Whole ducks with perfectly crisp skins are brought to tables and carved before diners by skilled servers. Bring a group and a few bottles of wine — the restaurant is BYOB. Read more.
Nobu’s black cod is marinated in a combination of miso, sake, and mirin for three days before cooking. The result is a piece of fish with a burnished crust and buttery interior. Read more.
NYC might have better bagels and you could argue that there are other lox worth seeking out, but there is no better bagel and lox experience than the one at Russ & Daughters. Read more.
Katz's serves New York's favorite pastrami sandwich. It's not a sloppy pile of beef and as Robert Sietsema notes, "the flavor is emphatically smokier" than other popular versions served around town. Read more.
Eric and Bruce Bromberg's signature dish at Blue Ribbon pairs rich, gooey bone marrow with a mixture of salty braised oxtail, vegetables, and herbs. Read more.
With its luxuriance of fried chickpea fritters, nutty tasting tahini, and fresh greens, onions, and tomatoes, Mamoun's falafel redefined a quick bite for New Yorkers. Read more.
The Superiority Burger patty has a nice crust and pleasantly crumbly interior. It comes with plum tomatoes, Muenster cheese, and iceberg lettuce, on a Martin's potato roll. Read more.
Joe's Pizza serves the quintessential New York slice. The crust is thin and crisp, with even layers of cheese and tomato sauce. Read more.
For their ultra luxe version of veal parm, Carbone uses premium veal from Pat LaFrieda, plus house-made mozzarella and a bright, unfussy tomato sauce. It is the platonic ideal of a veal parm. Read more.
A plate of pierogies with sour cream and caramelized onions is the essential order — they're made in house and the restaurant goes through a lot of them, so you know they're gonna be fresh. Read more.
Chang's pork buns have big, plump slabs of pork belly sticking out from the bun like a cartoon tongue, with clean cucumbers and earthy hoisin sauce between the meat and the dough. Read more.
Served with an Italian salsa verde redolent of anchovies and capers, the half chicken is every bit as good as it ever was, perhaps better. Read more.
The roquefort-topped burger is one of the dishes that kicked off the haute burger craze, but it also deserves special recognition as the menu item that got diners hooked on Bloomfield's cuisine. Read more.
A lot of restaurants now serve tuna tartare towers like Gotham Bar and Grill, but the original is still the best. Read more.
Like the rest of the Del Posto menu, Mark Ladner's show-stopping baked lasagna combines the best of the Italian and Italian-American culinary traditions. Read more.
The secret to the Shackburger's ever-lasting popularity is the patty, which has big beef flavor and just a hint of funkiness. Read more.
New York City is overrun with chickens for two, but this is the bird to beat. Daniel Humm stuffs a mixture of foie gras, black truffles, and bread crumbs between the skin and the meat. Read more.
The oyster pan roast is made with clam juice, Worcestershire sauce, paprika, Heinz chili sauce, celery salt, and half & half. It contains six Blue Point oysters from Long Island Sound. Read more.
This massive, flavorful mutton chop (actually a saddle of lamb) is well worth a trip to Keens, especially when you tack on a wedge salad, or a side of the famed prime rib hash. Read more.
The chicken hash — a mixture of cubed chicken, cream, Worcestershire sauce, eggs, butter, and sherry — is a real throwback to a different era. It’s pure, pull-no-punches comfort food. Read more.
Office workers and tourists alike line up day and night for the combo over rice at Halal Guys. You feel like a beast finishing one of these tubs of meat, rice, and tangy white sauce. Read more.
For the fusili, fresh octopus is first braised in red wine and tomato sauce. The pasta is then tossed in the sauce, and the chunks of bone marrow are added to the mix. Read more.
The pasta primavera is not listed on the menu, but you can order it by name. Read more.
The Recession Special, which includes two dogs and a papaya drink (or soda) for $4.95, is still one of NYC's greatest deals. Read more.
Black and whites are the unofficial cookies of NYC, and this ancient bakery offers some of the best. Read more.
A lot of restaurants serve good soup dumplings these days, but Joe's is the one that kickstarted New York's obsession with this delicacy. Read more.
Peter Luger's porterhouse hits the table in a pool of hot butter and blood, with the filet and sirloin pre-sliced. Read more.
Pies are topped with a three cheese blend, snips of fresh basil, and a thin layer of olive oil. Read more.
The signature dish at this beloved Gravesend institution is a Kaiser roll full of a roast beef that's liberally doused in a thin, salty liquid known as "the broth." Read more.
The crust has a char that may surprise diners who have never tasted real coal oven pizza before, and the toppings are delicately applied. Read more.
