It’s no secret that New York is a culinary mecca. Restaurants are more than simply a practical amenity for New Yorkers. They often stay in tiny apartments with even smaller kitchens since these establishments often serve as surrogates for inhabitants’ living rooms and backyards.
Although dining options exist on every corner, certain restaurants have become so ingrained in the fabric of New York City’s identity that it’s difficult to picture the Big Apple without them. For example, the Grand Central Oyster Bar at New York City’s Grand Central Terminal has been serving its eponymous dish for over a century, and the restaurant has become an icon of the surrounding area.
These characteristics constitute The Greats, a collection of New York City’s finest dining establishments that span the gamut from casual to formal.
Hell’s Kitchen Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare
This restaurant serves a tasting menu, first opened on Schermerhorn Street in undeveloped Brooklyn, in a location next to the grocery shop with which it now keeps its name (Brooklyn Fare). Its unconventional setting and chef César Ramirez’s lavish, truffle-laden cuisine at a suitably high price point led to the borough being recognized as a serious contender to Manhattan’s fine dining restaurants and was awarded three MICHELIN stars as a result.
Although it has moved to New York City, the experience remains the same: paying a lot of money to eat uni, lobster, and other delicacies while getting a front-row seat to see the chef prepare them is well worth it.
Barbuto
Barbuto, a West Village institution that first opened on Washington Street and closed after more than 15 years, has reopened on Horatio Street, offering many of the same pleasures to loyal patrons. However, with a focus on fresh Italian and Californian cuisine, chef Jonathan Waxman’s classics can be found on the menu in a new adjacent location with an industrial look that first opened for a limited time before the epidemic and reopened for good in October of last year.
Favorites include the legendary Pollo Al Forno and the Polpette (crisp pork-filled meatballs), Insalata Calamari, Gnocchi, Potatoes, and more (roast chicken). Enjoy your meal in front of the Hudson River at one of the 125 available tables or 20 available bar chairs.
Bernardin, Le
Le Bernardin has withstood the test of time and continues to impress. Eric Ripert, a famous chef, has designed a restaurant in New York City that is alluring and sensual thanks to the heavy French and Spanish influences throughout. It has been widely agreed that Le Bernardin is the top restaurant in New York City; it has won four stars from The New York Times and three from Michelin, making it the city’s most-awarded restaurant overall. So naturally, the cuisine is superb.
Despite its emphasis on straightforward methods and reverence for ingredients, the food nonetheless displays the kind of ingenuity that can only emerge from years of careful cultivation. Le Bernardin should be at the top of your list of restaurants to try if you have a penchant for fish.
The Oyster Bar at Grand Central (Midtown East)
The Grand Central Oyster Bar at New York City’s Grand Central Station is one of the city’s most famous restaurants, largely thanks to the station’s opulent architecture and spectacular vaulted tile ceiling. Nevertheless, the restaurant retains its 1913 ambiance, with red-checked tablecloths draped over wooden tables in the dining room and U-shaped lunch counters extending the length of one wall. And although the customers may look different today, they still come for the same reasons they did for the last century: a fast bowl of chowder before exploring the city or a dozen oysters and a drink before boarding a train home.
At Grand Central Oyster Bar, you may choose between two separate dining areas: the main dining room and the Saloon, which can be entered by swinging half doors and can accommodate private and semi-private dining for up to 120 persons.
The Culture Ministry
Owner and chef Ayo Balogun has created a restaurant that seems like an invitation to a private dinner party in a Nigerian house in the 1970s or 1980s. Cozy up to 16 friends or acquaintances at the long communal table and counter chairs at the Dept. of Culture while listening to albums by great Nigerian musicians like Ebenezer Obey. Guests are then led through a prix fixe four-course meal of Balogun’s cooking as he shares touching anecdotes from his life as a child in rural North Central Nigeria.
Eja tutu at oshuka cilantro (red snapper pepper soup), Wara ati obe (cheese cooked in the stew), Iyan ati egusi pelu eja alaran ati efo (pounded yam, fermented melon seeds, smoked fish), and Dodo ati ice cream are all examples of items that have been on the BYOB menu in the past (with caramelized plantain). It takes reservations, which may be booked online.
Choosing a restaurant in New York City may be just as challenging as picking out a new wardrobe, finding the ideal present, or settling on a holiday destination. Nevertheless, the city is bursting at the seams with some of the tastiest eats you’re ever likely to have, with selections ranging from gourmet cuisine to informal cafes. Lastly, read more about travel and food around the world here.
