A new year in New York always comes in loud, even when we pretend it’s calm. Same city, same problems, same attitude. Just a slightly cleaner calendar and a few fake promises we already know won’t survive February. And that’s fine.
This is the year to eat better, not cleaner. To walk more, not posture more. To support places that feel alive, not concepts that feel like homework. New York Eats Here exists for that exact reason. To cut through the noise, call bullshit when needed, and point you toward food and stories that actually mean something.
This week we’re talking real moves. Dim sum that resets your soul. Empty storefronts that tell the real story of the city. Where West African, Jewish, and Jamaican food actually come from here. Why Brooklyn sometimes tries too hard. And why Arthur Ave still gets it right.
New year. Same appetite. Better instincts. Let’s eat.
HAPPY FUCKING NEW YEAR, NEW YORK. WE SURVIVED THE FOOD YEAR FROM HELL.
Bad trends, worse rules, fake hype, real weather, real pressure. The city didn’t survive because it evolved. It survived because enough people stayed stubborn.
New York didn’t make it through this year because it got smarter or more efficient. It made it through because it refused to quit. From a culinary standpoint, this was one of the ugliest, loudest, most distorted years the city has seen in a long time. You could taste the shortcuts. You could feel the exhaustion in the food. You could tell who was cooking to feed people and who was cooking to be seen.
We survived an avalanche of shitty food trends pretending to be culture. Smash burgers everywhere, most of them dry, under-seasoned, and built by people who learned one move and never bothered to learn why it worked. Birria slapped onto menus where it made no sense. Chopped cheese dragged out of its home and turned into an eighteen-dollar joke. Everything was “viral.” Almost nothing was memorable. Food stopped being a relationship and became a stunt. READ FULL STORY
TIME TO STOP ORDERING DIM SUM LIKE YOU LEARNED IT ON TIKTOK
There’s a rhythm to these places. Learn it, or the señora with the ladle will read your whole résumé.
Start with steamed spare ribs in black bean sauce. It’s called pai gwat. Not on the English menu. Six dollars. They’re fatty and tender, with this salty fermented bean sauce that hits you before you even pick one up. This dish alone separates the “I love dim sum” crowd from the “I read about dim sum” crowd.
Then get ja leung. Rice noodle rolls wrapped around a stick of fried dough. Crispy inside, silky outside, sweet soy sauce on top. This is the bite that tells you what dim sum is actually about: texture on texture, soft against crunch, sauce holding it all together. If you don’t get this, you’re not playing the real game.
CITY OF ORIGIN: THE GLOBAL ROOTS BEHIND NYC’S FAVORITE DISHES
HOLLYWOOD'S 10 MOST RIDICULOUS NEW YORK FOOD CRIMES
A loving but ruthless audit of how movies and TV turned New York eating into cosplay, fantasy, and sidewalk-blocking nonsense.
1. Sex and the City and the Magnolia Bakery Fairy Tale
2. Friends and the Fantasy of Cooking Big Meals in Tiny Apartments
3. Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi and the Myth of the Efficient NYC Line
4. How I Met Your Mother and the Perfect Burger Quest
5. The Devil Wears Prada and the Magical To-Go Steak
6. Elf and the “World’s Best Coffee” Delusion
7. Home Alone 2 and the Plaza Hotel Food Fantasy
8. Gossip Girl and the Teen Fine Dining Lie
9. Law & Order and the Clean Street Food Moment
10. Spider-Man and the Queen’s Family Dinner Fantasy
HOT TAKE OF THE WEEK:
A CITY OF EMPTY STOREFRONTS AND $30 SALADS
Commercial rent is insane. Tiny spaces, broken kitchens, and absurd pricing push out the people actually keeping New York alive. Chains move in, neighborhoods suffer.
Commercial landlords in New York have apparently decided to treat reality like a suggestion. Raw, dusty kitchens are now listed like waterfront penthouses. $25,000 for a tiny space with a broken hood system, peeling tiles, and what may or may not be rodents on the payroll. Welcome to the NYC operator’s nightmare.
These landlords are actively pushing out the people who actually…Read Full Story
WAIT, BEFORE YOU GO…
That’s it. A new year, a full stomach, and no excuses. Make 2026 a real food year. Eat with intention. Walk neighborhoods you forgot about. Argue with friends over where to eat, then go anyway. Support the spots that feel human. Skip the ones chasing hype.
Have a few great meals every month. Discover one place you gatekeep. Revisit one place you never stopped loving. Bring someone new along.
New York feeds you if you pay attention. We’ll keep pointing. You keep showing up.
Have a great fucking food year, New York.
