The 10 Best Restaurants in NYC | Food Critics Behind the Scenes | NYT Cooking

“I think, for us, it’s
between [BLEEP]: and [BLEEP]:. Those really are two of the
absolute best restaurants that The city has to offer.” “Yeah, we just don’t
agree on number one. I don’t know. Do we arm wrestle? How do we figure it out?” [MUSIC PLAYING] “New York City’s always
been an art town. It’s a business town
and a food town. If you want to find
the energy in New York, Just go out to eat.” “The diners are as hungry
and excited as the chefs are. The sheer amount of
restaurants we have And difficulty of opening a
restaurant in this city means The ones that really
nail it, they sing.” “Which is what the list is
for, to recognize the breadth Of New York City’s
restaurants, old ones, New ones, celebrated ones,
ones you didn’t even know About. We’ve been working
on the NYC 100, Which is a list of the most
exciting New York restaurants. All right, hi.” “Hi.” “We get to debrief.” “Okay, so I printed out our
list of the top 10, Which we now have to rank.” “I don’t even know how
Pete decided to do the 100. It’s such a daunting task.” “Yeah.” “He did the job for 12 years. Oh, my god, I can’t believe
he did it for 12 years. And so we were lucky. We had a template.

We had Pete’s list
from 2023 and 2024.” “We basically started with
these 100 restaurants, And then we looked at 80 — Probably more like
80 to 100 more.” “80 to 100 more. We collaborated
at the beginning To come up with who did
what and which restaurants Were on the list, and we were
always onboarding each other. We were gut
checking each other, But our work was
very independent Because we were doing
different restaurants Except for the top 10. So we’ve been
doing this — wait, So for three to four
months, we’ve been doing. Oh, my god, no wonder
we’re so full.” “Yeah.” “That’s insane.” “What people don’t know
is after we were finished Visiting our restaurants, we
then went through and were Like, what gaps
are we missing? And then we did another
round of scouting.” “This is privileged
information until publication Date. Okay, so this is the spreadsheet. This is the Rosetta Stone.” “We’re going to
have 150 places, And we’re going to have to
whittle it down to 100.” “I don’t think it’s
going to be that many, But I definitely –” “We’re going to
have 130 places.” “That’s realistic.” “So where do we start?” “Killing our darlings. I mean, that’s the thing.

We go to these places,
and we’re like, oh –” “I know, you fall
in love with them.” “It’s important. We’re not going to — we
don’t want to miss stuff. I mean, that’s our
responsibility.” “It’s equally important to go
to the places you’re putting On the list as to go to the
places that will not end up On the list.” “Totally.” “Because you need to be able
to say, yes, I went there.” “Yes. One thing that needs to
be said is all of these Restaurants on the top 10 part
of the list, they are all — I think the quality is
equal across — exceptional. So number 10 is Tatiana. Tatiana was number
one the past couple Of years with Pete. It is still in the top 10. The food is delicious. I mean, the patties
are just, oh, my god. The oxtail.” “The oxtail.” “The oxtail is incredible.” “I love that oxtail.” “It’s so nice to
see a restaurant, Like we were saying, not
resting on its laurels. It’s just on point. It’s a great atmosphere.” “I mean, Lincoln Center
is so much better for that Restaurant being there.” “Totally.” “Number 9, we have
Szechuan Mountain House. Just a temple to the
versatility and pure joy Of szechuan peppercorn.

Those stinging, numbing,
delightful flavors, And crucially, you can get
in and out for two and have A pretty reasonably affordable
dinner where every single dish Is electric.” “Yeah.” “The fish, it’s like a fish
swimming in a hot szechuan Peppercorn oil. I love the mapo tofu.” “There’s a cold tendon dish. Oh, the texture. You have the Mala flavors, the
hot oil, the crunchy tendon. Number 8 is Sushi Show. Just beautiful, pristine fish,
but also about preservation And fermentation and the ways
in which you really learn About the history of
sushi going back — Which goes back 900 years
in terms of preserved fish, But only 200 years in
terms of fresher fish. And it’s fascinating, so
you’re learning all of this While you are eating some
of the most innovative, Delicious combinations and sea
critters I’d never had before. There was a certain shrimp
that I had that was full Of roe, and the roe was
lobster [INAUDIBLE].” “I feel like I lose sleep
over every single review, Whether it’s good or bad. Realize all of the thought
and hard work and care That goes into a restaurant. Anything good or bad is a
reflection on that restaurant. I really never thought
I’d be doing this. I never thought I’d
like it, but I do. Right now, I’m
writing a review, And then I am going to
a restaurant that I need To scout as part of
the New York City 100. I feel like the challenge for
me, as a restaurant critic, Is how do I write restaurant
reviews that open up the world

Of food and don’t close it?” “So we were looking at
neighborhood, price point, How good was the food? Are we getting in enough
diversity on the list? We have all kinds
of restaurants, And I do think that it
is having that voice. You understand what the
chef is trying to do. You see their mission, and
then you see that they’ve Fulfilled it.” “I feel like what
people don’t see is, For every dumpling
restaurant you review, You’ve gone to 10
dumpling restaurants. For every taqueria,
I’m reviewing, I’m going to 10
other taquerias. That, I think, is what
makes criticism criticism.” “Yeah, it’s all the places
we don’t write about.” “At 7, we have Penny. Penny is a singular
seafood bar. Everything is of absolute
pristine and remarkable Quality, but they do these
little things to the seafood To just make it — to give it
almost this ethereal quality. That shrimp cocktail, I think,
is the city’s best shrimp Cocktail. That pure shrimp is one of my
favorite bites in New York. You have –” “Razor clams. Razor clams.” “Oh, the razor –” “Razor clams.” “With this tangle of
pickled vegetables on top. Oh, they just — They’re slurpable. Everything just feels
so technically precise. Everything is prepared right.

The ratios of
ingredients are right. It is briny, bright, tangy. It’s –” “Fun. It’s fun to eat there. It’s a fun place.” “It’s so dialed in.” “Number 6 is King. King has been
around for a while, And it’s like
it’s been reborn. King is a restaurant that
has been reborn into the best Version of itself. It’s Italian leaning. It’s inspired by
the River Cafe, But there’s also an
important seasonal element To the cooking, a freshness. The menu changes
every single day, And they’re on their game, and
they are using what’s fresh And making just the most
comforting, delicious food. Yeah, get the pasta.” “Whatever the pasta.” “Whatever the pasta
is, get the pasta. But also, their salads. Nobody talks enough
about how important A well-dressed, perfect salad
with just spritely vegetables Is. And King is, you’re always
going to get that at King. And the desserts. We both have a sweet tooth.” “So this is my bag of wigs. I have to stand far away from
it because I don’t want people To see the wigs, but that
is just a bag full of wigs.” “So how many Resy accounts do you have? How many open table accounts?

How many talk accounts?” “I think I’ve got four
Resy accounts, Four open table accounts, two
talk accounts, and six wigs.” “Oh, my god. So the hardest thing for me
was remembering what name I Made the reservation.” “Who am I?” “I know, and I would
have to go back to look. And I mean, I got it wrong at
least twice, at least twice.” “What’s also funny, too, is
when you make it under names That could be pronounced
in different ways, And then your friend comes and
pronounces it differently than You did, and then the
person’s like, well, Who is that person? Why don’t your friends know
how to pronounce your own Name? There’s a common misconception
that people go alone To a review and it’s like,
that’d be impossible and sad. We usually order
much of the menu, And it would not make sense
for me to do that alone. I see a party of 4 is
the ideal size for trying A good chunk of the menu. By the time I write a review,
I want to have sampled pretty Much everything on the menu,
and I like to sample some Things more than once to see
if they stay consistent.” “Everybody’s taking
pictures of their food. When you are eating, it’s easy
to just whip out your phone. So I get my
colleagues to help. I’ve got Julia Moskin here,
and we’re going to do another Restaurant. And thank you for helping me.” “And we’re hopeful.” “We’re hopeful.” “At number 5, we
have Ha’s Snack Bar,

Which I think is just
one of the most exciting, Forward thinking restaurants
we have in New York. It started as a
pop up, and so it Has all of the freewheeling
energy of a pop up. You have these two owners,
Anthony Ha and Sadie Mae Burns-Ha, and they complement
each other perfectly. Anthony, his flavors are so
dialed in, and you can get Everything from an amazing
salad to a beautiful whole Fish, to a pitch perfect
lemon meringue pie.” “And that paté.” “And the paté.” “And the paté.” “And the paté. It is one of the
most exciting patés. If you don’t like paté,
you’ll love this paté. The paté has zip. It has brightness. It has richness. They know how to create
balance in dishes. Number 4 is Kabawa. Kabawa is brand
new on the scene. It might be a new restaurant,
but Paul Carmichael Is a seasoned chef. They are a seasoned team. Everything is perfect. There’s no other restaurant
in New York like it. Caribbean food, every single
bite I had there was perfect. But especially the goat. The goat was this
brick of soft meat. It fell apart. There was this curried sauce.” “And the curry leaves on top.” “It was just delicious. And one of my favorite
things was this simple thing.

It was a bowl of ice with
a sweet tamarind on top, And I had never had
tamarind like that.” “So today, we are jogging to
Flushing to have dumplings. And so yeah, hopefully,
I’ll get nice and hungry. One thing my
friends always said Was like, this
is like a sport. It’s like you got
to train for it.” “Train for it. Yeah, you literally ran to it. Sometimes, I would look
at your restaurants. I’m like, you ran eight
miles to eat there.” “I make my own yogurt. So I used to — I would eat a
bowl of yogurt –” “In the morning,
bowl of yogurt.” “When I got home.” “Because you have all
those probiotics.” “For all of the complaints
I have about physical rigors Of this job, it just is an
immense privilege just to be Able to eat out for a living. Every so often, I’ll take
someone out to dinner, And they’re like, this is
just what you do every night.” “Eating dumplings.” “At number 3, we
have Le Bernardin. It is everything that
fine dining in New York Ought to be. It is the best of fine dining. It runs like a
well-oiled machine, But it’s not resting on what
it was doing 10 years ago. There are those iconic dishes,
and they’re still iconic And amazing. But you have Eric Ripert
in the kitchen every day Innovating, thinking
of something new. When I was there,
I asked the chef,

How often does
the menu change. And they literally said, every
day, Eric looks at the menu And thinks, what could
I be doing differently? What could I be
doing that’s new? To have a chef like that,
who is as famous as Eric, as Classically French
trained as he is, To be thinking in that way,
I think is very special. Oh, I love [BLEEP]:. I just think that restaurant
is so, so special.” “Here’s some definite nos.” “I think that the chef
is really talented. I don’t know why the
restaurant can’t get it Together. [BLEEP]:, I’ve been to. It’s great. It’s such a good bargain.” “[BLEEP]: the vibe is amazing. The seafood is a
bit overcooked. So a restaurant is not
like a fixed thing, And so I’m always excited to
go a year later and see how Much it’s changed. And sometimes, those
changes are really great, And sometimes the chef
has gotten really famous, And they’re doing a
bunch of other gigs, And they can’t put the time
in the kitchen that maybe The kitchen deserves, and
the food has fallen off. And there’s no way, when you
review it or write about it, To know what’s going to
happen to the restaurant In the future, whether it’s
going to stay as good or get Worse or get better. You have to judge it for
that moment in time.” “You went at the beginning.” “I went two days ago.” “Oh, you didn’t like it?”

“And I –” “Interesting.” “I think it is a very
polarizing restaurant. I agree. And there are other things
that just didn’t come together For me.” “Well, because –” “[BLEEP]: person,
or you’re not.” “No, I feel like they change. They evolved. You and I are different. We have different tastes. We have different
tastes from Pete. Yeah, we don’t agree
on a lot of things.” “We don’t agree on
a lot of things.” “Yeah.” “I do think that Melissa and
I represent two very common Kinds of diners in this city,
so I feel like, in a way, It’s been really
great for the list.” “Yeah, we’re about
to disagree.” “I feel strongly about.” “We’re about to disagree.” “So you guys are not in
agreement with what number one Is? Is that what this is?” “Yes.” “Yeah, we just don’t
agree on number 1. We think that both of these
restaurants are great.” “I’m going to try
calling Brian. Hi.” “Hi.” “All right, I’m here to help.” “So we have ranked the list,
and the only disagreement we Have is over number 1.

When I talk to
everyday New Yorkers About the restaurant that
excites them, it is [BLEEP]:. It was a groundbreaking
restaurant. I also do like the idea of
putting a place at number 1 That isn’t a tasting
menu, that you can get Into on average night
that doesn’t cost $300.” “But I just think the
reason I think [BLEEP]: Has the edge is because
I feel like the pushing And the innovation is just
going on a higher level — Not a higher level,
a faster level. The innovations are just —
they just keep happening.” “And they’re both restaurants
that did something really Unique when they arrived.” “Both of these — all of these
arguments are very persuasive, And of course, nobody’s
getting short shrifted. It’s being the number two
restaurant in New York City.” “Of course.” “But I think kind of tips
it over for [BLEEP]. You know?” “So are we calling
it [BLEEP]:? Let’s do it.” “Thanks, Brian.” “Thank you.” “All right.” “See you.” “See you. Bye.” “Woo hoo. We did it.” “We did it.” “We did it. Want to see our list?” “I think it’s a
damn good list.” “It’s a great list. Number 2 is Atomix.

Atomix, oh, my gosh, Atomix,
it is one of the most Brilliant restaurants
I’ve ever been to. It’s Korean as a
starting point, But it encompasses the world. The imagination that goes
into every single dish, So it’s a tasting menu. It is expensive, but you will
not eat anything else like it In any other restaurant
in the world. It is always new. One problem with the
progression of a tasting menu Is that the food can
be a little repetitive, But here, every single
dish works together, And it is a progression that
is orchestrated so that you Reach a crescendo at the end. If you can go, and
you can afford it, You’re going to
be blown away.” “I love when an expensive
restaurant is actually good.” “Yes, when it’s worth it.” “And at number
1 we have Semma. This restaurant broke ground
for regional Indian cuisine In New York and the
rest of the country. It introduced many diners
to traditional dishes Of Tamil Nadu, the
state in South India, But it also feels deeply
personal to the chef, Vijay Kumar, who grew up in these
rice paddies in Tamil Nadu. It is constantly changing. It’s ever evolving. It’s loud, yet restrained, and
it feels like one of the most Dynamic restaurants
in New York. I got to say, it
was a ballsy move To put a dosa on the menu,
given how many good dosas There on New York. Semma serves, bar none,
the best dosa in New York, And it is that funk
of fermentation,

The gunpowder inside, that’s
really fiery and nutty. The soft, ghee
soaked interior. The crisp edges, their
oxtails, the lobster. If you can gather five
people and do the crab feast, It’s totally worth it. But every time I go,
there’s something new. There’s a new lesson
in Indian cooking. It’s so deeply personal in a
way that just means so much To me, and to every
diner who goes there. And you feel his love, and you
feel every bit of the personal Touch that he puts
in that restaurant.” “There’s not one place on
this list I do not love. There’s not one restaurant
on this list where, If you told me even
after eating 200 meals, We’re going there tonight,
I would be like, yeah.” “I know, totally. Oh, my god. Yes. Of course, the upside is now
we get to go out to dinner Together.” “Now, we get to go out
to dinner together.” “Where are we going?”