The New Yorker’s year-end food essay by its restaurant critic spotlighting the standout dishes she loved most in 2025, written as a personal, experience-driven tour of what made them unforgettable. It’s intentionally not a ranking—more a curated set of ‘best bites’ that captures the year’s dining pleasures and obsessions.
How many of these have you visited?
Discover on Pearl
Brooklyn, United States
Jr & Son sits on Lorimer Street in Williamsburg, a stretch of Brooklyn where neighbourhood restaurants earn loyalty through consistency rather than spectacle. The kitchen earned recognition in 'The Best Things I Ate' awards, placing it in a tier of local spots that food writers return to rather than simply file once. Arrive early or expect to wait.
New York City, United States
The View Restaurant & Lounge occupies the only revolving rooftop in New York City, positioned above the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. Its recognitions include a nod from The Best Things I Ate, placing it alongside a small set of Manhattan venues where spectacle and substance share billing. The gap between a lunch visit and an evening booking here is wide enough to constitute two distinct experiences.
New York City, United States
On Mott Street in Nolita, Mommy Pai's occupies a corner of New York's Taiwanese dining conversation that leans toward the casual and the specific rather than the ceremonial. Recognised by The Best Things I Ate, the spot draws a neighbourhood crowd alongside deliberate visitors who have followed the word of mouth south from Midtown's denser restaurant corridors.
New York City, United States
A West Village bar and dining room that has quietly built a loyal following on hearty Spanish cooking and a serious cocktail program. Thick wood beams, amber lighting, and close-set banquettes set a mood that rewards the return visit. Esquire named it one of America's best Martini bars in 2025, and the food more than holds its own alongside the drinks.
New York City, United States
On Thompson Street in Greenwich Village, Chateau Royale has earned recognition in 'The Best Things I Ate' — a distinction that places it among New York's more closely watched neighbourhood dining addresses. The venue sits in a part of the Village where culinary ambition tends to operate quietly, away from the Michelin-circuit spotlight that dominates uptown and Midtown conversations.
Brooklyn, United States
A tiny Cambodian restaurant in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Bong earned a spot on Resy's 2025 Best of the Hit List for its direct, sour-forward take on Khmer cooking. The menu moves between traditional preparations and sharper modern interpretations, staying close to the cuisine's brash flavor profile throughout. Find it at 724 Sterling Place, Brooklyn, NY 11216.
New York City, United States
Opened in March 2025 in the East Village's former Momofuku Ko space, Kabawa brings a three-course Caribbean prix fixe to New York's tasting menu tier. Chef Paul Carmichael, Barbados-born and Momofuku-trained across Má Pêche and Sydney's Seiōbo, builds a menu of roti, braised goat, and coconut turnover that reads as regional memory made precise. New York Magazine named it among the 43 best restaurants in New York for 2025.
Los Angeles, United States
On Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice, Gjelina has held a consistent position in Opinionated About Dining's North America Casual rankings since 2023 and carries a Michelin Plate for 2024 and 2025. The kitchen works a produce-forward California register with Italian structural references, open seven days from 9am to 11pm at a mid-range price point that puts it well below the city's Michelin-starred tier.
New York City, United States
Danny & Coop's Cheesesteaks on Avenue A brings a Philadelphia street-food institution to the East Village, earning recognition from 'The Best Things I Ate' for its approach to a sandwich that divides purists on both sides of the New Jersey border. In a city where the cheesesteak is often treated as an afterthought, this address takes it seriously.
New York City, United States
Golden HOF on West 48th Street has earned recognition in the competitive Midtown Manhattan dining scene, appearing in 'The Best Things I Ate' awards. Positioned a short walk from Rockefeller Center, it occupies a corridor that has seen considerable dining evolution over the decades, drawing office workers, tourists, and destination diners looking for something beyond the neighborhood's more transient options.
New York City, United States
A no-reservations Vietnamese kitchen on Third Avenue in the East Village, Bánh Anh Em draws pre-opening queues for house-baked bánh mì baguettes, pho built on homemade noodles, and a menu anchored in the full breadth of Vietnamese street-food forms. Named to Resy's Best of the Hit List 2025 and featured in 'The Best Things I Ate,' it is one of New York City's most talked-about casual Vietnamese destinations.
New York City, United States
Zimmi's on Bedford Street in the West Village earned a place on New York Magazine's 43 Best Restaurants in New York for 2025, a list that rewards consistency and precision over spectacle. The room operates at a pitch that rewards the kind of dining where every element of the floor pulls in the same direction. For a neighbourhood that has seen dozens of openings come and go, that kind of coordination is worth the detour.
Find out on Pearl and keep score across every place in 2025 The New Yorker The Best Things I Ate.
Overview
The New Yorker's 2025 Best Things I Ate spotlights 12 restaurants across three U.S. cities, with the majority concentrated in New York City. The list ranges from Danny & Coop's Cheesesteaks to Vietnamese, Italian, and Thai concepts, with single entries from Brooklyn and Los Angeles rounding out the geographic spread.
This edition heavily favors New York City, which claims nine of the twelve spots, including Danny & Coop's Cheesesteaks, Bartolo, Chateau Royale, Zimmi's, Golden HOF, The View Restaurant & Lounge, Mommy Pai's, and Bánh Anh Em. Brooklyn contributes Bong, while Los Angeles enters the list via Gjelina. The selection reflects dish-specific highlights rather than overall restaurant assessments—these are individual menu items that caught the publication's attention in 2025. The list doesn't assign numbered rankings, treating each entry as a standalone recommendation rather than a competitive hierarchy.
The New Yorker's 2025 Best Things I Ate list takes a dish-first approach, naming 12 specific menu items across New York City, Brooklyn, and Los Angeles. Unlike comprehensive restaurant guides, this edition focuses on individual eating experiences that warranted editorial mention. New York City dominates with nine entries, spanning cheesesteaks at Danny & Coop's to Vietnamese fare at Bánh Anh Em. Brooklyn's Bong and LA's Gjelina provide geographic diversity, but the list clearly centers on what The New Yorker's writers ate in Manhattan this year.
The 2025 edition of The New Yorker's Best Things I Ate presents a snapshot of editorial dining highlights rather than a comprehensive ranking system. With 12 entries and no numbered positions, the list treats Danny & Coop's Cheesesteaks, Bartolo, and the rest as equals—each representing a dish worth documenting. The New York City concentration is notable, with restaurants like Chateau Royale, Zimmi's, Golden HOF, The View Restaurant & Lounge, Mommy Pai's, and Bánh Anh Em filling out the Manhattan selections. Brooklyn's Bong and Los Angeles' Gjelina prevent this from becoming an exclusively NYC document, though the geographic focus is undeniable. The format suggests these are actual dishes consumed and recommended by staff writers, making this more personal essay than critical guide. Without pricing, booking notes, or dish descriptions in the source data, the list functions as a starting point for readers who want to know where New Yorker contributors chose to eat in 2025. The three-city spread indicates editorial coverage patterns as much as culinary merit—these are places that happened to intersect with writers' assignments and personal dining throughout the year.
