10 Foods You MUST EAT in New York City! Top 10 Local Restaurant Recommendations

Hey guys, welcome to my house. This is typically what I do on a random cold flat of fire I'm running out of marshmallows. I've been roasting beef jerky Hey Don't knock it till you try it. Roasted beef jerky? Awesome. Anyway, I get a lot of questions every single day ranging from what's my favorite country to travel to? Japan. To how do I keep fit when I'm stuffing my face every single day? Because I'm Asian and we're basically immune to rice and noodles and bubble tea But the question I get asked the most is what are my most Recommended places to eat in New York City. I think this is a question that's sent to my inbox about probably Three to four times a day So I figure I finally make a video about this and eventually in Eatbook because these things change all the time too on the top Ten places I think you need to eat at when you are visiting New York City And by the way, these are not in any particular order. And again, this is just my personal preference my favorite places I'm sure everyone's got an opinion on this But this is just my favorite and what I would recommend to my friends when they visit New York City So let's get started. Number one when you're in New York, you gotta eat pizza. Guys, New York City. It's a tough place It's not the cleanest of cities But I tell you the pizza Alone makes this all seem worth it and people often ask me to compare New York City pizzas with pizza from Italy and I'll tell You this right now apples and oranges really not the same thing New York pizzas are as unique as the city itself. The flavors are aggressive The sauces are plenty and they're just a perfect size Massive and my favorite go-to pizza place. Well, it's a tie between two pizza institutions Ruby Rosa's for their thin vodka pizza and Prince Street for their thick pepperoni squares now Ruby Rosa's thin vodka pizza might just be the thinnest pizza I've ever had a little bit thinner and you might just have to call it a cracker It's topped with generous helpings of vodka sauce is one of the lightest most melt-in-your-mouth pizzas you will ever put in your mouth and the way that the pizza sauce soaks into the dough and melts on your tongue will be so Intoxicating you'll want to order a large and eat it by yourself And actually you should do that because really this is the piece that you don't want to share now after that heavenly pie You might be thinking. Okay, it's time for dessert wrong. It's actually time for another pizza Yep Just a couple blocks away is Prince Street pizza where there's square slices are the exact Opposites of the thin pies at Ruby Rosa here. The pies are thick They're loaded with sauce and cheese and tons of crispy spicy Pepperoni all curled up from the heat with little pools of spicy oil trapped in every single one but don't let the thickness of the pizza for you that don't absolutely dissolves as soon as you sink your teeth into it and you will immediately be transported to a place in New York where I don't know. Everything is beautiful and full of happiness It's like Central Park in the spring with a cherry blossom bloom or wherever your happy place Maybe the soft melty dough is accented by the tiny sweet tomato sauce Gooey cheese and then just a slight crunch from the pepperoni will sink your taste buds into a spicy Porky whirlpool of delights and there's a love-hate relationship because you're gonna love this so much and also at the same time hate Every other pizza you ever had in your life Well except for the one you just ate earlier because none of them could ever Compare to what you just put into your mouth dominoes more like dominoes pizza Might as well be pizza hack. Oh, by the way, if they're not busy ask for extra crispy. Yeah, you'll thank me next Let's talk about the other food pillar of New York bagels My favorite place for bagels is the Brooklyn bagel and coffee company a place I've been going to ever since I've moved to New York City because they were located right beside my work and oh my god Every single morning two bagel with cream cheese were two bagel sandwiches You know how I'm friends like Joey has the Joey special two pizzas I had the Mike special two bagels and those of you who are not from New York. You don't know this but New York City bagels, they are Ginormous and when you ask for cream cheese in the middle of that bagel You can literally use that cream cheese to fill three other bagels That's how seriously we take bagels and cream cheese here in the city. Anyway, Brooklyn bagel company is not actually located in Brooklyn They're all over Manhattan and they make their bagels fresh every single day water Boiled bagels and the great thing is that they will happily toast it for you and trust me That's a big deal here in the city because a lot of places when you ask for your bagel toasted Yeah, you might get your bagel thrown at you So when you get there order one or multiple of the following everything bagel with the Avalon cream cheese If you're into something a little bit spicy everything bagel with baby Dill if you want to actually know what falling in love tastes like order that that's my favorite or get everything bagel with tuna salad For something substantial and those of you who want a little something sweet cinnamon bagel with blueberry cream cheese Like I said, you can't just order one like just get it get all four But there's one thing you've got to make sure you do eat the bagels as soon as you get them Don't try to take it back to your hotel or walk it even more than four or five Walks because the bagels will go stale and so well your love for all that's good in the world Yeah, it's that serious now on to flushing Which is where I always say you need to travel to for the best Chinese food in the city when in flushing The first place you should always visit is kung fu soup dumplings. It's gonna be called kung fu Xiaolongbao This is a place I've been going to for over 15 years And they have what I believe is the best soup dumplings outside of China when you're eating these soup dumplings as much as you want To don't compliment it. Don't do not seriously because these dumplings their skin is just too thin. They can't handle it Yeah, sorry little dumpling human. Hopefully it wasn't too dumpy Anyway, really the skin on these dumplings are remarkably thin so be gentle with them because they are holding in a ton of Deliciously porky soup and the soup again is porky but not overly fatty So be like a dumpling vampire and just suck all that great soup out add in some hot oil Chinese vinegar a couple slices of ginger and just drop that dumpling into your mouth so you can experience that intense Flavor bomb that only Great soup dumplings can deliver and while you're there also make sure to order the spicy wontons chicken soup Yes, get the chicken soup and finish off with some chocolate soup dumplings You're welcome for that and after you're done with your soup dumpling meal It's time for noodles. So head over to New World Mall now make your way to stall 28 I say that because their name they don't have an English name It's still number 28 and ask for liangpi and da pan you which literally translates to cold skin and big plate of beef These are two uniquely different noodle dishes. The liangpi is a cold noodle dish from my hometown of Xi'an It's cold wheat noodles sitting in Chinese vinegar hot oil and a bit of sesame sauce Always chase that with a pork bun that you can find on the other side of the food court You know what? I mean, you'll see some lady chopping really fast with with cleavers That's where you go for the pork bun. Take a bite of the pork bun Let that delicious gelatinous flavor cover your tongue then take a bite of the cold noodles And trust me there has not been a better couple in history unless you're counting like Romeo and Juliet and they died But this the flavor of this will forever live in food lore Also, make sure to dunk the bun into that great sauce from the liangpi After you're done eating that the da pan you the big plate of beef is my favorite noodles in New York And we'll make sure when you're ordering this ask for fatty beef or tendons So the meat is more tender and then ask for extra noodles on the side Which should only cost you an extra dollar drop some more Chinese vinegar and hot oil Onto that big plate that you will be getting and get ready to feast on some of the most tasty Biang biang noodles in the city. The noodles are thick. The noodles are wide and chewy and amazingly beefy And vinegary with all that sauce and spices clinging on to it for dear life and keep in mind This is actually a single noodle. So if it seems endless, well, it kind of is also do not sleep on those potatoes the mushy Spicy sour potatoes that's been soaking in that beefy sauce Anyway best liangpi best biang biang noodles in the city way better. I'm gonna knock a restaurant here Everyone goes to see our famous food. It's not good. I don't understand why people love it I'm from Xi'an telling you it's not that good go here for these two dishes. Trust me so much better Okay, another noodle place you must try something that just popped up not too long ago Joe's steamed noodle has become my go-to breakfast item whatever I'm in flushing and if you never had steamed noodle before there these paper thin rice noodles cooked with amazing ingredients like eggs or sprouts pork or shrimp or a Combination of such basically anything you like to eat can be added in there and after it's steamed add some hot oil Maybe some sesame sauce and you won't need coffee. Trust me. This thing is like a flavor alarm clock It's gonna start at the tip of your tongue and send a delicious sensation throughout your body You will be awake after eating this and finally you cannot leave flushing without having the best regular dumplings in New York City So head over to the food court underneath the Hong Kong supermarket and get an order of Tianjin dumplings and make sure you're ordering the pork and dill dumplings now dill is not an ingredient You see a ton in Chinese cooking, but the Chinese word for dill is Huixiang Which also sounds like the word that means fragrance that you will think about again And that's exactly how I would describe these dumplings Also, if these dumplings get any juicier you have to add the word soup in front of them next let's talk about burgers and this is kind of a hostile topic because Every single New Yorker has their own idea on where the best burger places in the city And I'll just put down a couple options here because because I'm torn as well First of all, if you love a unique burger like a super unique awesome tasting burger You've got to go to Mizna inside Chelsea market, which really I feel like that's the only place that's good inside that entire market That's not completely overpriced and horrible This burger is a middle yeast inspired burger stuffed inside a pizza full of veggies and sauce That will have you happily Happily licking your fingers and the burger is grilled with a crispy cheese skirt and there's cheese Folded inside the burger as well like an inverted cheeseburger one bite and you'll get a nice Charred cheesy crunch and a lot of peppers actually which it may not be your thing But it certainly is mine and the best is when you get down to the bottom part with that like pita is where it traps all that juice and Sauce and it has that what I can only describe as crack Creamy sauce where that's all sitting and soaking into the pita. So make sure to take a ginormous bite So you get some cheese some meat some veg and definitely a lot of that sauce I'm having trouble talking right now because I'm thinking about that burger and just Wow got a swallow a couple times Oh, actually the real best part on top of what's already the best part is that they give you a ginormous Roasted chili see I never really ever care for like the cherry on top of my sundae, you know that artificial tasting Like who wants that cherry? I don't want that sure. I want a giant chili pepper I don't care where it's sitting on top of it could be sitting on top of a sundae my root beer flowed my pizza my Whatever in here they give you one it tastes phenomenal with the burger now My only knock on that is when I had this burger They toasted the pita so the pita was hot and great, but I don't think they do that normally So that's one bad thing, but I'll still try the burger amazing Now if you want a more traditional burger at a really decent price head over to Boiler Maker and get a double cheeseburger Now this burger is just a hot giant mess What I really love in a good burger just a giant juicy burger with a Filipino pickled vegetable I just thinking about it makes me miss New York like wow. God. I love that burger. I mean, it's messy It's gooey. It's meaty. The veggies are crunchy It hurts having that in my memory actually hurts me All right, moving on to what I think is the best ramen in the city. I love total. I love each You are these are all really good selection, but my favorite ramen I feel like I've found over the last few years is and this will remain my favorite ramen place before July of this year. It's called Kame Ramen. I first found this place on a really cold rainy night I was having a bad night. It was rainy. It was cold even though I love rain. I was walking so I was wet I was freezing when I found this place. I walked in ordered a bowl of spicy ramen and Immediately I felt the kind of warm love Radiating through my body that only you know a great bowl of ramen and like a mom's hug Could give the broth was so rich It could have owned Dubai and at the same time spicy enough to just heat you up in all the right places And I say before July of this year because in July is when my own ramen place will be opening up in Queens So definitely follow me on Instagram Mike XINGCHEM for more information on that. But until then Kame Ramen this will remain my favorite ramen place in the city. Number nine. Let's talk about steak now There are a lot of great steakhouses all across the country But for something truly unique and delicious head over to Kings for a mutton chop. Now when you hear mutton chop I know some of you may be a little turned off, but trust me on this if you love a great juicy steak This is it. This is so unique. First of all, it's massive. It's a massive cut of mutton perfectly cooked No gaminess whatsoever Incredibly juicy and with just a delicious side of lettuce. Yes I'm getting compliments to veggies at a steakhouse, but trust me This is some incredible veggie sitting next to this fantastic Chop of mutton and I just want to say Peter Luger extremely overrated so many better places I do have to say this mutton chop is my favorite kind of steak at Kings I don't actually like their regular steaks that much love this mutton chop Other than this if I want a traditional beefsteak Del Frisco is my place. Love it. Finally number 10. Let's talk dessert Sure there are a lot of options in the city for sweets and I go as far as to say New York City is the Best city for desserts and pastries in the country, but I'll tell you where I like to go for a truly great dessert experience what I mean by experience is a Six-course dessert tasting menu from one of the most posh restaurants in the country per se and I'm not usually into super high-end Three Michelin star dining or whatever. I'm not into that But this is really a uniquely delicious experience now per se is a three Michelin star restaurant that usually will require a reservation Way ahead of time, but you can actually just show up and request to sit in their parlor area Which has a stunning view of Columbus Circle in Central Park and there you can order the dessert tasting menu Which is a sweet culinary adventure the menu changes all the time But one staple is their homemade doughnuts and coffee, which is 100% Homer Simpson approved Also at the end of this thing, they bring you a box of chocolate house made chocolate and they'll say to you the words I love to hear at every single restaurant. Take as many as you want. And yes, I have uttered the words I will have them all also what you get to do is you do get to order any savory item? That's on the menu that day. So if you really want a romantic experience without a reservation This is the spot, but remember to dress nicely and guys you gotta wear a jacket. If not, don't give you one It's that nice if you want something less posh spot deserves one of my favorite places. Try the monkey bread amazing So there you go guys I know that's more than 10 places But honestly, there's so many great food spots in New York City and 10 is definitely not enough and just a quick note I didn't really include any good Viet places or Korean barbecue places because I really don't feel like New York City has any good Pho where they might be sort of good but super expensive and I don't feel like any Korean barbecue really hold a candle To LA and if some of you might be asking what's my favorite hot pot? Honestly at this point? They're all kind of same to me. I don't feel like one place really truly stands out above the rest Anyway, guys, hopefully you found this video helpful. These would be the top 10 or so places I would recommend a friend who's visiting the city at the same time though I feel like there's there's over 20 or 30 places I would highly highly highly recommend and it really depends on whether you're staying in Brooklyn what neighborhood you're in There's great food in every single neighborhood in New York City So it's not doing New York City food justice, but these are my top recommendations So let me know if you found this video helpful. And if you like this video, maybe I'll do a part two as always guys Thank you all so much for watching and I'm just gonna go back to my jerky roasting