Whet your appetite in the best restaurants of the Lower East Side
New Yorkers love their food and nowhere is that most apparent than on the Lower East Side tour. This exciting area is home to some of the most delicious and diverse food you will find anywhere. With emigrants from so many different countries and cultures living here at one point or another, visitors will be hard pushed not to find something to whet their appetites amongst the neighbourhood’s vast amount of traditional and modern restaurants. Here we discuss the best restaurants Lower East Side has to offer.
Jewish restaurants
One of the first types of foods visitors will encounter in the area is Jewish. During the 1900’s there were almost one million Jewish people living in the neighbourhood. Today, they only make up about 20% of the population but their delis and traditional bakeries can still be found dotted around the area.
The most famous of the Jewish delicatessens in New York is Katz’s deli, which serves a mouth-watering selection of kosher style food including hot dogs, pastrami and incredible sandwiches. In fact this deli is so good, don’t be surprised to find queues out of the door during lunchtime.
Tourists in the know will also be able to find some amazing Kosher restaurants. Bakeries serve up some of the most delicious baked goods in New York City including Bialys, a type of Jewish bagel that will keep you coming back for more.
Chinese cuisine
Any self-respecting foodie looking for the best restaurants on the Lower East Side should also make an effort to sample at least one of the vast numbers of Chinese restaurants in the area. Whether you’re looking for freshly made dumplings or perfectly cooked noodles, you’ll find them here. To top it all off, Chinese food tends to be extremely good value meaning you can treat your taste buds for less.
Huge variety of choice
As well as more popular food options, restaurants in the Lower East Side also cater to niche tastes. For example, it’s in this area that you will find one of the very last surviving pickle stores, home to every kind of pickle imaginable. Thanks to rising rent prices these pickle stores are disappearing but the ones that remain are definitely well worth seeking out.
In recent years, there has also been a whole host of more modern eating establishments opening up including a vegan café owned by a well-known music star, a hidden restaurant serving rustic cuisine and a BYOB Filipino-Thai tapas joint that serves up octopus alongside bamboo.
There are tens of thousands of restaurants to choose from in New York but the Lower East Side is truly the best neighbourhood to visit for anyone looking to experience a real taste of this amazing city.
Fancy discovering the delicious foods of the Lower East Side for yourself? Just book your place on Walks of New York’s Lower East Side tour today.
About the author: This blog post was written by Ruth Aravena, an Irish travel blogger and newly-initiated resident of NYC. She joined forces with Walks of New York to get to grips with the city during her first few weeks of residence. The tours are ours but all opinions are her own.