New York's Best Restaurants 2024: Where Chefs Eat

Where are the best places to eat and drink in New York? No one knows that better than the chefs that call this place home. Plain old bagel with cream cheese. The line is long, so just don't go. I didn't mean slugs, I meant snails. We have quizzed some icons. And over the next couple of days, we're going to show you where they absolutely love. And later on in the film, we're going to go to the best restaurant in New York. That's good, man. That's good. I haven't seen the edit of this yet, but I think it might be the best we've ever made. We love bagels. Where's the best bagel in Brooklyn? Shelsky's. They have the biggest range of smoked fish in all of New York. Which is very important when smoked salmon is like an integral part of bagel life. That's gorgeous. And because it's super thin, you get all that surface area. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Started 12 years ago by Peter and Louis. They knew it wasn't going to be easy, right? Because they were doing something different. They had to educate their customers doing an old school bagel. Not one of these big ones that all the Instagrammers are going to follow. The bagel was made with a sourdough starter, so they're chewy. And they've got little holes through them. And that beautiful crisp outer shell that is so hard to actually get. It feels damn authentic in there, doesn't it, though? It does. It feels really authentic, yeah. Okay, where are we going to start first? Quite want to go for this. No real crazy name on there. It's a Shelsky's roast turkey sandwich. With sauerkraut, Russian dressing, Swiss cheese, and rye bread. Oh my goodness, the ratios. So Louis has gone easy on us. He reckons there should be another two or three ounces of meat on this. That's my limit of opening my gob. Yeah. I love that. All right, keep biting it. So I've got to assume it's pretty good. I'm going to be a member of the tribe next. Tribe, all right. So it's our poppy seed bagel, baked on a bagel shop on 4th Avenue. Tomato, onion, capers. Jess, that was a question. It wasn't just shouting it. Sorry, I thought he was asking how it was. That's a good idea, isn't it? Cut the top of the bagel first. The outside of that. You only get that from a really fresh, well-made bagel. Basically, you should be able to burn the calories of that bagel by chewing it. Not toasted? Not toasted. You don't toast a bagel, never. This is the Great Gatsby, another really popular one. The pastrami, salmon, cream cheese, and honey mustard. Celery soda. And celery soda. Oh, man. Sometimes I'll watch people from the counter. They're sitting outside, and I'll watch them just to see their reaction. When I see their eyes close, and it's like, oh, man, it's so good. It just makes me feel so good. Where's really good value in New York? Wohop, man. Chinatown? Oh, yeah, Chinatown. I shit you not. If you could spend $90 and feed about 20 people. Chinatown in New York is vast, fun, and very good value. These are a few of the spots that we've been heavily recommended to visit by the chefs we've interviewed. $5 in New York buys you very little. However, it does buy you this. One of the best dumpling spots in Chinatown. We're on Henry Street. Not a very touristy one, but Jin Mei Dumplings. How are they doing that? 15 dumplings? These are pork and chive fried dumplings. They're fried and steamed. It's sort of very aggressively fried on one side, so you get a real crunch. So it works out at $0.33 a dumpling. It was very good value for money. I guess people are eating all 15 for themselves. There's like an aggressive number, I've got to be honest. I really like them. Tori's giving a bigger reaction than me, actually. Every day, there's a queue here. Tiny little silver box with two lovely ladies in it, cooking up rice rolls. Big, bouncy, meaty. Big, bouncy, meat-filled rice. Sorry, mate, still not rolling. Come on, one more. Big, bouncy, meat-filled rice rolls. Going for a small portion of the fresh shrimp rice roll, which cost all of $3.50. Just bargains galore here at Chinatown. Huh? Saucy? Uh, reasonably saucy. Your peanut sauce is yes and no? Peanut sauce, yes, please. Thank you. Saucy? Thank you. Thank you, what's that mean? Thank you. Oh, thank you. Right, you choose your meat filling. Roast pork, chicken, dried shrimp. We've gone for fresh shrimp. So you have a big puffy rice roll in a little soy-based sauce. Oh, that t-shirt, mate. That is beautiful, dude. Is it more beautiful than this GoPro angle? F***ing hell. The texture of that rice roll, fresh shrimp, the peanut sauce and the chili, man, that's delicious. Right, sort of done with savory. Now let's get some sweet stuff in Double Crispy Bakery. There are lots of bakeries in Chinatown, but we've been told this one's the best. Okay, boys, I've made the executive decision that we should go for a lemon bun. And a custard bun. Huh? And the custard. And the custard tart. Yeah. It does say on the door, Portuguese custard speciality store. Are they Portuguese? Or are they from Macau? Who knows? Nice, thick, eggy tart. It's not like a Portuguese tart, so maybe that's why it's from Macau. But it's quite delicious. Lemon bun. No idea what it's going to be like inside. I love lemon buns. Lovely, hospitable people. Thank you, very delectable buns. Should have gone for a pork bun. That was my bad. Chiquette is one of the best restaurants in New York. Burial. Why is that? It's the most delicious Middle Eastern food you're going to have in the city. And it's a vibe. Burial is exec chef, Alvin Maher, James Beard, 2024 finalist. By the time this film comes out, we'll probably know. Hopefully I'll be a winner. So let's run two. Winner! Runner up. James Beard, 2024. Runner up. Wow. The beauty about the menu here is that this is something that doesn't change. This is like the bricks of the restaurant. Thank you. And the chicken doesn't change, but everything else changes. So you have your prana bread to enjoy with all these delicious dishes. Oh wow, that's a hot one. That's fresh out of the pan. I got chef hands. Okay. That makes me feel really good. Once you eat it, you're going to be tempted to talk about your feelings because this stirs up so many emotions. Oh, it's good. So this chicken, it's marinated for three days in yogurt and saffron. Yeah, and I love that golden hue it has coming through it. It's so juicy from that three-day marinade, right? But look how crispy that skin is. Damn, how they got that skin like that? Crispy skin, but the juiciest chicken. Juicy, juicy, juicy. What's been your favorite place you ever lived? New York. Why? It's a tiny little concentration or a snapshot of the entire world in one city. But there's something about the energy in New York that makes you realize the world is way bigger than your stupid little problems. So as soon as you arrived here, you were like, I'm home. I'm, let's go. Boom. Bloop, bloop, bloop. Bloop. Okay, so these are lamb kofta meatballs, right? Yes. A lot of chefs just kind of cut corners and make a bigger meatball because that's how you can guarantee you get a juicy meatball. These are small and they're juicy as hell. They really are. There's a slight Christmassy flavor. Christmassy. See, all this stuff is so savory and rich. You got to have these pickles on the table. Come back, get a little break. Yeah, they've got a lot of zing. Like there's water in my eyes now. Do you know what I mean? They're like, ooh. Ooh. Ah, so nice. Thanks, gang. Thank you, Aisha, for that beautiful, beautiful food. Oh, my pleasure. Thanks, Barry, for introducing us to this beautiful food. Got you. That's what this industry is about, right? Yeah. Good people introducing good people. Boom. Yay. Whoa. Don't tell me that's not going in the edit, mate. You can actually f*** one. Best pub in New York City, Dead Rabbit. You know they're good at it, right? You know New York's good at Irish pubs. And yes, we're not in Ireland, but that's not the point. At the Dead Rabbit, we thought our first drink would be a Guinness. However, it's not. It's a frozen Irish coffee. Oh, this is my first alcoholic drink of the day. Oh, it's like boozy coffee ice cream. Back in the time when New York was way, way dodgy than it is, the group that protected the Irish in New York were called the Dead Rabbits. And this was their headquarters. All five floors of it. Obviously, it feels very Irish. All the photography and art everywhere is all Irish. It's zhuzhi. You know, it's like, it's high end. The quality is premium. Look at that bar. That's not, you know, that's... Whoa, mate. Bro, it's happened. We have a black velvet on our hands. Just two ingredients, but apparently it's a very hard thing to get right. Champagne, Guinness. We love it, but it's not really ever promoted anywhere. Half the Irish bars in the world are just like, what? It's just good stuff. During our time here, we're staying in Williamsburg. Super cool neighborhood in Brooklyn at the Penny. It's very cool, mate. It's super cool. It's accessible. It's really reasonably priced. And they have an amazing rooftop. And I've heard they do a pretty good margarita. Will, on Mondays, it's closed, bro. No! Morning, mate. Morning, dude. Day two. Amazing thing about Penny, this beautiful roof terrace. Look at this beauty. On a day like today, when you're up here, there's no need to complain. No, bro. We're going to one of my all-time faves in New York, Emilio's. I really hope they're doing the meatballs. Easy. We need to start texting each other about what we're going to wear, because this is getting ridiculous, okay? When my friends ask me, hey, one restaurant in New York, where do I go? I send them to Emilio's Pilata. And this is Emilio. How are you, my guy? I'm good, dude. How are you, mate? How are you doing? Tell me about your place. It's a little mix of traditional Italian along with Italian-American. Emilio. That's the real Emilio right there. Yes. He was telling me that his wash is fake. Well, listen to him. He's ******* full of shit. Hey, there's a lady here. Stop. Sorry. It's full of crap. God, it's a lot of history in this place, man. A lot of memories. Ordain. Yeah, Anthony. Anthony was a great guy, man. That dude was a beast. Did he come in a lot? Yeah, we used to hang out all the time, man. Really? Yeah, we'd go in the back. Oh, come on, man. Anthony was a great dude, man. Hey, lo chingo. All right, well, I got the clams here. So here are the little necks. I'm going to show you guys how to open these bad boys. I've never opened a clam before. Oh, yeah. Not one of those ones, anyway. Hit that right there. Hit this right here. It's open. Up, down, and around. Practice makes perfect, my guy. People think this shit is easy. It ain't ******* easy. Yeah, I'm in. Those are the meatballs. So, yeah, these guys are cooking. We let these slow cook for about seven hours, man. This is the tagliatelle bolognese. You got pork, veal, and beef in here. This is the number one dish right here. Is that what bought you the watch? Yeah, that's what buys me all the watches. Pasta, baby. Emilio's currently preparing a clam dish. Yeah, this is the linguine a la vongole. It's my favorite ******* dish, man. Honestly, my stomach is like beatboxing right now. I think it needs like another second, and then we're good to go. And that's your dish right there, papa. All right. Now we gotta try it. I could eat this all day and night, man. Gorgeous. So, in the meatballs, they're packed with parmesan, and then beef, veal. Pork, veal, beef, yeah. Stew it. Oh, my God. Why are they so good? They're the juiciest guys you'll ever put in your trap. All right. Okay. Brother, I appreciate you, man. Thank you so much. That was amazing. Thank you, guys. It's been about a half-hour cab ride out of Manhattan. We're now in South Brooklyn in a place called Red Hook. Random little area, this, mate. Bit different to Manhattan. Tangerine? This is an industrial part of town, the Strong Row Brewery. This is a farm brewery. 100% of their ingredients are all from New York State. So, hops, malts, everything, all from New York. This place is absolutely ridiculous. What else is hazy and delicious? You have a hazy pale ale. Let's give you one of those. Permission to have a little suck on each of them? You've got to do you. You crack on, bro. Oh, gosh, that is flavorsome. Pals for males, dude. Look at this. Pure glory. There she is, the old copper princess. Cheers, bro. Look at this beautiful sunny day by the water, drinking a thick boy. We're sort of switching it up on our hoppy journey, right? Just moving from a hazy IPA to a Burton IPA. That's not a picture. No, it's not, is it? So, a Burton IPA. Kind of like a little West Coast IPA. You forgetting something? Thanks, Caitlin. Oh, yeah. No. But also, who wants a tangerine? You want a tangerine? Well, I didn't want to leave that place, because I could sit out there all day. But we've got work to do. Next up, Steve's Key Lime Pie. Okay, so they do these key lime pies in the little foils, the classic little single servings. So cinnamony and delicious. It does taste like Halloween. I'm not sure why. And then they also do these swingles, these sticks. So they're key lime pies in chocolate on a stick. God bless America, man. One of these swingles here, one with chocolate, one's also got chipotle. A chipotle-flavored one. It's that chili chocolate thing, you know? A bit spicy. That's brilliant. This one, normal chocolate. No chipotle in this little swingle. That's good, man. Who's woke up at night and gone, in my chocolate-dipped key lime pie, I need to put chipotle in it. Steve, you ******* mad man, mate. That is so good. Chefs have told us Red Hook Tavern is one of the best restaurants in New York and the best burger. Best burger. Red Hook Tavern. Yeah! Is that Red Hook Tavern? If you want a burger where you can eat with your pinky up, Red Hook Tavern. And it's this guy's, Billy Durney. What is Red Hook Tavern? Red Hook Tavern is an homage to my grandmothers who grew up in this community in the 1930s. It's just a really cozy place, small, great guests, and great vibe as you can see tonight. Best dishes on the menu. What are they? If you asked everyone in here tonight, they're gonna tell you the burger. Eight months and a hundred iterations of the burger to get the fat content and the mix of the beef and the cuts exactly perfect. Okay, so I was looking at what to order, but then I went to speak to Billy and I was like, can you just order for us? And he was like, I'll order for you. That could be a very good decision or a pretty poorly judged one. Okay, these are the country ham croquettes and a rye breadcrumb. Breadcrumb? I'm gonna go into the country ham croquettes first and foremost. This is the romaine wedge, buttermilk herb dressing, blue cheese, applewood smoked bacon. That is laughably amazing. Oh man, right. This is the burger. Of all the burgers in New York, incredibly talented chefs have been like, okay, that Red Hook Tavern burger is fist in mouth awesome. Very high quality American beef. You can taste that little funk. It just has this light crusty pepper coating. Well, man, I'm happy we got one each. Yeah. 25, 30% fat content. Oh yeah. We use a load of black pepper on the burger. But what it does is it really gets that sear locked in. At this point, we don't have a single table that doesn't at least get one burger. Really? Yeah. This is the cavatelli, oxtail ragout, garlic breadcrumbs. What the f***ing hell, man. So these are his muscles. This one's the spicy tomato. And do your broth. Textures, the flavors, the spice. If Billy said to me tomorrow, hey Jesse, you want to tour the United States with me, just you and me for three months, I'd be like, yeah, let's go now. Who's Tory? Who is? What's this then? That's 96 screaming eagle. Is it? That's what I got. Holy s***. Good? I haven't tasted it yet. F***. That's a brand new guy. I guarantee that no other interview has had 96 screaming eagle. High five to the camera. On camera. Peace. Brooklyn loves London. Morning, bro. Good morning, mate. How do I look? Yep, like you've enjoyed the last couple of days. Brilliant. So on the roof of the Penny, this is El Niko. They do tacos, margaritas, little hazy beers. Right, we love margaritas, but I've not had one like this. This is a verdurita. Made using fresh avocados, they sort of chop up every day, mix it with lime and sugar. Oh, I could sink a good few of those. These margaritas are no joke, right? Like this one here is the rhubarb margarita with rhubarb, celery and cucumber, two different types of agave, some yuzu, a bit of Aperol, other stuff. Oh, what's going on? Oh, yeah. Also later today, we're going to meet an absolute burger don. Like crazy professor of the burger world. Now it's time for the best bakery in New York. This is Radio Bakery. There's quite a few bakers in there, in a bright and airy space, kicking out delicious baked goods. This is Jackie, head baker at Radio Bakery. Set us up with a little spread here. I'm really excited for this beauty, the maitake mushroom croissant. So Radio's only been open not even a year yet. It's a beautiful, energetic ballet that's going on in there to create these quite delicious-looking baked goods every day. Head baker Jackie, this is her favourite. Maitake mushrooms, when they're slow cooked, they really break down and go all gooey in their savoury croissant dough. Smoked salmon and cream cheese, very commonly found, and usually in a bagel. Here we have it in a crunchy, crispy focaccia sandwich. That salmon focaccia sandwich, blow your dick off. Right. Maybe that's one for the Patreon. This is the earl grey morning bun. I love it. They're not conforming, they're not just doing like a little cinnamon roll. Switch it up, make it different. Oh, wow. It tastes like earl grey. I don't know how, but it does. This is the rhubarb and custard. It's all very discerning, elevated, delicate flavours. That's got to be up there, hasn't it? Top three bakeries in the world we've been to. Woo! This is Frank Pinello, off of Best Pizza. Welcome to Brooklyn. We've been here before, and he wasn't here, but we got him. Come on, I want to show you guys around a little bit. So this is the compound. When I talk about the oven, this is the oven. This is the whole structure of the oven. Oh, wow. You know, so it's 120 years old. When they were building these ovens, they were building them for coal, because coal was very cheap, especially coming from, like, Pennsylvania. They cooked 300 loaves of bread in here a day. This is the walk-in where we keep everything, just try to keep everything, like, nice and organized. So you're making your own mozzarella? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. When we make the cheese, I'm able to control, like, the salinity. I'm able to control the salt. I'm able to control the moisture. It takes a little extra work, but at the end of the day, I'll get a product that I know exactly what's in it. I know exactly how it melts. I know exactly how much I need to use. So, yeah, why pizza? Why did you open a pizza shop? When I got out of culinary school, I thought for sure I was just gonna go to Fine Dining. And then Roberta's opened, which I'm sure you guys are familiar with, that was making pizza but kind of doing it in their own way. And I went to go work for them, and I was like, wow, this is cool. Like, I wonder what it would be like doing a slice shop like this. What makes Best Pizza different? I think one thing that separates us from a lot of pizzerias is it's very rare to go, like, to be in New York and to go to a slice place, and they're cooking, you know, 20-inch pizzas or 18-inch pizzas in a wood-fire oven. It's very simple, like, in theory, our pizza and Best Pizza in general, but there's a lot of nuance, like, on the back end. Woo! That makes me happy! Behind me is the most talked-about burger joint in New York City right now, and it's all because of this guy, George Moats. George, why are your burgers different? Everyone's trying to overdo it and do lots of stuff to their burgers, but to me, it should just be simple. Beef, cheese, and bun. That's all you need, really. The same outfit. Look at that. Look at that right now. Oh, sorry. It doesn't work here. Oh, no, it's happened. Okay, George, what are we ordering? I think you should get a salad plate, a single onion burger, all the way single, fries, and a coffee milk. Do you know what a coffee milk is? Nope. Do you know what a coffee ice cream is? Yep. Think of coffee ice cream, but melted. This is Hamburger America. It's been open for about six months and it's caused a huge stir. It's got a two-star review in the New York Times, which is a massive deal. Loads of fine dining restaurants will get a one-star review. How has a hamburger joint gotten two-star? All right, thank you. This is the fried onion burger. It has the onions in the patty, all fried caramelized. To me, someone who hasn't grown up in America, that is so unique. It's so soft, so onion-y. Oh, this classic smash just has sweet white diced onions in it, as well as some mustard, some pickles. That's amazing. It's amazing, right? Weird. There's one place in London that does Oklahoma smash burgers and they're really good, but they taste nothing like that. Most places who make Oklahoma onion burgers will make them at a high heat and then serve it to you and it's still, the onions all pull out. There's a point, scientifically, where the onion breaks. I mean, to do it properly, six to six and a half, seven minutes. Right. Somewhere in there. That was probably seven minutes, right there. Egg salad, tuna salad, George's mom's recipe. It's your mom's recipe, right? Yeah. It's supposed to be the epitome of comfort food. That's sort of the point of this place. It's supposed to feel like it's your place. You can come here and you can walk up to the counter and get a burger, get a sandwich, and really feel good about yourself. That was like eating burgers from the movies. All the films I've seen where people are at diners having a burger and I've been like, oh, I wonder what that's like. Now I've done it and it's buzzy and it's great and I love that George is there, cap on, chops out, smashing those fried onion burgers. There is almost one thing that every chef in New York agrees on. Best pizza is found at Lucali. Best pizza in New York. Lucali is my favorite pie. It's a New York institution. I really enjoy it there. Lucali, best pizza in New York. Exclamation point. He's making pies right now. He's making pies. Lucali's been here 17 years and it's a BYOB. And what a BYOB it is. Why has Lucali become this thing? It's humble, it's relaxed. People, like, flock here, celebrate here. What happened? I don't know. Maybe the pizza is that good. I'm starting to believe in it. You know? Why did you choose to do BYOB? Growing up in Brooklyn, you know, went to these pizzerias and it was like, you didn't drink wine with pizza. You know, we'd go in there and get a Pepsi, a Coke, or the fountain soda. Me, all my friends, like, buzz in here. Oh, Anthony Rizzo, New York Yankees. Oh, Rizzo. And it's gone! A home run to Rizzo! Hello, Mr. Rizzo. How we doing? I'm sitting here with Top Jaw and they want to know one of your favorite pizza spots in New York. Lucali's. Sit down. How's everything going? Good, and you? Good. Yeah, are we in the back? We're in front of Lucali's. The back is set up. Your table is set up. Nice. Rizzo, where's the best burger? Red Hood is really good. Yeah? The one restaurant in New York that you'd send someone to, what would it be? Fort Charles. Fort Charles, yeah. Thanks, bro. Alright, later. So, Lucali's Small is a 10-table restaurant. There's no reservations. So you have to just be lucky and get a table or queue up, put your name forward, and they'll give you an allocated time. Alright, we're going in. How often do you eat your own pizza? Almost every day. Let me get your dish. Okay, here we go. Plain pie. I mean, it's gorgeous stuff. And you get a very crisp base, but it's super thin. It's almost like Neapolitan thin, but it has a lot of structure to it. Sometimes I'll go up to a customer's table and steal a slice. You stretch that dough out thinner than, like, knickers, you know? Than what? It's thin, it's crispy, and it's more-ish. They're big slices, but you just chop it down because it's a really light dough. What's next, bro? I think we've got meatballs. And I love meatballs. And I love New York meatballs. What goes into your meatballs? They're brisket, short rib, and spicy sausage. They're serious meatballs, then. I'll never say I have the best pizza, but we may have one of the best meatballs. Stick the knife in a little twist. They're very soft. Mmm. Oh, man. When you don't like something, do you still react like that? No. Beautiful. That sesame crumb. Ooh! It's a three-cheese fusilli. Pecorino, parmesan, and nogaci cavallo. It's got a little, like, smoky paprika in it and chili. Uh-huh. They're like a pasta ssam. And these are always on the menu? You ask too many questions. Less questions, more reading. Thank you so much. Meatballs. Meatball. Two meatballs. What, you don't eat meat? Nah, trust me. Two meatballs. If you can believe it, we're asked for even more recommendations than the ones we feature in these films. It's kind of crazy, but we have a map for that. By downloading Step and subscribing to Top Jaw, you get exclusive access to, like, over 3,000 pins from all over the world. There's no excuse to be stuck in a tourist trap or even somewhere bang average ever again. All killer, no filler, baby. We have it on good authority from all these chefs. The best tacos in New York right now. Taqueria Ramirez. Started by a couple, Tanya and Giovanni from Mexico City. Wicked little atmosphere on the street. Short menu. They just do six tacos. That's all it is. But no. What should we do? What should we have? Why is it so windy here? I know. No, no, no. Oh, there's... It's harder to record a camera. What should we do? What should we eat? I would say just go through the six tacos if you can. But definitely the basur, that's the people's choice, let's say. Tanya has done the ordering for us. They do six tacos, gone for four of them. This one is really spicy. Okay. So I always put both in everything, no? Is that too much? You'll see why. Beef and chorizo. Beef and spicy sausage topped with salsa as per Tanya's instructions. It looks just so juicy. Beef and chorizo one here was New York Times' seventh best dish in New York City in 2022. It's good. This is the pastor. The pork that they shave off that sort of elephant leg that you see in the back bar there. It's also their best seller. Gosh, it's a chunky one. Jesus. This is a vegetarian taco. Cactus. That's the main bulk of it. Well, it was vegetarian so they put like the pork scratchings on top. Chicharrones. Awfully pronounced by me. So sorry. Thank you very much guys. Thank you guys. Thank you. Best tacos I've ever had. That's not a particularly high bar because I've never had tacos in Mexico. But they were absolutely fantastic. Thank you so much. Thank you brother. Thank you. Thank you for coming. Okay, we're in one of our favourite areas Lower East Side of Manhattan for a while there. French techniques in their cooking but a little bit slutty. Three cocktails. Jorge Spirits a white mezcal negroni and a vermouth and soda. I'm very intrigued by the white mezcal negroni. Yeah, same. This is real good by the way, this negroni. So on this red snapper crudo we've got kumquat. It's always a good day when you can say kumquat. That's delicious. That's real good. So this is called Pistola de eclair. I think it's so integral to this restaurant they've trademarked the name. It's intense. It is a savoury eclair. Can I just shove it in? Oh, shove it in mate. A few anchovies in there. Olive tapenade. So now I'm definitely definitely getting their whole French technique but a bit slutty. I feel like this dish sort of sums it up. A couple of drinks in and I'm feeling instantly better. We often bundle around Europe and it's easy. There's no time difference. We're there in a flash happy days. When we have a long flight to New York and we're then in time difference and we're boozing loads. Well yeah, and it's a five day trip. We normally do two days. It's a struggle. It's a bombardment of all the senses but hey, we're powering on through just for you. This is the pithivier and in it you have alfatorno cheese, you have sesame, you have an egg yolk jam. Almost like a kimchi cheese mille-feuille. A moment on the lips a lifetime on the tits type thing. Again, French technique. Slutty execution. Shredded potato in like a sort of almost like a classic tortilla. Jalapeno relish and a uni-sea urchin. Yeah. What a weird wonderful blend of flavours that. Got one of each of the desserts on the menu. They all have very simple familiar names. Chocolate mousse, sundae, mille-feuille. This chocolate mousse is surrounded with coffee jelly, little caramelised cocoa crispies. That's a big old serving as well for dessert isn't it? Lambda ice cream, a blackberry sorbet, and this is lavender milk jelly. That's mad. That's so good. Mille-feuille is topped with a milk crisp. Delicate flavours. It's really good. Right. Well there. Really fun, bold, interesting, nuanced flavours with a really vibrant atmosphere in there isn't it? But it's also not somewhere that you need to queue up down the block or book months in advance. And I like that. It's a New York neighbourhood restaurant doing really good stuff. Best cocktail bar in New York, Maison Premier. They describe it as one third old New Orleans, one third old Paris and one third old New York. All have a rich history of oysters and absinthe. I don't know how much absinthe I'm going to have right now though. I don't know how many oysters I want. Will, they get through a lot of oysters. They get through around 6,000 oysters a week. This right here is their raw bar. Yes lad. They do all sorts of things like oysters and lobster and other shellfish. This is where they're chucking the oysters, doing the big platters and shifting through them. So Ben has just made a tableside martini as a homage to the tableside martinis in like an old 1940s hotel bar. Start with a bit of orange bitters, stirred slowly but for a long time till it's just right good looks. Even though they've been here for 13 years it took them 12 years until they had a margarita on the menu. But this one uses pot-stilled tequila against the beautiful pink from hibiscus. And this right here is a little candied hibiscus flower. Sorry Rob, sort of having a drink here bro. Here you go bro. Yeah that's great. Oysters, cocktails, Maison Premier's absolute jam. And they have a big oyster menu. Changes daily. These three and these three here from East Coast, Maine and New Brunswick. These guys are West Coast. These are Washington State bad boys. Put a bit of that on there. Gorgeous. Let's go for an East Coast. Oh f**k. What a day this has been. And what a way to end the day mate. Finishing it off in a spring time nice warm dark garden. With oysters, cocktails and your best mate. And two best buds. It's a bit of a rainy one. We've had all the seasons this week but we're now on day four. This is Sola our whaley and you're taking us to your favourite breakfast or brunch spot in all of New York. What is it? Basilica. Huh? It's an institution. What's been the most unhinged time that you've gone here? Well before the pandemic I only came here at 4am. What? 4am. Why 4am? After a long night of drinking you get a burger and pierogies here. Like I'm a mom now so now I'm like a breakfast brunch person. And now I get like the breakfast spread at an appropriate time. Okay so I don't want to see a menu. I'm going to have what Sola normally has when she comes here. But we're going for scrambled eggs with tomato and sausage sharing pierogies I don't know what. Okay so this is a traditional Ukrainian dumpling. Yeah but you'll see it all over that region so I got the traditional I like the traditional so this one's cheese. They make the cheese in house. It's like a fresh ricotta kind of situation and potato I like fried because it reminds me of a samosa. I know what you mean. After a few drinks that's the sort of fried wholesomeness that you want to chow down on. I really like the sausage. Have you not had a pierogi before? No I think this is my pierogi first outing yeah. This area Little Ukraine What were you saying the area is changing? All of New York is changing. It's easy to say it's changing for the bad but I don't know. Veselka almost didn't make it. Really? Yeah there was a point where they cut their hours back severely. People have been coming out to support this place after the war. When you get to like peak lunch time and there's always a line I'm glad that they made it but a lot of places in this neighborhood didn't make it. As Sola's recommendation let's go for some bit of sweet waffle egg bit of sausage I got Tabasco in there and maple syrup. Oh wow. And I think the key to a good brunch is you have to like go back and forth sweet, savory you know mix it up. Right Sola thank you so much for introducing me to Veselka proper Ukrainian slash American loved it awesome right Stop raining! Yeah! It's going to be fun we're meeting Andrew Ria better known under his pseudonym Babish he knows his food he's a New Yorker lives in Brooklyn and he's taking us to a place called C as in Charlie. Have you been here before? No so we're trying this out for the first time. It's like a contemporary Korean restaurant right? There's some fusion happening it seems like I looked at the menu one of the desserts is called like a deli bagel or something it's like cream cheese ice cream it looks wild I love being tricked when I eat yeah I love it fool me up baby so just chatting to brothers here there's a fusion of their childhood from Atlanta, Georgia and their Korean heritage and like every dish is a bit of that right? Absolutely this one especially he said they use Holy Trinity which is green bell pepper onion and another thing that I can't remember so this is their like gimmicky dish looks like a cappuccino or latte but it is a Cajun dish with Benita cream all whipped up oh my god what in good god damn woah wow that's so so powerful if I ate this whole thing I don't think I would feel shitty afterwards I think I'd feel just fine this is ox bone marrow pasta I did not think the first thing I'd be eating in a Korean restaurant is pasta but it doesn't taste Italian not at all no way it tastes distinctly Korean but in an Italian form factor I do love what they're doing dying to try this chicken so he was saying it's like a gochujang style fried chicken a little bit of their Atlanta, Georgia thing in there that's good stuff dark meat too that's the way to go are bibimbap's healthy? absolutely not oh really? perfect I've sort of always told myself that they might be having never made one define healthy that's awesome ironically like the meatiest thing on the table having no meat in it excuse my omami omami? omami omami that was good OMG omami the omami this is one of the desserts you have a little frosting you can draw on you can go into the composition to a bottle of sake but really it is a banana pudding I'm allergic to bananas so that's all you I didn't want to make him sad what's inside? yeah it's ice cream and jam and a cookie what's there to complain about in this world he commits to the bit he really does which I really respect I will do anything for the bit first time we tried C as in Charlie I asked about that name, by the way, and it's all to do with their childhood going through these things where their parents were like, oh, it's R as in Romeo, C as in Charlie. That's not an interesting story, actually, you know? You're politely looking at me like interested, and I've just realized that's ******* dull as shit. Restaurants, sometimes they open them because they want them to be successes. It's like formulated to be a success. Instead, this is a success because it's part of their DNA. It's built into them. So that's, yeah, it's bullshit. No, you're right. It's stupid. So nice to meet you. Thank you so much for having me. Nice to meet you. Come here. No, no. I've never done this through the camera. I've never done this. ♪ Hold up, wait a minute, who's that? ♪ ♪ Looking so stylish, all original and effortless. ♪ Ignacio Matos, this is your place. Estella, one of the best restaurants in New York. Describe it to people who've never heard of it. Food, it's Mediterranean-inspired, but it's its own thing. It's delicious, it's fun, it's casual. Dinner's super busy, but Friday, Saturday, Sunday, you're open for lunch. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, lunch, yeah. A bit easier to get a table at lunchtime. I hope it's easy, yeah. But yeah, it should be easier, yeah. I like the way you don't have your Michelin star on here. We don't have anything here. But you have, we're on TripAdvisor. You know, first is first, you know what I mean? There are a lot of Michelin star restaurants in New York, but Estella is a real foodie chef favorite. It's very relaxed, very accessible. We sat at the bar, thought I'd have a little beautiful oyster. It's not so tight, it's nice to have foreground. You know what I mean? Last night, uni sea urchin, and in this dish right here, the scallops, there is uni sea urchin in it. That's quite nuts, because it's not a common ingredient. That's good, man, that's good. The scallops sat on uni in a date, it's in a ponzu sauce, ******* yes. I think it faces it all, mate, to be honest. Let's go digging for gold, bro. Take up these end dives. So what's going on there, man? This end dive salad has been on the menu since they opened 10 years ago. It's one of the signature dishes. There's an orange zest, some orange juice or orange oil, two types of cheese, the homemade granola, walnut, and it's so crunchy. Oh! Black rice, we made black from squid ink, but there's so much more going on. That is ******* good. This wagyu steak, the morals, cheese sauce, sweet potato, such a lovely, chewy barbecue char on the outside. I'm gonna do a chocolate cake with black sesame. After that, you go like this all day. Oh! This is a super decadent chocolate cake. That's gorgeous. Panna cotta with honey and bee pollen. I know this sounds crazy, but it does taste holiday. Cherry sorbet with a candied cherry leaf. Ooh, hello. It still has that New York restaurant buzz. Beautiful flavors, nothing too rich or overdone or fancy, and the service has been wonderful, hasn't it? Just a lot of breathing down your neck and licking the back of your ears. It's a phenomenal end to one hell of a trip. Definitely not the lowest price restaurant we're featuring in this guide, but what an experience. Ignacio's a dude as well. Chief chiller, love him. New York, that has been wild. We've been so, so lucky to have so many icons in one film. Are you screaming at us for missing somewhere or not interviewing someone? If so, let us know in the comments because we'll be back. Thanks to Penny for having us and giving us this wonderful roof terrace. Benji, well, see you next Tuesday.