The Best Foods to Try in New York City
Ask ten New Yorkers what to eat first and you will get ten arguments. Everyone has a favorite bagel guy, a pizza slice they will defend to the death, and a spot they refuse to tell tourists about.
So instead of picking a side, we went digging through the reviews, the forums, and the food blogs to find out what people are actually eating, and loving, right now. Here is where to start.
The Bagel and Lox
A proper New York bagel is boiled first, then baked, and it should be eaten fast before it goes stale. For the full experience, Russ and Daughters on the Lower East Side is the name that keeps coming up, where the Classic order piles Gaspe Nova salmon, cream cheese, tomato, onion, and capers onto a still warm bagel.
The Pastrami Sandwich
At Katz’s Delicatessen, the pastrami sandwich comes stacked absurdly high with tender, smoky, spice crusted beef between two slices of rye. Diners describe the meat as juicy and unbelievably generous, though the mustard is doing just as much heavy lifting as the meat itself.
The Slice
New York pizza culture runs so deep that food critics fly in just to argue about it. The Infatuation calls Una Pizza Napoletana on the Lower East Side the best Neapolitan pie in the city, with a blistered, chewy crust and a puddle of olive oil in the center worth mopping up with the crust.
If you want something newer, Mama’s Too on the Upper West Side just landed the number one spot on Time Out’s world pizza ranking for its cacio e pepe slice, which comes buried under a snowstorm of Pecorino and spicy aged mozzarella.
The Soup Dumpling
At Joe’s Shanghai in Chinatown, each dumpling hides a savory pork meatball swimming in hot broth inside impossibly thin dough. Take a small bite first, or you will regret it, since the broth stays scalding hot.
The Cheesecake
Junior’s is the name locals throw around most, and its version skips the graham cracker crust entirely for a thin layer of spongecake underneath. Reviewers describe it as rich but pleasantly tangy, never overly sweet, and the strawberry topped version has serious fans too.
The Halal Cart Platter
A good halal platter means chicken or lamb over yellow rice, drenched in red sauce and a garlicky white sauce nobody has ever fully identified. Cart reviewer Rahim Hashim, who has personally reviewed dozens of carts around the city on his blog, points to Adel’s Halal Food in Bushwick as one of his favorites for its layered platter technique and perfectly charred meat.
The Black and White Cookie
This is less cookie and more soft, cake like sponge, split down the middle with chocolate fondant on one side and vanilla on the other. William Greenberg Desserts on the Upper East Side is consistently named the city’s best, with a moist, fluffy texture that puts every bodega version to shame.
At the end of the day, there is no single correct order in New York. There is just a very long, very delicious list, and the fun is in slowly working your way down it.
