New York City has some of the most creative restaurants in the world and tons of options for you to chose from. Months before we were scheduled to travel to New York City I had been doing tons of research planning out my perfect itinerary, which included where we were going to eat. I had been following the blog @new_fork_city to find inspiration for where I wanted to eat. Thanks to this blog I had the hardest time narrowing down my list of restaurants I wanted to try. Everything they post on their instagram feed looks incredible! I’m generally a picky eater so I wanted to plan as many meals as possible and @new_fork_city definitely made that easier.
I’m a visual person so I like to see some of my options before committing to a restaurant. After stumbling upon several different photos with incredible looking food I started looking further into the restaurant that was tagged in the photo. My first step was to check and see if tagged restaurant had an instagram account. If they, did I’d scroll through their pictures and check out what else they had to offer. If everything looked appealing my next step was to search them on TripAdvisor. TripAdvisor is my go-to on all things travel related. I usually start with checking to see if the restaurant has a ‘Certificate of Excellence’. Certificate of Excellence is awarded to establishments around the world that consistently deliver excellent service. Although this isn’t a deal breaker it certainly adds some piece of mind.
After checking to see if they’ve received a Certificate of Excellence I usually check out the reviews. Take all reviews with a grain of salt! People will give establishments poor reviews over the most ridiculous issues. I’m pretty easy going so as long as the food tastes good and didn’t take hours to receive then I can overlook other things. Some people are just miserable in general and impossible to please and have no issue giving poor ratings just because they are miserable.
I usually tend to shy away from establishments whose reviews are 50/50 or even 60/40. However, if an establishment has 2000 good to excellent reviews over their 200 poor to terrible reviews then I’m definitely more likely to go there.
After checking out reviews I usually check out the photos posted by other travellers. Featured photos are usually taken from the establishments website and only show you the best photos which is why I prefer to rely on other travellers photos. Other traveller’s photos usually aren’t filtered and show you the good, the bad and the ugly.
After many hours of searching and googling I finally was able to compile a list of restaurants I wanted to eat at that I knew would be open in December.
Shake Shack
The burgers at Shake Shack are literally what food dreams are made of! Thanks to @new_fork_city, I had come across the Shake Shack on their instagram. Everything looked so incredible I wish I had time to try it all. We went to the Shake Shack located in Fulton Center after checking out the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. This location was actually extremely busy! There was already a line of people waiting to order and an even longer line of people waiting to receive their order so I was pretty discouraged at first as I was pretty hungry. Often times when dealing with a restaurant this busy things tend to go wrong and orders tend to get mixed up, but I can say this wasn’t the case here.
Although the menu featured many delicious options I decided to keep it simple and ordered the ShackBurger (cheeseburger topped with lettuce, tomato and shack sauce), fries and a chocolate shake. I’m generally not a big fan of crinkle cut fries (I just find they don’t taste that good), but these were actually the best crinkle cut fries I had ever tried and not just because I was hungry! The burger was delicious and the shack sauce was absolutely incredible. My favourite part of the meal was definitely the chocolate shake. Not many restaurants have mastered making the perfect shake but Shake Shack definitely has. The thickness was perfect (not so thick that you couldn’t drink it, but not watery) and it was rich and chocolately! The entire meal was absolutely delicious and I can’t wait till the next time I’m in the US so I can go back!
Mexicue
I’ve been on quite the taco kick lately so when I heard about this place, I knew I had to try it! This was actually one of my favourite restaurants we went to while we were in New York. The atmosphere was very friendly and laid back and the tacos were incredible!
We started off with some chips and salsa (cause who goes to a Mexican restaurant and doesn’t get chips and salsa!?). We chose the mild salsa, which was actually still pretty hot but super delicious! I’m not a big fan of chunky salsa and neither is my fiancé, which is what made this salsa so perfect!
I’ve always been a huge seafood fanatic so I decided to order one lobster taco and one shrimp taco while my fiancé ordered two of the pulled pork tacos. The tacos were a pretty decent size (I’ve been to restaurants that serve smaller) and were packed! Both the lobster and the shrimp taco were extremely good and didn’t disappoint. I’m generally not a huge fan of pulled pork, but I couldn’t resist trying a bite just for the creamy chipotle. Although I’m not a huge fan of pulled pork I would most definitely order one the next time we go back!
I thought all the items on the menu were reasonably priced. The tacos were between $5-$6/taco (excluding the lobster taco which was about $9). I found each of the tacos had a generous serving of meat and fresh toppings! I think the next time I go back I’ll have to try their queso dip and smoky chicken tacos – yum!
Luke’s Lobster
We actually had a hard time locating Luke’s Lobster at first. When I stumbled across their restaurant I focused mainly on the menu and the reviews so I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking for. Luke’s Lobster is actually located at the corner of 8th Avenue and 44th Street in the Kitchen Food Hall on the second floor at the Row Hotel. There is two different entrances you can use – one on 8th Avenue and the other on 44th Street. The Food Hall overlooks Times Square so I enjoyed just people watching and the hustle and bustle of New York City.
As I mentioned above, I am a huge seafood fanatic so I ordered the Lobster Roll and the Lobster and Corn Chowder. It was pretty busy while we were there but our food came out pretty quickly. This was actually the most appealing Lobster Roll I had ever seen. The roll was packed full of lobster with a generous amount of garlic butter on top, so good! The Lobster and Corn Chowder was unlike anything I had ever tried before; it was rich and creamy and filled with two of my favourite things, lobster and corn! The meal cost me around $28-30 with tip and was worth every penny. Everything was made perfectly and I will surely be back the next time I’m in the area!
EJ’s Luncheonette
EJ’s Luncheonette was at the top of my list of restaurants in New York City. Their instagram feed looked absolutely delicious and had tons of good reviews. After checking out their menu and instagram I think I wanted to try just about everything on the menu, which is actually pretty rare for me. I normally pick out my staple item (usually a buffalo chicken wrap or some variance of buffalo chicken) and stick with that.
EJ’s Luncheonette is located on the Upper East Side at the corner of 3rd and 73rd Street and has been open since 1990. EJ’s Luncheonette has received a Certificate of Excellence for three years now and is known best for their burgers, friendly service and brunch!
Although there are many items that sparked my interest, the one that caught my eye the most was their Chocolate Chip Pancakes. Pancakes are one of my favourite breakfast foods as I’m not a big fan of eggs. When I stumbled across a picture of their chocolate chip pancakes I knew I had to try them. The pancakes were so large they almost covered the entire plate and there was a generous serving of chocolate chips in the middle of the pancakes. I had also heard great things about their milkshakes so I of course had to try one! Not only did the pancakes and the chocolate milkshake exceed my expectation but so did the staff! Everyone was super friendly and the service was quick!
If I had enough time while I was in New York City I would have gone there for breakfast, lunch and supper just so that I could try multiple items on the menu. I am certain that I will be going back to EJ’s Luncheonette the next time I’m there.
There was one place that I didn’t get a chance to try while I was in New York as it was closed for the season and that was Mister Dips. Mister Dips is a food truck located in Vale Park at the corner of 12th and Wythe Avenue. I had been following @eatmisterdips for quite some time and everything they post looks amazing! They specialize in burgers, fries and ice cream! Each item is extravagant in its own way. The ‘dirty dipped waffles fries’ (waffle fries topped with queso and scallions) look absolutely incredible and their ice creams are usually dipped and topped with some of my favourite toppings! I will definitely make sure I stop here the next time I’m in New York City!
