Among the hundreds, if not thousands, of bites that restaurant critics take each year, there are some that suddenly make us sit up straighter, sharper and happier. These are the dishes that linger in our brains all the way home, that inspire obsessions over what exactly was going on in the kitchen to make those ingredients taste this good. They can be as simple as an ethereal tortilla or as elaborate as a deeply spiced, banquet-worthy chicken biryani.
This year, the task of eating out for The New York Times fell to three of us: Pete Wells, who left the table in August after 12 years on the job, and me and Melissa Clark, who have been serving since then as interim critics. Here are 26 New York City dishes we tasted in 2024 that we’ll be thinking about long into the future. PRIYA KRISHNA
Image
It doesn’t look all that promising, this thick stew darkly bubbling in a black stone pot. But fold a scalding wad of beef into some flatbread, wait until it’s slightly less scalding, and all the spices of Yemen open before you. Rich cloves and cinnamon arrive first, followed by the warmth of Yemenat’s custom-blended hawaij, and running through it all is a topping of fenugreek foam, both sweet and bitter. ($22) PETE WELLS
7721 Fifth Avenue (78th Street), Bay Ridge, Brooklyn; 718-491-5600; clover.com/online-ordering/yemenat
ImageCredit...Lisa Corson for The New York TimesMasa Pancake at Cocina ConsueloCocina Consuelo offers one of the homiest, coziest breakfasts in the city, thanks in no small part to this pancake. This is a dense specimen, redolent of sweet-scented masa, lathered generously with honey butter and crowned with a thick fruit compote (blueberries, at last visit). It’s as if an arepa married a sticky toffee pudding. May they enjoy a longlife together. ($16) PRIYA KRISHNA
130 Hamilton Place (West 143rd Street), Harlem; 646-250-7172; cocinaconsuelonyc.com
We are having trouble retrieving the article content.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.fruit slots