Where to eat in New York City - Follow The Fischers

We recently went to New York around Christmas and there were many highlights, but one of the biggest of them was the food. One of the best things about traveling to bigger cities is getting to explore new restaurants and cuisines. We planned out the restaurants we wanted to hit about 1-2 weeks out which was a little too close. A lot of the popular restaurants were already booked up for dinner, even in the middle of the week. I recommend making reservations at least a month in advance, if not earlier. You can always cancel as it gets closer if plans change!

Breakfast

Russ and Daughters

One of the more popular bagel shops in New York. If you like goat cheese, they have goat cream cheese which was delicious and unique. They also have a wide selection of pastries, I recommend the chocolate babka!

Ess-a-Bagel

Good place for a bagel in Midtown.

Leo’s Bagels

Good place for a bagel in the Financial District.

Lunch

Joe’s Pizza

One of the more popular pizza by the slice restaurants in New York. Multiple locations, one conveniently located on Broadway if you are staying in Midtown. We liked this but enjoyed the next pizza place more.

Nolita Pizza

Located in its namesake Nolita. We haven’t tried a lot of pizza in New York but this has been our favorite. Pay by the slice and take to go or grab a seat on their sidewalk seating.

Xi’an Famous Foods

Great quick lunch spot. Multiple locations. Known for their hand-pulled noodles, but the dumplings were also good!

Empanada Mama

The empanadas here are great, located in Hell’s Kitchen. They have a decent amount of tables for dining in.

Dinner

Misi

Fantastic Italian restaurant in Brooklyn. Small plate style dining. After dining here we realized we owned the cookbook “Pasta” that the chef here wrote!

Tim Ho Wan

Dim sum in Hell’s Kitchen near the Theater District. This was recommended by a friend that lives in New York for a quick but delicious place to eat before a broadway show and it was just that. We were in and out in an hour and the food was great!

Pure Thai Cookhouse

Also located in Hell’s Kitchen. We love Thai food and this is some of the best we’ve had! Great atmosphere.

Il Buco Alimentari and Vineria

We weren’t able to get reservations at Il Buco, but we were able to get bar seating at their sister restaurant. Italian restaurant located near East Village. When cacio e pepe is on the menu, you can’t go wrong. This was one of our favorite restaurants of the trip! A little more casual than Misi and easier to get a reservation.

Snacks

Magnolia Bakery

Known for its banana pudding. We got both the banana pudding and a slice of red velvet cake. We would not recommend the cake but the pudding was great! Joanna Gaines also has a version of banana pudding that we’ve made a few times before and we think it tastes identical. So if you’ve had that before or you hate bananas, I think this can be skipped.