BESTOFNEWYORKCITY.COM • WINNERS GUIDE • BETHPAGE BEST OF THE CITY 2020 37
RESTAURANTS
BEST CHINESE
RESTAURANT
WO HOP
17 Mott St
(212) 962-8617–www.wohopchinese.com
It’s a place where everyone has dined from
locals to tourists, late night party goers and
students, calling it their preferred Chinese
spot to have boneless spare ribs, veggie-fi lled
General Tso Chicken accompanied with a
House special fried rice for two. The service
has always been on point and quick at Wo
Hop and the food is always good. Everything
is made fresh to order, including the quality of
the meat that reviewers say is incomparable.
If there’s a line outside, be prepared to
order takeout if their two-fl oor dining area
is overfl owing with customers. It’s a unique
experience that will have you feeling as if
you’re eating in someone’s private dining
room.
BEST COFFEE SHOP
STUMPTOWN COFFEE ROASTERS
30 W 8th St
(347) 414-7802–www.stumptowncoffee.com
With the number of coff ee shops in New York
City, fi guring out which one is best is no easy
task. Thankfully, you probably won’t have to
go very far to fi nd yourself a cup of this year’s
best bean juice, because Stumptown Coff ee
can be found bottled at your local bodega or
grocery, on tap and brewing up in cafes and
coff ee shops, and even at your grocery store
in the form of whole or ground beans! That’s
right, along with a few brick and mortar coff ee
shops in Brooklyn and Manhattan, Stumptown
Coff ee Roasters is shipping their coff ee to
distributors and even straight to consumers
online!
BEST COFFEE SHOP FOR
GETTING WORK DONE
STUMPTOWN COFFEE ROASTERS
18 W 29th St
(855) 711-3385–www.stumptowncoffee.com
For Coff ee lovers out there, Stumptown
Coff ee Roasters serves some of the best coff ee,
espresso and cold brew in the world. Located
in the lobby at The Ace Hotel, it’s the best spot
to get comfy and enjoy a nice hot cup of coff ee
while doing work on your laptop. The folks at
Stumptown cultivate good vibes in their living
room cafes, and are committed to sourcing,
roasting and brewing fresh coff ee of the
highest quality. In addition to a full espresso
bar, drip coff ee, brew-by-the-cup off erings
and cold brew, customers can enjoy beverages
from Big Easy Bucha and Spirit Tea as well
as pastries and sandwiches from Ovenly and
Supermoon Bakehouse.
BEST CUSTOMER
SERVICE
DANIEL
60 E 65th St
(212) 288-0033–www.danielnyc.com
DANIEL restaurant located in the former
Mayfair Hotel on Park Avenue is well-known
for its rich French culinary history. Executive
Chef Jean-François Bruel, Chef de Cuisine
Eddy LeRoux and Executive Pastry Chef
Ghaya Oliveira work tirelessly to present
a modern, seasonal menu inspired by the
fi nest meats, wild game, seafood, fruits,
vegetables and foraged fl avors from around
the world. Their out-of-this-world menu is
worth experiencing due to the impeccable
hospitality DANIEL’s provides for diners. The
restaurant’s eff ect is transportive, a seamless
service overseen by General Manager Karim
Guedouar and orchestrated by more than their
150 staff members behind-the-scenes.
BEST DELICATESSEN/
JEWISH DELI
KATZ’S DELICATESSEN
205 E Houston St
(212) 254-2246–www.katzsdelicatessen.com
Katz’s Delicatessen is known for its worldfamous
pastrami sandwiches, piled high with
mountains of meat, soft, pillow knishes and
delicious all-beef hot dogs. Since 1888, Katz’s
has been serving hungry customers in the
Lower East Side and beyond. The Iceland
brothers established the shop over 130 years
ago and later partnered with Willy Katz in
1903. They changed the offi cial store name to
Iceland & Katz before Willy’s cousin Benny
joined the company in 1910. The cousins
bought out the business and Katz’s was born.
Week after week, thousands fl ock to Katz’s to
get a taste of their legendary food including
sandwiches, platters and a wide selection of
meat. The restaurant built its reputation on
choosing only the best-quality beef for their
beef, pastrami, brisket and other dishes.
BEST DINER
BIG DADDY’S
239 Park Ave S
(212) 477-1500–www.bigdaddysnyc.com
Big Daddy’s brought the classic diner vibes
to the hustle and bustle of New York City.
This 80’s themed diner will have you craving
classic diner fare at all hours of the night.
They’re open until midnight on weekdays, 2
a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 11 p.m.
on Sundays, so they will surely satisfy your
nighttime diner food craving. Their delicious
menu puts a modern spin of classic diner eats.
Food highlights include a stepped-up tater
tot menu, loaded breakfast sandwiches and
incredible burgers. Be sure to stop by between
3 and 5 p.m. on weekdays for their milkshake
happy hour!
BEST EUROPEAN
RESTAURANT
27 MORTON
27 1/2 Morton St
(212) 929-4339–www.27morton.com
27 Morton’s menu of Eastern and Central
European comfort food dishes will have you
feeling as though you’ve been dropped into
another continent. The full menu at 27 Morton
has tons of delicious options–including
perogies, schnitzel, pork knuckle and more–in
fact, you’ll be so allured by their off erings
that you’ll have to come back to try the rest of
their menu! Finish off your menu with a slice
of their delicious apple strudel topped with
a scoop of ice cream and whipped cream, or
take a bite out of their many other delectable
dessert options, including palatschinken, a
delicious Romanian-style thin pancake served
with lingonberries and sour cream.
BEST FAMILY STYLE
RESTAURANT
CARMINE’S ITALIAN RESTAURANT
200 W 44th St
(212) 221-3800–www.carminesnyc.com
Carmine’s Italian Restaurant has been
bringing the “wow factor” to their customers
since they fi rst opened their fi rst location in
1990. When you step into Carmine’s, you feel
as though you’ve stepped into your Italian
grandmother’s home (even if you don’t have
an Italian grandmother), and she’s been
cooking up a storm all day. Carmine’s has a
variety of shareable dishes to enjoy, including
appetizers, meat and fi sh, plus a huge list of
pasta that will have you going back for seconds
(and maybe thirds!). If you have allergies,
don’t worry–the team at Carmine’s is very
accommodating and will do their best to meet
your specifi c needs. Be sure to try one of their
homemade desserts to round out your meal.
BEST FRENCH
RESTAURANT
LA BONNE SOUPE
48 W 55th St
(212) 586-7650–www.labonnesoupe.com
Despite its name, La Bonne Soupe is much
more than just a soup restaurant. The bistro,
cafe and restaurant off ers an extensive menu
of French favorites including appetizers,
entrees and wines and cocktails. The
restaurant’s name also translates to “the good
life”, which came from an avant-garde 1950s
comedy that ran in Paris. Owner Jean-Paul
Picot opened the restaurant in 1973 on 55th
Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
Starters include traditional French favorites
like salmon tartare, Escargot de Bourgogne
and beet and goat cheese salad. Order entrees
like steak pommes frites (steak served with
french fries), les moules dijonnaise (mussels in
a dijon mustard sauce) and poulet rôti (ovenbaked
chicken breast). Specialties include a
tasty quiche Lorraine made with ham and the
restaurant’s world-famous French onion soup
topped with melted Gruyere cheese.
BEST FUSION
PIG AND KHAO
68 Clinton St
(212) 920-4485–www.pigandkhao.com
Street food has become a major trend
in the dining world both for foodies and
traditionalists alike. And there is no larger,
more diverse, or more delicious street food
scene in the world than in Southeast Asia. At
Pig and Khao, owner and chef Leah Cohen
fuses her Philippino upbringing with western
techniques to off er up a fantastically delectable
array of fusion foods, like her Thai-Lote, which
riff s on the traditional Mexican street dish
elote, a corn on the cob smothered with cheese
and Mexican Crema with Thai ingredients like
sambal and kaffi r!
BEST GERMAN
RESTAURANT
27 MORTON
27 1/2 Morton St
(212) 929-4339–www.27morton.com
Looking for delicious German fare? Look
no further than 27 Morton. Their extensive
European menu off ers a variety of German
favorites, including Schnitzel made with pork
loin, lingonberries, green cabbage stuff ed with
beef and pork, spaetzle and so much more,
which will make you feel as though you’ve
been picked up and dropped into Eastern
Europe. In fact, you’ll be so allured by their
off erings that you’ll have to come back to try
the rest of their menu! Finish off your menu
with a slice of their delicious apple strudel
topped with a scoop of ice cream and whipped
cream.
BEST GLUTEN-FREE
SENZA GLUTEN
206 Sullivan St
(212) 475-7775–www.senzaglutennyc.com
Even in New York City with its innumerable
restaurants and grocery stores, for those
trying to maintain a gluten-free diet, it can
sometimes be a challenge fi nding a variety of
high quality options. Senza Gluten is here to
save the day! Not only do they have a glutenfree
bakery, but they also have a gluten-free
Italian restaurant! That’s right, the two areas
of dining that pose the most diffi culty for
gluten-free diners! Once you get a taste of
what they have to off er, you may never want
to leave.
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