Where to Eat in New York City: The Best Restaurants

New York pizza is a specific thing, and the argument about who makes it best is one of the city's oldest and most sincere debates. The defining characteristics are the thin, hand-tossed crust, the foldable slice, the balance of sauce and cheese, and the char on the bottom from a deck oven. Di Fara in Midwood, Brooklyn, is the consensus choice for the best pizza in the city; Dom DeMarco made every pie himself for decades, and the quality has remained extraordinary. Lucali in Carroll Gardens is the other name that comes up in every serious conversation: a small, cash-only room, a long wait, and a pie that justifies both. Joe's Pizza in the West Village is the best slice in Manhattan; simple, consistent, and exactly what a New York slice should be. The distinction between the slice culture (a quick, standing lunch) and the sit-down pie (an event) is worth understanding before you go. Katz's Delicatessen on the Lower East Side has been open since 1888, and it is the most important food institution in New York. The pastrami on rye is the thing to order; hand-carved, piled high, served with mustard and a half-sour pickle. The room is enormous, loud, and chaotic in the best way: the ticket system, the countermen who carve to order, the tables that have hosted more New York conversations than any other restaurant in the city. The table where the famous scene in When Harry Met Sally was filmed is marked with a sign. Go at lunch on a weekday if you want to avoid the worst of the wait, but the wait is part of the experience. New York's fine dining scene is the most competitive in the country, and the restaurants at the top have maintained their standards for decades. Le Bernardin is the most consistent three-Michelin-star restaurant in America; Eric Ripert's seafood tasting menu has been the benchmark for French seafood cooking in the United States for thirty years. Per Se, Thomas Keller's New York outpost, offers the nine-course tasting menu in a room overlooking Columbus Circle and Central Park; it is one of the most formal dining experiences in the city. Eleven Madison Park made the transition to a plant-based menu in 2021 and has maintained its three Michelin stars, a remarkable achievement and a genuinely delicious meal. Daniel on the Upper East Side is the classic French fine dining experience in New York: the room, the service, the cooking, and the wine list are all exactly what they should be. Peter Luger Steakhouse in Williamsburg is the most famous steakhouse in New York and one of the most famous in the world. The dry-aged porterhouse for two is the only thing you need to order. The service is famously brusque (the waiters have been there for decades and have no interest in performing hospitality) and the room is a converted saloon with dark wood and beer steins. Cash only, or the Peter Luger credit card. Reservations are required and can be difficult to get on weekends; book as far in advance as possible. The bacon appetizer and the creamed spinach are not optional. Chinatown in Manhattan and Flushing in Queens represent two different chapters of Chinese food in New York. Joe's Shanghai in Chinatown is the place for soup dumplings; the xiao long bao, filled with pork and crab and a scalding broth that requires technique to eat without burning yourself. The Flushing food courts (New World Mall, the Golden Shopping Mall) are the best destination for regional Chinese cooking in the city: hand-pulled noodles, lamb skewers, Sichuan cold dishes, Shanghainese red-braised pork. The 7 train from Times Square to Flushing takes about 45 minutes and is worth every minute. The New York bagel is a specific object, and the debate about who makes the best one is nearly as old as the pizza debate. The defining characteristics are the chewy interior, the shiny crust from the boiling process, and the density that distinguishes a real bagel from the bread rolls sold as bagels in most of the country. H&H Bagels on the Upper West Side, Ess-a-Bagel in Midtown, and Murray's Bagels in the West Village are the names that come up most often. The correct order is an everything bagel with lox, cream cheese, capers, red onion, and tomato; a combination that is greater than the sum of its parts and one of the best things you can eat in New York for under fifteen dollars. Brooklyn's restaurant scene has matured into one of the most interesting in the country. Williamsburg has the highest concentration of good restaurants in the outer boroughs; the range runs from serious Italian to excellent Japanese to the kind of creative American cooking that would be celebrated anywhere. DUMBO has a smaller but strong selection, anchored by the restaurants in Time Out Market. Park Slope and Carroll Gardens have the best neighborhood restaurant scenes in Brooklyn; the kind of places where the cooking is serious but the atmosphere is relaxed, and where the regulars know the staff by name. New York's cocktail culture is among the best in the world, and the bars that define it are worth seeking out. Death & Co in the East Village is the bar that did more than any other to establish the craft cocktail movement in America; the menu changes seasonally, the bartenders are among the best in the city, and the room is small and dark and exactly right. Employees Only in the West Village is the other essential: a speakeasy-style bar behind a psychic's storefront, with a kitchen that serves food until 3:30 in the morning. The speakeasy tradition (bars that require a password, a hidden entrance, or a reservation) is alive and well in New York, and finding them is part of the pleasure. Brunch in New York is a serious institution, not a casual meal. The waits at the best brunch spots on weekends can exceed an hour, and the experience (the Bloody Mary or the Aperol spritz, the eggs in some form, the people-watching) is worth the wait. The best brunch neighborhoods are the West Village, SoHo, and Williamsburg. Prune in the East Village, Jack's Wife Freda in SoHo, and Egg in Williamsburg are the names that come up most often among people who take brunch seriously. A few practical notes: Resy and OpenTable are the primary reservation platforms in New York, and the best restaurants fill up weeks in advance; book as soon as you know your dates. The tipping standard is 20% minimum. The prix fixe lunch at fine dining restaurants is one of the best values in the city; Le Bernardin, Per Se, and Daniel all offer lunch menus at a fraction of the dinner price. The best food neighborhoods for walking and grazing (no reservations, just showing up) are Chinatown, the Lower East Side, and Flushing.