Page 294 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - New York City

292  TR A VELERS ’ NEEDS

The Flavors of New York

Few cities can match the diversity of New York’s restaurants. Reflecting the
city’s melting pot of nationalities, foods range from the “hautest” of French
and continental cuisine to arguably the freshest sushi outside of
Tokyo. Caribbean, Mexican, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, Greek, Indian –
all are well represented, and every block seems to have an Italian
restaurant. The quality of the city’s top restaurants is unsurpassed,
and their chefs are superstars, as well known and revered as movie
idols. So many nationalities are represented in the city’s culinary
culture, however, that only a few foods are actually native to it. Dim sum

served with cream cheese and a flat, chewy flour­dusted
smoked salmon. The bagel, roll with a center indentation
once synonymous with New filed with toasted onions. The
York, has become a universal finest examples of each are
American food, but a true New to be found in the kosher
York bagel is nothing like the bakeries of the Lower East
bready imitations found in the Side (see pp86–95).
hinterlands. It is shaped by
hand, and the dough is The Greenmarket
cooked briefly in boiling water
before being baked, resulting You may find yourself
in a unique firm and chewy next to a well­known chef
texture. A relative, and another browsing at New York’s
New York specialty, is the bialy, greenmarkets, open­air
Fresh, local produce on display at Pastrami on rye Bagels with smoked
the Greenmarket Blintzes salmon and cream cheese
Dill pickles Pickled
Deli Dining herrings
A large Jewish population has
given rise to some of New
York’s best known specialties,
now enjoyed by all – over­
stuffed corned beef and
pastrami sandwiches, dill
pickles, matzo­ball soup,
herrings, blintzes, and bagels Selection of classic foods available at any New York deli

New York Specialties
While New York dining may span
all nations, a few special dishes
are closely associated with the
city. Manhattan Clam Chowder,
prepared with tomatoes rather than
cream, has been popular ever since it
was introduced at Coney Island beach
stands in the 1880s. In the city’s many
Pretzels
steakhouses, a prime selection is the “New York
strip steak,” a boneless sirloin cut from the short loin, the
tenderest portion of beef. Italian cuisine has often been given a New
York spin. Rich and creamy New York cheesecake is made with
cream cheese rather the Italian ricotta. And, since traditional wood­ Manhattan clam chowder This
burning ovens were impractical in New York, the first Italian is a rich blend of potatoes, onions,
immigrant chefs used coal ovens. Though these are rare today, tomatoes, oyster crackers,
purists still insist they are necessary for a true New York pizza. crumbs, and clams.

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