10 of the “Best” Places to Eat and Drink in NYC

Aka, our farewell tour itinerary 🥲

Hi friends,

Ahead of my west coast move, Rach and I thought it could be cute to do a little weekly-ish mini series highlighting some of my favorite NYC places to shop, eat, get coffee etc. I was initially nervous (let’s be real, when am I not…) about being “the girl who cried move” or seeming like I’m milking this situation for content but Rach kindly reminded me that NYC has been a big part of OT’s DNA! I’ll, of course, still write about New York stuff following our visits back, but it won’t be as frequent. So, we wanted to give the bi-coastal chapter of OT a proper sendoff!

As far as favorites go, you know I had to start with restaurants. We’ve eaten at over 800 since moving here… I know, it’s a wild number. But the concentration of restaurants in New York is so dense that it’s easy to experience a bunch of things quickly. And yet, there’s still soooo many places I want to go! I can almost always be convinced to try a new restaurant but before we leave — I just want to play the hits. Run it back to our own personal “best of” list, our most-visited spots.

I’m hesitant to make blanket statements about anything being the BEST in New York. Even if, in some cases, I think it is. 🙃 What to do, eat and drink here is so subjective! But, I also feel a weird, personal responsibility to make sure no one has a bad meal in NYC. So, if nothing else, I hope the below list can serve as a guide if you’re visiting and in a pinch. And if you ever want catered-to-you NY recs, you know where to find me.

Please enjoy! I’m nostalgic already!!

— Cait

1. Estela

Estela was the first NYC restaurant Mike and I ate at wayyyy back in 2016. For that reason (and many others) it will always be special to me. The menu is elevated without being pretentious and the team is SO nice. Sit at the bar, order the scallops, ricotta dumplings and the frilly cheese for dessert and thank me later!

2. Barney Greengrass

I’ve been not-so-gently encouraged by the servers at Barney Greengrass to order the latkes whenever we go, which is often. They’re right to do so because they’re perfect, every time. As are the blintzes and the egg salad sandwich (on rye), served with a celery soda. Trust me on this one! It’s old New York at its finest.

3. Rosella

If you’re celebrating something in Manhattan, do it at Rosella. They serve wines and source fish exclusively from North America, which was always very cool to me. It’s also the restaurant with the warmest hospitality in NYC, hands down. We always leave full, happy and a liiiitle tipsy from the generous taster pours of (usually Oregon) wine. One time, we liked the xo sauce noodles so much they packaged up the leftover sauce for us to take home to put on eggs in the morning 🥹 Angels!!

4. Fradei

I feel about Fradei as I did about Saint Julivert in our last send, in that I want to keep it to myself because it’s so unspoiled by internet-fame (does this make me sound like a grumpy boomer??) but I also want them to stay in business forever. I think it’s the closest thing to a Parisian restaurant experience in NYC. The food is elegant, the team is a bunch of French men who are not super nice (in a charming way?) and the ambiance is no-frills, so it’s a pleasing juxtaposition. Take a lap through Ft Greene park and grab a glass of bubbles at Rhodora before your reservation if you want to cosplay as me circa 2020-2024!

5. Four Horseman/L’Industrie

Four Horseman is one-of-a-kind, in every sense. The space is architectural but cozy, the food is sublime and the wine list is next-level. Rach and I went together during one of her NYC visits and got the limited-edition ham sandwich, seen below! Go early, put your name in for lunch kill time by grabbing a slice and a swirled olive oil + melon soft serve cup at L’Industrie, my favorite slice shop in the city. A lengthy wait is all but guaranteed, so this is a two-stop plan.

6. Roman’s

While living in the neighborhood, we’d walk by Roman’s daily, eat there monthly and throw it on the agenda for almost all visitors — for good reason! It’s the platonic ideal neighborhood restaurant. An approachable Italian-leaning menu, daily sour/bitter cocktail specials, the best fava bean dip and dark chocolate sorbet money can buy! Sometimes you’ll even be seated next to Maggie Gyllenhaal (allegedly a regular) and whichever Skarsgard she’s married to!

7. Thai Diner

Thai Diner is one of those restaurants that feels like it couldn’t exist in the same way anywhere but New York. The breakfast sandwich served on a scallop pancake is insaneeee (complimentary), the disco fries are fun, the loaded sundae or guava checkerboard cake are both incredible, and the beer slush is very “the thing in the place.” After lunch there, you’ll always find me across the alley at Iconic, the best place for browsing/buying magazines.

8. Hart’s

Hart’s is both Mike’s and my #1 favorite restaurant in Brooklyn. We’ve been there upwards of 20 times and never had a bad meal. Each dish is treated with care, probably contains four ingredients or less and is hyper-seasonal. In a European way, not a lip-service way! It’s incredibly rare to find a rotating menu with all slam dunks, great ambiance AND kind service — truly the whole package.

9. Long Island Bar

I’ll go to the mat to say that LIB does the best martini in NYC. Made with soju and bergamot, it goes perfectly with their now-infamous cheese curds or their very nice burger. They also do frozen cocktails in the summer that I’m already using as an excuse for future visits. It’s historic (one of their bartenders invented the cosmo?) a littleee divey and has excellent food/drinks — usually, you only get 2/3 of those things! We had our wedding welcome drinks there and intend to have our going away party there too, it’s that fun!

10. King

Our “last supper” will 100% be a patio lunch at King. It is my favorite restaurant in Manhattan and maybe our most-frequented restaurant in any borough. I had my first-ever solo lunch there in 2018 and have been hooked ever since. Their menu changes daily but their annual specials (raclette, Harry’s Bar sandwich, tarte tatin, clafoutis) have been anchor points in our calendar for years. Everything from the food to the interiors to the service is handled with such care. Which comes as no surprise, when you find out it’s owned/operated by all women. To me — a perfect restaurant.

Honorable mention: Saint Julivert

I already went on-and-on about them enough in our last issue!

That’s all for Cait’s best of NYC restaurant issue! As a reminder, you can follow our Instagram at @opentabsletter or shop all of our issues here.