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Cuisine of New York City

Culinary traditions of New York, New York (USA)


Culinary traditions of New York, New York (USA)

The cuisine of New York City consists of many cuisines that have been imported by immigrant communities. Almost all ethnic cuisines are present in New York.

The city's New York Restaurant Week started in 1992 and has spread due to the discounted prices that are offered. New York hosts over 12,000 bodegas, delis, and groceries that supply those who enjoy these cuisines.

Food identified with New York

Food associated with or popularized in New York

[[Black and white cookie
  • Bacon, egg and cheese sandwich, on a bagel or on a roll
  • Black and white cookie
  • Chopped cheese
  • Corned beef
  • Delmonico steak
  • Doughnuts
  • Eggs Benedict, generally regarded as having been popularized by the Waldorf
  • Food from a Halal cart
  • Hot dogs – often out of a hot dog cart, served with sauerkraut, sweet relish, onion sauce, or mustard.
  • Knish
  • Lobster Newberg, generally regarded as having been popularized by Delmonico's
  • Manhattan clam chowder
  • New York-style cheesecake
  • New York-style pizza
  • New York-style bagel
  • New York-style pastrami
  • Sausage and peppers
  • Waldorf salad, first created at the Waldorf

Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine

Bagel and lox
[[Challah
Matzo ball soup

New York's large community of Ashkenazi Jews and their descendants brought many dishes to the city.

The New York institution of the delicatessen or "deli" was originally an institution of the city's Jewry. Much of New York's Jewish fare is popular worldwide, especially bagels. New York City's Jewish community also enjoys Chinese food, and many members of this community think of it as their second ethnic cuisine.)

  • Bagel and cream cheese
  • Bagels and lox (see also: appetizing)
  • Bialy
  • Blintzes
  • Brisket
  • Celery soda
  • Challah bread
  • Chopped chicken liver
  • Corned beef
  • Cream cheese
  • Egg cream
  • Gefilte fish
  • Kishka
  • Knish
  • Lokshen soup
  • Matzo
  • Matzo ball soup
  • Pastrami, pastrami on rye
  • Potato kugel
  • Potato pancake
  • Pickled cucumbers (especially dill pickles)
  • Tongue
  • Whitefish with and without pike

Bodega food

Bodegas are convenience stores in New York City that stock a wide range of items, such as snacks, candies, and hot prepared food. Bodegas can be found on nearly every corner; they provide items shoppers might have neglected to buy from a supermarket. The word "bodega" originated from the Spanish word for small stores or groceries. Bodegas are important to their communities; customers trust them a location for safety and meeting with neighbors, and many have a resident cat. Some bodegas are open up to 24 hours, 7 days a week.

Chopped cheese

The chopped cheese is a sandwich that is one of the bodega's best-known menu items. This sandwich consists of chopped ground beef with onions, condiments melted cheese, tomatoes, and lettuce. It can either be served on a roll or a hero. The chopped cheese has been mentioned in popular music, for example in rap lyrics. This sandwich is widely popular but there have been controversies, such as issues with pricing and gentrification, but it remains a staple in New York City bodegas. Despite arguments about its origin, the chopped cheese sandwich is linked to Harlem and the Bronx.

Bacon, egg and cheese

The bacon, egg and cheese sandwich (BEC) is made with bacon, eggs that are either scrambled or fried, and cheese, and is served on a bagel, hero, or roll. This sandwich is common and well-known in New York City. This sandwich is a "morning sandwich"; it is known for being quickly prepared and for its affordability. Food critic Robert Sietsema has described the BEC as deli "haute cuisine." Although many U.S. cities have similar sandwiches, the BEC stands out for its popularity and accessibility.

Chino-Latino cuisine

Chino-Latino cuisine in New York is primarily associated with the immigration of Chinese Cubans following the Cuban Revolution. Chino-Latino dishes include:

  • Chicken and broccoli
  • Cuban chicharrones de pollo
  • Egg drop soup
  • Fried pork chop
  • Fried rice
  • Lumpiang Shanghai
  • Oxtail stew
  • Sesame chicken
  • White rice with black beans and churrasco

Italian-American cuisine

New York's large community of Italian-Americans and their descendants brought many dishes from Italy and adapted them to the ingredients available there, notably New York-style pizza.

  • Arancini
  • Calzone
  • Cannoli
  • Cappuccino
  • Chicken parmigiana
  • Espresso
  • Fried calamari
  • Italian bread
  • Italian hero
  • Italian ice/Granita
  • New York-style Italian ice
  • New York-style pizza
  • Panelle
  • Pani câ meusa
  • Pasta primavera
  • Penne alla vodka
  • Rainbow cookies
  • Sausage and peppers
  • Sfogliatella
  • Sicilian bread
  • Sicilian style pizza
  • Spaghetti and meatballs

Dishes invented or claimed to have been invented in New York

[[Egg cream
  • Baked Alaska
  • Beef Negimaki
  • Blackout cake
  • Chef salad
  • Chicken à la King
  • Chicken divan
  • Cronut
  • Delmonico steak
  • Egg cream
  • Eggs Benedict
  • General Tso's chicken
  • Ice cream cone
  • Lobster Newburg
  • Mallomars
  • Manhattan
  • Manhattan special—a type of carbonated espresso drink.
  • Pasta primavera
  • Penne alla vodka
  • Reuben sandwich
  • Sausage and peppers
  • Spaghetti and meatballs
  • Vichyssoise
  • Waldorf salad

Street food

Pizza truck in Midtown
[[The Halal Guys
  • Grilled chestnuts
  • Halal cart chicken/lamb over rice
  • Soft pretzels

Notable food and beverage companies

[[Clinton St. Baking Company & Restaurant
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  • A&P
  • AriZona Beverage Company
  • Balducci's
  • Bamonte's
  • Benihana
  • Blimpie
  • Boars Head Provision Company
  • C-Town Supermarkets
  • Caffe Reggio – first espresso bar to introduce cappuccino in America
  • Carnegie Deli
  • Carvel
  • Clinton St. Baking Company & Restaurant
  • Dean & DeLuca
  • Dr. Brown's – sodas
  • Drake's Cakes – cakes, pies, pastries
  • Domino Foods
  • Entenmann's – cakes, pies, pastries
  • Fairway Market
  • Ferrara Bakery and Cafe – first Italian cafe in America
  • Food Network – cable-TV channel
  • Fox's U-bet
  • Fraunces Tavern – George Washington said goodbye to his troops here. Some departments of his new federal government were originally located here.
  • Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery & Grill
  • Gray's Papaya – hot dog institution where there is always a "recession special"
  • Grimaldi's Pizzeria
  • Häagen-Dazs
  • The Halal Guys
  • Hebrew National
  • Junior's – "The World's Most Fabulous Cheesecake"
  • Katz's Deli
  • Kesté
  • Key Food – supermarket
  • L&B Spumoni Gardens
  • Lindy's
  • Lombardi's – first pizzeria in America
  • Nathan's
  • Now and Later – candy
  • Papaya King
  • PepsiCo, Inc.
  • Peter Luger Steak House
  • Ray's Pizza – a fierce debate over which was the original
  • Russian Tea Room
  • Second Avenue Deli
  • Serendipity 3
  • Sbarro
  • Shake Shack
  • Snapple
  • Stella D'oro – biscuits, cookies
  • T.G.I. Friday's – originally a NYC bar
  • Totonno's – first pizzeria in Brooklyn
  • Vitamin Water
  • Western Beef - supermarket
  • Yoo-hoo – chocolate drink
  • Zabar's

References

References

  1. (1985). "The roving palate: North America's ethnic restaurant cuisines". Geoforum.
  2. Gergely Baics, ''Feeding Gotham: The Political Economy and Geography of Food in New York, 1790–1860'' (Princeton UP, 2016)
  3. (11 May 2024). "The History Of New York's Iconic Bacon, Egg, And Cheese Breakfast Sandwiches".
  4. Bolois, Justin. (2016-01-19). "The Cult of the Chopped-Cheese Sandwich, New York's Most Enigmatic Icon". [[First We Feast]].
  5. (1 November 2017). "How Street Meat Conquered New York". New York Media.
  6. (2008-11-25). "Let's Go New York City". Let's Go.
  7. Silverstein, Andrew. (2021-04-07). "Once the staple of New York politics, whatever became of the knish?". [[Forward (magazine).
  8. Tuchman, Gary. (October 1993). "New York Jews and Chinese Food: The social construction of an ethnic pattern". Journal of Contemporary Ethnography.
  9. Gilbert, Jonathan. (2010). "Michelin Green Guide New York City". Michelin España.
  10. Levinson, Nancy. (2009-12-18). "Bodega Down Bronx". Places Journal.
  11. (2023-10-06). "The small shops that run NYC".
  12. Kodé, Anna. (17 November 2025). "Why the New York Bodega Is Here to Stay".
  13. Rosenberg, Eli. (2016-11-07). "The Chopped Cheese's Sharp Rise to Fame (Published 2016)". New York Times.
  14. Sietsema, Robert. (2025-07-07). "Analyzing the NYC Bodega Menu".
  15. Wells, Pete. (2015-04-13). "Don't Mess With My Bacon, Egg and Cheese (Published 2015)". New York Times.
  16. Sietsema, Robert. (2025-07-07). "Analyzing the NYC Bodega Menu".
  17. (2015-04-13). "Don't Mess With My Bacon, Egg and Cheese (Published 2015)".
  18. Chiu, Lisa. "Cuban-Chinese Cuisine Is a Specific Take on Chino-Latino Food Fusion".
  19. (Spring 2008). "Chino Latino Restaurants: Converging Communities, Identities, and Cultures". Afro-Hispanic Review.
  20. Gonzalez, Clara. (2004-12-28). "Chicharrón de Pollo: Recipe + Video for the Crispiest Chicken Bites".
  21. Druckman, Bella. (July 21, 2021). "Delmonico's Invented Baked Alaska More Than a Century Ago".
  22. Editorial (5 March 1915). Chicken a la King Inventor Dies. New York Tribune, pg. 9, col. 5
  23. O’Connor, Brendan. (May 8, 2015). "The Mysterious Persistence of the Cronut".
  24. Phelps, Nathan. (September 10, 2020). "Delmonico Steak - History, Preparation, & How to Cook".
  25. Fox, Joy. (June 16, 2011). "History of the Egg Cream Soda".
  26. Barron, James. (December 8, 2005). "The Cookie That Comes Out in the Cold". New York Times.
  27. Diat, Louis. (1961). "Gourmet's Basic French Cookbook: Techniques of French Cuisine". Gourmet Books, Inc.
  28. Hills, Samantha Weiss. (June 25, 2015). "History of Waldorf Salad New York".
  29. Knafo, Saki. (July 29, 2007). "Decline of the Dog". New York Times.
  30. "Serendipity 3".
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