The best Spanish restaurant in town is run by a guy from Vermont named Seamus Mullen. Try his head-on langustinos and arroz a la plancha with Iberico ham and snails.
In a city that eagerly embraces each successive wave of Japanese imports, Sushi Yasuda remains the ideal long-running, low-key place to celebrate sushi as it’s meant to be eaten.
Chef Danny Meyer turned a concession stand in Madison Square Park into an chain of burger joints where fanatics put up with long lines for quality hamburgers, frozen custard, and cheese fries.
English chef April Bloomfield conjures the spirit of a rumpled, lively London gastropub in this cramped, cozy, altogether charming mess of a space in the far West Village.
Skip the imported bagels and focus on the main event: smoked meat piled high in sandwiches or nestled among the cheese curds in a plate of poutine.
The Great Neapolitan Pizza Invasion of the 2000s shows no sign of slowing, and this West Village stalwart is our pick for your crash course in the authentic Naples style.
Keith McNally of Balthazar and Pastis fame preserves the memory of the space (a 1930s saloon) while making the food—well-aged steaks and muscular French fare—better than it ever was.
Ssäm Bar best exemplifies Dave Chang’s deliciousness-without-borders style of menu eclecticism: kimchi salad with apples, bacon, and maple labneh; a whole pork butt to be shared with friends.
This is the classic, the unrefined original from which all steakhouses descend. Think of a dinner here as participation in a timeless urban experience.
We love Jody Williams’s sweet, expertly curated, and dollhouse-scaled taste of idealized France in the West Village.
One of the toughest reservations in New York is inside a gourmet grocery and composed of just 18 seats. At the center of this small stage, César Ramirez serves upwards of 20 courses a night.
Certainly this is the only kitchen within the top 10 of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants that finishes a meal with a riff on that lowly New York coffee-shop staple: the black-and-white cookie.
Andy Ricker raised the bar (and spice level) of Thai cooking in NYC with the outpost of his wildly successful Pok Pok in Brooklyn.
The multitalented Jean-Georges Vongerichten picks up the farm-to-table locavore zeitgeist and runs with it, resulting in a menu to make Californians envious.
Swedish chef Marcus Samuelsson’s town house in Harlem serves a mix of multi-culti comfort food (fried “yardbird,” cured meats, and fish tacos). It's every bit as fun and stylish as the chef himself.
At this storefront restaurant, the menu (in seven or 20 courses) offers a paean to the flavors and spirit of the neighborhood—Italian, Chinese, and hints of the Jewish shops of the LES.
Andrew Carmellini hits all the right notes at his American bistro: oysters, fried chicken, a towering sandwich of fried soft-shell crab and kaffir-curry sauce.
There’s a certain sense of calm that washes over you on entering this hushed, immaculate temple of haute seafood. (The dining room and salon have benefited from a recent makeover.)
The Modern has views of MoMa’s sculpture garden, and the menu is all French-inflected suave goodness, but the real allure here is its sense of civilized escape.
There’s very little not to like about this sumptuous new hotel restaurant/bar/social scene complex from the boys of Eleven Madison Park. Try the Satan’s Circus (rye, Thai bird chile–infused Aperol).
Zak Pelaccio is a pork-loving genius whose food takes elements of laid-back locavorism, the slow-smoke traditions of southern BBQ, and the goodness of Southeast Asia.
There’s a hippy, trippy kind of rough-hewn beauty to this Williamsburg outpost. The warm, rustic lodge aesthetic matches the inventive dishes on the constantly changing menu.
In the front: a café, a bakery, and a provisions shop for house-cured salumi or casual lingering. At the back, a dining area with a perfect little menu of Italian classics.
This glamorous place is Michael White’s elegant tribute to the fish and seafood of Italy. Save room for some of that justly fetishized pasta.
At this hipster-Germanic bistro in the borough’s Cobble Hill neighborhood, heaping plates of choucroute and sausages and creative cocktails explain the long waits and devoted followers.
La Grenouille rocks in its own impeccable way. Put on a tie, order a plate of rognons de veau, and celebrate this New York City restaurant survivor with a round of soufflés.
Just south of the chaos of the Meatpacking District, Wallsé is a small outpost of Austrian sophistication. Don't miss chef-owner Kurt Gutenbrunner's braised rabbit with quark spaetzle.
Nobody delivers the full-on French haute luxury experience quite like Daniel Boulud. From the moment you step through the revolving door, you'll finds yourself expertly cosseted, regularly delighted.
Get on the F train and get in line for great pizzas and other rustic fare from the wood oven, or call ahead to reserve a spot for Carlo Mirarchi’s multicourse adventure.
At Ed Schoenfeld and Joe Ng’s lively New Yorkified Chinese spot, Red Farm, crisp-fried lamb dumplings are concocted in a wood-beamed urban farm setting. There’s a lot to like about this fresh remix.
