The Best Traditional Restaurants and Eateries in New York

Their signature dish, the colossal pastrami on rye, is often hailed as one of the city’s best.For over a century, this iconic restaurant has been serving up New York City’s quintessential Jewish comfort food. Their signature dish, the colossal pastrami on rye, is often hailed as one of the city’s best. Tourist trap or not, this is a pretty damn good sandwich. Other items on the menu include the corned beef sandwich, a rich matzo ball soup, and crunchy pickles.

My Favorite Pastrami SandwichI love Pastrami Queen and it is not a touristy place. Hard core pastrami lovers will agree that it is excellent. They are located uptown.

One of the best dim sum places anywhere. Fresh, classic dishes but with a few surprise dishes

The freshest and best bagels in New York from a century old institution.The original Russ & Daughters is on the Lower East Side but their bakery is situated in the Brooklyn Navy Yard where you actually watch your bagels made. They come out, fresh as day, perfectly small with a shiny crust and chewy interior. Paired with silken slices of lox, cream cheese, capers, tomatoes and onion, it's the closest thing to heaven on Earth.

A Brooklyn institution for good reason with tremendous Sicilian pies.When it's the summer and you're fresh from a dip in Coney Island, when it's the winter and you need comfort, the pies at L&B are unbeatable. We're a pizza city but I haven't found anything that beats the pillowy dough, the sweet tomato sauce and the mozz of a classic Sicilian square at L&B. (During the summer, the move is to sit outside with your pizza then order the Italian ice. During the colder months, the newly remodeled dining room is plenty welcoming.)

Bellucci is making consistently excellent thin, crisp, and flavorful slices in this tiny shop.World-class slice pizza somewhere between New York–style and “New York–Neapolitan” (aka coal-oven pizza) made by pizza obsessive Andrew Bellucci, the pizza maker who helped resurrect NYC icon Lombardi’s in the 1990s. Bellucci is making consistently excellent thin, crisp, and flavorful slices in this tiny shop off the beaten path in Queens.

It feels like you are obligated to have at least one bagel when you visit New York. We did an extensive research until deciding this was going to be the place to try a bagel in NYC. We can't tell if it's the best in the city, but one thing is sure, that bagel was super good and we will have it again on our next visit!

JG Melon on Upper East Side is great for very drunk midnight burgers. It’s been around since 1972 serving burgers, chili, sandwiches, fries and cocktails. Payment by cash only. When you’re drunk this is the best burger place!

My neighborhood hot dog shop, also one of the city's bestPut a hot dog anywhere near me and I'll try it. Despite living equidistant between Dog Day Afternoon and the stalwart Nathan's in Coney Island, I return again and again to DDA. The hot dogs are classic, with the perfect snap and served Chicago style (pickles, celery salt, yellow mustard, raw onions, bright green relish) on a poppy seed bun. They also make a tremendous Chicago style beef sandwich.