My New York in a Weekend

I’m a native New Yorker. I root for my Twins and Wolves, but I wear Knicks and Yankees T-shirts to bed. While I now consider myself a Minnesotan, in my heart of hearts I will always be a fifteen-year-old prowling the city streets, eating my way across the metropolis that gave me my food life. New York is the greatest eating city in the world, so it’s difficult to name the place to go to—it all depends on what you’re looking for. If you want a good guide to eating NYC, first decide what you want—Korean, Italian, bagels and lox, dessert—then check out my suggestions. Obviously, not every type of food is covered and not every “best restaurant” is mentioned. What you’ll see: great, solid, and innovative restaurants that offer something others in the city don’t. What you won’t see: Craft, Nobu, Mr. Chow—I eat there, but most people know about those already. So here it goes—where I eat when I’m “home” for the weekend.

Bagels: H & H
The best bagels in town—I like to go next door to Zabars with my bag of bagels and buy some salmon caviar, smoked salmon, pickled lox in sour cream, and whitefish salad, then walk along Broadway eating it all as I go. 212-799-6765

Bakery: Magnolia Bakery
There is no more charming place to shop than this venerable bakery. Magnolia offers the best cupcakes in New York, but the pies, icebox cakes, cookies, and tarts are also stellar. Plus, the goodies make for great treats while walking through the West Village. 212-462-2572

Bialys: Kossar’s Bialys
If you haven’t had a bagel without a hole, you owe it to yourself to check out a bialys at this East Village institution. Thinner than a normal bagel and loaded with baked onion, these little beauties will change your life. Around the corner is Russ & Daughters (212-475-4880), where I head after grabbing some bialys to pick up all the pickled and smoked fish I can carry. 877-424-2597

Breakfast: Barney Greengrass
The best breakfast joint—and the best blintzes and smoked fish—in New York City. The orange juice is fresh, the coffee is strong, and if you are lucky, you’ll have the chance to lean over and ask Jerry Seinfeld to keep it down—he’s always there. 212-724-4707

Burgers: JG Melon
This Upper East Side spot makes the best burger in the country, I kid you not. I have mine crusty and rare with a small spinach salad and a bowl of their killer pomme frites—heaven. 212-744-0585

Casual Food: The Red Cat
Ah, Jimmy Bradley’s Chelsea hot spot. The food is simple, the setting is chic, and I have never had a bad dish. Last time I was there, I ate the signature zucchini with lemon, pecorino, and almonds, a tomato salad, and a piece of grilled bass—easy choices, stellar food, local legend. 212-242-1122

Cheese: Joe’s Dairy
A must for mozzarella freaks. This Sullivan Street shop has arguably the best mozzarella in New York, and it also makes awesome sandwiches. The store is small, so keep your eyes peeled for the long, fast-moving line that winds around the building. 212-677-8780

Chocolate: Jaques Torres
If you only have one stop to make for cacao treats, this is your best bet. Kids love this place for the factory/candy store/café vibe that allows them to play while you browse. Plus, the chocolate is second to none. 718-875-9772

Dim Sum: Dim Sum Go Go
Manhattan’s bustling Chinatown has some of the best dim sum in NYC. The seafood dumplings are exquisite and the small plates of steamed buns, the pork ribs in black bean sauce, the juicy Taiwanese–style dumpling soup, and the traditional shu mai are musts. I dream most about the dumplings filled with hacked roasted crispy duck. 212-732-0797

Don’t Misscellaneous: Momofuku 
It was the bowls of ramen and great energy that got me in the door, but the razor clams, pig tails, and amazing Asian street food, put through the prism of local farm fresh cooking, keeps me coming back. Don’t miss this place. 212-475-7899

Experimental: wd-50
Wylie Dufresne’s food is so innovative, yet makes so much sense, it rivals Chicago’s Alinea for menu content. Recent tastings have featured corned duck meat served on rye crisps with purple mustard and horseradish cream. Words can’t describe the appeal of Dufresne’s unique combinations and brilliant constructions. Pot roast in a jellybean, anyone? 212-477-2900

French: Ouest
Tom Valenti is one of New York’s most popular chefs, and I’ve been eating his food for twenty years. He’s owned Ouest for a while now and it’s a stalwart of country French cooking on the Upper West Side. You have to love the house-smoked sturgeon with frisée, lardons, and poached egg; the spinach and sausage stuffed quail with lentils and cabbage; and the braised beef short ribs with sweet-and-sour baby beets and horseradish spaetzle. 212-580-8700

Seafood: Le Bernardin
For my money Eric Ripert may be the most technically flawless chef in the city, and Le Bernardin, the restaurant that he runs with owner Maguy Le Coze, is often touted as the city’s best. Warm sea urchin ravioli with osetra caviar and sea urchin emulsion, seared striped bass with tomato water, white tuna paired with Kobe beef napped with a lemon and brown butter emulsion—need I go on? Be prepared to spend, and sit, but it’s worth it. 212-554-1107

Italian: Da Silvano
The one-two-three punch of a great antipasti bar, killer roasted artichokes, and awesome people-watching make it a regular NYC stop. 212-982-2343Japanese: Megu
It’s best when someone else is buying, but I love Megu anyway. The famously fresh edamame and attention to detail is without peer. Plus, the fish—much of which comes directly from Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo—is superb. A fluke usuzukuri sashimi plate with red maple radish vinegar and a needlefish tartare was hands down the best of its kind I’ve tried. 212-964-7777

Korean: Woo Lae Oak Soho
You sit in front of the grill at this Mercer Street favorite, where the bul go gi (rib eye) and kalbi (short ribs) are fantastic, and the cold noodles with pickled cucumber and jap chae are without peer. Plus you get the celebrity gawk factor—the joint is a regular spot for all the A-list celebrities who aren’t at Nobu. 212-925-8200

Late-Night Eats: Kum Gang San
Want to eat great Korean food at 3 a.m.? Hit Kum Gang San, the best of the best in Little Korea, where the restaurants operate on Seoul time, catering to the Korean financial services workers who flood the place in the middle of the night for lunch. 212-967-0909

Malaysian: Fatty Crab
This wonderful chef-driven restaurant in the Meatpacking District riffs on Malaysian street foods—go for anything that involves fried seafood or pork belly. Plus it’s open late, providing a fun hangout for local chefs. 212-352-3590

Modern: Chanterelle
David Waltuck’s restaurant has been a favorite of mine for years. He’s an unsung hero of modern cuisine, and his spare and sleek room is one of the most amiable in NYC. Check out the grilled leeks with poached egg and caviar, the bacon-wrapped oysters served with cannelloni, or the sweetbreads with sherry vinegar and fresh chanterelles. 212-966-6960

New Classic: Cru
Cru on lower Fifth Avenue is one of the best new classic eateries in town. Shea Gallante is a genius, the wine list is top-notch, and I love the Berkshire pork dishes, such as the braised Berkshire pork belly with Meaux mustard and muscat grapes. The housemade foie terrine with Bing cherry salad and cured pancetta is awesome, and chicken freaks will love the poularde poached in buttermilk served with spaetzle and Madeira sauce. 212-529-1700

Pop-Culture References:
The Spotted Pig and  Carnegie Deli
April Bloomfield’s The Spotted Pig—referenced in last season’s finale of The Office—is a great hangout for local chefs and West Village habitués who crowd in for her rabbit pot roast, calf liver, pork rilletes, and other snout to tail classics. And for a deli, I like the Carnegie (of “Hanukkah Song” fame), the best for sandwiches. I go for a half brisket, half pastrami on rye—but they haven’t named it after me yet! 212-620-0393

Salumeria: Salumeria Bielesse
I always eat some type of meal at the restaurant in the back of the grocery store. The paté, salumi, French charcuterie, classic hero sandwiches, and sausages are some of the best you’ll find anywhere. Dine in or take out, either way works—but I like to get a wedge of terrine, some great bread, and a sandwich (prosciutto and tomato-mozzarella for warm weather, hot sausage in the winter) and then hit the road. 212-736-7376

Take Home: Todaro Brothers
This ninety-year-old Murray Hill grocery shop offers the best prepared Italian foods to-go in Manhattan. I always stock up on cheeses, olive oil, and other Italian specialty foods—and they’ll ship what you don’t want to carry. 877-472-2767Japanese: Jewel Bako
This is one of my favorite restaurants, and Jack Lamb is a passionate evangelist of great Japanese cuisine. After tasting the lobster sashimi, the raw octopus with yuzu, and a tuna plate that features seven different cuts from the same fish, you’ll know you are in the right place. The room—essentially a little wooden tube—is stylish and groovy, but I prefer the sushi bar. Don’t skip the lobster miso soup that is made with the lobster frame from your sashimi. 212-979-1012

Chinese: Congee Bowery House and Fuleen Seafood
I find myself going back again and again to the Congee Bowery House and Fuleen Seafood. At the CBH, I scarf down platters of spicy shredded pork with garlic sauce, jellyfish salad, and sautéed pea chutes with ginger and scallions. The geoduck clam dish is so clean and fresh it is worth the stop just for that plate. At Fuleen, the scallops with black bean sauce on steamed pillows of house-made tofu are without peer, and the steamed shrimp—plucked from the seafood tanks and whisked into the kitchen to order— are an incredible treat. BCH, 212-766-2828; Fuleen, 212-941-6888

The Serious Foodie: Artisanal and Picholine
Artisanal is one of my go-to bistros in town. It has a cheese café and its own affineur. But Terrance Brennan’s first restaurant—Picholine—is still one of the best in the city. Picholine offers everything from wild Scottish game to polenta with tuna, bacon, and truffled toast, as well as a mind-blowing olive oil–poached halibut. The room is gorgeous, service is top-notch, and Brennan is almost always there. Artisanal, 212-724-8585; Picholine, 212-724-8585

Indian: Dévi
This Indian restaurant recently received a makeover and change in ownership. Chefs-turned-owners Suvir Saran and Hemant Mathur are taking over day-to-day operations, assuring that Devi will continue its posh, modern take on regional Indian foods. Word is Methur will take on the kitchen, while Saran “searches the world” for new flavors. 212-691-1300

Italian: Babbo
Babbo is my favorite Italian restaurant in town—from the first taste of the mashed chicken livers to the last morsel of short-rib ravioli—Babbo and Mario Batali have not missed a beat in ten years. 212-777-0303

Midtown Lunch: Grand Central Oyster Bar
I love Grand Central Oyster Bar for lunches in Midtown. The restaurant knows what it is doing, it’s been around for almost a century. Its killer pan roasts and stews are made with choice shellfish ingredients. And lets not forget the atmosphere, as the restaurant sits in the heart of Grand Central Terminal. 212-490-6680

Andrew Zimmern is a Mpls.St.Paul Magazine contributing writer.