The Best Dishes to Eat in New York City, Spring 2024

This is neither a guide nor a series of restaurant reviews; instead it is a highly biased, very personal diner’s diary or a glutton’s journal chronicling the highlights of two and a bit days eating through New York and New Jersey. It takes in NYC new and old, and includes diner sandwiches, Trinidadian doubles, a Thai take on Ukrainian holubtsi, sweetbread agnolotti, and in Jersey City an unforgettable pepperoni pizza.

Here then in order of appearance are the 10 best things I ate on this whirlwind trip through what is still one of the most exciting and energetic places on earth.

Technically, this was 48 hours eating and drinking in the Tri-state area, since this trip included a very damp jaunt across the Hudson to a city which is, right now, one of America’s pizza hotspots.

Cabbage Tom Khaa at Thai Diner

Thai Diner’s take on Ukranian holubtsi: a phenomenal plate of comfort food on a cold night to begin the trip. Leaves of savoy are tightly tucked around a delicious, fragrant mix of turkey mince, mushrooms, and jasmine rice, served in a pool of rich coconut milk-heavy sauce, seasoned with makrut lime and galangal. Thai herbs and a chilli nam jim come on the side.

186 Mott St, New York, NY 10012

Cheese slice at Scarr’s

Afterwards, a 15-minute walk to Scarr’s felt like a better option than dessert. A classic cheese slice when you’re not very hungry is an odd move. Still, it was perfect – the type of slice that I wished I could taste through the screen of my favourite American childhood films. I grabbed a second slice and managed to keep more than half to eat cold the next morning for breakfast.

5 Orchard St, New York, NY 10002

Barbacoa on flour tortilla at Los Tacos No.1

An oldie, but, boy, still such a goodie. My friend Ryan, to whom I owe so much for his knowledge of New York City dining, as well as his company at so many of my favourite meals over the years, once told me that the move at Los Tacos was chicken and pork on corn; beef on flour tortilla, always. I’ve never done anything different and I never don’t visit Los Tacos when I’m in the city – it grounds me and comforts me as it has since I first visited, daunted by the trip that then lay ahead of me, in 2017.

75 9th Ave, New York, NY 10011

Pearl Pie at Superiority Burger

Brooks Headley’s peerless Lower East Side vegetarian venue needs little introduction – a cult restaurant renowned for its fast food-style burgers, collard hoagies, bean stews, and an always-changing roster of impeccable gelati e sorbetti. Headley is a genius, especially when it comes to desserts (he formerly worked as pastry chef at the renowned upscale Del Posto) – and this pearl pie was an exhibition in texture and flavour: a crispy biscuity base was topped with a rich passionfruit curd, itself topped with a tart passionfruit jelly, and finally crowned with tapioca pearls and passionfruit seeds. Sensational.

119 Avenue A, New York, NY 10009

Veal sweetbread agnolotti in amaretto brodo at Foul Witch

The folks behind Roberta’s, the legendary pizzeria in Bushwick, know a thing or two about modern Italian dining in New York City. That much is evident in Carlo Mirarchi and Brandon Hoy’s new LES spot, the raucous Foul Witch just across the street from Katz Delicatessen, which deliberately and repeatedly knocks your senses for six. (Rammstein’s Du hast was on repeat at maximum decibels in the bathroom all evening.) And even the most elegant of dishes – an ingenious and playful riff on agnolotti in brodo, where the pasta is stuffed with rich and creamy veal sweetbread, and the broth spiked with sweet and nutty amaretto – really takes you aback. Dining at the bar is highly recommended. Great wine list, too.

15 Avenue A, New York, NY 10009

Shark and Bake at Trini Girl

This is a food whose origins are on the beaches of Trinidad and Tobago, but which has found a home away from home on the busy streets of Crown Heights in Brooklyn. Often beneath pouring rain, as it was when I was there. At Trini Girl, while Bacchanalist by Kerwin Du Bois came through the sound system, I waited for a fresh batch of shark to be fried – before long, three generous chunks arrived, judiciously seasoned, stuffed inside a pliant sliced open fry bake. A cooling coleslaw and a bright, hot shado beni pepper sauce was all that was required to complete this unique sandwich.

628 Nostrand Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11216

Shrimp doubles at Trinidad Golden Place

Of all three of the Trinidadian spots I visited the doubles from Golden Place were the ones I enjoyed the most. Instead of plumping for the classic filling of chana and condiments, here I added shrimp and a generous amount of pepper sauce to cosy up inside the fluffy bara. Is there really a better snack than this?

788 Nostrand Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11216

Pepperoni pie at Razza

I’m fairly confident in saying this is the best pizza I’ve ever eaten: Exceptional bread, adequately blistered; the base wafer thin, yet rigid (tip-dip on point) beneath the toppings of bronzed mozz, a tomato sauce of perfect salt and acidity, and a carefully arranged number of artisan pepperoni cups – the work of fastidious owner, baker, and head chef Dan Richer. Getting here (and back home) involved a PATH train to Hoboken (admittedly because of a missed stop), an Uber, a Citi bike in the pouring rain, a ferry on diversion, and it was still more than worth it. Thanks to Sam, pizza aficionado, for sending me out here. And to Ryan for joining me. (Sadly, I didn’t make it to Bread and Salt – though that’s just another reason to cross the Hudson next time I’m in town.)

275/277 Grove St, Jersey City, NJ 07302

Turkey sandwich at S&P

S&P is a modern Manhattan lunch spot for those who find reassurance in nostalgia – formerly Eisenberg’s Sandwich Shop, which had been in situ since 1928, little has changed since Eric Finkelstein and Matt Ross of Court Street Grocers took over the space in 2022, save for the clientele that those folks knew they’d attract. It turned out to be the perfect spot for a mild hangover on an unusually warm and sunny Sunday morning in early March. A fine cup of black filter coffee teamed with a turkey sandwich (my intel chief Luke’s go-to order) – generous, moist slices of breast – with extra, crispy bacon rashers. And a pickle for piquance.

174 5th Ave, New York, NY 10010

Cheese slice at L’Industrie

L’Industrie’s naturally leavened dough is one of the reasons the pizza here is some of the best in New York City right now. Another reason, particularly for out-of-towners like me, is that though Massimo Laveglia and his pizzaioli are in the business of subtly cheffifying and, to an extent, ‘elevating’ a legend of American dining culture, they have not forgotten what makes even the most basic examples of NYC slices so enjoyable: the unique interplay of cheese and tomato, browned and melded together – served hot.

West Village, 104 Christopher Street, New York, NY 10014

Adam Coghlan is the food and restaurant editor at Something Curated. All photography by Adam Coghlan.