The Top 100 Places to Eat Near White Bear
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Rank 1. Jiang Nan
Chinese
Roast Peking duck arrives on a silver tray with thin pancakes, which sets the tone for what Jiang Nan is doing: upscale Chinese dining that roams the whole country rather than planting a flag in one region. The room leans Imperial, all lacquer and stone and greenery, and it reads as date-night or business lunch depending on who you came with. The Michelin Guide has given it a Bib Gourmand, which tracks for a place this polished on Bowery.
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Rank 2. Asian Jewels
Dim Sum Chinese
The carts find you before you find your seat, which is how it works at this Flushing dim sum hall. Oversized round tables, ornate chandeliers, bamboo plants, and enough shumai to reconsider your weekend plans. No menu required; most regulars never open one. Weekends get loud and frenetic in a very satisfying way, so an early arrival is less a suggestion than a survival strategy. The Michelin Guide has it listed among their selected restaurants.
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Rank 3. White Bear
Chinese
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- The New York Times The 25 Best Pizza Places in New York Right Now
- The Infatuation Plain or Pepperoni Slice · 25 Iconic Dishes That Define New York
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Rank 5. Alley 41
Sichuan
You have to find it first, which is half the fun: Alley 41 is tucked off Flushing's Main Street, and the room inside, all concrete and curved wood, reads more like a design hotel than a Sichuan restaurant. The electronic menu is long but the photos are accurate, so trust them. Mapo tofu and roasted-chili braised beef arrive fast and genuinely fiery. The Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand, and the heat alone earns the detour.
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Rank 6. Szechuan Mountain House
Sichuan
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Rank 7. Zaab Zaab
Isan Thai
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Rank 10. Xing Fu Tang
Taiwanese
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Rank 11. Flower and Dessert 次第花开
Chinese Dessert
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Rank 12. Maxi’s Noodle
Hong Kong-Style Noodles
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Rank 13. Amore Pizzeria
NY-Style Pizza
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Rank 14. Temple Canteen
Indian
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Rank 15. Croffle House
Korean
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Rank 16. Yeh's Bakery
Taiwanese Bakery
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A Korean barbecue spot in Flushing's Murray Hill where the tabletop grills run hot and the room stays packed. The décor skips every trend in favor of the food, which is the right call. Banchan arrives before you've settled in, including house kimchi that's been aged long enough to mean it. The beef short ribs marinated in soy-based sauce are the move, wrapped in romaine at the table. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand.
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Rank 18. Zaab Zaab
Isan-style Thai
The dining room looks like it was decorated by a child who just discovered neon, which turns out to be exactly right for Isan-style Thai cooking this loud and alive. This Elmhurst restaurant earns a Michelin Bib Gourmand for fiery northeastern Thai food built for sharing, heavy on dried shrimp, electric fish sauce, and whole fried fish. Showing up alone is technically possible but spiritually inadvisable. A New York Times top-100 pick.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- The New York Times The Restaurant List
- The New York Times #38 · The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City
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Rank 19. Utopia Bagels
NY-Style Bakery
- BagelUp #1 · The Definitive 30 Best Bagel Shops in New York City
- The Infatuation Everything Bagel, Scallion Cream Cheese & Sliced Lox · 25 Iconic Dishes That Define New York
- Eater The Best Bagels in New York City
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The interior runs like a train car, wood-paneled and faintly sweet with incense, and the menu is long enough to require a strategy. This cozy Elmhurst Thai restaurant earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand and landed on the New York Times 100 Best list, which helps explain why the room fills fast. Curries, stir-fries, salads, and fried rice cover the bases, but the crispy catfish with mango salad is the kind of dish that makes the rest of the menu feel like a warm-up.
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Rank 21. Kora
Filipino Bakery
- The Infatuation 11 Of The Best Donuts In America
- Eater Best Bakery · The 2025 Eater NY Award Winners
- The Infatuation The Best Bakeries in NYC
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Rank 22. AbuQir
Seafood, Egyptian
You pick your fish from the case, tell them how you want it, and then somehow end up eating one of the better seafood meals in the city. The New York Times ranked this Egyptian seafood market at number seventeen in New York, which raises real questions about what the fancier places on that list are doing with their tablecloths. The room is Astoria's Little Egypt, not a dining room, and nobody seems to mind.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- The New York Times #17 · The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in New York City
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- Eater The Best New Restaurants in Queens Right Now
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: New York State · Yvan Lemoine
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- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in New York City
- The New York Times #67 · The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City
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Rank 25. Legend of Taste
Sichuan
Strip-mall Sichuan in Whitestone, Queens, with a Michelin Bib Gourmand tucked behind a menu that also lists crab Rangoon for the uninitiated. The kitchen's real business is the numbing, chilli-forward cooking of Sichuan province: spicy mung bean jelly noodles, crispy eggplant with a glass-like crust, and smoked pork shaved thin enough to read through. The tears-in-eyes jelly salad delivers on the peanuts and chillies if not the weeping. Cash in your General Tso's loyalty points here.
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Rank 26. Bagel Oasis
NY-Style Bakery
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Rank 27. Renee's Kitchenette & Grill
Filipino
A fish tail peeking out of a metal pot at the next table sets the tone at this no-frills Filipino homestyle spot in Woodside's Little Manila. The kitchen has been around forever, and the cooking skips any fuss: eggplant sealed in pork-threaded omelet, ginger-bright chicken soup, and chicken adobo that The Infatuation called one of New York's defining dishes. The New York Times put it at number 68 on its 2026 list of the city's 100 best restaurants.
- The New York Times #68 · The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City
- The Infatuation Chicken Adobo · 25 Iconic Dishes That Define New York
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Rank 28. Liberty Bagels
NY-Style Bakery
- BagelUp #8 · The Definitive 30 Best Bagel Shops in New York City
- The New York Times The 16 Best Bagels in New York City Right Now
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Rank 29. Phayul
Tibetan Indian
The momos at this Tibetan restaurant in Jackson Heights are the opening argument: big, carefully pleated dumplings arriving in a cloud of steam, stuffed with beef and scallions. Michelin gave it a Bib Gourmand, and the rest of the menu holds up, from chewy stir-fried noodles to chicken with caramelized onions and peppers. There's chili oil on every table and a hot sauce that means business. Portions are generous and prices are kind.
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A former automotive welding shop in East Williamsburg now houses this multi-roaster coffee boutique, where the menu leans into distilled coffee, blue algae, and clarified matcha alongside a hand-brew selection from roasters around the world. The back of the space runs a small craft brewery called Niteglow, so the afternoon espresso can pivot to a draft pour. It reads like a coffee shop that got very ambitious and kept going.
- Sprudgie Awards 2024 · Finalist · Notable Roaster
- Sprudgie Awards 2023 · Honoree · Best New Cafe
- Eater The Best Coffee Shops in New York City
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Rank 31. Maxi’s Noodle 2
Hong Kong-Style Noodles
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Rank 32. Rolo's
Wood-fired Steakhouse
A roaring wood-fire grill anchors this Ridgewood neighborhood steakhouse, casting the dining room in amber light most places only manage with candles and wishful thinking. The bar upfront handles cocktails; the back handles fire. Polenta bread comes out fluffy and smoky, the dry-aged steaks arrive with green garlic butter, and the servers seem constitutionally incapable of being cold. A Michelin Bib Gourmand, and the chef is a James Beard semifinalist.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in New York City
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: New York State · Rafiq Salim
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Rank 33. Meju
Korean
The chef's counter hides behind a banchan shop in Long Island City, which tells you everything about its priorities. Hooni Kim, a James Beard Award winner with a Michelin star, has spent years wild-fermenting and aging the Korean pantry staples, doenjang, ganjang, gochujang, that anchor his tasting menu. Dishes arrive looking almost spare, then insist on your full attention. The meal closes with a bowl of rice and kimchi that sounds like nothing and lands like a lot.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Winner · Best Chef: New York State · Hooni Kim
- The New York Times #4 · The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City
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Rank 34. Caleta 111 Cevicheria
Peruvian
A Peruvian ceviche shop tucked just under the elevated train tracks in Richmond Hill, earning a Michelin Bib Gourmand without much fuss about its location. Tree stumps with cushions serve as patio seating, and Latin music hits you at the door. The leche de tigre arrives in a martini glass with octopus, scallops, and shrimp, and the pork tamal, steamed in bamboo, makes a quiet case for itself from the corner of the menu.
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Caramelized onions, sour cream, and chives crown the classic potato-and-cheese pierogi here, and that's more or less the whole argument for visiting. What started as a DeKalb Market stall grew into a lively Ridgewood restaurant and market doing contemporary Polish comfort food. Schnitzel with endive and pickle martinis signal ambition, but the pierogi are still running the show. A casual, cheerful room where the crowd orders like they've been waiting all week.
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- The New York Times #78 · The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City
- The New York Times Chicken Bastilla · Our New York Restaurant Critic Names Her Favorite Dishes This Year
- The Infatuation #12 · NYC’s Best New Restaurants
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The servers might greet you in Greek if you look like you belong, and on Ditmars Boulevard, plenty of people do. This no-frills Astoria taverna has been feeding the neighborhood long enough to qualify as local infrastructure, with a bustling open kitchen and a menu built around simply prepared whole fish, classic dips, and flaky spinach pie. The Michelin Guide has it listed, but the crowd at the tables wouldn't need to be told.
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Rank 39. Lechonera La Piraña
Puerto Rican
- The Infatuation #23 · The 25 Best Restaurants In NYC
- Time Out The 45 best restaurants in NYC right now
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in New York City
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The clam pie, made with fresh Little Neck Bay clams shucked to order, has to be requested in advance, which tells you something about the kind of pizza shop this is. Thin, foldable New York slices and airy Grandma squares handle the walk-in crowd on 30th Avenue in Astoria. Named for its late founder, the place has kept its footing under new stewardship. It landed on 50 Top Pizza USA and the Times's best-in-New York list.
- 50 Top Pizza #36 · 50 Top Pizza USA
- 50 Top Pizza 2026 · New Entry of the Year · 50 Top Pizza USA Special Awards
- The New York Times The 25 Best Pizza Places in New York Right Now
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Rank 41. Between the Bagel
Bakery
- Eater The Best Bagels in New York City
- BagelUp #13 · The Definitive 30 Best Bagel Shops in New York City
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- BagelUp #10 · The Definitive 30 Best Bagel Shops in New York City
- Eater The Best Bagels in New York City
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Rank 44. Sushi Noz
Sushi
Chef Nozomu Abe's omakase on the Upper East Side holds two Michelin stars, and the room earns them before a single piece of fish lands in front of you. The knives and lacquerware alone draw stares. Staff in kimono see guests out with a bow that doesn't feel performative. The sushi is precise and quiet in the way only very confident cooking gets to be.
- Michelin Guide 2 Stars
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Vogue A Definitive Guide to the Best Omakase in New York City
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Rank 45. Cardamom
Indian
The lamb vindaloo here gets its punch from vinegar, not just chile heat, which is the tell that the chef trained in Goa. This is a Sunnyside neighborhood restaurant, the kind where the menu runs long and the curries arrive properly hot. The tandoor breads are made for dragging through the sauces, and the kitchen takes its time whether or not you're in a hurry. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand.
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Rank 46. il Gigante
Italian
A small mug of grated parm arrives alongside the lasagna alla Bolognese for table-side sprinkling, which tells you everything about this cozy Italian neighborhood restaurant in Ridgewood. The menu is short and unfussy, running from cured meats and fried calamari through cacio e pepe and branzino, with daily specials filling the gaps. Exactly the kind of place you start bringing your kids, and then keep going back to long after they've moved out.
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Rank 48. Xi'an Famous Foods
Xi'an-Style
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Rank 50. Trinciti Roti Shop
Trinidadian
The buss up shut here is the size of a shirt and flaky as a biscuit, which the name, Trinidadian slang for "busted up shirt," promises and the kitchen delivers. This is a roti shop in South Ozone Park, cash and carry, no fuss. The New York Times put it on their 100 Best list, and the A train ride plus the half-mile walk from the station is apparently just part of the ritual now.
- The Infatuation #13 · The 25 Best Restaurants In NYC
- The New York Times #88 · The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City
- The New York Times Bake and Shark · Here Are Our Top New York Dishes
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- The New York Times #99 · The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City
- The New York Times Chalupas · Here Are Our Top New York Dishes
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- The Infatuation Our Favorite Bakeries In The Country Right Now
- The New York Times 22 of the Best Bakeries Across the U.S. Right Now
- The Infatuation The Best Bakeries in NYC
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Rank 54. Taste Good
Malaysian
The menu runs to biblical length and the wall photos of dishes look like lineup shots at a precinct, but nobody in this clattery Malaysian restaurant in Elmhurst seems bothered by either. The New York Times put it on their 100 Best in New York City list, which tracks. Roti canai leaves a sheen on your fingers, and the char kway teow arrives smelling of the wok in a way that suggests Kuala Lumpur, not Queens, until you look up.
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Rank 57. Daniel
French
Porcelain chandeliers from Bernardaud hang over coffered ceilings alongside James Rosenquist canvases, which tells you something about how seriously Daniel Boulud's Upper East Side flagship takes the room. This is classic New York fine dining, the kind where deals get brokered and anniversaries get marked. The multicourse French tasting menus hold a Michelin star, a Forbes Five Star, and an AAA Five Diamond.
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Rank 60. Khao Kang
Thai
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Rank 61. Mano’s Pizzeria
NY-Style Pizza
A long-ferment dough is the whole argument at this Ridgewood slice shop, producing a thin, crispy-bottomed slice that holds its toppings without going limp on the walk to the counter. The menu runs classics alongside richer, more creative options, and the room is small, informal, and quick. The New York Times named it one of the city's 25 best pizza places, and 50 Top Pizza put it at number eleven on its national slice list.
- 50 Top Pizza #11 · 50 Top Pizza Slice USA
- The New York Times The 25 Best Pizza Places in New York Right Now
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Rank 62. Oxomoco
Mexican
Tacos share menu space with agua chile and tlayuda at this airy Greenpoint Mexican restaurant, which holds a Michelin star and carries itself like it doesn't need to mention it. The kitchen ranges across regional Mexico rather than settling into one lane, so the menu shifts around you a little each visit. The room is loud and packed in the way that usually signals something is going right.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Time Out The 45 best restaurants in NYC right now
- Roadbook The best restaurants in Greenpoint, New York
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Rank 63. Hamido Seafood
Egyptian Seafood
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Rank 64. Taiwanese Restaurant Inc.
Taiwanese Chinese
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Rank 65. Mama Lee
Taiwanese Chinese
A Taiwanese home-cooking spot in Bayside so far from the subway that getting there is its own commitment. The chef, owner, and entire staff is one woman, Mei Lee, so ring the counter bell and wait. She'd rather you didn't spread the word. The New York Times put it at number ten on their 100 Best Restaurants list, so that ship has sailed. Beef noodle soup, lion's head meatballs, and broth poured to the rim say everything the bare room doesn't.
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Rank 66. Le Veau d'Or
Classic French
Lipstick-red banquettes, dark wood, and linen-draped tables so close together that you'll know your neighbor's business by dessert. This old-school Upper East Side bistro ran for decades, went dark, and came roaring back under the chefs behind Balthazar, this time with a prix-fixe menu of reverent French classics. It landed on North America's 50 Best Restaurants and took a James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurateur in 2025. The frogs' legs got a shout from the Times.
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Winner · Outstanding Restaurateur · Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr
- 50 Best #12 · North America's 50 Best Restaurants
- Condé Nast Traveler The best new restaurants in the world
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Rank 67. Birria Landia
Mexican
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Rank 68. ILIS
Nordic New American
The unmarked door on Green Street gives nothing away, which is sort of the point. Inside, a converted warehouse with wood-beamed ceilings holds a tasting menu restaurant built around a single organizing idea: every dish is either fired or chilled, and you watch the open kitchen run both with near-monastic focus. Chefs serve their own food here, no front-of-house divide. The Nordic New American cooking is ingredient-first, the room is genuinely dramatic, and the clamshell amuse-bouche is as ridiculous as it sounds.
- Condé Nast Traveler The best new restaurants in the world
- Esquire #1 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: New York State · Mads Refslund
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Rank 69. Kabab King
Indian
The servers at this Jackson Heights kebab counter have perfected the art of not noticing you exist, which a young rapper named Mr. Cardamom once called "horrendous and beautiful" while shooting a music video here. That rapper is now the mayor of New York City. The kebabs are tender, the biryani draws a crowd, and the room has been proudly scruffy for as long as anyone can remember.
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Rank 70. Restaurant Yuu
Contemporary French
Service begins with the lights dropping and curtains parting to reveal the full kitchen brigade standing at attention, which sets the tone for what follows. This is a tasting menu restaurant in Greenpoint where the chef's classic French training and Japanese background meet in a warehouse-scale dining room. Shellfish and proteins carry the menu, and a duck and foie gras pastry feels like a find from a more extravagant era. It holds a Michelin star.
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Bread arrives as a dense, seed-studded round of fresh rye, and that commitment to doing the Nordic thing properly runs through every course of Aquavit's tasting menu. Emma Bengtsson grew up in a Swedish fishing village, and the kitchen reflects it, precise and abundant rather than austere. Two Michelin stars and an AAA Five Diamond make the case before you even sit down. Midtown, jackets optional but effort appreciated.
- AAA Five Diamonds
- Michelin Guide 2 Stars
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Chef · Emma Bengtsson
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Rank 73. Café Boulud
Contemporary French
A polished Art Deco dining room on a prime Upper East Side corner sets the register at Café Boulud: linen-and-crystal fine dining, the kind where the service anticipates rather than intrudes. The kitchen, which holds a Michelin star, works from classical French foundations and bends toward seasonal and global ideas without losing the thread. The wine list leans French and the tarte Tatin arrives as though it had something to prove.
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Rank 74. The Four Horsemen
Natural Wine Bar
The natural wine list here won a James Beard Award, and the Michelin star belongs to the kitchen, which tells you this Williamsburg bar is doing two things at once and doing neither halfway. The room is famously small and the wait is famously brutal, but Nick Curtola's seasonal menu follows its own logic, landing somewhere between a great wine bar snack and something you'll think about for weeks. James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem is a co-owner, which explains the playlist.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurant
- James Beard Awards 2022 · Winner · Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
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Bolivian pop music at full volume is the first thing you notice, the second being the line of regulars who already know their order. This tiny Woodside counter serves Bolivian street food and traditional dishes, with saltenas, the crimped pastry pockets full of soupy chicken or beef filling, doing a lot of the convincing. The peanut soup is as comforting as it sounds, and the fried chicken sandwich brings genuine heat.
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Rank 76. SEY
Nordic Coffee
- Time Out #4 · The 21 very best coffee shops in NYC
- Eater The Best Coffee Shops in New York City
- Sprudge The Sprudge Guide to Coffee in North Brooklyn
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- US Coffee Championships #1 · U.S. Latte Art Championship · Piyapat "Flook" Lapteerawut
- US Coffee Championships #7 · U.S. Coffee in Good Spirits Championship · Peace Sakulclanuwat
- US Coffee Championships #7 · U.S. Brewers Cup · John Chau Ly
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Rank 78. Bagels For You
NY-Style Bakery
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Rank 81. Kape't Torta
Filipino Bakery
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The cheese-wedge-shaped room is the first thing you notice, followed by the reclaimed-wood window bar and the Steinway Street foot traffic rolling past it. Kinship is a neighborhood coffee shop that roasts its own beans nearby, and the seasonal drinks menu keeps regulars guessing. Pastries come from Balthazar, cookies from The Good Batch, and the whole operation has the warm, slightly chaotic energy of a place run by people who actually live on the block.
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Rank 84. Sylvia’s
Southern
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Winner · America's Classics: New York State
- James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Outstanding Hospitality
- Eater The Best Classic Restaurants in NYC
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Rank 85. Tea Cup Cafe
Traditional Thai
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Rank 86. Khao Nom
Thai
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Rank 88. Levant
Egyptian Middle Eastern
The looming white-domed oven is the centerpiece of this tiny Astoria storefront, which has the brisk pace of a slice shop but the latticed oriel windows and warm arabesques of a Cairo street. It specializes in feteer, flaky layered pies pressed with ghee and folded around fillings, the basturma version packed with heavily garlicked air-dried beef. The New York Times named it among New York's 100 best restaurants. Steinway Street already has its Little Egypt; now it has a destination.
- The New York Times #25 · The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City
- The New York Times New York’s 14 Best New Restaurants
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Rank 89. Le Bernardin
Seafood
Eric Ripert's three-Michelin-star seafood temple in Midtown runs on French technique and a quiet confidence that doesn't need to announce itself. The menu moves from nearly raw to lightly cooked, and the room, all white tablecloths and soft jazz, fills nightly with people who dressed for the occasion. The thinly pounded yellowfin tuna over foie gras toast is the dish that gets talked about. The sommelier just won North America's Best Sommelier Award, which tracks.
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Rank 90. Xi'an Famous Foods
Xi'an-Style
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Rank 91. Win Son Bakery
Taiwanese-American Bakery
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Rank 92. Kunafa Bites
Dessert
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Rank 93. The Bar Room at the Modern
New American
The Bar Room sits inside MoMA, which means the view from your table includes a sculpture garden and whatever guilt you feel about skipping the actual galleries. This is fine dining with two Michelin stars and an AAA Five Diamond, but the mood is closer to "very grown-up lunch" than tasting-menu theater. Chef Thomas Allan's food is seasonal and lightly composed, familiar enough to read fast and precise enough to hold your attention.
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Rank 94. Atomix
Modern Korean
A 14-seat counter in a Murray Hill brownstone basement, where each course of a modern Korean tasting menu arrives in bespoke ceramics with a card explaining its origins. The exterior is so understated that first-timers cluster on the sidewalk wondering if they have the right address. Two Michelin stars, a James Beard Award, and a spot at number twelve on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list suggest they do.
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Rank 96. Artion Bakery Patisserie
Greek Bakery
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The wood-fired oven is the first thing you see when you walk into this Astoria pizzeria, and the pies that come out of it lean modern and loose rather than strictly Neapolitan. The dough is light, the toppings are chosen with care, and the beer list keeps pace with the casual, come-as-you-are room. Milkflower has its own creative logic and doesn't apologize for it, which is half the reason the neighborhood keeps showing up.
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Rank 100. MAMA'S TOO!
Sicilian Pizza
The square slices here come out of the pan thick, crisp-bottomed, and generously topped, which is the whole argument. This Upper West Side counter spot runs on a steady churn of regulars and walk-ins, with a few seats if you're lucky and no pretense about it either way. The cacio e pepe slice landed on Time Out's list of the best pizzas in the world, and 50 Top Pizza puts the shop at number four for slices in the country.
- Time Out The Cacio e Pepe · The 18 best pizzas in the world right now
- 50 Top Pizza #4 · 50 Top Pizza Slice USA
- Time Out The 45 best restaurants in NYC right now