Restaurants

Whether acquired cold from a panel truck at a rural corner, or hot from a village macelleria, porchetta is Italy's favorite sandwich meat. Though duplicating this fennel-stuffed roast with the copper crackling skin in this country is patently impossible, 'Inoteca has made a noble stab at it.... More >>

Chef Jason Neroni’s latest adventure is a staid Village bistro with wonderful views of Sixth Avenue and interesting art on the walls (plus a newly opened sidewalk seating area). Despite the eclectic menu, his interest in pork and Spanish food prevails. Baked feta is the best bar snack; stripe... More >>

Sit at the sushi bar for the optimal experience, where you can watch chef Masato Shimizu create some of the best sushi in the city. The chef is friendly and knowledgeable, and might even ask you to grate some wasabi root for him. Everything is as it should be: the fish room temperature, the rice... More >>

This palace of fried seafood leapfrogged over 125th Street recently into glamorous new digs. Thankfully, the fried whiting sandwich is as good as ever: three crisp, lightly breaded fillets deposited on white or whole wheat; squirt on the sauce from the phalanx of bottles on the counter. Hint:... More >>

This splendid Senegalese still cooks with palm oil, and the national dish of cheb arrives tinted a brilliant red-orange. The tiny grains of broken rice are heaped with eggplant, carrot, cabbage, yuca, and fried fish, and if you ask the cook, she'll give you a dab of pima—a red pepper... More >>

This handsome restaurant focuses on the Greek community of Istanbul, turning out food that’s Mediterranean fusion, par excellence, with more conventional Greek food (emphasizing meat over fish) thrown in for good measure. The rooster stew is superlative, a tough bird turned tender in savory... More >>

We felt lucky to stumble on this Turkish spot, whose doors were flung open on a warm afternoon to reveal an inviting pastel interior just below street level. We plowed through a half-dozen mezze, finding the fresh fried anchovies, octopus salad, and baba ghanoush especially tasty, served with a... More >>

Named after a pop song and now a venerable 12 years old, Al Di La remains one of the most exciting Italian restaurants in the city. The menu takes regional recipes from the northern half of the country, and faithfully renders them with few needless innovations, and those that are introduced are... More >>

Bare brick, lots of mirrors, an aura of intimacy, and a well stocked bar: This West Village bistro has the decorative elements in place. The spaghetti, featuring cauliflower, prosciutto, and feta cheese, is a surprise favorite. The hamburger is also good ; moist and pink and nicely charred. The... More >>

This is the sixth seafood restaurant coming out of Alexandria, Egypt to appear in the metropolitan area, slinging whole fish blackened over charcoal (called "barbecue" here –– you must remove the skin before eating), or by deep-frying, the latter with a kooky spice coating that includes sal... More >>

What looks like a fast-food joint from the outside turns out to be an excellent and rather formal restaurant inside, a perfect date spot with its convincing fake fireplace. The ambitious menu takes some time to read––there are 10 lamb entrées alone––and includes plenty... More >>

Offering an expansive combination of Syrian, Palestinian, and North African fare, Ali Baba provides a handful of dishes unavailable in the usual restaurant of this genre. Any of the homestyle lamb stews ––which come in with a big plate of yellow rice––are totally dope,... More >>

There's a line out the door at this popular roti shack, where the marquee invites "Hurry, Hurry, Come for Curry." Of the rotis, our fave is conch—a plenitude of tender gastropod vying with potato for domination of the brown, thyme-inflected gravy. Or pick from curries of shrimp, goat,... More >>

Concentrating on the cuisine of Cyprus, Aliada complements the regular Greek menu with Middle Eastern flourishes. The horitaki salad adds the stealth herb cilantro to the tossed combination of cucumbers, caper leaves, arugula, scallions, lettuce, black olives, feta, and tomatoes, and even the... More >>

The chicken shawarma sandwich is the best in town—fresh cut from the homemade rotating cylinder, jammed in a pocketless pita with lettuce, tomatoes, sumac-dusted onions, and a powerful garlic sauce. With the surprise addition of split cornichons, it's then rolled in butcher paper and zapped... More >>

From the amuse-bouche of cod mousse and pickled anchovy arranged like a delicate sculpture to the astonishing peach strudel, we enjoyed one of the best meals of the year here. The restaurant expresses a mature culinary vision—centered on the quasi-Teutonic food of Italy's Alto... More >>

As the name implies, the place really is just a kitchen, with a single table inside and another outside. Nevertheless, the Thai food is splendid, favoring the fare of Bangkok and the southern peninsula. This food tends to be rich in coconut milk, and most of the recommended curries are laced... More >>

This roadhouse, with a glitzy banquet room in back, offers a greatest hits of Haitian cuisine. The entrees are voluminous, well-plated, and exquisitely prepared, and note that there are no appetizers, sides, or desserts. Ambiance means business! Top of the charts is the griot, a confit of pork... More >>

There's no better Trinidadian restaurant in Gotham, and maybe in Trinidad, either. The stuffed flatbreads called rotis are offered with a broad choice of fillings, including goat, chicken, conch, duck, and a potato-chickpea mixture. What's more, you can have further veggies added, such as... More >>

Chef Michael Psilakis took Greek food to new creative heights at Onera on the Upper West Side, amping up the vernacular cuisine of his ancestral homeland. But he outdoes himself at Anthos, incorporating all sorts of modern culinary notions into his cooking. The raw meze--a tiny, delectable... More >>

Itzakayas have lately taken the city by storm. These Japanese pubs have added creative dishes to the national canon, and thus expanded our idea of what Japanese food can be. Ariyoshi’s menu is a multiplex document that could take a half-hour to study, but includes every Japanese dish you’ve ev... More >>

The city's only full-blown Ivory Coast restaurant (other establishments we would characterize as coffee shops) is named after a bustling Abidjan neighborhood, and the excellent cooking reflects the combined tribal and Gallic roots of the cuisine. Peppe soup de poisson is really a... More >>

A master of cheese in its myriad forms, capable of using it in every course, Artisanal is the rare restaurant that started out good but has become spectacular. This confident Parisian-style brasserie created by celebrated chef Terrance Brennan offers something for every taste, including a... More >>

This is one of the original New York coal oven pizza joints; it was opened in 1957 and is still run by the same family. It’s crowded, loud and there’s live jazz (practically in your lap) every night. The pizza crust sports a nice char from the hot oven, and is thickish, salty and pleasant... More >>

The city's second Uyghur restaurant—referring to a Turkic people in the Chinese province of Xinjiang—has opened just off Queens Boulevard. The menu features the usual Silk Road stuff: homemade noodles in beef soup (lagman), plump dumplings bulging with orange squash (manti), triangular... More >>