the side, and the creamed spinach, which is less a vegetable than it is dessert.

Address: 72 W 36th Street, New York, NY 10018, United States Website: keens.com

With its elegant thatched-roof dining room, twinkling waterfalls, and sophisticated menu of dishes from China’s Jiangnan region, CheLi feels worlds away from the St. Marks madness teeming just beyond its front door. The atmosphere is festive – especially when larger groups of stylish locals or nostalgic expats fill the sleek, lantern-lit booths – but never too loud to not hear your dining companions. The expansive menu spans crowd-pleasers like pillowy, porky soup dumplings and stir-fried rice cakes as well as specialities like tender chicken or chilled crab cooked in Shaoxing wine. Plan to share everything you order with your dining companions, and don't be afraid to ask the polished servers for recommendations on portions, how to course your meal, or drinks pairings advice – the bar serves a short but thoughtfully curated list of beer and wine, plus sake, Chinese rice wine, teas, and non-alcoholic drinks.

Address: 19 St Marks Place, New York, NY 10003, United States Website: che-li.com

Katz's Delicatessen

Tourist destinations in New York rarely make it into regular rotation with locals. Katz’s is an exception. What started as a deli called Iceland Brothers has been slicing exceptional pastrami, corned beef, and loaves of rye bread on the Lower East Side since 1888 (and made the famous “I'll have what she's having” cameo in When Harry Met Sally ). While the menu offers tuna fish, burgers, and even a cheesesteak, stick to the deli classics like pastrami, corned beef, and beef tongue sandwiches. Round out your order with a knish, a bowl of matzo ball soup, or cheese blintzes.

Address: 205 E Houston Street, New York, NY 10002 Website: katzsdelicatessen.com

Sylvia's Restaurant

Framed photos of decades of notable diners, including Barack Obama and Muhammed Ali, line the deep red and exposed brick walls of this Harlem soul food institution. Opened by Sylvia Woods, a South Carolina-born cook and culinary entrepreneur, in 1962, the restaurant remains a family affair, owned and operated by generations of Woodses. The skilled kitchen turns out extraordinary takes on soul food classics. Try the expertly fried chicken, whose crackling skin encases achingly tender meat, plus a side of tangy collard greens and mac and cheese so velvety it hardly seems real. The pace and tenor of the service varies based on how thronged the dining room is on any given day – and it can get awfully busy – but the warm, knowledgeable staff handles it all with aplomb.

Address: 328 Malcolm X Blvd, New York, NY 10027, United States Website: sylviasrestaurant.com

The five partners at Contento are deeply committed to hospitality for all: Contento was given Bon Appetit’s prestigious Heads of the Table Award – for those working to make the food space more inclusive – for its wheelchair-accessible bar seating, menu QR codes to a spoken version of the menu for diners with low-vision, and a Wines of Impact list of offerings from Indigenous-, Black-owned, and mission-minded wineries. Executive chef Oscar Lorenzzi, who was born in Lima, leans into Peruvian flavours with dishes like classic ceviche, Peruvian barley with roasted mushrooms and winter truffles, arroz con pato with pickled fennel and onion, and roasted scallops with pumpkin stew and Peruvian corn. Whether you come to Contento for its accessibility, thoughtful wine list, or Peruvian-inspired cooking, you’ll enjoy your evening. There’s space for everyone here.

Address: 88 E 111th Street, New York, NY 10029 Website: contentonyc.com

Ayada When this 2008 institution from Elmhurst, Queens opened an outpost within Manhattan’s Chelsea Market, even more New Yorkers got access to its exceptional, home-style Thai cooking – while the locale isn't the most serene, the menu more than makes up for the always bustling, occasionally boisterous surroundings. By way of beverages, there's tart housemade lemonade in addition to frosty glasses of Thai iced coffees and teas. For food: papaya salad studded with savoury dried shrimp, sticky rice, and Panang curry topped with crispy duck are among the most popular dishes, but the expansive menu also includes crunchy fried chive cakes, steaming plates of pad see ew, and helpings of crab meat fried rice.

Address: 75 9th Ave, New York, NY 10011, United States Website: ayadanyc.com

There’s a lot on the menu at Taiwanese Win Son, and little of it disappoints. Start with marinated cucumbers and clams and basil. Then move onto fried eggplant with black vinegar; pan-griddled pork buns; tofu stir-fried with garlic chives and yunlin black beans; and sesame noodles made with black sesame, mushrooms, snow pea leaves, and peanuts. For dessert, there’s just one option: tian miantuan, which is a fried doughnut with vanilla ice cream and condensed milk.

Address: 159 Graham Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11206 Website: winsonbrooklyn.com

Sparsely decorated yet warm and inviting, with plenty of wood and exposed brick, Via Carota is the kind of place where you might run into celebrities, but where you’ll feel totally comfortable sitting next to them in jeans and a T-shirt. But they don't take reservations here, so the flip side of all that cool is that waits at peak times can push three hours. The menu is full of supremely delicious creations from Rita Sodi and Jody Williams, who between them run Buvette in NYC and Paris, I Sodi a couple of blocks away, and Bar Pisellino across the street. Even the relatively straightforward vegetable dishes, like the pear and gorgonzola bruschetta with walnuts, are remarkable in their fresh simplicity.

Address: 51 Grove St, New York, NY 10014 Website: viacarota.com

The Four Horsemen

Chirpy staff help it feel cosy – as does the knowledge that James Murphy (of LCD Soundsystem) runs the joint. This is the sort of place, though, where you may consider inverting your drinking and dining budgets. Maybe you throw down 70 bucks for wine and 14 on butter beans in ham broth, deciding to listen to both sides of whatever album they're spinning, drink the whole bottle, and grab a slice of pizza later. The place is co-owned by four wine geeks and you see it all over the ludicrously long menu: there’s a whole page of orange wines, for example. The list shifts pretty much day to day, and the staff will alert you to what’s just in and what’s almost gone – a real oenophile’s dream. The Champagne section of the menu is simply extraordinary.

Address: 295 Grand Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211 Website: fourhorsemenbk.com

Henry Street in Carroll Gardens Brooklyn is home to Italian families who have lived here for generations, the stroller set that moved in more recently, and Lucali, one of the city’s best pizzerias . Dining here takes patience and planning. Every afternoon a line forms outside of Lucali for “the list.” The team’s website explains it simply and best: “Show up before 5. Put your name on the list. Go have a drink. We'll call you when your table is ready.” It might be an hour, it might be three: Lucali is worth surrendering an evening for.

Address: 575 Henry Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231 Website: lucali.com

Frenchette, from Keith McNally veterans Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson, isn’t quite a mirror of France; rather, it’s their take on what a French restaurant in New York City should be. Diners well acquainted with the French culinary canon will find many familiar friends on the menu here, including foie gras, poulet roti and cote de boeuf, but the menu isn’t limited to these items. Nasr and Hanson have also worked in their own interpretive dishes such as smoked trout beignets with ranch’ette, apples, and spaetzle.

Address: 241 W Broadway, New York, NY 10013 Website: frenchettenyc.com

Sushi Nakazawa

Daisuke Nakazawa – the apprentice from Jiro Dreams of Sushi – cooks here, and in an ideal world, you’re sitting right at his counter. You’ll pay a little extra to do so, but oh, what he can do with fish. The man must daydream in texture and temperature, because whether mackerel, smoked skipjack, or shrimp are on his menu, they are seasoned lightly, brought to a very precise warmth, and served to transcendent effect. People who have heard the four-star raves are here, whether they have sushi cravings and have saved their pennies or just have money to burn.

Address: 23 Commerce Street, New York, NY 10014 Website: sushinakazawa.com

Los Tacos No. 1

A reality check: New York City doesn't have the taco cred of a city like Los Angeles or San Diego . That said, it's not without its standouts. The menu at Los Tacos No. 1 in Chelsea Market is short, but hits all the high points with a tight selection of tacos made on corn or flour tortillas laced with lard. There are also quesadillas and mulas filled with proteins like pollo asada and adobada, or marinated pork topped with a pineapple. Fresh chips, salsa, and guacamole round out a meal. The lack of seating makes Los Tacos No. 1 ideal for a snack or light meal while you’re exploring the area.

Address: 75 9th Avenue, New York, NY 10011 Website: lostacos1.com

Duck down Macdougal Street on the western edge of SoHo and look for a small white square sign with artfully drawn Japanese characters and Raku spelled out in small Roman letters below. If you elect to dine inside, you’ll be greeted by a calming and transportive dining room and some of the city’s best udon (the latter you'll have your fill of outside, of course). The lengthy menu at Raku can be a touch overwhelming for a first-time visitor, so first decide if you want your udon warm or cold, then concentrate your efforts on that section. Raku is one of those rare New York restaurants that’s impressive, transportive, consistently excellent – and (most importantly and surprisingly) easy to get a reservation at.

Address: 48 MacDougal Street, New York, NY 10012 Website: rakunyc.com

This Williamsburg paean to pasta is in a former garage with exposed-beam wooden ceilings. Chef-owner Missy Robbins is one of New York’s finest pasta chefs. People come here for all sorts of carby stuff: rigatoni diavola, gnocchi, and ravioli. Start, though, with some cacio e pepe fritelle, gorgeous fried balls decked out with salty cheese and pepper, and move on to seafood, another Robbins strong suit. Maybe today’s the day for grilled clams flecked with Calabrian chilies? Cured sardines with capers? It’s all good. But, the absolute must-order dish is the mafaldini, a rippled noodle spiked with pink peppercorns. Reservations are hard to come by (you may need to book a month in advance) but snagging one is well worth the constant refreshes of Resy.

Address: 567 Union Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11211 Website: lilianewyork.com

Le Bernardin

Long known as one of the best restaurants in New York City and the world, Le Bernardin has graced New Yorkers with its presence for decades. What you want to do here is go all in for superstar Eric Ripert's tasting menu. The fish that dominates his prix fixe is largely untouched, save for the best flourishes, so you put yourself in the very capable hands of his sauciers. And don’t skip dessert – not at a restaurant the New York Times has awarded four stars consistently since it opened in 1986. The service is also what you'd expect from a restaurant of this reputation: Everyone is so attentive it can almost be daunting (in a good way, in a good way).

Address : 153 W 51st Street, New York, NY 10019 Website: le-bernardinprive.com

Gage & Tollner

Gage & Tollner is more than 100 years old, but somehow manages to feel exactly like a Brooklyn restaurant of today should: inviting, thoughtful, and bustling – with a dose of history mixed in for good measure. It’s the type of restaurant that reminds guests why New York is a great city to dine in. The landmarked interior at Gage & Tollner is lined with mirrors and cherry wood arches and lit by brass chandeliers. It’s precisely the type of place to order a classic cocktail, like one of the seven martinis on offer or a Manhattan. The menu leans into steakhouse classics like New York strip steak and shrimp cocktail, but there are more modern touches here too like clams kimsino, made with bacon-kimchi butter, and crispy hen of the woods mushrooms with black garlic aioli and house Sriracha. No matter your dinner order, make sure you save room for the baked Alaska by Caroline Schiff, who was recently named a Best New Chef by Food & Wine. Under a large singed meringue coat sits layers of fresh mint, dark chocolate, and amarena cherry ice cream and chocolate cookie crunch.

Address : 372 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201 Website: gageandtollner.com

Italian-American food may seem a dime a dozen in New York City—but this is the sort of place you'll need to return to at least four or five times to eat everything on the menu you want to order. The husband-and-wife chefs, Scott Tacinelli and Angie Rito, have been cooking together for nearly a decade – before this they were at Quality Italian in midtown – and they're not just whipping up chicken parm with a side of ziti. This is some next-level Italian-American: Think a stuffed garlic flatbread starter, with cheese oozing out of every tear; a take on Chrysanthemum salad generous with grated cheese; and a garganelli giganti pasta, cooked in a salty, delicious guanciale and pecorino ragù that's basically the spaghetti and meatballs of your dreams. Drinks stand up, too: a Nonna's Little Nip, a blend of grapefruit, Campari, and prosecco, or a Pinky Ring, a swirl of bourbon, Carpano Antica, Galliano, and Campari, are just what you need to take the edge off.

Address : 103 Greenwich Avenue, New York, NY 10014 Website : donangie.com

Raoul's

At this old-school SoHo institution, the white tablecloths, pressed tin ceilings, and $58 steak au poivre belie a long history of button-pushing and rule-flouting. The top-secret item? The burger au poivre. Burger hounds obsess over it and its drippy, creamy St.-André cheese topping. For desserts, the banana coconut bread pudding has its devotees. Come here when you’re curious about old, bad New York – when the SNL cast would roll out for dinner at 1 a.m., and people might end up dancing on the tables – and to see a slightly more sedate version today.

Address : 180 Prince Street, New York, NY 10012 Website: raouls.com

Adda Indian Canteen

New York’s neighbourhoods are dotted with Indian takeout spots that serve a rotation of standards like chicken tikka masala and paneer. Adda, in Long Island City, Queens is not part of this club. Run by Roni Mazumdar of Rahi and executive chef Chintan Pandya, Adda offers, as they say, “‘unapologetically’ authentic Indian food.” That includes the housemade paneer. There’s also junglee maas, or goat curry, and snacks that come with a fair warning on the menu: “highly addictive.”

Address: 31-31 Thomson Avenue, Queens, NY 11101 Website: addanyc.com

Inspired by banchan , but more voluptuous and satisfying in delivery, the refined food at this Korean eatery (not to be confused with LES food-free cocktail temple Attaboy) is made by a hotshot, Michelin-starred chef. Think beet and smoked yoghurt, octopus with chimichurri and potato, pork belly and enoki, or duck with chanterelle and quince. Desserts tend to be bright, floral eye-openers for the night ahead. Wine is the focus of the drink menu here, with a tightly curated list that leaves room for experimentation alongside the classic Californian and French numbers.

Address : 43 E 28th Street, New York, NY 10016 Website: atoboynyc.com

Peer into this narrow space, with tall stools, high tables and be forgiven for thinking, “All this excitement…for a wine bar?” It is, in a sense, but before visions of big bills and dreadful food dance in your head, know that this food is some of the best in a city with some of the best food in the world . As is true of a famous album, several singles on this menu have their fans. There’s one man eating the little gem–pistachio salad and raving about it. A few stools down, a woman goes wild for clams with XO in an almond broth. And they'll bar the doors if you try to leave without trying the tartare.

Address: 142 Orchard Street, New York, NY 10002 Website: wildair.nyc

What started as a pop-up is now a hit British-leaning seafood restaurant for golden-brown fish and chips plus broiled oysters with green chartreuse hollandaise, elegant squid and scallion skewers, blowfish tales with chili butter, and a creative wine list divided into two sections: “What Austin Powers is Drinking” and “What James Bond is Drinking.” Patricia Howard and Ed Szymanski's tight menu looks to his British roots for inspiration with dishes like kedgeree rice with curried crab, “proper English chips,” as the team calls them, and desserts like sticky toffee pudding, but the Englishness of it all isn’t so overt that you feel you’re dining in the British countryside. There are also elegant raw scallops with preserved lemon and nardello peppers, and tuna tartare on toast that’s topped with bottarga. Tables at Dame are coveted, so while the restaurant can seat parties as large as six, if you can't snag a reservation then it’s best to plan an evening with just one dining companion, or dine by yourself at the bar that looks into the kitchen.

Address: 87 MacDougal Street, New York, NY 10012 Website: damenewyork.com

Cervo's

Cervo’s has been around since long before Dimes Square's new dining buzz, and it continues to be one of the area's best restaurants. The kitchen looks toward the coasts of the Iberian Peninsula – but the vivacious, tightly-packed space and the seasonal outdoor seating on Canal Street feels distinctly New York. The regularly changing menu always leans heavily into seafood and vegetables with lots of bright and briny touches like bottarga shaved atop heirloom tomatoes, watercress salads soused with vinegar, and those little Manila clams cooked in vinho verde. While there are larger plate options like a fried skate wing and a lamb burger, the best meals at Cervo’s are the ones made up of many small plates you can leisurely work your way through. Like the food menu, the wine offerings are inspired by Spain and Portugal, with a number of orange bottles and other natural options. There’s also vermouth service with seven vermouths on offer, and an excellent spritz.

Address : 43 Canal Street, New York, NY 10002 Website: cervosnyc.com

Head 10 blocks south of New York’s Koreatown and you'll find Cote, one of the city’s best and buzziest Korean restaurants. There’s no shortage of a la carte options, but the prix-fixe Butcher’s Feast is where diners should start. For $65 a person, you're treated to seasonal ban-chan, savoury egg soufflé, two stews (including spicy kimchi stew), and the house selection of beef, including USDA Prime and Wagyu, cooked on the table with smokeless grills.

Address: 16 W 22nd Street, New York, NY 10010 Website: cotenyc.com

You're back in that one Paris café you particularly loved, right down to the tiny tables and soft lighting. Your most important move is to order the anchovies on warm toast slicked with cold butter. After that go for hearty mains like cassoulet or one of the croque monsieurs , and maybe skip the buzzed-about chocolate mousse – we found it not worth the hype – in favour of sweet tarte tatin. Also, in case it wasn't clear from the jump: you’re drinking wine. Chef-owner Jody Williams takes a lot of pride in her list. Go for rosé with friends over brunch or open a well-priced bottle of something from the Loire Valley to sip with charcuterie in the evening.

Address : At the corner of Bleecker, 42 Grove St, New York, NY 10014 Website: ilovebuvette.com

Teranga is run by the acclaimed Senegal-born chef and cookbook author Pierre Thiam. Offering a culinary lens into Africa through African-grown ingredients and flavours that date back to before colonization, the restaurant is as much a place to dine as it is an integral part of The Africa Center. The name Teranga translates to "good hospitality" in Senegalese, and although this is a fast-casual spot – bowls and all – the team here is indeed warm and welcoming.

Address: 1280 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10029 Website: itsteranga.com

Restaurateur Roni Mazumdar and chef/partner Chintan Pandya have taken the city’s dining scene by storm in the past few years with a string of openings that, without question, match their company’s name: Unapologetic Indian. Their West Village spot Semma, which recently received a Michelin star, is often rightfully in the spotlight, but Dhamaka is the cool older sibling that has their own thing going on. Dhamaka is not a restaurant of restraint, it’s one of abundance and exuberance. Pandya and his team’s cooking looks deep into regional cuisines of India to share dishes we rarely see on menus in the U.S. like the restaurant’s acclaimed rabbit dish from Rajasthan, which must be ordered in advance. It’s marinated for 48 hours in spiced yoghurt and then slow-cooked for hours. There is also doh khleh, a chili-laced pork salad with cilantro and ginger from Meghalaya near Bangladesh and chenna poda, a baked cheese dessert from a state in eastern India below Kolkata. Some dishes like the exceptional goat neck dum biryani, which is served in a pot that’s sealed with a thin flatbread, are larger, so check in with your server about the number of items to order.

Address : 119 Delancey St, New York, NY 10002 Website: dhamaka.nyc

The 20 Best Restaurants in New York City

Courtesy of Le Bernardin

New York City has some of the best restaurants in the world. All five boroughs are bursting with thousands of dining spots, so there are bound to be more than a few good ones. The options are endless, from upscale fine dining that costs a small fortune to cheap hole-in-the-wall eats that are often just as delicious. And because New York City is so home to so many immigrants and well-traveled folk, diners can find excellent renditions of every cuisine from Japanese and Korean to Italian and French and everything in between.

While choosing the best restaurants in NYC is almost a fool's errand—and we're by no means the final word—this is our attempt at selecting the best of the best in one of the world's best cities for gastronomes. Hope you're hungry!

Credit: Devorah Lev-Tov

What started as a late-night food cart in Jackson Heights, Queens, in the 1980s has since grown to a small brick-and-mortar restaurant, plus a downtown Brooklyn outpost inside Dekalb Market food hall. The Arepa Lady is Maria Piedad Cano, who, along with her sons, makes the most incredible, cheesiest arepas in the city. What’s an arepa? A griddled corn-based pancake popular in South America, mainly Colombia (where Cano is from) and Venezuela. There are four different types here, including the Arepa de Queso, which is more salty and savory and can have various meats and other toppings added, like juicy morsels of pork or chorizo; the fluffy Arepa de Choclo, which is sweeter and gooier; and the Arepa de Relleno, which cuts the corn arepa open like a pita and stuffs it with various fillings. Also on the menu and worth sampling are items like mini empanadas and street corn. Tack on one of the freshly squeezed tropical juices to wash it all down.

Credit: Gary He

This gorgeous spot is not just the best Korean steakhouse; we think it’s the best steakhouse period in New York City—which is saying a lot for a city that’s also home to Peter Luger’s and Keens. But this one-Michelin-starred restaurant breaks the mold on what a steakhouse can be while at the same time serving some of the best meat in the country. Don’t believe us? Just head downstairs and gape at the windowed aging room filled with hanging meat. Then head back upstairs and order the Butcher’s Feast, which includes four different cuts of USDA Prime beef, an egg soufflé, and a wide selection of banchan and stews. A server will bring over the meat raw so you can inspect and appreciate the marbling and color. Next, they’ll rub the smokeless grill inset on your table before expertly cooking the meat. Pair your meal with wines from the excellent list by sommelier and partner Victoria James.

Credit: Will Ellis, Courtesy of Dhamaka

It’s not an exaggeration to say that Chef Chintan Pandya and Roni Mazumdar have had a massive impact on the city’s Indian food scene. As the people behind Adda Canteen in Long Island City, the recently-debuted Semma (which took over their first spot, Rahi, in the West Village), and Dhamaka inside the new Essex Market, the duo is changing how New Yorkers experience South Asian cuisine—it’s not just runny Punjabi curries with their spices tamped down anymore. Instead, they’re embracing lesser-known regions and styles and serving authentic Indian cuisine with no apologies. While any of their restaurants could have easily scored a spot on our list, Dhamaka wins out because it celebrates “the forgotten side of India,” according to their website. Without sticking to any one region, it shares little known (in the U.S. anyway) but delicious regional dishes like the Kashmiri tabaak maaz (lamb ribs), Rajasthani khargosh (whole rabbit); and a 16-layer goat neck dum biryani.

Greenpoint, Brooklyn, has become one of the city’s best food neighborhoods over the last few years and this Vietnamese beauty is one of the drivers. The chic, intimate plant-filled space is inviting and cool, but it’s the food that’s the real stand out (and the cause for massive lines and hard-to-score reservations). Start with one of the refreshing salads like Bánh Tráng Trộn (rice paper salad with beef jerky and peanuts) before moving onto one (or both) of the fantastic Vietnamese “pizzas”—Bánh Tráng Nướng—which are actually a popular street food made from a crispy rice crust topped with either mushroom and black garlic aioli or onions and fermented chili with Laughing Cow cheese (it works, we promise). One of the steamy noodle soups is a must, and the com gá (BBQ chicken served with crispy rice) is excellent.

Dowling's at the Carlyle

Courtesy of the Carlyle, a Rosewood Hotel

New York City has any number of classic, upscale American restaurants that might’ve earned a spot on our list. Still, after a recent meal at the newly renovated and refreshed restaurant at The Carlyle, a Rosewood Hotel, we had to have Dowling’s on our list. The new executive chef Sylvain Delpique comes from another classic, the now-closed 21 Club (and yes, the burger here is as good as it was there), while the completely new design is sophisticated yet modern, with an impressive and diverse art selection covering the storied, more-than-100-year-old walls. The name comes from Robert Whittle Dowling, an urban planner who took over ownership of the hotel in the 1940s, and the restaurant celebrates that era. Menu items include classics like a wedge salad at dinner, Caesar salad at lunch, Dover sole filleted tableside, steak tartare with quail egg, and steak Diane flambéed with Cognac. At lunch, they’re bringing back the martini lunch with a “Mini Martini,” a half portion of the classic cocktail made with your choice of Bombay Sapphire or Grey Goose, poured tableside. Save room for desserts like a flaming Grand Marnier sundae and a perfect chocolate tart.

Golden Diner

Credit: R’el Dade + Marcus Lloyd of @theplaceiwastellingyouabout

Walking into Golden Diner underneath the Manhattan Bridge in Chinatown, you can’t help but smile at the classic diner décor, complete with metal bar stools at the small counter, an exposed brick wall, and not-that-attractive stained glass pendant lamps hanging above the handful of tables. But it’s the menu that will make you grin, with classic diner dishes that sometimes have a Chinese accent and use mostly farm-sourced ingredients. The Chinatown Egg and Cheese Sandwich is one of the best renditions of the city classic, with fluffy scrambled eggs, melted American cheese, and a crunchy hashbrown patty served on a scallion milk bun, and the matzo ball soup is a sincere homage to the area’s Jewish immigrant history. Add on a chunk of the Green Tea Coffee Cake, and you won’t be sorry.

Gramercy Tavern

Credit: Francesco Sapienza

Restaurateur Danny Meyer and his Union Square Hospitality Group are responsible for some of the best (and best known) restaurants in NYC. Even though he’s expanded to new cities (mostly with burger outpost Shake Shack), his empire remains here—along with his most exciting dining outlets. And while he’s had several new openings over the last few years, this nearly-30-year-old classic is the one that makes our list. Rustic elegance, contemporary American food, and Executive Chef Michael Anthony’s constantly evolving seasonal menu showcasing local produce combine to make one of the city's most beautiful and illustrious restaurants. There’s a reason it’s won nine James Beard Awards and a Michelin star.

Courtesy of Haenyeo

Named after the legendary female divers from Jeju Island, South Korea, this restaurant from owner and chef Jenny Kwak (who also runs Dok Suni and Do Hwa in Manhattan) has become a Park Slope mainstay in just a few years. Its cozy quarters and menu of Korean home-cooking-inspired hits attract diners from across the five boroughs and beyond. Don’t miss the dukboki fundido, a saucy and spicy rice cake topped with crumbled chorizo and stretchy Oaxaca cheese; crispy chicken wings with yang-yum sauce; deji kalbi, tender pork ribs with ginger and chili; and the soy-garlic sauce sautéed sablefish with baby bok choy. The cocktails are also well worth a taste, like Merle the Pearl (Calvados, lemon, and egg white) and Seoul Train (rye, absinthe, ume plum wine, and bitters).

Courtesy of Iris

Over the last decade, Chef John Fraser has been behind some of Manhattan’s most exciting restaurants (Dovetail, Nix, The Loyal, 701West, to name a few) and was one of the first chefs to embrace vegetarian fine dining. While his newest spot isn’t vegetarian, it still espouses clean, local ingredients—and a vegetarian diner would have plenty to choose from. At the sleek, light-colored midtown dining room, Fraser cooks Aegean and Mediterranean cuisine, offering dishes like Turkish flatbread topped with either spiced lamb, winter squash and goat cheese, or spinach and feta; moussaka; a traditional Aegean stew with poached lobster, fluke, and Greenlip mussels, in a shellfish broth; and a large selection of mezze and raw seafood. Save room for pistachio baklava, Greek cardamom doughnuts with pomegranate molasses, and a mastic ice cream sundae showered with olive oil, caramel, apple butter, and labne. Beverage director Amy Racine’s wine list has a diverse and unexpected list of primarily Greek and Turkish bottles, and inventive cocktails also feature Mediterranean ingredients.

Katz’s Delicatessen

Courtesy of Katz's Delicatessen

 New York City’s traditional Jewish-style delis are integral to the city’s food scene and while it’s hard to pick just one, we had to go with a classic original and Lower East Side landmark. Since 1888, Katz’s has been serving the masses its legendary towers of pastrami, corned beef, brisket, and other smoked meats on rye bread. The no-frills deli isn’t known for its service or low prices, but most customers (who come from across the globe) agree the food is well worth it. Complement your choice of meaty sandwich with an order of their potato latkes, matzo ball soup, potato knish, or chopped liver, plus a can of Dr. Brown’s soda for the full experience.

Courtesy of Kimika

When Kimika opened in 2020, some may have been skeptical of a place offering Japanese-Italian fusion. But any doubt quickly vanished once Chef Christine Lau’s food was tasted, thanks to dishes like the Instagram-famous crispy rice cake lasagna, sticky rice risotto with seasonal veggies, and eggplant katsu. Brunch is well worth a separate visit, where you’ll want to have enough room for the gorgeous pastry bento box, filled with tiramisu katatsumuri, mortadella fontina cornett, kinako graham cracker donut, and seaweed focaccia served with nori butter, plus one (or more) of the fried pizzas or calzone, and the over-the-top delicious milk bread French toast with matcha mochi and vanilla custard.

Le Bernardin

Partners chef Eric Ripert and restaurateur Maguy Le Coze’s temple to French cooking and seafood is as upscale a restaurant as they come with prices to match, and it’s worth every penny. One of a handful of NYC restaurants with three Michelin stars, Le Bernardin’s dining experience—from the stunning dining room to the five-star service to the refined cooking—is unforgettable. Other accolades it has received over the years since its debut in 1986 include the most James Beard Awards of any restaurant in New York City and a consistent retaining of a four-star review in The New York Times since just after opening, throughout five reviews. Guests can choose between a chef’s tasting menu, a vegetarian tasting menu, and prix fixe menus for lunch and dinner. They should expect some of the best and most perfectly prepared caviar, lobster, Dover sole, langoustine, tuna, and more.

Pizza and New York go together like peanut butter and jelly, so of course, we had to include at least one pizzeria on our list. While the competition is fierce, our vote goes to Lucali, pizzaiolo/owner Mark Iacono’s Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, spot that has been drawing lines down the block every night since 2006 (just ask Jay-Z and Beyoncé). The intimate space manages to be romantic and rustic (as opposed to many delicious but bare-bones operations), and its short menu contains everything you want and nothing you don’t. Plus, it’s BYOB. Order a pizza and a calzone (seriously, don’t sleep on the calzone) with or without toppings like pepperoni, shallot, and hot or sweet pepper, and enjoy some of the best pizza in Brooklyn, NYC, and the world (yup, we said it).

Credit: Noah Fecks, Courtesy of Olmsted

When a chef that has Alinea, Per Se, Atera, and Blue Hill at Stone Barns on his resume decides to open a restaurant, there’s a good chance it will be terrific. Luckily, when Chef Greg Baxtrom opened Olmsted in the Prospect Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn in 2016, he exceeded all expectations. Instead of opening an upscale fine dining outlet like the places he had worked, Baxtrom decided to open a more accessible, affordable neighborhood spot that still utilized these fine dining chops on the delicious and creative food. A built-from-scratch backyard garden that supplies the restaurant and provides a lovely seating area, plus partners like wine director Zwann Grays and pastry chef Alex Grunert, complete the picture. The seasonal menu changes often, but the kale and crab Rangoon and whipped lavender honey frozen yogurt are mainstays and worth ordering.

Courtesy of Oxalis

Affordable tasting menus are hard to find in this city, yet many expensive ones don’t deliver their purported value. The one-Michelin-starred Oxalis satisfies both categories, offering a $105 nine-course tasting menu whose value easily exceeds its price tag. Plus, there’s a different, still affordable, a la carte menu in the lush garden room if you’re not in the mood for an all-out food fest. But really, if you manage to snag a reservation at the intimate restaurant, you should make sure you’ve got plenty of room for the perfectly executed, seasonally inspired dishes. There’s also a $40 prix fixe family-style brunch on weekends that always satisfies.

The Mexican food in New York has improved dramatically over the last decade and it’s no longer incorrect to say that the city has no good tacos. Oxomoco is one of the places leading the charge and for our money it’s easily one of the best restaurants overall, not just in the Mexican category. Utilizing a wood-fired oven, chef and co-owner Justin Bazdarich turns out dishes like shrimp ceviche tostadas, lamb barbacoa tacos, and chicken a las brazas with honey and salsa, plus addictive snacks like spicy roasted peanuts, popcorn with mole negro oil and escabeche powder, and guacamole with smoked cherry tomatoes. The tequila and mezcal list is long and the cocktails will keep you coming back for more.

Credit: Casey Giltner, Courtesy of Rezdôra

New York is full of very good Italian restaurants. But when Rezdôra opened in a narrow and rustic brick-walled space in 2019, it made a splash and hasn’t slowed down since. Chef Stefano Secchi (who previously worked at Massimo Bottura’s legendary Osteria Francescana) and partner David Switzer have crafted a menu based on the cuisine of the Emilia Romagna region, which means utilizing ingredients like prosciutto, black truffles, and intensely rich ragus. We suggest starting with the gnocco fritto, which is a kind-of-sweet hollowed out ball of fried bread topped with cured meat, before moving on to however many portions of pasta you can handle—you pretty much can’t go wrong with any of them. Add on some grilled meat and vegetable sides, and you’ll be a happy customer.

Courtesy of Sushi Noz

When Hokkaido, Japan, native Chef Nozomu Abe opened Sushi Noz in 2018, it brought high-quality, Edomae-style sushi to the Upper East Side, but it also raised the bar for this ancient type of Tokyo sushi in the city, quickly becoming one of NYC’s most authentic and delicious places for sushi. The gorgeous minimalist design featuring antique wood sourced from Japan and the U.S.’s only Edomae-style ice chest—a 19th-century Japanese storage container that uses giant blocks of ice—makes sitting at the omakase counter an extraordinary experience. And, there’s good news for downtowners and those not looking to spend a small fortune on sushi: Abe just opened a more affordable outlet in Chelsea.

Courtesy of Via Carota

Chef partners (in business and life) Jody Williams and Rita Sodi, who each own other fabulous restaurants on their own (Buvette and I Sodi, respectively) teamed up for this delightful spot offering simple but delicious Italian fare. Vegetables get the royal treatment here, plates of pasta are perfect, and the meats and fish are just as delicious as their veggie counterparts. It’s an ideal West Village spot with high-quality food that attracts patrons from far and wide who dine on the delectable food in a rustically charming atmosphere.

X'ian Famous Foods

Credit: Simi Vijay, Courtesy of X'ian Famous Foods

Founded in 2005 inside Flushing’s Golden Shopping Mall, this family-owned eatery focusing on the food of X’ian and Western China has since become a local chain of fast-casual eateries with 10 locations across three boroughs. Diners should be ready for some heat when they order popular dishes like the spicy cumin lamb burger, liang pi cold skin Noodles, and any of the hand-ripped noodles (like cumin lamb, spicy and tingly beef, or spicy hot-oil seared).

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The 29 best restaurants in New York City

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here .

If you love to travel, chances are you also love to eat (and vice versa). So, we figured it was time to share some of our favorite restaurants in the world — and what better place to start with than our home base, New York City ?

With some sources suggesting there are more than 27,000 restaurants in New York City, you can imagine that narrowing the list down is not an easy task. So consider this a starting point , because there are so many incredible restaurants scattered across the city.

Of course, we're not pretending to be food critics. We're just a bunch of travelers whose lives revolve around eating, to some extent. Whether it's your first time in the Big Apple or your 50th, these are the restaurants you need to have on your list. They're the ones that make New York, well, New York.

Want more advice for planning a trip to New York City? Visit our new destination hub , and check back throughout the week for hotel guides, restaurant recommendations and more!

Before you go

A lot of the restaurants we're about to mention are pretty hard to get into. We won't sugarcoat that. Other than, you know, knowing someone or being really on top of things, it can be a bit of a challenge to snag a table.

Luckily, we have a few strategies that might be able to help. We're big fans of restaurant booking service Resy , since you can set alerts for times that a requested reservation shows up (take note, frequent flyer programs!). There's also OpenTable, which now lets you redeem OpenTable Dining Points for hotel stays through Kayak . If that fails, Amex Concierge is going to be your best bet. Select American Express cardholders have access to this special service that will help you with tours, events and yes, even hard-to-get restaurant reservations.

No matter how you get the reservation — or if you just show up early and hope for the best — at any of these places, make sure you're paying with a card that earns you bonus points on dining at restaurants. Our favorites are the American Express® Gold Card (4x), Chase Sapphire Reserve (3x) and Chase Sapphire Preferred Card (3x). I mean, is there anything better than stuffing your face with pizza or bagels knowing all the money you just spent will be funding your next vacation? We didn't think so.

Where to eat breakfast and brunch

Russ and daughters.

Russ and Daughters is an institution, and their bagels and lox are the stuff of legend. While the original spot has been around since 1914 — without proper seating — they finally opened up a café where you can eat all the carbs and smoked fish to your heart's content in the comfort of an actual chair. Pro tip: Snag a Resy reservation to the location in the Jewish Museum on the Upper East Side so you don't have to deal with the crowds.

Sadelle's

This is arguably one of the best brunch spots in the city. Brought to you by the same people as Carbone — more on that later — this is the bagel restaurant of your dreams. Yes, it's a far cry from a neighborhood bagel shop. They serve towers (yes, towers) of bagels and lox, chocolate babka, french toast and a dizzying number of other ingredients that will make you glad you didn't wait in line at Ess-a-Bagel. No matter your age, it's virtually impossible not to love it here. Again, reservations are key.

Cafe Habana

This is one of the best Cuban joints in the city, and a staple of the SoHo brunch scene. The corn is an absolute must, as are the egg breakfast plates. Eat your weight in sweet plantains and call it a day.

Clinton Street Baking Company

This place is known for lines with wait times over two hours in duration, but don't let that intimidate you (really). You came here for some of the best pancakes in the world, and you will finish out your mission. Carry on.

Upland should be one of your go-to spots for both brunch and dinner — they bring their A-game every single time. Between their burgers, pizza and those fluffy buttermilk pancakes, you're in for a treat. It's slightly more upscale, but is definitely still affordable and sure to please even the pickiest eaters. If you haven't sensed a theme here yet, we'll spell it out for you: Make a reservation.

Another hot spot for both brunch and dinner, mostly because their pizzas are absolutely divine. Get the bacon and egg pizza for brunch, because who says you can't have pizza for breakfast? If you're here for dinner, you can't go wrong with any of the pies, but my personal favorites are the tie-dye and vodka. Bonus points if you do half and half. Side note: Paul McCartney loves it here .

The best places to eat lunch

Katz's deli.

Because you should always have what she's having . Yes, it's touristy and yes, the line can get massive, but Katz's is an icon. Get either pastrami or corned beef on rye, a knish and a diet Dr. Brown's cream soda — and whatever you do, don't lose your ticket.

Joe's Pizza

It's nearly an impossible task to narrow down the most perfect, classic slice of New York City pizza. Almost as impossible as finding award availability in Emirates' new first class suite . But Joe's has been making some of the most delectable slices of pizza you'll ever find, and if you haven't been to one of their New York City locations yet , you're doing it wrong.

Prince Street Pizza

You come here for two reasons: The spicy spring pizza (a square slice with pepperoni cups) and to never look at pizza the same way again. This is my personal favorite slice in all of Gotham.

Yes, another pizza place, but you'll thank me for it later. Again, a debatable topic, but you can't argue that it's among the city's absolute best. Little known fact: They take reservations one week out. Make one .

The best places to eat dinner

Joe's shanghai.

Joe's is known for having some of the best — if not the best, although a hotly debated topic — soup dumplings in town. You're going to want a few orders of these. Don't miss out on the crispy beef or scallion pancakes, either.

L'Artusi

L'Artusi is where you want to go to celebrate that big event: Birthday, anniversary, graduation, you know. Everything on the menu is excellent, and the wine menu is top-notch. It's almost unheard of to have a bad experience here.

This may or may not be the best burger in New York City. But don't just listen to me, and go try it for yourself. Don't forget the cottage fries.

There are a few Seki locations around the city, and they're all fantastic. In fact, chef Seki worked under chef Gari — of the famous Sushi of Gari — when he moved to New York City from Tokyo in the 1990s. Since then, he's opened up his own restaurants, and they're some of the best places to eat sushi in New York. You can splurge and go the omakase route, or opt for a more affordable meal and order a few rolls. Either way, your stomach will thank you.

Taverna Kyclades

If there's one thing to know about Greek food in New York, it's that the best is in Astoria, Queens. Take a quick subway or Uber ride from Manhattan, and go straight to Taverna Kyclades. Yes, you could go to the one in the East Village, but the Astoria one is the original, and itself an unmissable experience.

Casa Enrique

Speaking of trips to other boroughs, Casa Enrique has some of the best Mexican food you'll find in Long Island City. Just ask their Michelin star, the first one to be awarded to any Mexican restaurant in the Big Apple.

Emily was born in Brooklyn, and before long, lines were out the door. Why, you ask? Burgers with pretzel buns and Neapolitan pizzas, for starters. Since then, the husband-and-wife-duo opened another outpost in the West Village — serving up Detroit-style pizza instead — as well as an " Emmy Squared " in the East Village and Williamsburg. The menus vary slightly depending on location, but you'll definitely want the burger and the Colonie pizza on your table. Get one that can do both. Bonus: Reservations are (relatively) easy to come by.

Roberta's

I know what you're thinking: "Another pizza place?" To that we say, this is New York, and this is what you came for. You should make sure one of your pizza outings is at Roberta's — ideally at the original in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

Minetta Tavern

Another burger heavyweight, coming right up. You're here for the Black Label Burger. You're going to see the slightly cheaper Minetta Burger on the menu, and for a second, you're going to debate getting it instead. Let that feeling pass, and splurge on the $33 Black Label. Thank us later.

Every time I've been to Don Angie, I leave in a food coma. That's a good thing. Don't come here without ordering the lasagna, and don't skip out on the garlic flatbread or the chrysanthemum salad (essentially cheese with a side of lettuce). Everyone here is always in a good mood, and it's one of the best restaurants in the city for celebrating a special occasion. Once again, reservations are essential.

11 Madison Park

Does this restaurant truly need an introduction? It ranked as No. 3 on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list in 2016, and No. 1 in 2017. It's currently sitting at No. 4 . Need we say more?

4 Charles Prime Rib

I will preface this by saying it's nearly impossible to get a reservation at prime time here, and getting one is like finding award availability on La Premiere — if you find it, you go. You come here for the burger, creamed spinach and, of course, prime rib. Insider tip: If you can't get a reservation here and actually want to eat at a normal hour, go to Au Cheval and get your hands on their absolutely incredible burger . The two restaurants are owned by the same group, and the burgers are virtually the same.

Chef Missy Robbins (yes, the one who used to cook for the Obamas) opened Lilia in 2016 and it's still booked solid — Every. Single. Night. There's a reason for that, of course, or rather a few reasons. They're called: grilled clams, rigatoni diavola, sheeps milk cheese filled agnolotti, mafaldini, ricotta gnocchi and olive oil cake. If you, like most people, also can't get a reservation here, you'll likely have much better luck at Misi , Robbins' newest outpost.

Gramercy Tavern

People get excited just talking about dinner at Gramercy Tavern. The restaurant is divided up into a more casual bar area and the main dining room. You'll need a reservation for the dining room, but the bar is walk-in only. Pick your poison.

Italian food doesn't get much better than Carbone. It's one of the best restaurants in New York, if not the world. In short: If you like to eat, you need to get here, ASAP. Reservations are essential, and you'll really have to be on top of your game to get one, but it's all going to pay off the second you bite into the spicy rigatoni.

Feature photo by Michael Berman /Getty Images

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The Best New Restaurants in New York City

By CNT Editors

Why bother looking for the best new restaurants in New York City ? Especially when this town has an embarrassment of fabulous restaurants. Happily for us, the kitchens of most spill over not just with good food but also long histories and colorful stories. But sometimes, the most exciting thing you can do is hit the buzzy new spot, the kind of place where people would fall over themselves to get a table—whether that’s simply to eat that great new dish they've heard so much about, or to see and be seen, or both. Lucky for you, our Big Apple-based editors, always with their ears to the ground, have rounded up their favorites from the city’s many new openings below.

How we choose the best new restaurants in New York City

The best new restaurants in New York City stretch across Manhattan, Brooklyn , Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island. Every business on this list has been selected independently by our editors and written by a Condé Nast Traveler journalist who knows the destination and has personally tried the restaurant in question. When choosing new spots, our editors consider both high-end and affordable eateries that offer an authentic and insider experience of the city. We’re always looking for standout dishes, a great location, and warm service—as well as serious sustainability credentials. In terms of how we define ‘new,’ we've chosen to focus on restaurants that have opened within a year of the publish date. When you work your way through the list, check back in: We'll update this guide regularly as new restaurants open in New York City.

And now, here's our selection: find swanky Italian seafood joints, 11-seat omakase counters, and a Brooklyn neighborhood joint where you may have to fight for a table—but we promise it's worth it. Here are the best new restaurants in New York City.

This article has been updated with new information since its original publish date.

Theodora Arrow

Miss Ada fans are already flocking to Theodora, the third Brooklyn restaurant by chef Tomer Blechman, and with good reason. With a Mediterranean menu focused on dry-aged fish, seasonal produce, and open-fired dishes, it’s just as flavorful as the dips and shawarma plates found at its sister restaurant, with a slightly more upscale vibe that lends itself to birthday, anniversary, or other special occasion dinners (fair warning, you may balk at some of the small plate pricing—come with a group to try a little bit of everything). Open for dinner Tuesday through Sunday, the Fort Greene restaurant was packed on my recent Sunday evening visit; there’s a mix of bar seating (with spots saved for walk-ins), tables, and booths, with decor to match the seafood-heavy menu—I wanted to swipe the decorative fish skeleton for my own kitchen. As for what to order, the Za’atar Kubaneh ($15), which looks like a savory cinnamon roll and is served with flavor-packed schug, tomato aioli, and harissa sauces, is made for Instagramming but is also savor-the-last-bite delicious. Other standouts were a creamy black cod ($31) served with green asparagus, pea shoots, and snap peas, and the smoky, spicy garlic lima beans (a special the night I went), which I could’ve eaten three servings of. If you’re drinking, there are plenty of fun ingredients woven into the cocktail menu ($18 a pop), from feta and harissa to artichoke and caperberry, as well as a natural wine menu and two zero-proof options, including the popular Phony Negroni. — Madison Flager, senior commerce editor

Bar Madonna Arrow

I’m putting Bar Madonna on this list—in spite of the team’s insistence that their newly-opened Williamsburg baby is a BAR and NOT a restaurant—on the technicality that their food menu is fabulously substantial and substantially fabulous enough to warrant inclusion. Bar Madonna arrives in North Brooklyn as unpretentious, low-lit, and quietly serving some of the city’s finest plates—tender octopus alla griglia with spicy radish and mint ($21), a caesar salad of grilled romaine and wild boar bacon ($17), and a smashed meatball parm ($19). The last of these—a double smashburger bedecked in the mozzarella and tomato sauce trappings of its namesake—is delightful not just because it’s good but also because I can’t believe I haven’t seen it before. Pair it with the Nonna’s Half and Half, a killer martini with both gin and vodka ($17), and you’re really cooking with butter. You can’t go wrong with any of the beverages, and true cocktail connoisseurs will appreciate the Brooklyn Special (coffee, Michter’s rye, Fernet Branca, cherry, also $17). — Charlie Hobbs, associate editor

Chica & The Don Arrow

Gramercy Park finally gets the vibey, late-night restaurant it deserves with Chica & the Don, the latest endeavor from Nick Semkiw (currently partner at popular Lower East Side rum bar Las' Lap) and Executive Chef Michelle Chan. Advertised as refined Latin American street food, the creative menu draws inspiration from the team’s heritage in Nicaragua, The Dominican Republic, Peru, Colombia, Argentina, and Mexico. My personal favorites were the arroz chaufa (Peruvian style lobster and shrimp fried rice) and the elote cups (charred corn kernels, tajin, kewpie, cotija). Other standouts included the roasted chicken (fired table-side), several different ceviche and empanadas options, and tapas you will most definitely be craving if you stumble through here at midnight: think short rib and plantain quesadillas, crispy yucca fries, and puffed chicharron. As you’d expect, the cocktails are fun and flavorful—the refreshing Meloncito is the perfect summertime tipple with flecha azul tequila, lime, grand marnier, honeydew melon, and pineapple; or if you’re in the mood for rum, the Cabana Verde is a fresh twist on a mojito with a hint of kiwi. Open until 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday with music and dancing on the weekends, this is a place to fully embrace the sobremesa tradition, with comfy booth seating ideal for swapping stories and sharing dishes long into the night. — Hannah Towey, associate editor

Bungalow Arrow

When Bungalow opened in the East Village this spring, it didn’t take long for it to join the ranks of restaurants that are impossible to get into. Certainly, there was the promise of an excellent Indian meal but equally, there was excitement—especially among the diaspora—to be in the same room as Chef Vikas Khanna, erstwhile at Michelin-starred Junoon and the host of MasterChef India . When I visit, ducking through its marigold-draped front door and into a lobby bar, he’s working the room like a celebrity, dispensing hugs and smiling for selfies. Bungalow is Khanna’s joint venture with Jimmy Rizvi, of Gramercy's GupShup, and a nod to the diverse span of Indian cooking, from Kashmir at its crown all the way down to Kerala. Here, you’ll find everything from a sweet potato chaat served on Delhi’s streets in spring to Chitranee, a Jewish-Indian chicken curry with shishito and tamarind, and sheermal, a spongy bread that’s a delicacy in places like Lucknow and Hyderabad. For our meal, we sat in an airy room filled with greenery and light streaming in through a glass-pane roof. The restaurant is named after the English word for bangla or a single-story home, coined during India’s colonial past to indicate a particular style of house that included spacious verandahs, overhanging roofs, and large gardens. The decor isn’t the only throwback. Khanna’s take on Goan shrimp balchão is inspired by the cream puff cones of traditional Indian bakeries and the molten Black Forest cake is a nod to a popular childhood birthday cake in India, but finished off with gulab jamun-flavored ice cream and cherry compote. As we leave, Khanna plucks a flower off a fragrant bouquet of Nargis—a Daffodil variant that grows in the upper reaches of the Himalayas—and hands it to me to tuck into my hair. “It’s how we treat our guests,” he said. As we walk out, large groups of diners are pouring in. I think to myself: He’s going to need a lot of Nargis tonight . — Arati Menon, global digital director

There’s a burst of lovely Levantine restaurants opening in New York right now, and Sawa is a reminder that this is only good news. The bright little Lebanese spot comes alive in the evening with vibe-y music and groups of friends sharing hunks of lamb and unbelievably creamy hummus. And it’s no ordinary hummus—beef cheeks, braised til they’re so soft you can cut with a spoon, sit atop the $17 mezze dish. From there, we tucked into a chicory salad, colorful with pomegranate seeds (also $17), and extremely garlicky crispy potatoes that you’ll love or hate (I loved, $12.) But the thing I can’t stop thinking about, and that I will go back explicitly for? The raw lamb kibbeh nayeh ($22). Ground with bulgar and sumac, and meant to be scooped up with a crispy pita chip, my server politely disclosed that it was mainly popular with Lebanese guests who already knew and loved the dish. I couldn’t resist—and thank God I didn't. I can still taste the creamy blend of spices and olive oil that made this dish more interesting than any tartare I’ve ever had. Expect to see me alone, at the bar, with that and a cocktail any day of the week. Or maybe a nonalcoholic rose-water lemonade, because their spirit-free menu is pretty good, too. — Megan Spurrell, senior editor

Tadhana Arrow

“Hole in the wall” takes on a whole new meaning with Tadhana, a new Filipino restaurant with a 16-course tasting menu. Chef Frances Tariga, who was notably on Top Chef , came from the Philippines to New York in 2011, and masterfully showcases her native cuisine throughout a thoughtful dining experience. The restaurant space was previously a coffee shop, with an unassuming facade opening to just 24 seats. Bread service started our meal off with Igorot whole grain and wild rice bread) served with a spicy coconut jam and Kesong Puti (homemade Filipino cheese), while our next course was creatively showcased in a hollowed-out green velvet book (yes, a book, which opens to reveal fresh vegetable spring rolls and anchovy fritters with bean sprouts and sweet potato). The rest of the tasting menu consisted of traditional flavors with modern touches, leading up to two dreamy dessert bites: a liquid-nitrogen-frozen jackfruit crunchy treat and mochi donuts topped with shaved truffle and smothered in liquid dark chocolate. Tadhana’s journey of flavors will set you back $185, but you will be left smitten thinking about all the unique flavors that your palate just enjoyed. — Emily Adler, associate social media manager

Yingtao Arrow

Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan isn’t exactly synonymous with haute contemporary cuisine; in the neighborhood, you’re more likely to battle for seats at drag bingo than a tasting menu. But this Chinese fine dining concept is a handsome new arrival, bringing boat-loads of polish—a black marble bar and kitchen counter; brass chairs and tabletops, stealthy splashes of scarlet—and skillful focus. Chef Jakub Baster (an alum of Monsieur Boulud’s eponymous Daniel and La Dame de Pic at the Four Seasons Hotel Megève in the French Alps) offers only two options for dinner at Yingtao: the eight-course tasting menu ($165) or a four-course pre-fixe ($90); customize it with low- and no- ABV cocktails or the wine pairing (all of it brilliant, and curated and served by the affable drinks director Bobby Snyder). As for the food itself: stunning. A Hong Kong-raised friend joined me for the full tasting and we were both mightily impressed by the techniques and inventiveness that remixed regional Chinese classics from places like Shanghai, Xi’an, and Guangzhou. I inhaled the kampachi—a.k.a. yellowtail or amberjack—topped with caviar; a silky tofu dish served with celery root; the crab noodles with a soy yolk and smoked flying fish roe; the hake with spring vegetables; and a coconut dessert of nian gao, a rice cake most often served during the Lunar New Year. The service is attentive and the kitchen well-oiled—the galley is open entirely to the dining room, a stage where diners can watch the cooks move efficiently and silently. All that said, any praise I have is secondary to the true vote of confidence and affirmation of Yingtao’s success that I witnessed during my visit: a large and festive group composed of Chinese mainlanders in their Crazy Rich Asians best, proudly taking photos with the crew, eager to spread the good word of Chinese American cooking at its finest. —Matt Ortile, associate editor

Cafe Mado Arrow

One evening, a month or so after the Michelin-starred Oxalis celebrated its fifth anniversary, I posted up to my “local” hoping to squeeze in an early seating for what was, in my mind, one of the city’s best (for value and quality) tasting menus. To my great sadness, I found it shuttered. A few months later, the unassuming storefront in Prospect Heights has reopened, albeit with a new name and personality. Cafe Mado, named for Marie Louise “Madame Mado” Point, the wife and business partner of the father of modern French cuisine, Fernando Point comes from the team behind Oxalis and Clinton Hill wine bar Places des Fêtes —chef and partner Nico Russell was a reassuring presence when I visited—and many of the waitstaff remain, poised and attentive. The big change comes from the shapeshifting Mado does throughout the day, starting with bakery service in the morning, complete with baked goods coming from sister establishment Laurel, recently opened in Brooklyn Heights. Then, as the day unfolds, Mado transitions into an all-day cafe, offering sandwiches and tartines for lunch and heartier small plates for dinner. The space has been reorganized to cater to this: they’ve created an open area in the front with high-top tables, and moved formal seating to the back. While the tasting menu may be gone, the produce-driven cooking remains, with the menu leaning on a “seasonally changing pantry of ferments, vinegars, and misos.” Standout dishes included what might be one of the best pissaladières I’ve had with anchovy, Taggiasca olives, and on focaccia from Laurel; perfectly blanched asparagus sitting pretty on an excellent bagna cauda; the Tony, a grilled mortadella sandwich made with a sesame-seeded English muffin-style bun that’s a tribute to Anthony Bourdain; and a poised-for-summer fava bean pici brightened with mint and lemon. Another highlight? The sunny back garden that welcomes walk-ins looking to relax with a glass or two from Mado's perfectly curated wine list. This is where you'll find me, all summer long. — A.M.

Ramro Arrow

Queens is the most ethnically diverse borough in New York City—in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records—so it seems only natural that a Filipino chef and a Nepali mixologist have come together to create Ramro, a laidback eatery in Astoria that serves a $99 six-course tasting menu on Saturdays. Reservations for all three seatings (5 p.m., 7 p.m., and 9 p.m.) are elusive, but the a la carte experience (served from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays) is distinctly its own and delicious. Sit at the kitchen counter and let Ravi Thapa, the Nepali owner-operator-bartender, and Raymund Embarquez, the Filipino executive chef, talk you through each dish and drink anyway. Some personal favorites: cauliflower dressed with honey and togarashi ($15); the skewers of longanisa—a spiced-and-sugared sausage I grew up eating in the Philippines—made with Japanese wagyu beef ($10); skate wing in a coconut sauce served with puri ($27); a pistachio-and-coffee take on silvanas, a Filipino meringue dessert ($11); and a brilliant cheddar ice cream (another classic Filipino treat) blanketed in parmesan cheese ($7). Here, the scene is chill (a casual crowd willing to pay for good food), the cocktails creative and low-ABV (they’ve only a beer-and-wine license), and the portions just right (for each person, I reccomend a starter, a main, and a dessert). The crew told me they’re still tinkering with the menu—Nepali inspiration is primarily found in the glass, not yet the plate; I already have a reservation to try a mussels dish in a ginger broth with scallion oil—but Ramro is already a fantastically unique and ambitious kitchen that’s worth the trip. Even the most commute-averse New Yorkers should make the trek from Brooklyn to Queens—and bring their out-of-town guests with them. —M.O.

Omakase spots are popping up all over New York City these days—and at so many different price points—but true quality, hospitality, and expertise are still few and far between. Enter Mori, a new contemporary omakase spot offering an assortment of seasonal fish and seafood flown directly from Japan. Led by Chef Solomon Halim & Chef Andre Wijaya, opening chefs for Catch & Shuko respectively, Mori offers an assortment of creative and flavorful dishes at a fairly-priced $125 for 16 courses. Notable highlights include the smoked hamachi with a homemade truffle emulsion (they’ll be selling this by the bottle soon…you’ll want to drink it) and their perfectly sized hand rolls, like the king salmon with taro root—a glorious combination of textures. Dinner is topped off with a delicious sweet bite—sometimes overlooked in an omakase meal—of a matcha mascarpone cookie with white chocolate. The cozy yet swanky dimly-lit atmosphere of the 11-seat counter is a more-than-welcome addition to the NYC omakase scene, and the highly courteous team will make sure you’re well taken care of for any dining occasion. — E.A.

San Sabino Arrow

The seafood-heavy sister restaurant to the inimitable Don Angie was the hardest table in town to book well before it opened. If you are fortunate enough to elbow your way into a Resy, or walk in to snag one of their wooden bar stools, take your time. Start with a cocktail. We did negronis and note-perfect dry martinis, finished with a thick peel of lemon, just like they are on the Amalfi. The space itself recalled the fabled Italian coastline, with warm, sunny yellows and pops of Mediterranean blues, but an impressive bar with hand carved stools and leather booths make the place feel every part of an upscale West Village restaurant. And then, the food. After stints at Torrisi and the helm of Don Angie, chef Angie Rito knows a thing or two about Italian-American cuisine, which is how San Sabino classifies itself. Though here, she reinvents it even further. Contrary to red sauce norms, the menu is heavy on lighter dishes, like exceptional salads (the tricolore Sabino is their take on a Caesar) and crudos (the spicy tuna with broken arancini was my favorite bite of the night) and a smart, tight selection of pasta dishes. I resisted the urge to get meatballs and Sunday sauce manicotti and went full fish, because, when in Amalfi…. The crab-filled farfalle was delicate and wonderfully sauced as was the lobster triangoli. We had to order the restaurant’s viral dish, the shrimp parm, with heads popping out from layers of red sauce and cheese, sizzling on a silver platter. Risking backlash, I will say that it was good, but it’s not a can’t-miss. Instead, opt for an additional dish of what Rito does so exceptionally here - the fresher, lighter seafood (another crudo, or perhaps the halibut). And if you (like me) still need that fix of more on-the-nose Italian American, it is nice to know that Rito’s meatball spiedini—deliciously seasoned, served on a skewer—can be ordered with any dish, on the side. — Erin Florio, executive editor

Bar Birba Arrow

Is it possible to write objectively about something you’ve fallen head over heels in love with? In writing about Bar Birba, I will try. Located just around the corner from my apartment on the far-west frontier of Bed-Stuy—Franklin Avenue, just below Greene—this place is the dreamy, dimly-lit, casual café of my dreams. Everyone deserves one in their neighborhood—not least of all because the food is fairly priced. Over the course of several visits, I’ve enjoyed the pitch-perfect caponata ($8) atop plush fornarina (pizza crust, no toppings, $4) as my starter, twice making annoying “mm” sounds while eating to express my pleasure. Also not to be missed are the Polpette dell’Alessandra, meatballs of beef and pork in bright red sauce ($8), and an 8-inch quarter pan portion of pizza—dealer’s choice, ranging from $8 to $10. There’s a novella of a wine list, with by-the-glass options obscurely scrawled on a mirror above the bar. That’s intentional—the owner would rather you chat with your server to land on an option. — C.H.

Coqodaq Arrow

You don't dine at Coqodaq so much as experience it. This latest entry from Simon Kim's Gracious Hospitality Management (the people behind nearby darling COTE Korean Steakhouse) is a “fried chicken cathedral” that purports to sling a healthier take on the dish by using cultured oil and a gluten-free batter blend with rice flour. While I cannot speak to its efficacy in that department, what I can report is a startling zero on the digestive issues post-feast—a first for food that is indeed deeply fried. It helps that it's delicious, with the signature fried chicken bucket ($38 per person) coming with roasted chicken consommé, copious ban-chan, cold noodles, and a delicate seasonal frozen yogurt to finish. One of the great splurges of your lifetime—and it's a splurge I do recommend making, if only just once—is the golden nugget, which comes topped with either ocean trout roe ($16 per piece) or Golden Daurenki caviar ($28 per piece). — C.H.

Sailor Arrow

On the restaurant-rich stretch of DeKalb near Fort Greene park, the September-opened Sailor has already found its sea legs. The neighborhood bistro from restauranteur Gabriel Stulman (Joseph Leonard, Fairfax) and chef April Bloomfield (The Spotted Pig, The Breslin Bar) manages to pull off a refined nautical theme—clock the glass diorama with a sailboat in it behind the bar, and the framed portraits of sailors unknown on the wall—with dishes that trick you into thinking they're simple but will make your eyes go wide. There's a toast topped with an herbaceous 'green sauce' and fluffy grated parmesan ($10); roasted fennel with goat cheese that you'll text at least one person about ($14); mussels cooked in wine and served on toast with a fennel aoili ($16); plus an ode to Zuni Cafe's anchovy with celery and parmesan ($10). What also stands out is how many items clock in under $15 (and frankly, those small plates were my favorites), including the house wines at $9 a glass. It feels like the kind of place you could go once a week—if it weren't so hard to get in.— M.S.

Swoony's Arrow

It seems everywhere is serving the grown-up happy meal—burger ($26) and a martini—right now. At Swoony's, a new Carroll Gardens spot from the Cafe Spaghetti team, I'm not even mad at more of the same. They do it perfectly. And to be clear, the menu has plenty more to it, from a crab louie ($18) and clams casino ($18), to a hanger steak with "cowboy butter" ($33)—there's a retro Americana thing going on here, if you hadn't noticed—but take a look around the humming dining room and you'll see the thousand-island topped double-patty and martini spinoffs are a draw for many guests. But everything just tastes and feels good here, from the inviting glow of the dining room, to the splashes of wine suggested by the expert team. This is in the further end of Carroll Gardens, and thank god—I hope the trek means I won't have to fight with as many people to keep getting a reservation and coming back. (By the way, the burger is very good, but the short rib au poivre is unforgettable.) —M.S.

Bar Miller Arrow

I eat like an animal at the top of the aquatic food chain—all I want is seafood, all the time, ideally raw. So I'm on the scent with new sushi spots, and was excited to put Bar Miller to the test. It comes from the Rosella team, where I joyfully take myself from time-to-time (usually, dining solo, enjoying a chirashi bowl in a window seat before meeting friends for a comedy show at Club Cumming—it's a thing for me). The team focuses on sustainable seafood which feels like the only way forward in sushi, so the idea of seeing this come to life in a small 8-seat omakase restaurant had me counting down the days until my reservation.  At $250 for 15-courses over two hours, it was absolutely worth it—and astounding to watch humble porgy from New York waters turned into delicate nigiri, and a lush arctic char make me excited to support a move away from mass salmon consumption. Everything was served on trippy dishware from Helen Levi, all of which I need to buy pronto, and it was what omakase should be. Not just dinner, but an experience. — M.S.

Don Ceviche Arrow

For a long time, the Don Ceviche stall in Essex Market has been the only place I can count on for quick, easy, tastes-like-I'm-in-Peru ceviche. Their limes have just the right zing; their seafood, crisp and cool, is delicately tossed in a blend of chili and citrus. A new, shoebox-sized location in the East Village expands on the concept (hey, it's still bigger than the stall!). There's a bright tiradito (sort of like sashimi, but dressed with a punchy sauce; $20) that reminds me of the dishes I'd eat on terraces the summer I lived in Lima. There's, of course, several types of ceviche. And there are also homestyle dishes, like seco a la norteña ($29)—fall-off-the-bone beef in a cilantro sauce—that hit differently than the fare at upscale Peruvian spots around the city. For the moment, you might not find this spot on your Instagram feed. Pop in before you do. —Megan Spurrell, senior editor

Montague Diner Arrow

Diners are a dying breed in New York City. Once dime a dozen, you’re now more likely to see a local favorite fall victim to high rents or anonymous condo developments than open up or resurrect itself, which is why Montague Diner in Brooklyn Heights feels like such a pleasant surprise. Much like S&P Lunch in Midtown or Three Decker Diner in Greenpoint, Montague is among a string of classic diners across the city that has been rescued and refurbished to serve patrons old and new. Formerly the long-running Happy Days Diner, which closed in 2022, the space has been taken over by a group of mostly film producers and directors (with credits including Uncut Gems and Catfish ), to engineer an aesthetic that draws on Depression-era diners—right down to the specific shade of green paint on the walls. When myself and senior editor Megan Spurrell stopped by there for lunch on a recent Friday it was packed with a crowd spanning all ages—recently established locals skipping out on work at the end of the week and retirees playing out their Friday routines—all chowing down on well-executed classic diner dishes that weren’t trying to be anything else. What we ordered: an impeccable tuna melt, crispy French fries, a well-dressed Caesar Salad, and a pickle dish that I would rate with a 10/10 crunch level. We’re already plotting our return for dinner, when it will be more appropriate to order the “Giant Grilled Cheese + Bottle of Chilled Red” or the “Mozzarella Sticks + Orange Wine” deals. — Lale Arikoglu, articles director

Postcard Arrow

After over a decade living in New York, there are few things I will stand in line for at this point—but a few weeks ago, I discovered that an egg salad sando ($9) from Postcard is apparently one of them. From the same team behind its neighbor Nami Nori, this shoebox-sized spot in the West Village serves a small menu of Japanese sandwiches and pastries from inside a cutesy, Wes Anderson-ified space (think block colors of red and yellow, and wallpaper featuring ginkgo leaves) that has Tik Tokers waiting down the block for its light-as-air, gluten-free sandwiches. We ordered a spread that included the aforementioned egg salad, which was simultaneously fluffy yet rich, as well as a chicken katsu ($14) that left me yearning for more (okay, I was really hungry, but I do think it should be bigger), and an array of fruit fillings like strawberry, grape, and orange ($9). Pair it all with a strawberry milky featuring an extra shot of matcha and brown sugar boba ($11.50)—IFYKYK. —L.A.

Foxface Natural Arrow

A number of hyped New York restaurant openings in the past 6 months have revealed a trend—for one, the concepts and aesthetics of many spots you can't get a reservation at defy quintessential categorization, which comes across in both menus and dining rooms. (he second is that people are generally split on what they think of these places. Foxface, which describes itself as "a natural continuation of Foxface sandwiches," (somewhere I never went) is an embodiment of the above, and I'm one of the people who really enjoyed it. Dishes on the ever-changing menu range from goose barnacles ("simply boiled, eat with your hands;" $48), to a hiramasa "pastrami" ($25) with horseradish and a rye crisp, to the kangaroo katsu for 2 ($69) which the internet can't stop talking about. The common thread between these dishes, which range wildly in their influences, is that the out-of-the-box ingredients are all tended to, and altered, in house. That pastrami treatment comes from an in-house smoking; fermented ají dulce (on the bluefin tuna), and cultured butter served with sourdough and pickles, are all made on-site. Sure you can try kangaroo, but you don't have to—the dry aged duck breast, with fermented parsnip ($46), is what I keep thinking about. Join the Resy waitlist for the best chance of getting in, and go for the counter if you can. Definitely ask for wine recommendations (who knows what to pair with sweetbreads anyway?). — M.S.

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The Best Restaurants in NYC Right Now, According to T+L Editors

From tried-and-true favorites to hip new openings.

While the New York City dining scene has seen plenty of hardships since the pandemic began, both outdoor and indoor dining have returned in full force. In fact, it almost feels as if there are too many incredible restaurants to choose from on any given evening. Many of our favorite spots are back after closures, while some stuck it out through the entire pandemic with takeout and to-go beverages. We're also excited about the variety of new dining concepts opening all over the city, from natural wine bars to environmentally friendly sushi spots.

We asked Travel + Leisure editors about their favorite New York City restaurants, including tried-and-true destinations and hip new spots. If you find yourself in the five boroughs in the near future, you're going to want to check out at least a few of these restaurants for delicious, inventive food, an inviting ambience, and a travel editor-approved dining experience.

Keep reading for 18 of our favorite New York City restaurants, from Manhattan taco spots to Brooklyn pizza joints.

"The Seaport area has a brand new restaurant to add to its arsenal: Carne Mare, from New York heavyweight Andrew Carmellini. This Italian steakhouse celebrates land and sea in a formal (but not stuffy) space that overlooks the water. My favorite dishes? The gorgonzola-cured Wagyu striploin and the mozzarella sticks topped with caviar, already an Instagram regular." — Jacqui Gifford, Editor in Chief

To visit: carnemare.com

Hancock Street

"This clubby steakhouse and bistro, with both indoor and outdoor space, is a breath of fresh air in the West Village. John McDonald (of Lure Fishbar) brought in star designer Serge Becker to imagine a warm space to complement the nourishing food: steak tartare that melts in your mouth, roasted Dover sole, and adult's kid pasta (it's made with a gourmet butter sauce)." — Jacqui Gifford, Editor in Chief

To visit: hancockst.com

"Sona is a beautiful addition to the New York restaurant scene — a fine-dining restaurant that celebrates Indian cuisine from multiple regions with sharable, healthy plates and gorgeous cocktails. Chef Hari Nayak has created a brilliant menu (order the rock shrimp koliwada, crab puri and caviar, and Floyd's Goan fish curry, with a side of the lamb biryani) and an even more brilliant atmosphere — come ready to listen to music and do some people-watching." — Jacqui Gifford, Editor in Chief

To visit: sona-nyc.com

"I happened to end up at Estela for the first time just yesterday. If you were like me and hadn't been before, you may recognize the simply dressed endives of the restaurant's cookbook cover — which, I'll admit, I didn't quite understand the simplicity of. Because of this, my Estela experience was more than just a great meal out in Manhattan. It surprised me, checked my ego, and broadened my senses. I highly recommend the ricotta dumplings with mushrooms, the fried arroz negro with squid, and the oysters with nori. I haven't had such delicious, inspiring dishes in years." — Kendall Cornish, Ecommerce Editor

To visit: estelanyc.com

"The iconic cocktail den Flatiron Lounge, which closed in December 2018 after 15 years of bar brilliance, is one heck of a hard act to follow. Thankfully, the cheekily named mezcal and tequila drinks at this newly opened spot in the same 19th Street space are definitely up to the job. So too is the faultless cooking of chef Henry Zamora, a California native whose ceviches, tacos, and platos like pork ribs in salsa verde are proof that you really can find killer Mexican food in New York if you know where to look. It may be taking the reins from a speakeasy, but Tacos Güey likely won't stay a secret for long." — Paul Brady, Articles Editor

To visit: tacosgueynyc.com

Court Street Grocers

"I recently got my first sandwich from this beloved Carroll Gardens shop and had one of those true-love moments — it was as though we had met long ago, as though the place was an old friend who had been in my life as long as I could remember. I'm not a sentimental person, but the sandwich was that good . And as someone who is trying to eat less meat, I appreciate the wealth of veggie options: basically every meat-y sandwich has a plant-based counterpart. I ordered the Vegitalian (roasted butternut squash, mozzarella, pickle-y relish-y giardiniera-like "hoagie spread") and didn't miss a thing." — Hannah Walhout, Associate Editor

To visit: courtstreetgrocers.com

Gallow Green

" The McKittrick Hotel , home of Sleep No More , has long dazzled visitors with over-the-top performances and parties. While I am a sucker for the variety shows like Speakeasy Magick —the must-see close-up magic show that re-premieres on July 23 — I have found myself coming back time and again for Gallow Green. The rooftop bar has top-notch cocktails and bites, and the decor transports you to a fantastical world not unlike Narnia through the wardrobe, but this is a rooftop in Chelsea. (It even becomes a log cabin in a pine forest in the winter!) And while Gallow Green offers a spectacle, the vibe is always approachable and surprisingly low-key. It's good for every occasion." — Scott Bay, Assistant Editor

To visit: mckittrickhotel.com

"Despite having done a lot of eating at home over the past year, I've been drawn to eating out at restaurants that feel, well, like home. That's the feeling you get at Pisticci, one of my Morningside Heights neighborhood favorites. The service is always friendly and the dining room has cozy, friend's-living-room vibes (though it's pretty hard to resist the airy outdoor dining setup). They've recently added menu options like plant-based meatballs and vegan bolognese alongside the more traditional offerings of mussels and skirt steak, so there's really something for everyone, including that friend (me) who wants to start dinner with a Spicy Spritz (mango chili vodka, peach nectar, Prosecco)." — Skye Senterfeit, Photo Editor

To visit: pisticcinyc.com

Rosella Sushi

"I love high-end sushi as much as the next person, but the carbon footprint of flying fish in from Japan every day seems excessive. Times they are a-changing: Increasingly, we're needing to realize that what we eat hugely effects the planet. This small, unassuming sushi restaurant that opened in late 2020 uses domestic, locally caught or farmed seafood with minimal environmental impact. The menu consists of inventive takes on traditional Japanese sushi (the Yoni's breakfast roll is a play on a classic bagel and lox, hold the bagel), but every single piece of fish — whether it's the sweet scallop from Montauk or the meaty eel from Maine — is amazingly fresh, and you can feel good about eating it, too. As a bonus, the wine and sake program and the vibe-y playlist are equally on point." — Karen Chen, Editorial Producer

To visit: rosellanyc.com

"My wife and I stumbled upon this quaint restaurant years ago and it's been one of our favorites ever since. The Italian eatery serves up all of the traditional favorites — carbonara, bolognese, and lasagna — with little flair but plenty of flavor. The setting will make you feel like you're dining in the center of Rome with an atmosphere that's quintessentially European. It's an unpretentious spot in a neighborhood that can be a bit luxuriant, and the prices really can't be beat. While I've been enjoying dinner here for years, it wasn't until recently that I realized they also serve breakfast, brunch, and lunch. If you're in the area during brunch, I'd highly recommend the eggs Florentine." — Sean Flynn, Contributing Editor

To visit: fiatcafenyc.com

"Cadence is one of the most exciting recent arrivals to the East Village dining scene. The dishes — like Southern fried lasagna, maple cornbread, and smoked grits — are inspired by chef Shenarri Freeman's Southern upbringing, but modernized, veganized, and made completely her own. And they're all served up in a warm, sophisticated space." — Skye Senterfeit, Photo Editor

To visit: overthrowhospitality.com

Santa Panza

"When Santa Panza arrived on Broadway in Bushwick a few years back, right under the tracks of the J Train, I immediately fell in love. Perfect for a date night or place to catch up with friends, the cozy restaurant serves wood-fired pizzas that compete with the best-of-the-best around town. One special pizza topped with Brussels sprouts and honey still makes my mouth water." — Tanner Saunders, Experiences Editor

To visit: santapanza.com

"I was a die-hard MeMe's Diner fan, so I was understandably heartbroken when it closed during the pandemic. But recently, a new queer-owned dining concept focusing on baked goods, natural wines, and even the occasional jelly cake opened up in the same Prospect Heights space. The new spot is called Kit, an acronym for 'Keep in Touch,' and I couldn't be more thrilled about it. Whether you stop by for your morning coffee or in the evening for a glass of wine, Kit is an undeniably charming spot with a friendly staff, and it's quickly becoming a neighborhood favorite." — Madeline Diamond, Ecommerce Writer

To visit: instagram.com/kit_bklyn

"I recently braved indoor dining to finally visit the tasting-menu spot Oxalis. To me, a three-course meal isn't celebratory enough, and this restaurant in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, offers seven courses for a fraction of the price of Manhattan spots. It was awarded a Michelin star, and it's richly deserved. The dishes are intensely complicated, which in most hands isn't perceptible in the final product and just seems like hype. Here, it results truly new, subtle flavors. The optional wine pairing focuses on tiny natural producers." — Kathy Roberson, Copy & Research Chief

To visit: oxalisnyc.com

"There's nothing better than eating sushi made fresh in front of your own eyes. But wait, what if that high-end, restaurant-quality sushi came to your house and was prepared in your very own kitchen by chefs who have worked at some of the best spots in the world? With Tomokase, the restaurant comes to you — and it's the best meal I've had in 2021. We had Tomokase come to Bedstuy, where a chef and waiter prepared a 15-piece omakase, making sure we got plenty of Instagram videos and mouthwateringly fresh fish. No matter the size of your NYC apartment, they can make it work. And seriously, if you can make it work, you'll be absolutely thrilled (and dangerously full)." — Tanner Saunders, Experiences Editor

To visit: tomokase.com

Santo Brúklin

"Having lived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is a country that is near and dear to my heart. When I happened upon this restaurant during the height of the pandemic in April 2020, it had just opened (weeks before the city shut down — talk about unfortunate timing) and was selling to-go caipirinhas (Brazil's national drink) as a way to stay afloat. Despite being on mile five of a run, I bought a caipirinha , feeling it was the least I could do to support small business owners from Brazil in such hard times. Now, the restaurant is thriving, with a wonderful ivy-lined backyard that hosts movie and comedy nights, and the food brings a taste of Brazil to New York, with pão de queijo (cheese bread) that is to die for, delicious moqueca (seafood stew), and feijoada (traditional black bean stew) that I will always go back for." — Karen Chen, Editorial Producer

To visit: todosossantos.nyc

Spaghetti Incident

"Having been a part of the the Lower East Side since 2015, Spaghetti Incident doesn't qualify as a new restaurant to the city, or to me. As its self-proclaimed advocate, it's not a restaurant enough people know about, but it's a place I fall in love with every visit. It's a struggle to share my favorite place in NYC, but with a grumbling stomach, its funky intimate charm and dream-worthy Amatriciana sauce is too delicious not to share. Maybe it's a mixture of the ambience, the cozy 35 seats, or the restaurant's mouth-watering homemade pasta menu, but I actively find myself twirling bucatini in my sleep. Its takeout helped pass some tougher quarantine nights, but nothing beats sitting at the chef's counter, or being tucked into a little table with good company and delicious food. My professional opinion is to try everything." — Alessandra Amodio, Digital Photo Editor

To vist: spaghettiincidentnyc.com

Mark Sailboat

"While not a strict restaurant, guests and friends of The Mark hotel — voted the #1 hotel in the U.S. in T+L's 2020 World's Best Awards — can charter its iconic 70-foot Herreshoff sailboat (one of the last in existence) for a two-hour journey in the New York Harbor. Enjoy unparalleled views of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty while sampling the star of the experience: a bespoke menu prepared by chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. There will be assorted oysters on the half shell, watermelon and goat cheese skewers, and an artisanal cheese and crudité spread." — Scott Bay, Assistant Editor

To visit: themarkhotel.com

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One of Everything, To Go

72 onion-soaked smashburgers, crispy-cutlet subs, cold noodles, and sizzling spicy skewers to eat on the street this summer..

With apologies to the many thousands of talented cooks and chefs toiling away in this city’s kitchens, we must note the most memorable food we’ve eaten this year hasn’t been inside a dining room. It’s been shared with friends standing on a corner, snatched from a takeout bag at a park, or unwrapped and messily dribbled onto a bench. This is no knock against proper restaurants, but when the most exciting development to come along recently at an establishment like Eleven Madison Park is the arrival of an alfresco croissant pop-up (Bake It Nice), it’s a testament to the joy of great food without any pomp and circumstance. Maybe the act of sitting down to a meal has begun to feel stultifying — “Have you dined with us before?” comes across less like a helpful inquiry and more like a threat to explain the concept of “appetizers” — or perhaps it’s that low overhead and a ravenous dining public happy to seek out whatever food appears on TikTok afford a greater range of creative expression. While the weather is warm and New York is at its most walkable, we’re choosing to focus on the food right in front of our faces: the crisp-rolled lumpia Shanghai, icy watermelon slushies, oversize Swedish hot dogs, and pork-stuffed Vietnamese doughnuts being slung from carts, counters, stands, and windows all over town. Consider this hit list to be the jumping-off point. It’s not an exhaustive catalogue of all the street food in the city — how could it be? — but it’s made up of our absolute favorite snacks, drinks, and meals right now; many are brand new, while some have flown under the radar for years. In every single case, they are perfect for gulping down on a sidewalk somewhere this summer. — Alan Sytsma

1. A Bottle of Gazpacho From Mercado Little Spain

Soup that’s bright and smooth enough to sip straight from the bottle — and enriched with enough olive oil to count as a snack. 10 Hudson Yards; littlespain.com

2. The Savory Vietnamese Doughnut at Banh

Banh tieu is a Vietnamese doughnut that’s used here like a kaiser roll, sandwiching quail egg, nubbins of pork crackling, rounds of sausage, pork floss, pâté, scallion oil, and a fat plug of turmeric sticky rice. It’s best enjoyed with a tall, fruity litchi slush. 942 Amsterdam Ave.; banhny.com

3. A Full Banchan Spread From Little Banchan Shop

Whether you’re at the Long Island City original or the new outpost at Pier 57, there is perfect picnic food to be had: dried radish, crunchy and dressed in gochugaru; assorted pickles, including thick slices of onion and pepper; smooth eggplant; and a potato salad supercharged with Korean mustard. Multiple locations; littlebanchanshop.com

The Best Summer Food and Places to Eat in NYC This Year

• Wouldn’t a map be nice? You can find one here.

4. A French-Fry Sandwich From Merguez & Frites

All sandwiches are improved by the addition of French fries. At this bite-size North African takeout shop, soft bread is stuffed with two snappy links of grilled merguez, a little harissa, and punchy sauce algérienne, plus a fistful of fries that are more creamy than crunchy. 40-06 25th Ave., Astoria; instagram.com/merguez_and_frites

5. DIY Pani Puri From Thelewala

These puchka, or pani puri, don’t come pre-assembled; instead, the fried spheres (the puri) are whole with their fixings. It’s up to you to excavate a hole in the top to fill with potato masala, then drizzle in tamarind water (the pani). The flavors and textures come together like a good song. 112 Macdougal St.; thelewalany.com

6. Cold Sesame Noodles From Ivan Ramen

The chewy sesame noodles from this LES ramen shop (and its Downtown Brooklyn ghost-kitchen counterpart) are deeply savory, with no peanut-butter sweetness. They’re topped with shredded chicken that’s dyed red and made fiery with chile. Multiple locations; ivanramen.com

7. A Gas-Station Smashburger From Smacking Burger

Where Chelsea meets the Village, a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Mobil station is home to the city’s most curious new burger grill, a minuscule operation — next to the candy racks and coolers filled with Gatorade — that specializes in Oklahoma City–style onion burgers overflowing with melted cheese and sweet horseradish sauce. 51–63 Eighth Ave.; smackingburger.com

8. Blue Takis Elote at Doña Zita

In front of this outdoor Mexican restaurant famous for its overstuffed tortas is its stand selling mangos on a stick and elote, which you can get with the classic toppings or — better — the IYKYK version that’s rolled in a choice of crushed chips. Go for the tangy, fiery, heavily pigmented blue Takis. 1221 Bowery St., Coney Island; donazita.com

9. Some Thai Crackers From Khao Nom

The krong krang krob — peppery, sweet-and-salty fried crackers — stand proud among the world’s best chips, be that Korean honey-butter or sour cream and onion. They’re sticky from the caramelized palm sugar and coconut milk. 42-06 77th St., Elmhurst; instagram.com/khaonomnyc

10. Sizzling Skewers at Caravan Uyghur Cuisine

Uyghur cooking is defined, in part, by its world-class kebabs: Order lamb ribs, which are fatty and lush on the inside, charred and crackling on the outside, and seasoned with the unbeatable mix of cumin and chile. 60 Beaver St.; instagram.com/caravanuyghur

The New Ice Cream That Must Be Eaten

11. The tiramisu flavor at Pamina (461 Sixth Ave.; paminadolcegelato.com ) , a bubbly new gelateria, does not skimp on the (gluten-free) ladyfinger cookies.

12. Soursop at Mr. P’s (1397 Nostrand Ave., Prospect–Lefferts Gardens; instagram.com/mrpsicecream ) is bright, sunny, vegan, and possibly even healthy.

13. Deep-fried caramel-pecan cornbread from Thick (208 Graham Ave., Williamsburg; getthickbk.com ) will fight against a spoon with every bite. Let it melt a little first.

14. Celery gelato from Juice Generation (multiple locations; juicegeneration.com ) is part of the smoothie chain’s long-overdue line of ice creams.

15. Glace went viral for its crazy hot chocolates; the Fluffernutter sundae is available only at its just-opened midtown food truck (Rockefeller Ctr.; glaceny.com ) .

16. The City’s Best Shawarma at Zyara

Freshly baked laffa is tightly wrapped around shawarma just shaved from the spit and a holy trinity of pickles, crunchy cabbage, and toum. Then it gets brushed with drippings and brushed again, after which it’s pressed down on the griddle. 25-53 Steinway St., Astoria; zyararestaurantnyc.com

17. Chicken for a Picnic From Fat Fowl

Roast chicken in the summer? Yes — specifically, one treated to a lavender brine with rosemary, thyme, garlic, allspice, and Scotch-bonnet peppers. The skin is blackened in spots, like jerk; it’s ideal for shredding and sharing with friends in Fort Greene Park. Dekalb Market Hall, 445 Albee Sq. W., Downtown Brooklyn; thefatfowl.com

18. A Heaping Hot Dog From BonBon

Every Sunday, a stand outside this TikTok-famous Scandinavian candy warehouse sells griddled overlong franks covered with sweet Swedish mustard, bottled rémoulade, crunchy fried onions, pickled cucumber slices, and chives. It costs $6, which is a bargain for a dog that is so thoroughly topped. 66 Degraw St., Red Hook; bonbonnyc.com

The New York Chicago-Dog Showdown

Who’s the best at dragging their dogs (all-beef Vienna sausages, of course) through the garden?

The loaded $8 Chicago dogs at both ( 19. ) Dog Day Afternoon (multiple locations; dogdaybrooklyn.com ) and ( 20. ) Bobbi’s Italian Beef (228 Smith St., Cobble Hill; bobbisitalianbeef.com ) stick to tradition with their toppings: pickle spears, tomato wedges, yellow mustard, electric-green relish, celery salt, and tiny sport peppers.

The winner is Bobbi’s: A back-to-back taste test revealed more generously distributed toppings and warm, pillowy poppy-seed buns owing to a quick steam after ordering.

21. A Deli Container of Watermelon Slush at A&N Fruit Store

The city’s best soft drink is a lidded quart container of blitzed watermelon and ice — fitted with an extra-wide straw for rapid consumption. 25 Canal St.; no website

22. Stridently Un-Soggy Fish and Chips at Make My Fish

The peppery dredge on the catfish at this no-frills counter creates a light crust that never falls off, even as the food sits in its paper bag while you take it to its final destination. 120 W. 116th St.; makemyfish116.com

23. A Chicky Sandwich From Salty Lunch Lady’s Little Luncheonette

A giant, juicy chicken meatball is smashed into a seeded roll and made even messier with paprika mayo, charred onions, arugula, and — true to the counter’s name — extra-salty feta cheese. 565 Woodward Ave., Ridgewood; saltylunchlady.com

24. Sugarcane Juice at Nha Trang One

There is usually a line at Nha Trang One’s sidewalk window for the freshly pressed juice an employee prepares to order. The grassy nectar can be enhanced with kumquat, pineapple, and other fruit, but most people opt to take it straight. 87 Baxter St.; nhatrangnyc.net

25. Hainan Chicken Rice From Lou Yau Kee

This food-court vendor hawks an exceptional poached chicken, smooth and tender, with chicken-rich rice and a side of broth. A friend, a Singaporean cook, says that its sauces — salty and sweet dark soy, prickly chile, and invigorating ginger — taste like home. Urbanspace Union Square, 124 E. 14th St.; instagram.com/louyaukee

26. A Roll at Kolachi

Bless the single-dish restaurant, a place that knows its strengths. Kolachi, in a little one-room box, makes only paratha rolls, a Pakistani street snack that’s little more than a deliciously greasy fried paratha filled with grilled chicken or beef, chutney, and onions, wrapped in a picnic-festive bit of checkered parchment and ready to be eaten on the road. 130 First Ave.; kolachirolls.com

Three Less Expected Pizzas

27. The louche little slice of $3.50 pizza at 99 Cent Village Pizza (333B Sixth Ave.; no website) that’s decorated with crisscrossing stripes of hot sauce and ranch is not pretending to be better than it is. It’s also not pretending to be on the menu: Order one when a pie appears on the counter.

28. It was a Staten Island–born pizza snob, of all people, who convinced us to finally try the Detroit-style pizza from Jet’s (multiple locations; jetspizza.com ). “It just hits,” he said of the chain’s extra-crunchy, deep-dish pie.

29. The Roman-style fried zucchini slice at Impasto (373 Waverly Ave., Clinton Hill; impastonyc.com ) deploys zucchini in two ways: as thin, dark-fried rounds and blended into a sauce that lines the airy bianca base. It’s dotted with gobs of fresh mozzarella and big basil leaves.

30. Crispy, Creamy Bacalaitos at the Freakin’ Rican

These salt-cod fritters are one of the better ways to bide your time between beach days. The supremely crunchy edges guard a soft, salty interior. 4306 34th Ave., Long Island City; thefreakinricanrestaurant.com

31. The Etna Mess at Archestratus

Its café has closed, but this food-focused bookstore will continue its tradition of making weekend-special trifles — sponge, cream, and jammy fruit inside a plastic cup — that change with the seasons: One recent flavor was bright apricot in orange caramel with whipped ricotta. 164 Huron St., Greenpoint; archestrat.us

32. German Fried Chicken at Schaller & Weber

Schaller & Weber hot dogs are all over town, but the best thing the company makes — fried chicken — can be found only at the UES shop. The crust is thicker and crunchier than what you’ve had before, creating a completely protective shell around the meat. 1654 Second Ave.; schallerweber.com

33. Pastéis de Nata From Lisbonata

The lines at this Portuguese egg-tart stand have become the topic of the season for Fort Greene farmers’-market loyalists. This probably has something to do with the extra-crisp butter crusts, the softer-than-expected middles, and the lovely boxes that make them ideal gifts. Raspberry is excellent, but even the original is great — especially when dusted with an optional shake of cinnamon. Multiple locations; lisbonata.com

34. A Sushi Platter for the 2:43 to Poughkeepsie From Joji Box

Headed out of town on the Metro-North? Skip the Grand Central Shake Shack and duck into One Vanderbilt’s basement to pick up an order of sushi from this high-end omakase counter. Tuna rolls, pieces of salmon or yellowtail, and a stack of edamame are all fresh and beautiful and boxed up with as much care as a new iPad. 1 Vanderbilt Ave.; jojiboxnyc.com

Eight Perfect Bites in Chinatown

35. Ganjang and egg bap — runny eggs over purple rice with cabbage, sesame oil, and an obscene amount of seaweed — at Sobak . 51B Canal St.; instagram.com/sobak.han .

36. Crispy lumpia Shanghai and guac — a new classic combo, we say — at Mucho Sarap . Canal Street Market, 265 Canal St.; sosarapnyc.com .

37. The cheung zai bao (or hot-dog bun) at M&W Bakery . 25 E. Broadway; no website.

38. Beautiful mooncakes stuffed with floral white-lotus paste and black sesame at New Golden Fung Wong Bakery . 41 Mott St.; no website.

39. The jiggly steamed roast-pork cheung fun from Sun Hing Lung Co ’s takeout window. 58 Henry St.; no website.

40. The har gow — translucent dumpling wrappers stuffed with shrimp and diced bamboo shoots — from Wu’s Wonton King . 165 E. Broadway; wuswontonking.com .

41. A four-piece order of earthy-sweet pork-and-shrimp shumai in yolk-yellow wrappers from Mei Lai Wah . 62 Bayard St.; meilaiwah.com .

42. Flaky, crispy, too-easy-to-overlook tuna buns at Fay Da Bakery . 83 Mott St.; fayda.com .

43. A To-Go Container of Peel-and-Eat Shrimp at Lobster Place

The shrimp is as simple as it gets: plump, moist, and seasoned generously with Old Bay. The appeal is the packaging: Chilled with a lemon wedge, any order can be ready for the beach when you are. Chelsea Market, 75 Ninth Ave.; lobsterplace.com

44. A Vegetarian Cubano From Cuban Shack

Long-cooked jackfruit is the main ingredient in these meat-free Cubanos, draped in sweet sauce and spilling out of the pressed roll. Swiss cheese adds heft while little sticks of fried potato are tucked in for crunch. 75 Hoyt St., Boerum Hill; cubanshacknyc.com

45. A Bowl of Beef Curry at Burmese Bites

Until recently, the only place to regularly get Myo Thway’s food was at the Queens Center Mall. He’s now improving the lunch fortunes of midtown office workers, who can make a weekly habit of his beef curry, thick with gravy and made elite by the addition of balachaung, a spicy, salty, chunky fish-based condiment. Mona Kitchen, 310 E. 44th St.; instagram.com/burmesebites

The Five Best Beef Patties

A flaky larded crust filled with seasoned meat: These hand pies may be the world’s most perfect food. Here are our favorites.

46. The spicy beef patty at Tosh’s (at the Williamsburg and Prospect Park Smorgasburgs; toshspatties.com ) is a hand-laminated, turmeric-stained pastry filled with slightly crumbly beef flecked with garlic and orange pepper for significant, fruity heat.

47. The crust on the spicy beef patty at Puff’s Patties (812 Nostrand Ave., Crown Heights; instagram.com/puffspatties ) is tender, while the searingly spicy filling is saucier than most.

48. The Guyanese patties at Sybil’s (132-17 Liberty Ave., Richmond Hill; instagram.com/sybilsliberty ) look like mini-pies: Rich shortcrust is rolled into tart pans and domed over a filling that favors aromatic spices over hot pepper.

49. Juice oozes out of fork holes poked into the shatteringly flaky crust of the oxtail patty at M&P Caribbean Delight (753 Flatbush Ave., Prospect–Lefferts Gardens; no website) .

50. The Haitian beef pâté at Immaculee Bakery (1411 Nostrand Ave., Prospect–Lefferts Gardens; immaculeebakery.com ) is all about the rustic, layered crust that is simply folded over a small scoop of sweet-and-spicy ground beef.

51. Mexican Sorbet From  Nieves Cortés

Fidel Cortés Jr. is the Limón Ice King of Bushwick: Across from Maria Hernandez Park, he sells nieves de garrafa that’s hand-churned with a paddle for a smooth texture and pure fruit flavor. Options rotate: There may be cooling melon with small cubes of fruit or creamier pineapple; other days bring mango, watermelon, lime, or the “famous” dragonfruit. Outside 282 Knickerbocker Ave., Bushwick; instagram.com/fideljr87

52. A $2 Whoopee Pie From Millport Dairy

The Amish farmers of Lancaster County sell these traditional whoopee pies in several flavors, including the classic chocolate cake (rich and moist) as well as pumpkin. Good for a snack when you’re dropping in to pick up some of the dairy’s Greenmarket-famous eggs. 2583 Broadway; no website

53. Panamanian Chinese Skewers at Thao’s Family Table

On Sundays, the couple behind this new boardwalk business is making the case that Panamanian Chinese barbecue is what’s been missing from Rockaway Beach with sweet and juicy party wings, each one skewered and grilled until it’s a glistening rusty shade of orange. Locations vary; thaosfamilytable.com/location

54. The Over-the-Top Venezuelan Sandwiches at Codigo 58

The Pepito 58 is a sandwich in sicko mode: three types of meat (chunks of beef with a hint of lime, plus chicken and bacon), slices of tomato and shredded lettuce, a blanketing of cheese, and four sauces (ketchup, mayo, mustard, and cilantro garlic). It’s outrageous, one of those sandwiches that teeter on the edge without going over. 204 Bushwick Ave., East Williamsburg; instagram.com/codigo58bk

Our Favorite …

55. … sandwich..

“Rolled beef” — according to the slicers at Prospect Butcher (multiple locations; prospectbutcher.com ) — is an “old Jewish cousin of pastrami,” a bit milder and intended to be eaten cold. It’s peppery, fatty, made in-house, and delicious when laden with Swiss, slaw, and watercress.

We begged, but the folks at L’Industrie (multiple locations; lindustriebk.com ) won’t make their chicken-Caesar hero — loaded with shredded romaine — any easier to order. You just have to line up when they post to Instagram. Once acquired, everyone will want to share.

57. … Sando.

You’ll be tempted by the classic chicken cutlet on squishy milk bread at Postcard (31–33 Carmine St.; postcardbakery.co ), but the real summer pick is the dessert-y fruit sando , a tender, crumbly cake of a sandwich stuffed with sweetened cream and heart-shaped strawberries.

58. A World-Class Bagel Without the Schlep at Utopia Bagels …

Whitestone’s world-famous bagels have landed in Murray Hill, where the hordes descend to experience outer-borough bagel bliss. A bit of scallion cream cheese is all they need. 120 E. 34th St.; utopiabagelsny.com

59. … Or the Worth-the-Hype Instagram Bagels at Apollo Bagels

Social media’s favorite bagel shop is finally open all day, every day in the East Village. The plain, sesame, and everything options — no cinnamon-raisins here — are indeed as light and crusty as their reputation would lead you to believe. A tight menu ensures the inevitable line moves quickly. Salmon and dill is the sandwich we see most often our on feeds, but we’re partial to an everything bagel topped with cream cheese and a couple of slices of red, ripe tomato. 242 E. 10th St.; apollobagels.com

60. Guava-Soaked Ribs From Cocotazo

Messy, sticky ribs are a rite of summer. This Puerto Rican stall in East Harlem’s La Marqueta has a championship-caliber spread: four pork ribs slathered in guava barbecue sauce, fruity but not too sugary; succulent sweet plantains; a scoop of potato salad; and plenty of rice with pigeon peas. La Marqueta, 1590 Park Ave.; cocotazocateringllc.com

61. An Einspänner at Ten Thousand

Absurd iced coffee topped with sweetened cream so thick that a barista scoops it from its metal container, then garnished with a line of cocoa powder: It tastes like tiramisu. Multiple locations; 10000coffee.com

62. A Piroshki (or Two) at Sofreh Cafe

A companion café to Nasim Alikhani’s excellent Persian restaurant, Sofreh, debuted a block away this spring. You may be tempted by chickpea cookies and almond confections in flavors like orange blossom and jasmine, but we like the baseball-size piroshki, golden turmeric pastries that are thick like knishes. They may be filled with cumin-scented beef studded with raisins and peas; or kale, mushrooms, and feta. Either one makes for a filling lunch, washed down with Alikhani’s sweet cucumber-and-mint sharbat cooler. 216 Flatbush Ave., Park Slope; sofrehnyc.com

63. A Bag of Buñuelos at Seba Seba Bakery

Spheres of chewy cassava-cheese bread are the perfect thing to snack on while roaming Jackson Heights, debating whether you’ll next want to eat some ceviche at Mariscos el Submarino or Birria-Landia’s world-famous tacos. 83-03 Northern Blvd., Jackson Heights; instagram.com/sebasebabakery

64. Salmon Onigirazu at Tokuyamatcha

Made to order with a hefty portion of warm rice, onigirazu fall somewhere between traditional onigiri and a sandwich. Wrapped in plastic, the salmon avocado (one of the most popular options) holds up especially well if you’re taking it to eat later. 627 E. 6th St.; tokuyamasalon.com/cafe

65. A Should-Be-Viral Pastry at ALF

In a city filled with overstuffed sweet croissants, the buttery and brown leek-and-béchamel pastry (it’s a Danish, not a croissant) is a savory standout. Chelsea Market, 75 Ninth Ave.; alfbakery.com

Are Biscuits the Next Croissants?

They’re fluffy, buttery, and beautiful.

66. The weekend-only BEC from Wheated (905 Church Ave., Flatbush; wheatedbrooklyn.com ) is stacked inside a biscuit that bakes up over two inches tall before it’s split open.

67. The square buttermilk biscuits from Harlem Biscuit Company (2308 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd.; harlembiscuitcompany.com ) are at their best in the bakery’s John Lewis sandwich: stuffed with hot fried chicken breast, coleslaw, and sweet pickles.

68. The bun-size, dome-shaped biscuits at Norma’s Corner Shoppe (59-02 Catalpa Ave., Ridgewood; normascornershoppe.com ) are craggy on the outside and soft within. They sell out, so go early and order a Ranchero sandwich with egg, beans, cheddar, and salsa.

69. The Pork Katsu Burger at Chef Katsu

The “burgers” made by Katsutoshi Machida — Chef Katsu himself — are nearly six inches high, a crisp-fried pork cutlet (marinated first in shiro koji for tenderness and flavor) on a soft brioche bun, topped with julienned cabbage for shredduce-like crunch and a sticky-sweet miso sauce. 143 Greene Ave., Clinton Hill; instagram.com/chefkatsubk

70. The Baja Fish Taco at Haab

“Taco” is possibly a misnomer for this massive piece of beer-battered fish, properly slathered with habanero mayo and chunky mango salsa. Somehow a corn tortilla contains it all, but just barely. 202 Leonard St., Williamsburg; haabnyc.com

71. Tacos Árabes From Santa Ana Deli & Groceries

This dim corner deli is a shining star and a largely unheralded destination for a Pueblan specialty known as tacos árabes: a flour tortilla overflowing with strips of pork, sliced white onion, and a smoky chipotle salsa, kept in check by some extra-creamy avocado. 171 Irving Ave., Bushwick; no website

72. And for Dessert … Sakura Parfait at Cha-an Bonbon

At some point this summer, skip the plain ice cream and go big: This parfait is a full-on dessert with layers of agar, warabi mochi, and cookies surrounding a swirl of hojicha soft-serve. 238A E. 9th St.; chaanteahouse.com

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An Eater’s Guide to New Orleans

Thorough, highly opinionated dining guidance for visitors to the Crescent City

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Table of Contents

- Welcome to the Big Easy - Where to Start on Eater New Orleans's Key Maps - New Orleans Food Neighborhoods To Know - New Orleans Food Terms to Know - Follow the News - Get in Touch

The greatest thing about New Orleans’s iconic food culture might just be how welcoming it is to the uninitiated. There’s no need to be intimidated when entering the land of gumbo , po' boys , and beignets, rather the challenging part is whittling down the options in order to taste the very best. Let this guide help cut through the noise — and hotel promotions — to get straight to the good stuff.

Welcome to the Big Easy

When it comes to specialties of the city, among its vast food iconography are the famous dishes invented by New Orleans restaurants, like oysters Rockefeller at Antoine’s , Brennan’s coming up with bananas Foster, or the gumbo z’herbes at Dooky Chase . And like so much else from New Orleans, the stories behind their inventions only serve to bolster their icon status. Wondering what classic dishes and drinks to try where? Start with a shrimp po’ boy at Domilise’s , beignets at Cafe du Monde , gumbo at Herbsaint , oysters at Casamento’s , barbecue shrimp at Pascal’s Manale , a French 75 at the French 75 Bar , and a Sazerac at the Carousel Bar .

Where to Start on Eater New Orleans's Key Maps

Eater New Orleans maintains frequently updated guides to everything from where to find sno-balls to specific dishes like yak-a-mein — an iconic New Orleans noodle soup and hangover cure. Here, Eater narrows the field to highlight some of the very best destinations in the area.

Standout Restaurants

Eater New Orleans’s list of standouts includes a number of exceptional restaurants in most of the city’s neighborhoods. For a day’s worth of knockout dining, start with breakfast at Brennan’s (fancy) or Molly’s Rise and Shine (casual); a lunch of fried chicken and red beans at Dooky Chase’s ; and dinner at Brigsten’s for the best of modern Creole cuisine in a charming cottage on the Riverbend; Mosquito Supper Club for an exploration of Louisiana cuisine in a peaceful setting; or Bar Brine for something a bit funkier (and rarer, vegetarian-friendly). Serigne Mbaye’s Dakar NOLA is one of New Orleans’s most celebrated restaurants for connecting Senegambia and New Orleans through food, and Saint-Germain is one of the best restaurants in town, serving a dazzling ten-course tasting menu.

Hottest Restaurants and Bars

Among the hottest of the hot right now are Wild South , a new tasting menu restaurant from Coquette chef Michael Stoltzfus in the Lower Garden District; Kenji , a refined omakase restaurant in the International House Hotel, and Morrow Steak , the luxe steakhouse from hospitality entrepreneur Larry Morrow. On the more casual side, Rosella is a charming neighborhood cafe in Mid-City serving good wine and reimagined comfort food , like a kicky andouille corn dog and a bright red bean salad that, despite being vegan, evokes the traditional New Orleans dish. And Hot Stuff is the latest from the Turkey and the Wolf team, dishing out a twist on the traditional meat and three.

Wondering where to drink right now ? NightBloom is the chillest new cocktail bar in town (and it’s open late) while Jolie downtown offers more of a scene and even a show. Fives is an elegant cocktail and oyster haven in the French Quarter that has quickly become one of the city’s top destinations, and Justini’s in New Orleans’s Bywater neighborhood is a beautiful bar that pays homage to the city’s legendary Black woman bar founders.

Iconic Dishes and Restaurants

Perhaps more than anywhere else, New Orleans is a city filled with iconic dishes. Po’ boys , red beans and rice , sno-balls , beignets , and gumbo help define the city; many are also central to a restaurant’s identity and history, like turtle soup at Commander’s or muffulettas at Central Grocery (temporarily closed, though selling sandwiches at a number of locations ). Here’s a guide to the city’s most iconic dishes and where to get them, and here are the 25 classic restaurants we think every New Orleanian needs to experience at some point. For a further taste of New Orleans history, have a meal at one of these classic Creole restaurants .

Essential Bars

Start with these seven best-in-class bars compiled by our companion publication Punch , classic cocktail joints to raucous natural wine parties to one glossy oyster bar.

Enjoy cocktails at the handsome Hermes bar at Antoine’s restaurant or at Arnaud’s James Beard Award-winning French 75 , both longtime classics on Eater’s essential bars map. To get a feel for neighborhood bars, look no further than Kermit Ruffins’s Mother-in-Law Lounge , R Bar in the Marigny, or Pal’s Lounge in Mid City. As for the hottest spots to imbibe? Try cocktail havens like Jewel of the South or Manolito in the French Quarter, Columns on St. Charles Avenue for a classic Southern porch setting, or Cure in Uptown to experience one of New Orleans’s original craft cocktail destinations. In the mood for something tropical? Try Beachbum Berry’s Latitude 29 or Cane & Table .

Finally, if dive bars are more your speed, this thorough guide to New Orleans’s essential dive bars guide is your friend.

Brunch was popularized here in New Orleans at Madame Begue’s, when it was called “second breakfast” and served as a nightcap for dock workers. Commander’s Palace invented the jazz brunch — and it’s still very worth a visit. Consider a classic Creole brunch at Atchafalaya in Uptown, or a Carribean-inspired meal at Compère Lapin . For something a bit different, inventive menus are being served at newer destinations like Mister Mao , Palm and Pine , and 14 Parishes . Here is a complete guide to the hottest new spots for brunch , and for the booziest bottomless brunch deals in town, see this guide .

Don’t get brunch spots confused with New Orleans’s essential breakfast restaurants . For an extravagant meal complete with bananas Foster flambéed tableside, look no further than Brennan’s . Find funky and fun settings for breakfast at Molly’s Rise and Shine in the Garden District, both locations, or Bearcat , Alma Cafe in Bywater, and Two Chicks Cafe downtown. For a classic greasy spoon breakfast, the famed Camellia Grill Uptown on the beautiful St. Charles Avenue, Stanley in the French Quarter, or Slim Goodies Diner on Magazine Street all knock it out of the park.

It’s been said that New Orleans is America’s finest lunch town , and locals take the midday meal seriously. From po' boys and muffulettas to three-martini lunches, it is not a meal to skip when visiting. For the ultimate New Orleans lunch experience, head to Galatoire’ s, Commander’s Palace , (Gentlemen: Bring your jackets) or Dooky Chase’s.

For casual, quicker options, Parkway Bakery and Tavern is a favorite for roast beef or fried shrimp po' boys, and it sits right next to Bayou St. John for a lovely post-lunch stroll. If you’re in the Quarter, go with Johnny’s Po-Boys , or while Central Grocery remains closed, a muffuletta from Napoleon House (with a Pimm’s Cup to wash it down). To try some of the city’s best sandwiches that aren’t po’ boys, Francolini’s , Stein’s Deli , Cochon Butcher , and Turkey and the Wolf — get the collard green melt — are the best of the best. Not a sandwich fan? Go another route at one of the city’s favorite spots for pho, Lilly’s Cafe on Magazine Street, Toups Meatery for a taste of Cajun in Mid City, Queen Trini Lisa for doubles, or Lil’ Dizzy’s for fried chicken and sides in Treme. For more lunch suggestions, check out Eater’s complete guide to New Orleans’s essential lunch restaurants .

Head to Casamento’s , Pascal’s Manale , or Porgy’s Seafood Market for big, wild Gulf of Mexico oysters and a lively atmosphere. To taste the farmed oysters, smaller and often more consistent and sweeter in flavor, head over to Seaworthy downtown (it’s open late), Donald Link’s seafood mecca Pêche , or Warehouse District hotspot Sidecar Patio and Oyster Bar , which also has one of the city’s best courtyard dining areas. To find a good deal on oysters every day of the week, here is a guide to the best oyster specials in New Orleans right now .

Vegan, Vegetarian, and Gluten-Free Dining

Start with Sweet Soulfood , a vegan soul food spot with mac and cheese, stuffed bell peppers, and many of the other New Orleans soul food classics. Meals from the Heart is a lovely option in the French Quarter, Ital Garden is making a splash on Claiborne Avenue, and Kindred in Uptown serves excellent fresh fruit daiquiris in addition to delicious vegan cuisine. Here are complete maps of spots for vegan or gluten-free dining.

From oysters to cocktails , it’s always happy hour somewhere in New Orleans. And for a wide range of the best affordable food in town, see here .

New Orleans is the birthplace of a number of sweet treats — bananas Foster, as mentioned, sno-balls, pralines, beignets — the list goes on. Beloved dessert shops like Angelo Brocato and the trendy Sucre are joined by a bevy of restaurants known for their versions of bread pudding, Ponchatoula strawberry shortcake, and sweet potato pie — find those here . Eater maps the best bread pudding in town here , and to cool off with a sno-ball from spring through fall, let this be your guide.

New Orleans Food Neighborhoods To Know

These are the key areas of the city every self-proclaimed food person needs to get acquainted with — complete with what to eat and drink in each.

The French Quarter

The oldest and the most famous section of New Orleans, the French Quarter or Vieux Carre is home to Bourbon Street; throngs of tourists; residents (the French Quarter is first and foremost a neighborhood); and some of the most iconic dining and drinking experiences in New Orleans. These run the gamut from boozy go-cups of frozen Irish coffee at Molly’s at the Market and purple drinks at Lafitte’s to the hip offerings of Sylvain and classic courtyard dining at Bayona . In the Quarter to experience the classics? Make a reservation at Antoine’s , Arnaud’s , Brennan’s , or Cafe Sbisa .

Here are full guides to great French Quarter bars , incredible restaurants , and purely iconic dining experiences . Only have 24 hours to pack in all the best dining and drinking in the French Quarter? Let this be your guide .

Treme is the oldest African-American neighborhood in the United States and is considered by many to be ground zero for New Orleans culture — with Mardi Gras Indians, second lines, and tons of good music. Head over to Kermit Ruffin’s Mother-in-Law Lounge for a night of music. Grab breakfast at Buttermilk Drop Bakery and plan to have lunch at Dooky Chase’s , where some of the city’s most influential cooking can be had. Have dinner at Fritai , Charly Pierre’s Haitian hotspot, or Gabrielle , an intimate neighborhood destination for upscale Creole cooking.

The Lower Garden District , stretching from St. Charles Avenue to the river, and Jackson Avenue to the Expressway, is home to a great number of new restaurants and bars. Longtime favorites include HiVolt for coffee, Surrey’s for breakfast, and Lilly’s for pho. The LGD is also home to some of the best sandwiches in the city from nationally-lauded Turkey and the Wolf and dinner destinations like Wild South , the Louisiana tasting menu from Michael Stoltzfus. Feeling nostalgic? Try Mr. John’s , a classic Italian steakhouse with an old-school feel. Barrel Proof is great for after-dinner drinks, and wine lovers are flocking to the moody and oh-so-sultry Tell Me Bar .

The Garden District

The Garden District, with grand homes surrounded by lush landscaping on oak tree-lined streets, stuns with its opulence. Even the cemeteries seem lavish, especially Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, which sits across the street in the shadow of Commander’s Palace restaurant behind black iron gates. The food of the Garden District follows suit , like the smart Coquette . 1920s-era oyster bar Casamento’s , covered in tile from the floor to the ceiling, and Joey K’s , best for fried seafood, red beans and rice, and jambalaya, offer more of a casual, neighborhood feel.

Bywater has become a destination for dining and drinking in the last decade or so, a credit to many creative minds who have set up shop in this downriver neighborhood. For a quintessential New Orleans corner store experience, head to Frady’s for po’ boys or the “old man’s plate.” Grab a beer at neighborhood dives like Markey’s Bar, Vaughan’s, and BJ’s, or for a more refined setting, Bacchanal ’s sprawling outdoor area is perfect for afternoon or evening wine-drinking and small plates. The neighborhood is also home to some of the city’s best barbecue from the Joint , and on the other end of the spectrum, Saint-Germain , where a range of food and drink possibilities make for a memorable dining experience. Sneaky Pickle + Bar Brine offers creative vegan fare alongside excellent cocktails and non-vegan delights, and BABs is chef Nina Compton’s acclaimed neighborhood bistro, ideal for an elegant dinner. Here’s a full list of spots not to miss in the Bywater .

The Marigny

Faubourg Marigny, on the downriver border of the French Quarter, is home to Creole cottages, Frenchmen Street music clubs (like the Spotted Cat ), St. Claude Avenue bars, and eclectic restaurants. To combine all three, head to Snug Harbor . For dinner and cocktails, check out the Elysian Bar , or Paladar 511 for creative California-Italian cuisine with fresh pasta and thin-crust pizza. Budsi’s Authentic Thai is a delicious destination for fresh Thai food, and for drinks, Anna’s just a block away are great spots. Here’s a full list of the best places to dine and drink in the Marigny. If it’s food and music you’re after, these spots , both in and out of the Marigny satisfy the ears and the stomach.

Jazz Fest brings tons of music lovers to this area every April and May, but there’s no bad time to enjoy mussels and frites at Cafe Degas or paella at Lola’s , both of which overlook tree-lined Esplanade Avenue. For lunch, find Creole and Southern food at Neyow’s , a po’ boy at Liuzza’s by the Track , or barbecue from Blue Oak BBQ . Ralph’s on the Park provides a classic New Orleans dinner with a view of City Park, and for a creative, memorable meal highlighting fresh Gulf seafood and regional produce, Sue Zemanick’s Zasu is one of the best spots to open in town in recent years.

The large Uptown area is home to stunning examples of 19th-century architecture, Audubon Park, and Tulane and Loyola universities. It boasts some of the city’s hottest restaurants, like Mister Mao , Dakar NOLA , and Hungry Eyes , classics like Camellia Grill , and white tablecloth legends like Clancy’s . When broadly defined, the neighborhood includes stunner Mosquito Supper Club , Freret Street’s cocktail gem Cure , and La Petite Grocery . Of course, the neighborhood is also home to the city’s favorite dive, Snake and Jake’s Christmas Club Lounge .

Other neighborhood guides to dining and drinking:

Bayou st. john central business district (cbd) freret street irish channel magazine street north claiborne avenue near the superdome riverbend/carrollton st. charles avenue.

New Orleans Food Terms to Know

By Stephanie Carter

Bananas Foster : The New Orleans port along the Mississippi River is one of the largest in the United States. In the 1950s, it brought in lots and lots of bananas from Central and South America. When Brennan’s accepted the challenge to make a dessert with the inexpensive yellow beauties, one of New Orleans’ most iconic desserts was born. It’s brilliantly simple really — bananas sliced lengthwise and flambéed in dark rum, banana liqueur, sugar, and cinnamon, before it’s spooned hot over vanilla ice cream.

Barbecue Shrimp : To understand this dish, first erase any ideas of what barbecue actually is. Found all over New Orleans, barbecue shrimp is made of Gulf shrimp cooked in butter, garlic, white wine, and Worcestershire in a sauté pan on the stove. No smoke. No pit. There are lots of versions of it, but the original at the 100-year old Pascal’s Manale still tops the list.

Beignets : One of New Orleans’ most famous treats, the Cafe du Monde version of the cloud-like, square doughnuts piled high with powdered sugar is really worth some stomach real estate. Walk around to the river side of the building, where there’s an open window for viewing beignet-making. If sweet isn’t your thing, sit down for the savory, blue crab version at La Petite Grocery .

Boudin : This loose rice sausage comes from Cajun Country, but in recent years it has made its way onto New Orleans menus. While many Crescent City versions pale in comparison to the Cajun versions, Cochon Butcher and Bourée at Boucherie have it nailed.

Bread Pudding: An exercise in frugality, stale bread is soaked in a mixture of eggs, cream, and sugar before being baked and laced with whiskey sauce. Heavy traditional versions abound, but the ethereal bread pudding soufflé at Commander’s Palace is legendary.

Chargrilled Oysters: Drago’s  restaurant created the chargrilled oyster — a shucked oyster topped with garlic and herb butter, and both Romano and Parmesan cheeses, then grilled. The original Drago’s is in Metairie, but there’s also one located in the Hilton Riverside just off Canal. It isn’t as atmospheric, but it’s definitely convenient. For totally different flavor, try  Cochon ’s wood-fired oysters with chile garlic butter.

Chicory : During Napoleon’s Continental Blockade, the French used chicory, the dried and ground root of the Belgian endive, in coffee to stretch the commodity when it was expensive or not readily available. Even though it was no longer needed, it made its way to French-leaning New Orleanians and has stuck around for tradition’s sake. Brennan’s keeps it brewed all the time. Cafe du Monde includes chicory coffee in its famous cafe au lait.

Cochon de Lait : A marinated, pit-roasted suckling pig is the closest Louisiana ever came to making its own claim to barbecue. The dish hails from from Acadiana, but there are plenty of swoon-worthy options in town, most notably at Walker’s BBQ , a regular on the festival circuit that sells a highly coveted cochon de lait po-boy. 

Crawfish : Ninety percent of the crawfish from Louisiana are consumed in Louisiana, and they are lightyears away from the Chinese crawfish that have started to make their way into the freezer sections across the U.S. From spring to early summer, find boils all over town. For the best of who’s boiling crawfish during the season, head right over here .

Daiquiri : New Orleans isn’t snobby about cocktails, generally applauding the classic daiquiri and the frozen daiquiri in equal measure. Manolito , a Cuban bar in the Quarter, serves about the best classic daiquiri you can find outside of Cuba. The fresh juice versions of the frozen daiquiri at Bourrée are the perfect antidote to summertime heat (grab some spicy boudin or chicken wings white you’re there). And the thrill in the freedom of ordering a daiquiri from a drive-thru window simply adds to the pleasure of this sweet, braining-freezing treat at New Orleans Original Daiquiris .

Go-cup : Speaking of buying booze through drive-thru windows, New Orleanians take their booze to the streets when they wish. However, it must be in a “go-cup,” meaning not glass. Bars usually have some of these within reaching distance on the counter or next to the door to grab on the way out. Just ask if it’s not visible — and place your trash in a receptacle when you’re done.

Gumbo:  New Orleans is known for gumbo, an actual multi-cultural melting pot blending sausage-making contributions of the Germans, ground sassafras from American Indians, okra from West Africa, roux technique from the French, and sometimes oysters harvested by Croatians or shrimp caught by Vietnamese fishmongers. Try the chicken and andouille gumbo from High Hat Cafe , the gumbo yaya at Mr. B’s or the smoked turkey, sausage, seafood, and chicken recipe from Nice Guys Bar and Grill .

Jambalaya : A one-pot, rice-based dish that some compare to paella, Coop’s Place serves a rabbit and sausage jambalaya that’s available late into the night.

King Cake : The classic Carnival dessert officially hits the bakeries on Twelfth Night , marking the beginning of Mardi Gras season. While the most common is the classic, brioche-based version, the French king cake, puff pastry and almond cream, is gaining some ground. If you are lucky enough to get the king cake baby, know that it is both a gift and a mandate: It’s up to you to bring the king cake to the next party, which is probably tomorrow. Here’s a list of Eater New Orleans’ favorite king cakes .

Muffuletta : After Sicilians arrived en masse to New Orleans beginning in late 1800s, the area near the French Market became known as “Little Palermo” and the “Italian Sector.” Sicilian workers often stopped into Central Grocery for bread, olives, cold cuts, and cheese for lunch, which they ate standing up or with a plate perched tenuously in their laps. Salvatore Lupo, who opened Central Grocery across from the French Market in 1906, decided there had to be a better way and it involved bread as big as a plate. The iconic storefront has been closed since Hurricane Ida (though expects to return), but the famous sandwich layered it with olive salad, genoa salami, ham, mortadella, provolone, and Swiss cheese can be found at Cochon Butcher and Napoleon House , two of the city’s favorite versions. Here’s a full map of Eater’s favorite muffuletta spots .

Po’ boys : The po’ boy goes back to the 1920s when the New Orleans streetcar drivers went on strike. Two former streetcar drivers, the Martin brothers, ran a bakery at a time and took pity on their former colleagues with free sandwiches. When a striking streetcar driver came in, the bakery workers would call out, “Here comes another poor boy!” The airy New Orleans-style French bread gets stuffed with everything from roast beef to fried seafood to french fries and debris. Do try Liuzza’s by the Track ’s garlic oyster po’ boy, a beguiling combination of fried oysters and garlic butter. And get a frosty goblet of Abita to go with it. Similar to the po’ boy , 1920s classic Casamento’s serves a must-try oyster loaf, which means the fried oysters get sandwiched between two slices of thick, toasted white bread rather than New Orleans-style French bread.

Dressed : When you order a po’ boy (see description in map section above), you’ll be asked if you want it “dressed,” which means lettuce, tomato, pickle, and mayo. Some spots have slight variations on this, like Guy’s, where dressed means all of that and ketchup.

Sno-ball : A city that gets as hot and humid as New Orleans needs a few icy tricks up its sleeve to stay cool in the summer. The New Orleans sno-ball may seem like a cousin of the ubiquitous and more widely known snow cone, but in the New Orleans version, the makers shave the ice until it’s super-fine. No trip to New Orleans is complete without a visit to the James Beard Award-winning Hansen’s . Here’s Eater’s full map of sno-ball stands .

Ramos Gin Fizz: This frothy gin-based cocktail shaken with orange blossom water and an egg white is so good that Louisiana’s larger-than-life Governor Huey P. Long flew a bartender from the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans to New York to school the NYC bartenders on the cocktail in the 1930s, decades after Henry Ramos shook his first one at the now-defunct Imperial Cabinet Saloon in the late 1800s. The Sazerac Bar at the Roosevelt is still the place to get one.

Sazerac : Made with cognac or whiskey and Peychaud’s Bitters over a little ice and sugar in a glass coated with Herbsaint or absinthe, this brooding cocktail goes against the Hurricane-swilling, patio-pounding idea of drinking a lot of people have about New Orleans. In 1838, Antoine Amedie Peychaud concocted this drink using his family’s bitters recipe at his French Quarter apothecary. There are lots of good places to find one, but the handsome, Art Deco-style Sazerac Bar with its floor covered in tiny tiles, long bar, and comfortable club chairs is classic.

Yak-a-mein : Known as “old sober,” this brothy noodle soup rich with the umami saltiness of soy sauce was once primarily sold at second lines and in the back of African-American bars, packed full with yesterday’s brisket or other meat and topped with a hard-boiled egg. No one really knows where this dish came from, but it’s become popular in all parts of the New Orleans community. While the best version is inarguably from “Yakamein Lady” Ms. Linda, who can be followed on Instagram here and Facebook here for pop-ups, there are a number of corner stores and restaurants to find the specialty a full list of spots .

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Eater New Orleans is updated every weekday with breaking news stories (restaurant openings, closings, etc.), features, guides, and more. Here are a few ways to stay in the loop:

• Keep an eye on Eater New Orleans’s homepage. New stories will always show up near the top and flow down toward the bottom of the page as they get older, while important recent stories will stay pinned right at the top. Also, check out our big sister, Eater.com , for national and international food news.
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Get in Touch

Have questions not answered here? Want to send in a tip or a complaint or just say hello? Email us at [email protected] om , or talk to us on Facebook and Twitter .

Marjie's Grill

Casamento's restaurant, mosquito supper club, buttermilk drop bakery, sidecar patio & oyster bar, barrel proof, domilise's po-boy & bar, jewel of the south, slim goodies diner, toups meatery, angelo brocato, pal's lounge, lilly's cafe, bearcat cafe, two chicks cafe, le chat noir, lengua madre, lil dizzy's cafe, kermit's tremé mother-in-law lounge, dooky chase restaurant, stein's market & deli, johnny's po-boys, surrey's cafe & juice bar, saint-germain, willie mae's scotch house, kermit's treme mother in law lounge, french 75 bar, parkway bakery & tavern, liuzza's by the track, pascal's manale, cafe du monde, cochon butcher, molly's at the market, piece of meat, turkey and the wolf, stein's market and deli, beachbum berry's latitude 29, gabrielle restaurant, la petite grocery, lafitte's blacksmith shop, casamento's, molly's rise and shine, candlelight lounge, snake and jake's christmas club lounge, seafood sally's, sneaky pickle & bar brine, sweet soulfood, antoine's restaurant, meals from the heart cafe, look around morrow steak, new orleans’s vibiest restaurant yet, new orleans has had a lot of famous visitors lately. here’s where they ate., the latest new orleans restaurant closings, june 2024.

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The Most Fun Restaurants in NYC

Free shots, flashing chile pepper lights, and a cafe where wearing a bathing suit is required

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What’s a restaurant that’s fun right now? It’s a question we get asked a lot at Eater. Of course, it’s kind of a trick question, since fun can mean something different to everyone. Often there’s some durable gimmick, like goofy decor, a memorable soundtrack, a DYI element to meal preparation, or a room full of diners who seem to be having a night full of belly laughs. As for the food, well, a fun restaurant doesn’t mean it’s necessarily churning out the best bites in town, but it’s reliably enjoyable without seeming fussy.

Guantanamera

This is the kind of place where there’s no dance floor but people dance, where it’s unhip but often crowded. It’s all to the backdrop of worn yellow walls bedecked with palm trees, bananas, farmers, and musicians. You’ll also find some of the city’s  best Cuban sandwiches , vaca frita (skirt steak fried to the texture of soft jerky), and potent mojitos. Swing by after a show for live Cuban music every night.

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Haidilao Hot Pot Flushing

When Haidilao opened its first New York location in 2019, Eater called it an “adult playground.” The Chinese hot pot chain, which has over 1,300 locations globally, is a fine-tuned fun machine: There are hand-pulled “dancing” noodles prepared out at the table, free toothbrushes in the bathroom, and “code words” that elicit secret menu items. The restaurant is spread out over two huge dining rooms on the second floor of a shopping mall in Flushing, Queens.

Fresco by Scotto

The Scotto family — host and matriarch Marion, her daughters Elaina Scotto and Fox 5 anchor and co-host of Good Day New York , Rosanna Scotto — have been feeding dishes like chicken Scarpariello and Dover sole to Midtown’s power set since 1993. But it was during the pandemic that the sisters took a cue from Miami, they said, and pivoted to make the experience more about fun. Now, expect DJs and conga lines — and when Odyssey’s “Native New Yorker” cues up, you know Mayor Eric Adams is in the house.

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Grand Central Oyster Bar

By all means sit at the snaking lunch counter, where it still feels like 1940, or — even better — perch at the actual oyster bar and contemplate the dozens of raw bivalves that can be shucked to order as you eagerly watch. An added plus is the contraption stapled to the counter that looks like a giant juicer, and watch in awe as the cook uses it to create soups called pan roasts, one of the ingredients of which is... ketchup.

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For years, Let’s Meat was Koreatown’s only all-you-can-eat barbecue restaurant. Others have come along , but this rowdy restaurant remains one of the most affordable options in the area. The menu has two price tiers: The $43 menu gets you unlimited soups, banchan, and a dozen types of meat for 100 minutes, while the $49 set comes with a few more items, like strip steak and marinated squid. Beer, soju, and somaek towers keep the good vibes going.

Sushi On Me

Sushi on Me is a raucous , all-you-can-drink, cash-only party. It’s located inside of a Jackson Heights basement (there’s a second location in Williamsburg; however, nothing is quite as fun as the original). Sushi on Me set the tone for a new era of omakase experiences in New York: the kind that can actually be unbuttoned fun, where the music is loud, and the cussing flows as freely as the alcohol.

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Walk into Vatan and find yourself in a reproduction of a Gujarati village, with a thatched-roof building, a banyan tree canopy with tables underneath, and period movie posters. Waiters, too, are dressed in appropriate costumes. Sit back and relax: There’s nothing to order, just a succession of vegetarian dishes in a prix-fixe meal that include freshly made pooris that almost float like balloons, curried vegetables, fritters, and other miscellaneous fare.

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It helps when a fun restaurant has great food, too. That’s the case at Sappe, the new restaurant from one of the city’s top Thai spots, Soothr. The vibe feels a little bit like a club — neon lights, mirrors on the ceiling, colorful cocktails — but the food is top-notch. The charcoal-grilled skewers and pan-fried noodles are great for sharing, and the menu has a few hard-to-find dishes for those who like trying something new, like sok lek kua, made by cooking beef, liver, and tripe with blood and seafood sauce.

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Toasted Coconut Panna Cotta at San Sabino

The zany sibling to Don Angie, San Sabino, right next door, has fun with Italian American dishes, like a trio of extra-large shrimp blanketed with cheese for a shrimp Parmesan; a comely plate of stuffed mussels with ‘nduja; or a pepperoni carbonara with Sichuan peppercorns. The drinks are festive, too, especially the Benny, a spicy house margarita that’s a nod to the former tenant of the place, Benny’s Burritos.

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In Taiwan, 886 is the area code given to most cell phone numbers: In the East Village, it’s a sign of a good time. This Taiwanese restaurant has improved some since its opening in 2018. Blood cakes and other Taiwanese snacks are consumed at tables in a narrow dining room whose ceiling is covered in neon lights. On the menu: a “Bad Idea” drinking challenge that must be consumed through a straw and a Taiwanese hot dog named “the sausage party.”

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Panna II Garden Indian Restaurant

Let’s get this out of the way: Panna II is by no means where you’ll find the best Indian food in New York, but the restaurant has been beloved for 40 years because it is one of the most fun places in New York to dine out with a group. Strobe lights turn on when it's a birthday, and the whole restaurant sings along in a room where the ceiling is dripping with chile pepper lights.

New York classic haunts are undeniably fun, especially those that are allegedly haunted. One of the oldest taverns in New York, Ear Inn is reliable for a casual night out over martinis, burgers, and drawing on a paper tablecloth with crayons. And it still has the feeling of being a hardscrabble dive patronized by sailors from the piers just at the end of the street (or their ghosts).

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C as in Charlie

C as in Charlie is on a mission to get you drunk. Dinner at this Korean American restaurant starts with a free shot of sake/soju, and the drinks list has lots of Korean spirits to keep the party going. The food menu — fried chicken, a “Seoul’sbury steak” — is short and affordable. Did we mention it has one of the strangest bathrooms in the city?

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The most fun restaurants in NYC do not have to be alcohol-fueled. In fact, here the experience of dining is not only meditative but restorative . To partake you’ll need to disrobe down to your swimsuit, as this spot — that serves vareniki and borscht — is located inside Spa 88, a basement-level Russian spa known for food almost as much as its banya.

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The Turk's Inn

Bushwick’s Turk’s Inn was inspired by a supper club founded in Hayward, Wisconsin in 1934. In fact, that’s where much of the wacky decor comes from, filled with objets d’art with a Turkish and Eastern Mediterranean theme, including busts of Nefertiti, kitschy paintings of cats, and sculptures of Graeco-Roman wrestlers. You can pick and choose from an eclectic menu: Here, cheese curds go perfectly with tahini White Russians.

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Velma Restaurant

Velma is an Italian restaurant that passes as a dive bar. Or is it the other way around? There are gingham tablecloths, big booths, and chicken Parmesan: Fair enough. But what about the beer and shot specials, chicken nuggets, and Smirnoff Ices on the menu? This isn’t the best Italian food in town, but at Velma, there’s at least one benefit to not having a nonna around: Almost anything goes.

The restaurant is a lot of things: A place where you can sit in movie theater seats hunched over a suitcase acting as a table, eating laab gai sap on a paper plate while various Thai movies play on screen. It’s not a movie theater, per se, in that tables don’t all face toward the screen, and the sound was off on a recent visit, but the Thai cinema theme makes the atmosphere unlike any other spot in the city — a place for a snack with a beer, rather than a full-blown dinner. 

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Lakruwana Restaurant

The knockout Lakruwana is one of several Staten Island Sri Lankan restaurants. It is also one of the most unique restaurants in New York. When the weather allows, take the Staten Island Ferry (itself a completely fun NYC experience), or rope in a friend with a car, and head here. There’s is an all-you-can-eat buffet and the space looks like it's straight out of an antique mall.

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Roll N Roaster

Roll N Roaster was founded in the early 1970s and it feels largely unchanged — a gigantic structure in yellow and orange that looks like a typical fast-food spot, except much bigger and wholly its own. Go on the weekend when the place is jammed with Little Leaguers in full regalia, or families returning from religious observances in their best clothes, and mingle with a cross-section of southern Brooklynites.

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New York City isn’t exactly known for its beaches, but the boardwalk experience at Tatiana, a restaurant in Brighton Beach, is a fever dream — and one of the last of its kind. The banquet hall is outfitted with tablecloths and ornate furniture, the kind of gaudy gold-painted accents that befit an old-school Eastern European venue, where it’s likely you’ll be crashing someone’s wedding or sweet sixteen. All tables face the stage where dinner — cherry vareniki and lots of icy vodka — comes with a show. Think aerial acrobatics and sing-alongs to ABBA. The dance floor opens later in the night to diners.

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22 of the Best Pizza Places in the United States

From Southern California to the Mississippi Delta to the Pacific Northwest, the bounty of great pies has never been bigger.

By The New York Times

Pizza in America has never been better. The wood-fire Neapolitan pizzerias that took off in the early 2000s, and have been spreading ever since, taught Americans to ask more of a dish they already loved.

The ensuing craft pizza renaissance is a rare culinary convergence: born of metropolitan chef culture but not confined to big cities. There are great pizzerias virtually everywhere in the United States , from small New England towns to the Mississippi Delta to rural Iowa to Los Angeles to Alaska. And they’re being opened by chefs from an unusually wide array of backgrounds.

The result is a dish that has become a cooking style of its own, channeling a seemingly limitless number of cultures and ideas.

The following list is a road map to a uniquely American phenomenon — and evidence, perhaps, that the country is home to the world’s best pizza. BRETT ANDERSON

Hamtramck, Mich. ( Pop. 27,834 )

The idea of using Bangladeshi ingredients at Amar Pizza was born of necessity. “We’re in a neighborhood where there are pizzerias that had been around 20 to 30 years,” said Khurshed Ahmed, Amar’s owner. “We had to come up with something unique, to separate us.” The most delicious of the resulting inventions: a pizza made with a dried fish paste based on a condiment that was a dinner-table staple in Mr. Ahmed’s household when he was growing up. This mostly takeout restaurant has been in Hamtramck since 2010, long enough for its Bangladeshi pizzas — you’ll also want one sparked with Naga chiles — to become locally famous , and for good reason. There is a second location in Troy, owned by Mr. Ahmed’s brother Albor Alam. BRETT ANDERSON

Bird Pizzeria

Charlotte, N.C. (Pop. 874,579)

The American craft-pizza boom was fueled by small Neapolitan pies fired in wood-burning ovens. Kerrel Thompson is among the pizzaiolos who responded to the resulting demand for better quality by trying to perfect a different kind of pizza. In Mr. Thompson’s case, it’s a New York style reminiscent of what he grew up eating in Cleveland. At Bird, operated by Mr. Thompson and his wife, Nkem, the pizzas are of a shareable size, featuring browned, caramelized crusts, and available with seasonal toppings like dandelion pesto and local mushrooms. The Thompsons found an enthusiastic local audience for Bird’s pizza: Since opening in December 2021, the restaurant has grown from a pop-up to a takeout business to (as of next month) a sit-down restaurant. BRETT ANDERSON

Bungalow by Middle Brow

Chicago (Pop. 2,746,388)

The overlapping skills required to make beer and dough have spurred a growing number of brewers to try their hands at pizza. This restaurant-within-a-brewery is an inspiring example. The crusts are fragrant and flavorful, with sturdy undercarriages, and the Neapolitan pizzas are always memorable, whether they’re topped with the barest amount of ingredients (order at least one with tomato sauce and yuzu oil) or the makings of a German potato salad, to name just one in the never-ending parade of specialty pies. On Tuesdays, the kitchen features its take on Chicago’s square-cut tavern-style pies (shown above). The food is a good match for the beer and, yes, wine, which Middle Brow started making, from Michigan grapes, in 2019. BRETT ANDERSON

Nashville (Pop. 689,447)

Can pizza be Southern? Can Italian food? The answer is yes, at least when you’re eating at City House. The restaurant, opened by the chef Tandy Wilson in 2007, helped trailblaze the pizzeria-as-Italian-American-trattoria. At the same time, it showed how well Southern ingredients and recipes take to Italian cuisine. If it’s tomato season in Tennessee — as it is right now — keep an eye out for pizza inspired by Mr. Tandy’s mother’s favorite tomato sandwich (above), or one dotted with morsels of the juicy peaches that ripen around the same time. The kitchen is equally adept at handmade pastas and other Italian-inspired dishes. BRETT ANDERSON

Beaverton, Ore. (Pop. 97,494)

It’s been said that Portland, Ore., is the best pizza city in the country. Some may argue, but there’s no question that there are some great pies available here (including those made by Sarah Minnick at Lovely’s Fifty Fifty ). But a few miles to the west, in Beaverton, Aaron Truong and his wife and co-owner, Natalie, are adding to the scene. Started as a farmers’ market pop-up with just a single Gozney Roccbox countertop oven, Hapa found a permanent home last year. True to its name — a term for multiracial people of Asian or Pacific Islander descent — the restaurant works in multiple culinary traditions. The pies stay faithful to the Neapolitan canon of pleasingly charred and chewy dough, but also to vivid Asian flavors, as in the pho or Thai green curry pies. Mr. Truong manages to get a lot on his pizzas without them seeming gimmicky or overloaded. BRIAN GALLAGHER

In Bocca al Lupo

Juneau, Alaska (Pop. 32,255)

“Lupo,” as locals call it, consists of a small deli, a kitchen and a casual 50-person dining room, located in a downtown building that has housed bakeries since 1914. More than half the time, in Alaska’s forested, seaside capital city, it’s either raining hard or raining not so hard. Tucking into the bar, where you can watch your pizza’s crust bubble and caramelize in the wood-fired oven, is a primo way to dry out. The chef Beau Schooler, who has half a dozen James Beard nods, makes pizzas with flours from the Pacific Northwest, Caputo Brothers Creamery cheese from Pennsylvania and classic toppings like fennel sausage, bacon, pepperoni and mushrooms. Keep an eye out for special pizzas, too, like halibut and asparagus, depending on what’s coming in from fishermen and farms. And if you’re lucky, you might catch a glimpse of Harold, the resident parking-lot raven, roosted up by the front door. JULIA O’MALLEY

Leña Pizza & Bagel

Cleveland, Miss. (Pop. 11,199)

The pizza at Leña collapses the distance between Naples, Italy, where Marisol Doyle, the restaurant’s chef and co-owner, studied pizza making; the Mississippi Delta, her adopted home; and Sonora, Mexico, where she was born and raised. The menu includes pies you’d expect to find at a modern Neapolitan pizzeria, like margherita and pepperoni (named pepperrory, after Ms. Doyle’s husband and business partner, Rory). But there are also pies highlighting seasonal produce and Ms. Doyle’s Mexican heritage, including an al pastor pizza (pineapple comes on the side) and the Sonoran, which replaces tomato sauce with refried beans and is topped with housemade roasted jalapeño salsa. Leña is reminiscent of many urban trattorias, except that it sits in a storefront on a small-town main street called Cotton Row. BRETT ANDERSON

The Lincoln Winebar

Mount Vernon, Iowa (Pop. 4,527 )

The scene is so familiar inside the Lincoln — the chalkboard menu, the natural wine, the 30-somethings comparing notes about their favorite podcasts — a visitor could easily forget they’re in a small town on the outskirts of Cedar Rapids. But you won’t forget for long. There is too much Iowa on the wood-fired pies: local morels and asparagus in the spring and summer, Iowa pepperoni and hot honey all year long. The “barn chives” come from the old pumpkin farm where the owner Jesse Sauerbrie’s father lives. Mr. Sauerbrie, who first learned the restaurant business working at Red Lobster, relishes Lincoln’s ability to expand customers’ horizons. “Pizza is a really great way to get people to try new things,” he said. BRETT ANDERSON

Little Donna’s

Baltimore (Pop. 585,708)

It isn’t surprising that Robbie Tutlewski decided to put soft-shell crab on pizza. Little Donna’s — which made The New York Times’s 2023 list of the nation’s most exciting restaurants — is in Baltimore, after all. Here, crab is an all-but-mandatory menu item. And the soft-shells really take to the treatment. They’re pan-fried, quartered and then scattered atop a cooked white pizza, where their buttery juices settle into the cheese. The seasonal special is just one example of how Mr. Tutlewski channels a lifetime’s worth of experiences through his pizzeria. He learned to make Neapolitan-style pizza working at the influential Pizzeria Bianco (see below), but the crusts on Little Donna’s pies are cracker-thin, in homage to the tavern-style pies of Mr. Tutlewski’s native Indiana. Located in the former space of a beloved local tavern, the restaurant comes by its homespun warmth honestly: Mr. Tutlewski lives with his family upstairs, and the non-pizza portion of the menu includes dishes inspired by the cooking of his Yugoslavian grandmother. BRETT ANDERSON

Pizzeria Bianco

Phoenix (Pop. 1,608,139)

Chris Bianco helped establish the persona of the pizzaiolo-as-pitmaster — the meticulous craftsman spinning magic from wood fire. He did it at Pizzeria Bianco, where starting in the late 1980s, he helped pave the way for the craft-pizza revolution one steamy-crisp, handmade pizza at a time. His profile has only grown, along with his empire, but the two Phoenix pizzerias are still worth a pilgrimage. Be sure to order the Rosa, a sublimely austere pizza holding Arizona pistachios, rosemary and singed slices of red onion. BRETT ANDERSON

Pizzeria Sei

Los Angeles (Pop. 3,820,914)

William Joo, who immigrated from South Korea as a teenager, draws inspiration from the Tokyo neo-Neapolitan school of pizza for his very Los Angeles pies, proofed over the course of two days and embellished with produce from the Santa Monica Farmers Market . The menu makes a beautiful Neapolitan pizza and a white pie covered only with a swirl of thick cream and fior di latte mozzarella, freckled with preserved lemon and obscenely large glugs of olive oil. But part of the fun of Sei is in its specials and one-off pizzas that come and go, and might include beef tongue, squash blossoms or yuzu. TEJAL RAO

Post Office Pies

Mountain Brook, Ala. (Pop. 22,461)

Post Office Pies came to greater Birmingham when John Hall determined that his best path out of Manhattan’s rat race, where he worked in some of the city’s most prestigious restaurants, was to bring craft pizza to his hometown. The Neapolitan pies are expertly made, often highlighting local produce; one draws on the partner Brandon Cain’s experience with Southern barbecue. Mr. Hall spends less time in Alabama since opening Restaurant Lola in Bremerton, Wash., an opportunity , he said, that would not have been possible had he not first gone into business for himself. “If we had investors, they never would have let me leave,” he said. “But we didn’t need help to make great pizza.” BRETT ANDERSON

Jersey City, N.J. (Pop. 291,657)

What if New Jersey is really a lost province of Italy? This is the question asked by Razza, Dan Richer’s locavore pizzeria in Jersey City. The flour is milled nearby. Milk for butter and cheese is contributed by local cows. What may be Razza’s most famous creation is a white pie topped with honey from New Jersey bees and toasted, blight-resistant hazelnuts grown in East Brunswick by plant biologists at Rutgers University. Pizza is many things in the United States, but few pizzerias have gotten as far as Razza does by treating pizza as an agricultural product. PETE WELLS

Brooklyn (Pop. 2,736,074)

Roberta’s took California cuisine’s open-minded attitude about pizza and gave it a New York edge. When it opened, in 2008, it had no obvious rules about what it would put on the wheels of dough baked in its candy-apple-red oven. There was a pizza with tuna, another with bacon and eggs and a pineapple-topped version of Hawaiian pizza called the Da Kine. It sounded at times like a dorm-room joke, but the smoky, blistered crust was excellent and the ingredients first-rate. (The “bacon” was house-cured guanciale.) The menu is more traditional these days, but the city is full of pizzerias that took the Roberta’s approach and ran wild with it. PETE WELLS

Rose Pizzeria

Berkeley, Calif. (Pop. 118,962)

In a place where you can’t swing a pie without hitting a fermentation-happy sourdough pizza joint, Rose stands apart. The pies put out by the married couple Gerad Gobel and Alexis Rorabaugh, who worked together in Chicago for seven years, draw from both the New York and Midwestern tavern traditions. The crust is sturdy enough — no point flop here — that you can single-hand your slice. The toppings aren’t flashy, but options like the She Wolf, with burrata, garlic confit, olives, capers and oregano, are deeply delicious. For a true California pizza-parlor experience, snag a table on the charming patio out back. BRIAN GALLAGHER

New Orleans (Pop. 383,997)

Where are American pizza restaurants heading? St. Pizza suggests an appealing path. It’s a slice place, with a sidewalk takeout window, featuring the kind of crisp, sparely appointed pizza that the co-owner Tony Biancosino ate growing up in southern New Jersey, outside Philadelphia. But there’s more. Walk past the cash register and into a partly hidden, seductively lit tavern, where those same excellent pizzas — topped with housemade fennel sausage, with in-season greens and sweet ricotta, with crushed tomatoes, oregano and fennel pollen — are served as whole pies, offered in two sizes. They’re the backbone of what amounts to a red-sauce Italian place stripped to its essentials and polished to suit modern tastes. The restaurant — which Mr. Biancosino opened early this year with Leslie Pariseau, his business partner and wife, and another partner, Abhi Bhansali — is two doors down from Patron Saint , the couple’s shop and bar specializing in low-intervention wines. So yes, you can enjoy your pizza, and whatever else, with a bottle of Slovenian pet-nat rosé. BRETT ANDERSON

San Lucas Pizzeria

Philadelphia (Pop. 1,550,542)

When Valentin Palillero and his wife, Eva Mendez, opened their South Philadelphia pizzeria in 2005, the couple sold traditional pies, with toppings like pepperoni and green peppers that were familiar to their historically Italian neighborhood. But Mr. Palillero, who emigrated from Puebla, Mexico, also wanted to appeal to his own community that had been settling in the surrounding blocks for the last decade or so. Using the same simple crust as a base, new recipes used ingredients found in Mexican cuisine: slightly smoky guajillo sauce, spiced pork, black beans, flecks of onion and chopped cilantro. Nowadays, these varieties, served with a side of lime wedges, are as popular as the originals. But they're also a vivid link in a neighborhood that’s been an epicenter of Italian and Mexican immigration, roughly three-quarters of a century apart. REGAN STEPHENS

Scratch Brewing

Ava, Ill. (Pop. 553)

It would be an understatement to call Scratch a product of its environment. Perched on the sloping edge of a forest in deep Southern Illinois, the brewery was built partly from salvaged local materials. The outdoor brick oven was handmade, and it’s used to bake wood-fired pizza, served Thursday to Sunday. The crusts are made with the same sourdough culture used to ferment the excellent bread and most of the beers. The ingredients for the pizza are largely local (same goes for the beer), much of it grown or foraged by the co-owners Marika Josephson and Aaron Kleidon on land surrounding the property. To say this place is worth its own road trip is another understatement. BRETT ANDERSON

Short & Main

Gloucester, Mass. (Pop. 29,729)

Short & Main is a Neapolitan pizzeria crossed with a New England oyster bar. Visit it once, and you’ll struggle to imagine how it could be anything else. The restaurant is so close to the waterfront, you’re likely to find sea gulls resting on cars parked out front. That proximity is reflected in the seafood offerings, especially the raw oysters. After you slurp down some briny, impeccably fresh Island Creeks, before tearing into one of the restaurant’s flame-kissed pies, you’ll wish this particular version of surf and turf were more widely available. BRETT ANDERSON

The Tillerman

Bristol, Vt. (Pop. 3,782)

In another era, you could be almost guaranteed a place like the Tillerman — a rural inn and restaurant in an 18th-century farmhouse — would offer fresh popovers, stew and a night’s sleep under a homemade quilt. Rustic comforts — raging fires in the winter, live music night by the barn in summer — remain central to the appeal here, but they’ve been married to a fresher culinary aesthetic since Jason Kirmse and Kate Baron took over the property. The couple, who previously worked in food and hospitality in the Bay Area, installed a wood-fire oven. That’s where you’ll find Kelsey Martin, who doubles as the restaurant’s pastry chef, and the sous-chef Taylor Adams (above) tending to crisp-edged pizzas that change with the seasons. BRETT ANDERSON

Washington, D.C. (Pop. 689,545)

When Michael Rafidi decided to create a pizza pop-up at his Georgetown bakery during Covid lockdowns, it wasn’t an especially difficult pivot. The kitchen was already equipped with a wood-fire oven for pita bread. Mr. Rafidi found himself deploying harissa and other ingredients he encountered making pizza-adjacent dishes, like sfeehas and manoushe, with his Palestinian grandparents while growing up. The response was so positive that Mr. Rafidi turned Yellow, a Levantine bakery, into a Levantine pizzeria by night called (not) pizza. The name accounts for how far ingredients like soujek, jibneh and toum stray from Italy. Whatever you call them, the savory pies rival any craft pizza you’ll find. Don’t forget to save room for some labneh soft-serve. BRETT ANDERSON

Minneapolis (Pop. 429,954)

Nowhere is the freewheeling creative spirit permeating American pizza culture more pronounced than in the Twin Cities. Argentine pizza ? Japanese-Italian pizza ? Indian pizza ? Spiffed-up Midwestern tavern pizza? So it’s no great surprise that one of the region’s most excellent restaurants is also a pizzeria. Or perhaps it’s better to say that Young Joni, the place in question, is not just a pizzeria. The menu is filled with not only wood-fired pizzas but also many other non-pizza dishes, many of which draw on the Korean American childhood of Ann Kim , Young Joni’s chef and co-owner. A typical spread here includes galbi-style short rib pizza, chili-glazed prawns and a trio of housemade kimchis. The restaurant, in a former Polish community center, is notably atmospheric. Consider booking seats for pre- or post-dinner drinks in the attached Back Bar, a speakeasy whose design transports you to a rustic cabin in the upper Midwest. BRETT ANDERSON

Follow New York Times Cooking on Instagram , Facebook , YouTube , TikTok and Pinterest . Get regular updates from New York Times Cooking, with recipe suggestions, cooking tips and shopping advice .

A Guide for Pizza Lovers

New Haven has long been known as a pizza town . Can the city’s legendary pizza joints play on the national stage?

With a new breed of portable ovens and an anything-goes spirit, New York’s pizzaiolos are turning out impressive pies at pop-ups in bars, breweries and other surprising venues .

Pan pizza is the recipe you never knew you needed; get your cast iron ready for the deep-dish pie of your dreams .

The reheated, foldable, portable slice is one of New York City’s quintessential eats. This is how it gained that status .

Kenji López-Alt spent five months studying Chicago thin-crust pizza. Here is what he learned .

Don’t own a pizza oven? Cooking pizza on the grill is one of the easiest ways to get a restaurant-quality pie at home .

A team of four hungry New York Times staff members put four four frozen pizzas to the test. This is how they fared .

Our readers offered their hacks  to gussy up a frozen pizza and tips to make it from scratch.

Dutchess County restaurant inspections: How safe is your favorite place to eat?

Dutchess County restaurant inspection records show 12 food establishments received five or more violations in May, according to the most recent data released by New York state.

A Chinese restaurant in Hopewell Junction had 11 non-critical violations in May, including improper handwashing facilities, the presence of pests, potentially contaminated surfaces and improper food protection.

Several other restaurants were cited for not keeping food properly refrigerated and for improperly using or storing sanitized equipment. In many cases, follow-up visits to the restaurants showed no violations.

Inspection reports are public documents, and the online database at  data.poughkeepsiejournal.com has the results of inspections in Poughkeepsie and across New York. Readers can see when a facility was last inspected and get a summary of the violations inspectors found.

The database can be searched by county, or type in a name or address to find records for a specific restaurant.

Explore: NY statewide database of restaurant inspections

Each report is a snapshot in time, reflecting observations from a single day when inspectors were in the restaurant. 

Keep in mind the world of restaurant inspections is fluid. Your favorite eatery might have received a handful of violations and then quickly cleaned up and passed the next inspection with none. A clean slate in one report also doesn't mean problems can't arise later.

Many problems can often be traced to food service employees who either ignore standard operating procedures or show up ill and pass on food-borne illnesses.