Quick verdict: NYC has 25,000+ restaurants representing every cuisine on Earth. Best pizza, best deli, best pastrami, best dim sum. This guide ranks 15 iconic NYC food experiences.
The 15 best foods + restaurants in New York
Pizza ($1 Slice)
Iconic NYC pizza-slice experience. Cheaper outer Manhattan/Brooklyn slices ($1.50-2.50). Folded slices (NYC fold). Eat standing.
Pastrami Sandwich
Most famous deli sandwich in America. Hand-carved pastrami on rye + mustard. “When Harry Met Sally” diner. Cash + ticket system + tip the carver $1-2.
Bagel
Hand-rolled + boiled + baked bagels. Top with smoked salmon + cream cheese + onions + capers. Russ + Daughters is the legend (1914-founded).
Pizza (Pizzeria Style)
America’s first pizzeria (1905). Coal-fired oven. New York street pizza grew from here. Whole pie only.
Hot Dog
NYC street hot dog with mustard + sauerkraut + relish. Gray’s Papaya (multiple locations) is the classic. Crif Dogs (East Village) for premium.
Dim Sum
Xiao long bao soup dumplings + scallion pancakes + crab meat dumplings. Joe’s has 3 NYC locations. Order family-style + share.
Cheesecake
NYC cheesecake heaven. Dense + creamy + cake-bottom style. Junior’s is the cultural answer (1950-founded). Times Square location available.
Steakhouse Classic
Legendary German-American steakhouse since 1887. Porterhouse for 2 + creamed spinach + steak sauce. Cash only. Reserve 2-4 weeks ahead.
Korean BBQ
Michelin-starred Korean steakhouse. A5 wagyu + dry-aged USDA prime. Bandlefood drama at table. Book 1-2 months ahead. Mind-blowing.
Chinese (Modern)
3-Michelin-star modern Korean tasting menu. Each course presented with paper cards. Most-talked-about NYC restaurant 2022-2024. Book 3 months ahead.
Sushi
Daisuke Nakazawa (former Jiro apprentice) omakase. ~20 pieces + interactive chef experience. Book 1-2 months ahead.
Tacos
LA-style tacos that beat most LA spots. Adobada + carne asada + carnitas + nopal cactus. Cash + cards. Quick + cheap + perfect.
Brunch
NYC brunch combo: bagel + lox at Russ + Daughters Cafe + cookies at Levain Bakery (UWS or LES). $30-50 for two-stop brunch.
Halal Cart (Street Cart)
NYC street food legend. Chicken + lamb + rice with white sauce + hot sauce. The cart on 53rd + 6th has 50+ year lines. Other locations have shorter waits.
Pizza (Brooklyn Style)
Brooklyn brick-oven pizza. Di Fara has been baking since 1965 by 80+ year old Domenico DeMarco. Subway ride to Midwood worth it.
Compare New York food tours →
Helpful Packzup guides for USA
How to Eat Half This List in One Downtown Day
The dishes above are scattered across the city, and first-timers waste hours backtracking on the subway. The fix is to cluster by neighbourhood and walk. The densest stretch sits in the Lower East Side and Greenwich Village, which are adjacent and easily covered on foot in a single afternoon if you pace your appetite.
A sensible order runs roughly west to east. Start mid-morning at Joe’s Pizza on Carmine Street in Greenwich Village for a classic thin slice while the line is short. Walk east toward the Lower East Side and hit Russ and Daughters on Orchard Street, the appetizing shop founded in 1914, for a hand-rolled bagel with lox. From there it is a short walk to Katz’s Delicatessen, the city’s oldest deli at 137-plus years, where one pastrami on rye easily feeds two. Push a few blocks south into Chinatown for dim sum or soup dumplings to close out the loop.
- Share everything. A single Katz’s sandwich plus one bagel is already a lot of food for two people.
- Go early on weekends, since Katz’s and Joe’s both build long lines by midday.
What to skip: the chain dessert spots and the heavily marketed Times Square slices, which charge tourist prices for inferior food. Save the steakhouse and Korean BBQ in the main list for a separate dinner on another day, since they sit uptown and in Midtown and do not belong on a downtown walking route.
Frequently asked questions
Best NYC food experience?
NYC food on a budget?
Best NYC food market?
Where to find authentic ethnic food?
Best NYC dessert?
Updated 2026. Some links on Packzup are affiliate links.
You Might Also Love
Written by
John Morrison is the founder and lead travel writer at Packzup. Over the past decade he has explored destinations across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Oceania — always self-funded, never on a press trip.