Food

A single, unchanging formula — thin, foldable crust, simple mozzarella and sauce — running since 1975 and still turning out what most New Yorkers agree is the definitive slice. There's no seating to speak of and no reason to want any; order a slice, fold it in half the New York way, and eat it standing on the sidewalk like everyone else. The original Carmine Street location moves fast even when the line looks long, day or night.

A·B·C·D·E·F·M · W 4 StBest: any time, it's always right

Opened in 1888 and functionally unchanged in spirit since, Katz's hand-carves pastrami to order behind a deli counter that still hands you a ticket at the door — don't lose it, or you'll pay a penalty on the way out. The pastrami on rye, piled absurdly high and served with a pickle, is the reason people fly in for lunch; tip the counter guy a dollar for a free slice while you wait. Communal tables and a no-frills dining room haven't changed to keep up with the neighborhood gentrifying around them, which is exactly the point.

F · Delancey StBest: lunch, avoid the Sunday rush

A fourth-generation "appetizing" shop, open since 1914, specializing in the smoked fish, caviar, and hand-sliced bagels that built the Jewish deli tradition on the Lower East Side. The classic order is a hand-cut bagel with cream cheese and Gaspé Nova salmon, sliced paper-thin to order at the counter. The original shop is takeout-only and narrow — the sit-down cafe a few blocks away runs the same menu with table service if you'd rather not eat on a stoop.

F · Second AvBest: Sunday morning

What started as a single street cart on the corner of 53rd and 6th in the 1990s, feeding off-duty cab drivers overnight, became the template for the halal cart chicken-and-rice plate now copied on corners across the city. The formula hasn't changed: seasoned chicken and rice, shredded lettuce, and a white sauce nobody has ever fully reverse-engineered, all doused in a fiery red hot sauce if you dare. Cash, cheap, and open absurdly late — still one of the best late-night meals in Midtown after the theaters let out.

N·Q·R·W · 5 Av-59 StBest: late night

The largest open-air food market in the country on a good Saturday, a few dozen vendors deep along the East River in Williamsburg with a straight-on view of the Manhattan skyline while you eat. It's less about any single stall than the format — come hungry, order small portions from four or five different vendors, and treat it as a tasting menu rather than a sit-down meal. Runs seasonally, roughly April through October; check the current schedule and location before making the trip, since it occasionally relocates.

L · Bedford AvBest: Saturday, arrive hungry

The real Little Italy, a title Manhattan's tourist-oriented strip gave up decades ago — Arthur Avenue is still a working Italian-American neighborhood, and its indoor retail market is the best single stop for it: fresh mozzarella made on-site, a butcher counter, an espresso bar, and a produce stand all under one roof. The surrounding blocks are dense with old-school restaurants and bakeries that have run for generations; pair the market with a sit-down lunch at one of them rather than treating it as the whole visit.

B·D·4 · Fordham RdBest: weekday late morning

The original hot dog stand, opened in 1916 on the same Coney Island corner it still occupies, and the namesake of the annual Fourth of July hot dog eating contest broadcast nationally every year. The all-beef dog with a distinctive natural casing snap has barely changed in a century; order it with the crinkle-cut fries and eat on the boardwalk a block away. It's a stand, not a sit-down restaurant, and lines move fast even on a packed summer weekend.

D·F·N·Q · Coney IslandBest: summer boardwalk day

What began as a single basement stall in the Golden Shopping Mall food court in Flushing has grown into a citywide chain, but the hand-ripped noodle dishes that built its reputation — spicy cumin lamb, in particular — still taste like a direct import from Xi'an street food rather than an Americanized version of it. The Flushing food court original is worth the trip on its own, surrounded by dozens of other stalls covering regional Chinese cuisines rarely found elsewhere in the city. Cheap, fast, and intensely flavored.

7 · Flushing-Main StBest: lunch, explore the food court

A six-ounce chocolate chip walnut cookie, crisp on the outside and deliberately underbaked in the center, that spawned an entire genre of "thick cookie" imitators nationwide after opening here in 1995. The original basement bakery on 74th Street still draws a line out the door most afternoons; cookies are baked in small batches throughout the day, so timing a visit for a fresh-out-of-the-oven batch is worth checking ahead for. A short walk from Central Park's western entrances, making it a natural add-on rather than a special trip.

1·2·3·B·C · 72 StBest: fresh-batch afternoon

Founded in 1965 by Domenico DeMarco, who personally hand-cut fresh basil over every pie well into his eighties, Di Fara is the pizza pilgrimage destination for people who've already worked through every well-known slice shop in Manhattan. It's a genuine trip — about forty-five minutes from Midtown by subway, in a residential Brooklyn neighborhood with little else to see — and the wait can run well over an hour, so this is for people specifically chasing the pizza, not a casual stop.

Q · Avenue JBest: weekday, expect a wait

Beyond Xi'an Famous Foods, downtown Flushing's dense strip of Chinese, Korean, and Southeast Asian restaurants and food courts amounts to one of the most concentrated, least tourist-oriented food scenes in the city — dumpling houses, hand-pulled noodle counters, and Taiwanese bakeries stacked block after block around the Flushing-Main Street subway stop. There's no single must-visit stop here so much as a neighborhood worth wandering hungry; the New World Mall food court and the Golden Shopping Mall basement are the two easiest entry points for first-timers.

7 · Flushing-Main StBest: any day, go hungry