New York City Eating

New York City offers any cuisine your heart could desire—or your stomach could fit—whether you're craving Glatt kosher sushi, Ethiopian fare at 2am, or a meal served by an entirely ninja wait staff. Ethnic neighborhoods like Chinatown in Queens and Little Italy in Manhattan are home to many immigrants who brought their native flavors to the United States—which means you can get the real thing.

The stereotypes associated with distinctive New York cuisine tend toward the lowbrow. Start your day with a bagel, with lox or a “schmear” of cream cheese. At lunchtime, businessmen and construction workers alike crowd at the city's fast-food carts, which offer deceptively delectable fare: New York hot dogs can come doused in ketchup, mustard, onions, sauerkraut and chili, while pizza is thin, greasy, and meant to be folded and consumed like a sandwich. Falafel, shawarma, burritos, and knishes (Eastern European Jewish dumplings with fillings like mashed potatoes, meat, cheese, or spinach) are just some of the ethnically inflected street-cart delicacies. For snackin', grab a pretzel or a handful of hot nuts from street vendors.

New York street food has certainly been democratized, but restaurant dining in the city can be elitist. Securing a table at a hip new bistro, a sexy sushi bar, or a gastronomic temple (à la Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda) can be a blood sport. The level of decadence at the pinnacle of the New York restaurant world soars ever skyward. NYC is home to four Michelin 3-star restaurants—an extremely rare distinction granted to only the highest quality establishments world wide. Among these all-stars is Thomas Keller's Per Se; the menu here may look simple, but dishes like “Macaroni and Cheese” and “Bacon and Eggs” actually include items ranging from expensive caviar to butter-poached lobster.

But between these two extremes lies an enormous and delicious middle ground waiting to be explored and devoured. The city overflows with cafes specializing in brunch, designer bistros, sedate business-oriented rooms, and every type of ethnic restaurant you can imagine. The popular website Fresh Direct (www.freshdirect.com) offers next-day delivery of high quality groceries throughout the city, and gourmet grocery stores like Dean and DeLuca in SoHo and Zabar's on the Upper West Side are a feast for the eyes, even if your wallet can't afford such a feast for your taste buds. A cheaper alternative is the massive Whole Foods in the basement of the Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle. The streets of Chinatown abound with fishmongers, butchers, and produce dealers. Farmers' markets set up weekly in 28 locations throughout the five boroughs, with an enormous market four days weekly at Union Square.