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You can't do better than New York for the dining possibilities; the city is bursting with restaurants of every type and category. You could eat out every night of the year and still have a mountain of restaurants to climb before you've been to them all. Chefs are as famous as rock stars, and when a new restaurant opens, the pomp and circumstance sometimes equals the opening of a major Broadway show. Eating out in New York is a very big deal — something many New Yorkers take seriously.
The variety of restaurants in New York is staggering — from American to multi-ethnic, from a simple diner to an elegant four-star palace. All that variety can be intimidating, but it shouldn't be. You know what you like; now you just need to know where to find it. Here are some suggestions.
Best Restaurant: Aquavit. Though its new digs are not nearly as charming as its former town house setting, the service and the food are as good as ever.
Best Special Occasion Restaurant: Chanterelle. If you want to impress that special loved one, you won't ever go wrong if you choose Chanterelle. The food is consistently superb, the room lovely and intimate, and the service impeccable.
Best for Romance: Café des Artistes. If the murals of the naked wood nymphs don't get you in the mood, the old school French cooking coupled with traditional, white-gloved service certainly will.
Best Chinese: New York Noodletown. With all the culinary wonders that Chinatown has to offer, this is a tough choice. Noodletown's a current favorite, where the soups are always fresh and comforting and anything that's salt-baked is guaranteed to be sublime.
Best French: Daniel. For faultless French cooking, nobody does it better than Chef Daniel Boulud, especially here at his signature restaurant.
Best Italian: 'Cesca. It's difficult to find a restaurant that presents dishes totally original to New York, but 'Cesca, with its truly farmhouse rustic cuisine does just that — and very successfully.
Best Mexican: Pampano. This is another new arrival in New York. Seafood is what they do best here, and that includes the amazing ceviches and the lobster tacos.
Best Seafood: Oceana. You won't believe what chef Cornelius Gallagher can do with fish. His culinary creations look so good on the plate that they are worthy of museum status. What's really remarkable is that the food tastes as good as it looks.
Best Steak: Frankie & Johnnie's. Whether you choose the former speakeasy that is the original location in the Theater district or the newer branch located in actor John Barrymore's former townhouse, your steak, particularly the house sirloin, will remind you why Frankie & Johnnie's has been around since 1926.
Best Jewish Deli: Katz's Delicatessen. This deli's the choice among those who know their kreplach, knishes, and pastrami. No cutesy sandwiches named for celebrities here — just top-notch Jewish classics.
Best Burger: Burger Joint. Who woulda thunk that a fancy hotel like Le Parker Meridien would be the home to a place called Burger Joint that serves great burgers at great prices?
Best Pizza: Patsy's Pizzeria. This great East Harlem pizzeria has been cranking out coal-oven pizza since 1932. It was the favorite of Frank Sinatra, who used to have Patsy's pizzas packed and shipped to him in Vegas.
Best Breakfast: Good Enough to Eat. They've been lining up on Amsterdam Avenue on weekend mornings for over 20 years to get a taste of chef/owner Carrie Levin's bountiful home-cooked breakfasts.
Best Dessert: Fiamma Osteria. Many impressive pastry chefs work around the city, but few of them can top the remarkable Elizabeth Katz. Her creations make you want to skip the entrees and head straight for dessert.
Best Ice Cream: Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. A treat from the Ice Cream Factory is the perfect reward after a brisk walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. Rich homemade ice cream with a view of the Manhattan skyline — that's a tough combination to beat.
Best Bagel: Absolute Bagels. These aren't huge, like some bagels you can find these days, but they're always hot and baked to perfection.
Best Hot Dog: Gray's Papaya. The hot dogs are so good here that it's tough to eat just one. But even though they're delicious, stop at two if you know what's best for you.
Best Times Square Restaurant: Virgil's Real BBQ. Times Square is a restaurant wasteland with bad theme restaurants and overpriced national chains. Virgil's, in a sense, is a barbecue-theme restaurant, but they do an excellent job of smoking meats.
Best New/Old Dining Room: Country. Designed by architect David Rockwell, the upstairs restaurant in the recently renovated Carlton Hotel is a marvel with restored mosaic tiles on the floor, dramatic chandeliers, nooks overlooking the hotel lobby, and most impressive, a gorgeous Tiffany skylight dome that had been hidden for years and uncovered during the renovation.
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