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Guide · Food travel · New York

The NYC food bucket list, bite by bite.

New York’s great food is mostly not in its fanciest rooms. It is folded, wrapped, stacked on rye or handed over a counter in wax paper. This is a bucket list of dishes and experiences, not a ranking — sixteen things to eat, what each one actually is, and a place that has been making it for decades as a starting point.

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In short

A New York food bucket list is dishes, not reservations: a plain slice folded in half, a bagel with lox and schmear, pastrami on rye, a Coney Island hot dog, New York cheesecake, a black and white cookie, halal-cart chicken over rice, a bodega chopped cheese and an egg cream — which has no egg and no cream. Add a knish, a dry-aged porterhouse and a Saturday at Smorgasburg.

Checked

The list

Sixteen things to eat in New York.

Hours, days and seasons change; check before you go. Smorgasburg runs outdoors on weekends in the warmer months, with its Williamsburg market on Saturdays.

A New York food bucket list: the dish, what it is, and a long-running place to try it
What it isA classic place to start
1. A plain sliceThin, wide New York pizza, folded in half to eatJoe’s Pizza, Carmine St, Greenwich Village (since 1975)
2. Bagel, lox and schmearA boiled-then-baked bagel with cured salmon and cream cheeseRuss & Daughters, Houston St (since 1914)
3. Pastrami on ryeHand-sliced smoked, spiced beef on rye with mustard and a pickleKatz’s Delicatessen, Houston St (since 1888)
4. A Coney Island hot dogAn all-beef frank at the boardwalkNathan’s Famous, Surf & Stillwell Aves (since 1916)
5. New York cheesecakeDense, tall, rich cream-cheese cakeJunior’s, Flatbush & DeKalb Aves, Brooklyn (since 1950)
6. Black and white cookieA soft, cake-like cookie, half vanilla icing, half chocolateAny good Jewish bakery; best the day it’s made
7. Chicken over riceHalal-cart chicken and rice with white sauce and hot sauceThe Halal Guys’ original cart, 53rd St & 6th Ave (since 1990)
8. A chopped cheeseGround beef chopped on the griddle with melted cheese, on a hero rollA bodega grill, anywhere uptown
9. An egg creamMilk, seltzer and chocolate syrup — no egg, no creamAn old-school luncheonette or deli
10. A knishA baked dough pocket of potato (or kasha, or cheese)Yonah Schimmel Knish Bakery, Houston St (since 1910)
11. Bacon, egg and cheeseThe bodega breakfast roll, wrapped in foilThe nearest corner deli, before 9 a.m.
12. A dry-aged porterhouseThe steakhouse classic, sliced for the tablePeter Luger, Williamsburg
13. Old-school Brooklyn piePizza from a family pizzeria, made slowDi Fara, Midwood (since 1965)
14. Dumplings and noodles in FlushingChinese regional food from all over, in QueensSee our Flushing food guide
15. Arthur AvenueThe Bronx’s Little Italy: delis, bakeries, red-sauce dinnersWalk it, then eat
16. SmorgasburgA big open-air food market, dozens of vendorsWilliamsburg, Saturdays in season

One morning

The Houston Street triple.

Three of the list’s oldest names sit on East Houston Street on the Lower East Side, a short walk apart. Start with a bagel and lox at Russ & Daughters, walk to Yonah Schimmel for a knish to share, and finish with pastrami on rye at Katz’s — split one sandwich between two, because there is a lot of it. That is a century of New York food in a single morning.

Say it right

New York food words.

  • Schmear — a spread of cream cheese on a bagel.
  • Lox — salt-cured salmon, sliced thin; many counters also sell smoked salmon.
  • Bodega — a corner shop, often with a grill at the back.
  • Hero — a long sandwich roll.
  • Slice — one piece of a big pizza, sold on its own.
  • BEC — bacon, egg and cheese.

Copy this

Your New York food passport.

Want a paper version? Our food passport guide has a template.

  • ☐ Folded a slice and ate it walking
  • ☐ Bagel order, word for word: ___
  • ☐ Pastrami on rye — shared / finished alone
  • ☐ Hot dog on the Coney Island boardwalk
  • ☐ Cheesecake: plain / with strawberries
  • ☐ Black or white side first? ___
  • ☐ Chicken over rice: how much hot sauce? ___
  • ☐ A chopped cheese from a bodega grill
  • ☐ Egg cream (no egg, no cream, still confused)
  • ☐ A borough beyond Manhattan: Brooklyn / Queens / the Bronx

Keep it

A city of counters, kept in one place.

Bucket-list food is often eaten standing up. Snap it anyway: PlateDiary cuts the slice, the bagel or the sandwich out into its own save on your phone, with the place and the time, and works in a subway station with no signal. Every stop pins itself on the map, so by the end of the trip your New York is a trail of pins across the boroughs.

Give each spot a stamp in Stamps, the stamp book of places you’ve eaten, and post the best of it with our travel food captions. Heading downtown for dumplings? Our Manhattan Chinatown food guide has the route.

Sources

Where the facts come from

  1. Joe’s Pizza — Time Out New York
  2. Russ & Daughters
  3. Katz’s named the best deli in New York City — Time Out New York
  4. Nathan’s Famous — Wikipedia
  5. Junior’s celebrates 75 years — AOL
  6. Best bakeries for black and white cookies in NYC — Tasting Table
  7. The original New York City halal food cart — The Takeout
  8. From Harlem to Fresno: the chopped cheese — The Business Journal
  9. The peculiar history of the New York egg cream — Tasting Table
  10. Yonah Schimmel Knish Bakery
  11. Peter Luger — MICHELIN Guide
  12. Di Fara Pizza expands to frozen pizza — News 12
  13. Arthur Avenue Retail Market — New York City Tourism
  14. Smorgasburg New York

Questions

Questions people ask.

What food is New York famous for?

The New York slice, bagels with lox and cream cheese, pastrami on rye, hot dogs, New York cheesecake, black and white cookies, halal-cart chicken over rice and the bodega chopped cheese.

What is a chopped cheese?

A New York bodega sandwich: ground beef chopped on a flat-top grill with melted cheese, served on a hero roll — often called a cross between a cheeseburger and a Philly cheesesteak.

Does an egg cream have egg in it?

No. A New York egg cream is milk, seltzer and chocolate syrup — no egg and no cream. Where the name came from is still argued about.

Where did the halal cart chicken over rice start?

The Halal Guys began as a cart at 53rd Street and Sixth Avenue in 1990, and the original cart is still there. Chicken over rice with white sauce made it famous.

When is Smorgasburg open?

It is a seasonal outdoor market on weekends in the warmer months; the Williamsburg market runs on Saturdays. Check the official site for the current season.