The New Yorker's Best Things I Ate: 2025 Edition

Jr & Son sits on Lorimer Street in Williamsburg, a stretch of Brooklyn where neighbourhood restaurants earn loyalty through consistency rather than spectacle. The kitchen earned recognition in 'The Best Things I Ate' awards, placing it in a tier of local spots that food writers return to rather than simply file once. Arrive early or expect to wait.

The View Restaurant & Lounge occupies the only revolving rooftop in New York City, positioned above the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. Its recognitions include a nod from The Best Things I Ate, placing it alongside a small set of Manhattan venues where spectacle and substance share billing. The gap between a lunch visit and an evening booking here is wide enough to constitute two distinct experiences.

On Mott Street in Nolita, Mommy Pai's occupies a corner of New York's Taiwanese dining conversation that leans toward the casual and the specific rather than the ceremonial. Recognised by The Best Things I Ate, the spot draws a neighbourhood crowd alongside deliberate visitors who have followed the word of mouth south from Midtown's denser restaurant corridors.

A West Village bar and dining room that has quietly built a loyal following on hearty Spanish cooking and a serious cocktail program. Thick wood beams, amber lighting, and close-set banquettes set a mood that rewards the return visit. Esquire named it one of America's best Martini bars in 2025, and the food more than holds its own alongside the drinks.

On Thompson Street in Greenwich Village, Chateau Royale has earned recognition in 'The Best Things I Ate' — a distinction that places it among New York's more closely watched neighbourhood dining addresses. The venue sits in a part of the Village where culinary ambition tends to operate quietly, away from the Michelin-circuit spotlight that dominates uptown and Midtown conversations.

A tiny Cambodian restaurant in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Bong earned a spot on Resy's 2025 Best of the Hit List for its direct, sour-forward take on Khmer cooking. The menu moves between traditional preparations and sharper modern interpretations, staying close to the cuisine's brash flavor profile throughout. Find it at 724 Sterling Place, Brooklyn, NY 11216.

Opened in March 2025 in the East Village's former Momofuku Ko space, Kabawa brings a three-course Caribbean prix fixe to New York's tasting menu tier. Chef Paul Carmichael, Barbados-born and Momofuku-trained across Má Pêche and Sydney's Seiōbo, builds a menu of roti, braised goat, and coconut turnover that reads as regional memory made precise. New York Magazine named it among the 43 best restaurants in New York for 2025.

On Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice, Gjelina has held a consistent position in Opinionated About Dining's North America Casual rankings since 2023 and carries a Michelin Plate for 2024 and 2025. The kitchen works a produce-forward California register with Italian structural references, open seven days from 9am to 11pm at a mid-range price point that puts it well below the city's Michelin-starred tier.

Danny & Coop's Cheesesteaks on Avenue A brings a Philadelphia street-food institution to the East Village, earning recognition from 'The Best Things I Ate' for its approach to a sandwich that divides purists on both sides of the New Jersey border. In a city where the cheesesteak is often treated as an afterthought, this address takes it seriously.

Golden HOF on West 48th Street has earned recognition in the competitive Midtown Manhattan dining scene, appearing in 'The Best Things I Ate' awards. Positioned a short walk from Rockefeller Center, it occupies a corridor that has seen considerable dining evolution over the decades, drawing office workers, tourists, and destination diners looking for something beyond the neighborhood's more transient options.

A no-reservations Vietnamese kitchen on Third Avenue in the East Village, Bánh Anh Em draws pre-opening queues for house-baked bánh mì baguettes, pho built on homemade noodles, and a menu anchored in the full breadth of Vietnamese street-food forms. Named to Resy's Best of the Hit List 2025 and featured in 'The Best Things I Ate,' it is one of New York City's most talked-about casual Vietnamese destinations.

Zimmi's on Bedford Street in the West Village earned a place on New York Magazine's 43 Best Restaurants in New York for 2025, a list that rewards consistency and precision over spectacle. The room operates at a pitch that rewards the kind of dining where every element of the floor pulls in the same direction. For a neighbourhood that has seen dozens of openings come and go, that kind of coordination is worth the detour.