The Iconic Foods of New York and Where to Try Them

The bagel: boiled, baked and never toasted

What separates a real New York bagel from a round bread roll is the boil. The dough is shaped, rested, dropped briefly into boiling water and then baked, which gives it a glossy, slightly crackly crust and a dense, chewy interior. Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe brought the bagel to the Lower East Side in the late 1800s, and for decades bagel bakers were so specialized that they had their own union.

New Yorkers argue about everything, and bagels are no exception, but a few rules are broadly agreed. A fresh bagel doesn't need toasting. "Everything" is a flavor, and a great one. And a "schmear" means a generous layer of cream cheese, plain or mixed with scallion, vegetables or smoked salmon.

The full appetizing experience

For the classic bagel with lox, visit an appetizing shop, the Jewish-deli tradition devoted to smoked and cured fish, cream cheese and other foods eaten with bagels. Russ & Daughters on East Houston Street has been selling smoked salmon, sturgeon and herring since 1914 and is the most famous of them. Order a bagel with nova, cream cheese, capers, red onion and tomato, and you'll understand the fuss.

Pastrami on rye: the deli sandwich of legend

Pastrami is beef brisket or navel that has been cured, rubbed with black pepper and coriander, smoked and then steamed until it practically falls apart. It came to New York with Romanian Jewish immigrants and became the centerpiece of the Jewish deli, piled high on rye bread with a smear of spicy brown mustard. Never mayonnaise.

Katz's Delicatessen, founded on the Lower East Side in 1888 and long a fixture at the corner of Houston and Ludlow Streets, is the city's most famous deli. During World War II its sign urged customers to "send a salami to your boy in the army," and in 1989 it became a film location for one of the most quoted scenes in When Harry Met Sally. The meat is still hand-carved to order.

New York cheesecake: dense, rich and unapologetic

New York-style cheesecake is built on cream cheese, which makes it denser, smoother and richer than the lighter ricotta-based cheesecakes of Italy. The classic version is tall and plain, with a thin crust and a slightly tangy flavor, and it needs no fruit topping at all.

Here's a fun piece of trivia: the cream cheese brand named Philadelphia was actually developed in New York State in the 1870s, and was named after Philadelphia only because the city had a reputation for fine dairy. For a slice with history, head to Junior's in Downtown Brooklyn, which has been serving its famous cheesecake since 1950, and now has outposts near Times Square too.

The egg cream: no egg, no cream

New York's most confusing drink contains neither of the things in its name. An egg cream is simply cold milk, chocolate syrup and a hard blast of seltzer, stirred until a tall white foam forms on top. It was a staple of Jewish soda fountains and candy stores in Brooklyn and the Lower East Side from the early 1900s, and nobody fully agrees on where the name came from.

Purists insist on Fox's U-Bet chocolate syrup, made in Brooklyn, and on seltzer that's as fizzy as possible. You'll find egg creams at old-fashioned luncheonettes and some delis. Ray's Candy Store on Avenue A in the East Village has been making them for decades.

The black-and-white cookie

Not really a cookie at all, the black-and-white is a soft, cake-like round frosted half with vanilla fondant and half with chocolate. It's sold in delis, bakeries and bodegas all over the city. Seinfeld fans know it as a symbol of racial harmony, thanks to a 1994 episode in which Jerry declares that the key is to "look to the cookie." Local advice: take your first bite right down the middle, so you get both sides at once.

Bonus: the Coney Island hot dog

No list of New York foods is complete without the hot dog. Nathan Handwerker opened his stand on Coney Island in 1916, and Nathan's Famous still anchors the boardwalk, hosting its famous hot dog eating contest every Fourth of July. Closer to Midtown, the humble "dirty water dog" from a street cart, topped with mustard, sauerkraut or onions in red sauce, is a rite of passage.