I love best-food lists and look at them all the time: by neighborhood, cuisine, item type. One day, maybe I’ll make one of my own, but for now, I’ll respond, like everyone else is, to the Times’s “100 Best Restaurants in New York City 2025,” which dropped this week. I’ve been to 23 of them that I can recall. I’ve been to 22 of last year’s, including repeats.
23 isn’t a large percentage, I know, but in my defense, like any New Yorker, I’m prone to frequent standbys (reliability is not rated in these Times pieces). Case in point, I’ve dined at Shun Lee, Orsay, Hwa Yuan, Lavagna, Grand Brasserie, and the Odeon multiple times each this year, yet would not place their menus among my favorites. In fact, they’re all mediocre-to-decent, but offer such a particular atmosphere and convenience (big tables), they usually can’t be beat for last minute options.
Anyway, for each place I’ve been within 2024-25’s lists, I’ll provide a response, which could be controversial (although I’m not the only one who thinks Superiority Burger is wayyyyyy overrated). I’m going alphabetically, starting with:
Ayat: Great, maybe especially for takeout. Did anyone else notice that the only Palestinian restaurant from last year’s list was vetoed this year? (Ayat was on 2024’s list, not 2025’s, and Tanoreen was on neither!)
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