Food and Drink

New York State restaurants offer food journeys like nowhere else. For starters, there’s amazing variety. Culinary traditions from around the world combined with the bounty of our farms, orchards, and vineyards give you all the best ingredients for unforgettable dining! With more than 20,000 diverse restaurants and some of the world’s best chefs, try regional favorites like the Dinosaur Barbecue in Syracuse and Buffalo’s famous chicken wings to haute cuisine and everything in-between.

Food varieties don’t stop there.  Plenty of fresh farm produce is available from you-pick farms for berries and apples to pumpkins and markets selling some of the best baked goods and homemade preserves imaginable! Spirits, wineries, and craft breweries offer some of the most tasteful experiences while fresh-made yogurts and cheese samples whet your appetite for more. There are candy and chocolate creators of sugary delights to grape pie made popular in the Finger Lakes.

The best food and drink destinations for NYC for 2019

The Empire State is the standard bearer for great food in America

From Montauk to Niagara Falls, New York state is home to stunning natural beauty, world-class attractions, and, of course, some amazing things to eat. And to celebrate all the great food and drink that this diverse and expansive state has to offer, we’ve rounded up the Empire State’s claims to culinary fame as part of our second annual guide to the best food and drink in every state.

Any conversation about the cuisine of New York state will be dominated by that of New York City, whichvery well might be the greatest food city in America, and possibly on the planet. Whatever you want, you can find it there. Even the cheap pizza is good. You don’t know what a bagel is until you’ve had one there. The fine dining there is second only to perhaps that of Las Vegas, but more non-household-name chefs are opening a lot more mind-blowingly good restaurants there than in Sin City. Want Mexican? There’s a neighborhood for that. Want Russian? There’s a neighborhood for that. Want Asian? There are a few neighborhoods for that. How about Uzbeki? Ethiopian? Tibetan? Burmese? Korean barbecue? Just a subway ride away. Not only does New York have pizza, bagels, and Jewish deli fare to claim as its own, it also has upscale, downscale, highbrow, lowbrow, insanely cheap, jaw-droppingly expensive, hidden gems, world-renowned institutions… the list goes on. Spend a few days eating your way through New York City, and you’ll agree that it’s the best food town in the States.

But there’s a lot more to New York state than New York City, from the great seafood on Long Island to the unique culinary ecosystem of the Buffalo region, and over the course of the past year we’ve honored everything from its best hot dogs and fried chicken to its best bar and craft beer in our comprehensive and wide-ranging lists and rankings, compiled through extensive research and with input from a wide network of site contributors, bloggers, journalists, and chefs. We’ve compiled these into individual slideshows celebrating the best food and drink in every state, and you can find our New York gallery ahead.

Located in JFK Airport’s Terminal 5 in New York City, Deep Blue Sushi is an impressively upscale restaurant for an airport. The modern East Asian menu features sushi, sashimi, ramen, udon, Korean barbecue, teriyaki, and more.

This New York City bakery was founded in 2009 by sisters Melissa and Emily Elsen who were born and raised in rural South Dakota. They sell their Salted Caramel Apple (as well as many others) whole or by the slice. They also sell handmade pie crusts and toppings so you can make whatever pie is on your mind!

This midtown Manhattan bar — which exists in a hotel of the same name — was just crowned the number one bar in America and the fourth best bar in the world. Bar director Leo Robitschek is praised for his classically-focused cocktails with a twist of exotic ingredients and rare spirits, and staffers are renowned for their flawless hospitality. Customers say the chicken with crispy skin, foie gras and black truffle mayonnaise is an absolute must-have. Wash it down with any of the cocktails, really — you can’t go wrong. The “Walter Gibson” is made for two. It features vodka, London dry gin, Chenin blanc, Chambery blanc and dry vermouth, green apple eau de vie, bee’s wax and pickled vegetables. Don’t like to share? Try the “18th Parallel” built with Oaxacan rum, añejo tequila, pineapple, lime, Amaro Nonino, guava, vanilla, cream and mole bitters.

Brooklyn’s Other Half Brewing is known for two things: insanely long lines at their can releases, and dropping delicious, juicy Northeast-style IPAs at said can releases. Any number of Other Half’s limited-releases beers could be deemed the best beer in New York, but you may not ever be able to try them. A reliable Other Half beer you’ll usually be able to find? All Green Everything. With Amarillo, Citra, Mosaic and Motueka hops, this imperial IPA shows the dynamics of this beer style and makes for easy (and highly alcoholic) sipping.

Since opening in 1997, Balthazar has become a quintessential New York restaurant, a bustling brasserie that’s somehow sustained its momentum for more than 20 years, raking in on average more than $20 million annually. One bite of the steak frites in restaurateur Keith McNally’s legendary Parisian-style dining room will show you why it’s been so successful, but you haven’t really experienced Balthazar until you’ve had brunch there, when daylight streams through its front windows and servers deliver warm goat cheese and caramelized onion tarts, caramelized banana and Nutella tartines, decadent scrambled eggs in puff pastry, brioche French toast, and eggs Florentines to its stylish, Ramos fizz-lubricated clientele. Plenty of Balthazar classics, like gland shellfish plateaus, French onion soup, and the aforementioned steak frites are still available, along with a variety of fresh-baked pastries. There are a seemingly infinite amount of brunch options in New York, but none ace the formula quite as perfectly as Balthazar

The burger at the Spotted Pig, a restaurant that is widely considered responsible for launching the high-end gastropub trend, is a wonder. (Now former) chef and co-owner April Bloomfield created a half-pound behemoth of prime grilled beef, topped with a layer of creamy, stinky Roquefort, and sandwiched inside a brioche-style bun. Served alongside rosemary-scented shoestring fries, it’s the kind of burger that will force you to close your eyes after taking the first bite and just be with the beefy, cheesy decadence. This is a burger that you’ll be dreaming about for weeks to come.