You haven’t experienced living in New York properly if you haven’t put on some weight since you’ve settled here. If you know me at all, you know that my favorite hobby is eating, the love of my life is food and my camera roll is nothing but pictures of food and screenshots of restaurants I want to go to. So as for my credibility, there’s no question. I live in New York and I am a horrible (understatement) cook, which is the perfect combination for finding the best food spots around town. Below are 11 of maybe 100 food spots in New York that I live for (in no particular order):
1. Boqueria (Upper East Side, Flatiron, SoHo)
This list is in no particular order (as stated above), but Boqueria is my number one, all time favorite restaurant in the world. I’ve been to Spain, and Boqueria in New York is still the best Spanish tapa restaurant I’ve ever been to. If you love exotic food, cheese, Nutella and gourmet dishes, this is a place you need to try. The menu is vast, with almost 50 selections of tapas to choose from. We ordered the Lamb Meatballs, which were super filling and tender, and were topped with the freshest goat cheese I’ve ever tasted. We ordered the Shrimp, the Mushroom Flatbread, and the Grilled Octopus. All mouthwatering. For dessert, we fell in love with the infamous Nutella Filled Churros, which also confirmed that no one else could make me feel the way food makes me feel. The churros were soft, warm, and oozing with warm Nutella at every bite. I have never consumed a desert better than these churros. I may have spent more money than I make in a week for my half of the check, but I don’t regret one cent. The absolute best restaurant in NYC.
2. 10Below Ice Cream (Chinatown)
I’ve been to 10Below 10 times too many, but no matter how many times I’ve been, I still take a video of the miraculous process behind the making of hand rolled Thai ice cream. Basically, the process is taking flavored ice cream and spreading it on top of a metal sheet of about 10 degrees Fahrenheit. The cream starts to stiffen as it’s smothered around the metal sheet, and then the magic happens: rolling. There you have five or so little burrito-shaped rolls of ice cream and your choice of toppings, whether it’s condensed milk (my go-to) or macarons in the shape of dolphins (seasonal option). I either order the Cookie Monster (made of Oreo cookies) or the S’mores Galore (made with chocolate, graham crackers and topped with marshmallows). They’re both delicious and will satisfy your ice cream cravings. It’s about $7 a cup, but it’s definitely worth the money and the trip down to Chinatown.
3. The Butcher’s Daughter (West Village and Nolita)
For me, the synonym to weekend is brunch. The Butcher’s Daughter is a petite and greenhouse-like little spot downtown. I could sit there all day if I could. The environment is comforting and takes away from the vicious rush and artificial streets of New York. When I go, I usually order the Smashed Avocado Toast, the 7-Grain French Toast or the Smashed Avocado Toast Benedict, which is 2 poached eggs, curried hollandaise, avocado smashed with curry, mustard seed and lime served with roasted potato hash, aka my favorite brunch plate of all time.
4. Levain Bakery (Upper West Side, Harlem, and East Hampton)
Paying $5 for one cookie never tasted so good. If you live in New York and haven’t been here yet, what have you been doing with your life? This is the absolute best bakery for a fluffy, colossal, gooey and excessively chocolate-y chocolate chip walnut cookie. The bakery is practically the size of a closet and the line outside doesn’t help the whole experience. But I promise you, the mouthwatering cookie will make up for it. Aside from just the hyped up chocolate chip walnut cookie, there’s also the fantastic chocolate chip brioche and cinnamon brioche.
5. Bar Pitti (West Village)
This is most definitely not your typical “up-scale” restaurant, as there’s no reservations and barely any room to wait without leaning up against the poor guy trying to eat his rigatoni on his awkward first date. It’s a very family style restaurant and the seasonal specials-menu is plastered on this massive chalkboard per each table. You won’t really understand the menu if you’re not fluent in Italian, so be ready to ask the un-friendly waiter to explain everything. We ordered the delicious Caprese, which fully fulfilled my month-long craving for fresh Italian and warm mozzarella. I ordered the Tagliatelle con Tartufo, spaghetti topped with fresh flakes of black truffle. For all the truffle-lovers out there, I highly recommend this dish. They were not cheap with the amount of truffle flakes (as I wouldn’t expect them to be since the dish was $36), and the truffles they used were not the truffles you find at a local shop. The rest of my table ordered the Rigatoni alla Vodka, and Taglierini All Empolese, which is thin, homemade pasta with artichokes, leeks, garlic, olive oil and a touch of fresh tomato. We ended with the Tartufo, which was a good but average Italian ice cream dessert.
6. Galli (SoHo)
It’s not that exciting or inimitable of a restaurant, but it’s the ideal spot for a fancy-ish, classic Italian comfort meal on a Sunday night. Due to the big tables and family-style menu, it’s also a perfect spot for large parties. Of the three times I’ve been, I’ve tried the Spaghetti Pesto, which was super creamy and tasteful and definitely the best dish I had, Mozz Chips, Fried Calamari, Galli Salad, Funghi Pasta (spaghetti, wild mushrooms, sherry cream, and truffle oil) and the grilled Chicken Parm (also a favorite). If you’re like me and can go on till dessert regardless of how big your main course was, I recommend the Tiramisu.
7. Gato (NoHo)
I did have an allergic reaction after dining here, but it is still by far one of my most preferred restaurants in New York. Most of the hype is centered around the fact that Bobby Flay is the owner and chef, but also the gourmet and distinctive plethora of dishes. It’s the type of restaurant where you kind of have to take a risk in what you order but makes that risk well worth it. Gato also leaves you in that horrible situation of having to add more and more orders throughout your meal because everything is just so eccentric and delicious. We ordered the scrambled eggsas an appetizer, which was scrambled eggs mixed with almond romesco, boucheron cheese and served with tomato confit toast. It was so astoundingly delicious we got another order. And the couple next to us heard our shocked reaction, rolled their eyes, but also ordered it. Another appetizer that I had no words for were the crispy potatoes, madewithapoached egg, smoked paprika and topped with Parmesan. For the main course, my table ordered the Tarragon Chicken, which came with crispy potatoes, goat cheese and dandelion, the Kale and Wild Mushroom Paella (made with crispy artichokes and egg), and the Saffron Linguine (made with mussels, garlic, parsley). The chicken was average, but the paella and linguine went beyond all standards. For dessert, we ordered the Pistachio Brown BUtter Cake, made with blackcurrants, and port and honey gelato. Overall, Gato takes this risky and exotic twist on average foods (like the scrambled eggs) but does such a sensational job that I came back after my allergic reaction. Twice. It is on the pricey side of restaurants in New York, but well worth it.
8. Spice Market (Meatpacking District)
While there is a brunch option for Spice Market, I recommend going for dinner because there are more extensive and authentic South Asian options on the menu and the scene is livelier. Regardless, from the moment we walked in to the waiter who approached us to the food that came to our table, this is one of the rare authentic and cultured restaurants in New York. The décor is incredible, from hand carved wood designs to the water fountain at the front of the restaurant, you may question if that subway ride to Meatpacking was actually an express flight to Thailand. It’s a very family-style restaurant, so each dish comes out at once and is placed in the center of the table. We ordered the Spicy Thai Fried Chicken Wings (I couldn’t handle more than two pieces – VERY spicy), the Bibb Lettuce and Arugula Saladand the Grilled Chicken Satay. A+ for all those appetizers. For the main course, we ordered the Striped Bass, the Crispy Chicken Biscuit, and the Red Curried Duck. Overall, Spice Market is definitely one of my favorite South Eastern Asian restaurants in New York, and there’s a lot so that is quite the accomplishment.
9. Gyu-Kaku Japanese Steakhouse (Midtown East, Times Square and the East Village)
If you have dinner plans with awkward company and already foresee the uncomfortable silences that will tear away at your sanity, bring them here. Dinner at Gyu-Kaku will never be boring and will always give you something to talk about, since you’re practically cooking the food at your table. I love duck and basically any kind of peculiar food, so this place is my nirvana. At the center of each table is an installed grill and cooking utensils. You order your raw meat (I always order the Teriyaki Duck Breast, Bistro Hanger Steak, Tare Sweet Soy Calamari, Chicken Teriyaki, Miso Skirt Steak and the Basil Lamb Chops), and you choose what sauce you want the chefs to marinate your meat in. They bring it out and you grill. I also recommend ordering the Spicy Tuna Volcano (crispy rice with spicy tuna), Garlic Noodles and Garlic Fried Rice Bibimbap. For desert, the make your own s'mores and the warm and gooey chocolate lava cakes are extraordinary.
10. L&B Spumoni Gardens (Brooklyn)
I hate deep-dish pizza and crowded restaurants that barely leave you any room from the loud and drunk couple in their mid-life crisis to your left. But when it comes to L&B, all pet-peeves are forgotten. Anything beyond Manhattan to me is out of question, but this was worth every second spent on public transpiration to Brooklyn. I never thought a restaurant could take the standard American values of family, pizza, and ice cream and spice them up under one roof. The waiters are your typical Brooklyn Italian guys: big, buff, and loud. They make ordering food almost intimidating. The best dishes I had at L&B were the following: the warm, saucy, cheesy and doughy Sicilian Pizza, Cold Seafood Salad, Fried Calamari, and the Chicken Parmigiana.For desert, L&B is famous for their L&B Dessert Platter which is absolutely massive and almost impossible to finish. For a casual, affordable and delicious family-style spot, go to L&B and stuff your face.
11. Doughnut Plant (Chelsea, Lower East Side, Brooklyn, Queens)
For someone who loves food as much as I do, it still surprises me that I don’t like doughnuts. However, Doughnut Plant exceeds the standards of “the” doughnut. It’s like eating a ring shaped cake with a gooey delicious filling – to put it in 5th grade terminology. First of all, there are doughnuts everywhere, from the windows to the wall, to the actual display case of different shaped doughnuts. I order the following doughnuts: the Blackout — a chocolate cake doughnut, filled with chocolate pudding, dipped in chocolate glaze and sprinkled with chocolate cake crumbs; the Matcha Green Tea Doughnut, and the Creme Brûlée and Chocolate Hazelnutmini, round filled doughnuts. You’ll find me here after a workout because how else is one supposed to cool off!?
If you want to see more of my favorite spots, be sure to check out my food account: https://www.instagram.com/foodisreligion/!
