Travel for Food Hub The Food Blog for Travel Lovers
Last Updated on March 22, 2023
From fine dining to street food, New York can offer you a variety of meals that is not only delicious but also unmatchable by almost every other state in the country. If you find yourself roaming around the city or the surrounding areas, you might even be so lucky to catch a food festival going on in the streets. As we know you don;t want to miss out, we are going to tell you what are the foods all New Yorkers love and where to eat them.
For a tourist visiting the City That Never Sleeps, it is easy to walk through without noticing everything it has to offer. Blink, and you could miss some of the hidden gems of New York that locals frequent every day. Read on to find some of the foods New Yorkers love to eat and where they go to enjoy them!
Pizza
It is likely you have been to a restaurant promising an authentic “New York slice” of pizza before. However, there is nothing comparable to the actual pizza the metropolis has to offer. You are unlikely to get a seat at one of the many hole-in-the-wall establishments that can serve you by the slice, so get a portion to go and enjoy the sights in between bites.
Bleecker Street Pizza in the West Village is a favorite lunch spot for many. The small restaurant makes made-to-order thin crusted pizzas and serves them by the slice all-day and late into the night. Their signature mouth-watering portion comes from a family recipe and uses fresh mozzarella and basil.
Gyros
A gyro is a Greek meal typically served as a sandwich wrapped in a pita with succulent meat, tomato, lettuce, and a white yogurt sauce called tzatziki. In the city, you’ll find food stands everywhere that can serve a good gyro with lamb, chicken, or beef while you are on the go.
If you find yourself looking for a quality gyro after a long day visiting museums, walk over to 6th Avenue at 53rd where The Halal Guys resides. This fast paced food truck may seem just like any other street vendor, but they hold a reputation for having some of the best gyros in town. You can order yours in a platter mixed with rice, or in a pita topped with tangy tzatziki and hot sauce.
Bagels
For a quick, savory breakfast, you can never go wrong with a bagel. Like pizza, there are many establishments that try to imitate the likeness of a New York-style one, but nothing is quite similar enough to the real thing. There are plenty of delis around the city that serve fresh bagels every day, but sometimes this ring-shaped roll just needs something a little extra to go with it.
Zucker’s on Chambers Street serves handmade, kettle boiled bagels filled with fresh smoked fish. The lox bagels of Zucker’s are always prepared with a generous helping of salmon that is locally smoked and cream cheese on a bagel of your choosing. You can try a classic lox roll with capers and onions, or one of their other styles of smoked salmon. For those who love the fish enough for a second meal, you can purchase the smoked salmon to take home as well.
Cronuts
It’s not quite a donut although the appearance is similar, yet it isn’t a croissant either, despite the airy center. A cronut is the combination of the two previous delicate and sweet pastries and often has a jelly or cream filling inside. The treat originates from the asphalt jungle and has since had locals and tourists alike lining up to get a taste.
Dominique Ansel Bakery on Spring Street is a French café, and the birthplace of the original cronut. At one point in time, the demand for these fried pastries would have had customers waiting in a line past the front door for a limited supply, but now you can walk into the café and try a cronut or one of their other menu items without the fuss.
TAKEAWAY: If you would like to play it safe and guarantee yourself one or six of these addictive treats at the Dominique Ansel Bakery, order them online to pick them up in the store.
Dumplings
A dumpling is the perfect bite (or two) of steamed and seasoned dough with a meat or vegetable filling (most commonly). They are in abundance all throughout NYC. This inexpensive dish is filled with anything from chicken to soup broth. The best dumplings will have even the locals flocking to get a bite, even in a tourist hotspot like Chinatown.
The Excellent Dumpling House on Lafayette Street is a small establishment that serves up some of the most delicious steamed and fried dumplings for the most reasonable price. The restaurant offers a variety of fillings, including chicken soup, seafood, and fried pork.
Cannolis
Cannolis are an Italian dessert of fried pastry dough folded in the shape of a tube and filled with a sweet cream. In the City That Never Sleeps, these treats are the cornerstone of all fine Italian restaurants and late night cafés appealing to the window shoppers looking for an after dinner snack.
You will find many places in the metropolis that claim to have the best cannoli around, but Ferrara Bakery & Café on Grand Street might have them all beat. Among the many confections in the display case when you walk in, you will see several rows of authentically sweet, chocolate-dipped, original cannolis neatly lined up.
When touring NYC, one of the things you will find yourself doing the most is eating. There are amazing restaurants on each block. The ability to sample a new dish at every corner is exciting enough to keep you munching all day long.
Like the fast-paced environment of the city, the most popular foods in New York are also the ones you can take on the go. While you enjoy the sights of the area, be sure to try some of the dishes that all urbanites know and love to truly learn why New York-style food is so popular across the country.
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