Whenever I travel anywhere the main focus of the trip is pretty much always food. I think that you can tell so much about a place and it’s culture by it’s food, and it doesn’t hurt that I’m a bit of a glutton at heart!
So, what did New York’s food tell me about the city? New York’s food is incredibly diverse, and for the historic gateway to the United States this shouldn’t be a surprise. One of the incredible things about the influx of immigrants that the US has historically seen is that their food is able to absorb all the different cultures that hit American soil.
At a time where immigration is a bit of a hot topic, and not always viewed in the best light, New York’s food shows how the city really is a melting pot and how this can produce something amazing for everyone to enjoy.
Going to New York I didn’t go with a list of tourist spots I wanted to hit, I went with a list of food I wanted to eat – and this wasn’t a short list! I was a woman with a mission and thankful Jenny and Alex were up for the challenge of eating our way round New York with a bit of tourist stuff thrown into the mix too! Overall we did incredibly well and there really wasn’t anything left untouched on my list; we even managed to add a couple things! This is going to be a run down of my gastronomic guide to New York, by no means definitive but a damn good start if you want to eat some of the most iconic foods in the city at some pretty good places to boot! As an added bonus I've added in which sites are near each restaurant, so that you can pretend food isn't the entire focus!
Pizza - Juliana's Pizza
Address: 19 Old Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Close to: the Brooklyn Bridge (Brooklyn side)
Pizza is one of New York’s most iconic foods, forget the Chicago deep dish, New York is all about thin and crispy pizzas like the ones you get in Italy. There are hundreds of places to pick up a slice on the move (and can be a great budget option if New York’s prices are making your wallet feel scarily light) but for a sit down pizza experience head to Juliana’s. Juliana’s and the neighbouring Grimaldi's Pizza are both run by the Grimaldi family and are a complete institution. You will probably have to queue but the wait is worth it, walking across Brooklyn Bridge at sunset and giant pizzas make for the perfect evening. They have dozens of varieties of pizza but stick to the classic Margherita and you can’t go wrong. As a bonus our waiter at Juliana’s was hilarious, service worth tipping in my opinion.
Salt Beef Sandwich/Pastrami – Katz Deli
Address: 205 East Houston St, NY 10002
Near to: the Tenement Museum
Most famous from ‘When Harry Met Sally’ and the line “I’ll have what she’s having!” Katz Deli is a canteen style restaurant that serves classic Jewish sandwiches and soups. Their most famous offering is the salt beef or pastrami sandwiches, in my opinion an acquired taste. The meat looks delicious and tender but the texture is something more slimey because of the curing methods, when put together with mustard in rye bread with pickles on the side it’s definitely a must try but fair warning – it might not be to your taste! The sandwiches are huge so what I did, and what I would recommend is going for, is get a half sandwich with some matzoh ball soup on the side. The restaurant itself is adorned with florescent signs and pictures of their celebrity clientele, when you come in you get a ticket which the guy who makes your sandwich will jot down your outstanding bill on, add any drinks or sweets and the running total is kept on the ticket ready for you to give to the girl at the till on the way out. Don’t loose the ticket!
Chinese Noodles – Xi’an famous foods
Address: there are 6 locations throughout New York, it seemed like we passed one everyday!
This was one of the restaurants on my list that wasn’t really iconic to New York, sure Chinese food is popular in China Town but Xi’an Famous Foods was something that I really wanted to try because it was so similar to the food I ate in China – what I would call real Chinese food. Two dishes here bring back intense nostalgia for my time in China and they’re definitely worth a try. First is the hot and tingly beef noodles (麻辣牛肉干扯面) , best eaten drenched in vinegar if you ask me. Second is liang pi noodles (凉皮), very difficult to describe but delicious to eat. These were my obsession in China, cold noodles, with slivers of cucumber, sponge like (what I think is) tofu, and a spicy and vinegary sauce...so, so good.
Brunch – Miss Lily’s
Address: 132 West Houston St, Greenwich Village, NY 10012
Near to: Greenwich Village is a sight in itself, perfect for wandering around
Brunch is the ultimate millennial hobby and something that seems to have become a bit of a “thing”; of corse brunch was definitely on the menu for New York. But of all the brunch places to go, and I was recommended a few, we chose the least traditional option with Miss Lily’s Caribbean affair. The music was fun, the food had a kick to it (scotch bonnet maple syrup anyone?), and the drinks did too! We decided to go for the bottomless cocktail variation of brunch so mimosas and Bloody Marys (very spicy Bloody Marys) were the order of the day. For food I decided to go a bit rogue from the traditional brunch options and stick to Jamaica’s national dish, ackee and salt fish. I was told that ackee is like avocado (it’s not really) and such strong fish was a bit of a bold move for breakfast but it was definitely something different and not your average brunch. There were more traditional items on the menu, Jenny had pancakes and Alex went for chicken and waffles.
Dumplings – Joe’s Shanghai xiao long bao
Address: 24 West 56th St, China Town, NY 10019
Near to: China Town
As the second of two Chinese themed “must-do’s” on my New York trip I had high expectations for China Town. Honestly, China Town in itself was a bit underwhelming but Joe’s Shanghai Restaurant was not. The atmosphere was exactly like any restaurant that you would find in China; crowded, full of big round tables, garish decorations, and proper Chinese food. We went a bit mad with the ordering and got in all our old favourites, egg plant in a sticky sweet sauce (鱼香茄子 ), twice cooked pork (回锅肉 ), and of course those delicious soup filled dumplings (小笼包 ) that cannot be left out – full of boiling soup and tricky to eat, but well worth the effort. The only thing that would have made the meal better would have been able to have a glass of killer baijiu rice wine liquor to rinse everything down.
BONUS: Around the corner from Joe’s Shanghai is a funny little bar called Apotheke. It one of those speakeasy, blink and you miss it kind of places (look for the bouncer standing outside the unassuming building with the shutters pulled down) but inside the pharmacy themed interior is bizarre and the drinks are even wackier; have you ever had duck fat, fig, chocolate, vinegar and a scotch mist in your drink?
Hot Dog – Gray’s Papaya
Address: 2090 Broadway, Upper West Side, NY 10023
Near to: Central Park and the American Museum of Natural History
Gray’s Papaya is under the same ownership as the Papaya King hot dog joint, but I was told that Gray’s is the superior of the two - honestly they’re probably much of a muchness but as I only went to Gray’s I can only attest to their hotdogs being pretty darn tasty.
The restaurant itself is very retro with bright colours and tacky decorations but really that just adds to the charm of it. It’s standing room only so grab a hot dog and soda, find a space along the counter to call your own and enjoy! The best choice is to go for the fantastically named “Recession Special”, allegedly the same price as it was during the 1920’s, you get two hotdogs and a soda for $5.95 – deals don’t get much better than that!
Soft Pretzel
Address: Every street corner in New York
Near to: everywhere but the best I tried were outside Maddison Square Garden
There isn’t a lot you can say about a street pretzel, they aren’t that crunchy kind of pretzel that your mum puts out as nibbles, but soft, chewy, salted knots of deliciousness available on every street corner in New York. We tried a couple, the best were outside Maddison Square Garden before a basketball game, the worst were by the jetty for the Statue of Liberty boat.
Choose wisely and if the stall seller is spraying his pretzels with water then step away, those bad boys have probably been out for a good long while.
Ramen – Kuu Ramen
Address: 20 John Street, Financial District, NY 10038
Near to: World Trade Service, Wall Street and the Charging Bull
Ramen is ramen and in my honest opinion it’s pretty hard to mess up, but the joy and star of the show at Kuu Ramen is their broth. Lovingly cooked over 8 hours by the head chef it is really, really good. I had the classic shoyo ramen with tender kakuni pork, spring onions, bean sprouts, rocket, bamboo and the obligatory half soft egg. The restaurant itself is pretty tiny and everyone sits together on high stools at benches and the whole place is very minimalists, definitely more of a grab and eat than a long leisurely lunch, but delicious nonetheless.
Arepas
Address: the market we went to was at Liberty Street and Broadway
Near to: Wall Street and the financial district
Arepas are something that came up time and time again on what to eat in New York lists, and the Arepa Lady seemed to be a New York legend in her own right; but I didn’t really know what an arepa was. So I forgot about arepas and crossed them off my to do list of food in favour of more well known delicacies. Big mistake. When we were walking one day to a ramen place we passed by a little street food market and decided to have a look, turns out it was a South American food market and pretty much every stall was selling arepas. Obviously we had to try one! I’m not sure how traditional the arepa I had was, but it was delicious! Soft corn cakes that must have had some sweet potato or squash in it, with a soft stringy cheese sandwiched in the middle. I would have gladly eaten a good few more if we weren’t on our way to lunch!
Black and White Cookies
Address: any supermarket
Black and white cookies were something that I read about on food blogs before going to New York but wasn’t really fussed about trying. But one day I saw a giant black and white cookie and when I picked it up and realised it was squishy like a cake rather than a crunchy biscuit I was sold. Soft yellow cake in a thin disk, covered on the top half with chocolate icing and the other half with white fondant icing...well let’s just say I ate about half a dozen black and white cookies while dipping into a pint of dairy free Ben and Jerry’s and I had no regrets. My only regret is that I didn’t pick up a box to bring home!
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