What Foods Would You Miss Most If You Were Banished from New York?

Published on Monday, October 25, 2010, by Alex Van Buren / Edit Post

Last week on CNN’s food blog, Eatocracy, New York Times food writer Kim Severson bemoaned the things she’d have to leave behind in her Brooklyn fridge when relocating to Atlanta this month. By and large, commenters reamed her for not simply driving or shipping her beloved collection of salsas, pickles, and Parmesan cheese rinds to Georgia. But the piece got us thinking: If we were banished from New York, what would we miss most? We asked our fellow Chowhounds, and got a quick response. We heard about black and white cookies and pretzels, dim sum and chicken parm heros.

Unsurprisingly, the slice and hot dogs emerged as the most hypothetically yearned-for foods, followed closely by bagels and bialys in our poll. But the more conceptual answer of "diversity" was cited just as frequently as the top contenders. In fact, glutton08 rejected the poll quite eloquently, saying, "Impossible question. There's a reasonable version of pretty much any food you can get in the city at least one other place in the world. What I couldn't live without is the variety of great foods in such a small geographic area." We have to agree. Best of luck to Severson in her new home—we’ll eat a pastrami from Katz's, or maybe a salad, and send good wishes her way.

Katz’s [Lower East Side]
205 E. Houston Street, New York
212-254-2246

Discuss: What New York food could you not live without? A Q from CHOW

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COMMENT

  • Pizza & Hotdogs for sure.
    http://www.AtlantaLobster.com

  • And Tatamagouche, NY may not be the ONLY place for bagels, dim sum, pizza or hot dogs, but there is a distinct flavor and taste and feel to them that, once you have had them, you realize cannot be replicated anywhere else which then DOES make it the ONLY place for bagels, dim sum pizza and hot dogs.

  • I've been living the "missing" part for years now. I miss H&H salt bagels after a trip to Zabars, pizza from Patsys uptown where I grew up, Schaller and Weber Deli and meats from the Second Avenue store four blocks from my apartment of 45 years.......oh, just so many things that are only NY, like the Polish restaurants downtown with fresh pierogies. People may think living in Louisiana means...+READ

    I've been living the "missing" part for years now. I miss H&H salt bagels after a trip to Zabars, pizza from Patsys uptown where I grew up, Schaller and Weber Deli and meats from the Second Avenue store four blocks from my apartment of 45 years.......oh, just so many things that are only NY, like the Polish restaurants downtown with fresh pierogies. People may think living in Louisiana means great food but to us it is a culinary wasteland compared to the variety we grew up on in NYC, lord help you if you don't like hot food if you relocate and live down here!-COLLAPSE

  • I will miss the New York choice as everybody, but also the delicious pasta and team at Nooï bacause you cannot find them elsewhere in the US!

  • First things first: anything that uses NYC water in the preparation. Take that away and the food goes downhill from there - ever wonder why the coffee and the pizza taste so weird in southern Florida?

    Second, Flushing Chinatown. Third, everything else.

  • any form of dough-bagels,italian bread and especially pizza; and good deli selections are rare except in san francisco.

  • To reiterate: 1st and foremost: ANY form of bread. Bialys, bagels, pizza, that dark and crusty sourdough, kaiser rolls - none of which are any good in many other places. Chinese food that gets to your door perfectly cooked to order before you hang up the phone. Luger's. Pumpernickel bagel w/lox and a smear from Russ & Daughters. Curry Hill. Wo Hop. Cuban Sammies from UWS delis (they have good...+READ

    To reiterate: 1st and foremost: ANY form of bread. Bialys, bagels, pizza, that dark and crusty sourdough, kaiser rolls - none of which are any good in many other places. Chinese food that gets to your door perfectly cooked to order before you hang up the phone. Luger's. Pumpernickel bagel w/lox and a smear from Russ & Daughters. Curry Hill. Wo Hop. Cuban Sammies from UWS delis (they have good ones here in FL, but that's where I learned to eat em). Fabulous neighborhood Italian restaurants where you sat on the sidewalk. Burn 'em and bag 'em fries (Especially Pearl St Diner's). Pea soup with cinnamon raisin croutons made from the prior day's bagels (Also from Pearl St Diner). Well done pizza from My Daddy's. Veselka. Smith&Wolly's cheeseburger. PJ Clarke's burger. JG Melon burger. Tomato&Feta omelet from Viand Diner. Veal shank from Kleine Konditorei on 86th. Beer and egg breakfast at Ideal Restaurant (also on 86th). Cuban Chinese food from La Caridad on the UWS on Broadway. Takeout from the old Harry's on Hanover (in the 80's, they would bring a white tablecloth and silverware and set it up at your desk). Rotisserie chicken from any of those bird places in midtown who pioneered the product. Mystery fig cookies from the Korean deli. Pastrami and corned beef from Carnegie. Or 2nd Ave Deli. RB, egg, and cheese from Elsa Deli. Full house ham on whiskey down from Essex Deli.

    ...to name a few.-COLLAPSE

  • Unless you live across from Nathans or a Papaya King/Gray's who is going to miss a hotdog more than a bagel?

  • Japanese food! The range and quality of Japanese restaurants that have sprung up in NYC over the past 5-10 years is second (a distant second) only to Japan. The only exception might be Seoul.

  • High quality, fresher-than-fresh sushi available on almost every block. As someone else pointed out, it's the availability factor. It isn't that things don't exist elsewhere, but that you have to go way out of your way to her them. In NY, the streets are paved with bagels, good bread, cheese, and fantastically fresh produce.

  • I live in South Brooklyn and I would most definitely miss the Bagels! Oh and of course the Pizza!

  • I agree its a range of foods.. but for me i miss the good italian delis and cold cuts. those heroes were the bomb! pizza is the best but can make it yourself and be pretty close. bagels and Chinese food the best probably better then in china. also great seafood in NY. bakery items cant be beat

  • I agree completely with Session: it is Deli. I was raised in the PHL area and have missed easy access to good deli since moving to greater ATL many years ago. It's out there, but not "around" like in the northeast or in MIA.

  • Cheese Danish, bagels, street-vendor pretzels, hot dogs and some deli fare are the only things that are distinctively better in NYC than elsewhere. Produce is far, far better elsewhere, especially in California. And it might come as a surprise to you that most of us elsewhere can get anything that you can get in NYC. -- Judith, formerly of Brooklyn Heights and Manhattan, now Santa Cruz,...+READ

    Cheese Danish, bagels, street-vendor pretzels, hot dogs and some deli fare are the only things that are distinctively better in NYC than elsewhere. Produce is far, far better elsewhere, especially in California. And it might come as a surprise to you that most of us elsewhere can get anything that you can get in NYC. -- Judith, formerly of Brooklyn Heights and Manhattan, now Santa Cruz, California.-COLLAPSE

  • Good Danishes. In NY you can get them in every block---don't know why they don't travel. Not even the name travels--I remember a murder mystery on TV in which the killer was caught when he called Danishes "sweet rolls" (their Midwestern name) although he claimed he was from New York and had never in his life left there so could not have been present at the extra-NY scene of the crime. Oh for a...+READ

    Good Danishes. In NY you can get them in every block---don't know why they don't travel. Not even the name travels--I remember a murder mystery on TV in which the killer was caught when he called Danishes "sweet rolls" (their Midwestern name) although he claimed he was from New York and had never in his life left there so could not have been present at the extra-NY scene of the crime. Oh for a good cheese or prune Danish.-COLLAPSE

  • I can tell you what I miss most...DELI'S. I grew up between NY and Philadelphia and now live in Washington DC - There are no good old fashioned (or any fashion for that matter) deli's. We have a counter in back of the supermarket with little to no selection. AND god forbid you ask them to slice cheese THIN. They have no idea what to do! My next big complaint : MAYO on everything! Mayo?? Why??...+READ

    I can tell you what I miss most...DELI'S. I grew up between NY and Philadelphia and now live in Washington DC - There are no good old fashioned (or any fashion for that matter) deli's. We have a counter in back of the supermarket with little to no selection. AND god forbid you ask them to slice cheese THIN. They have no idea what to do! My next big complaint : MAYO on everything! Mayo?? Why?? They don't even ask you - they just put it on.-COLLAPSE

  • Hm. Having never lived in NY, but having lived in Oklahoma, California, Iowa, Massachusetts, and Colorado, in that order, I have to say—you can get pretty good SALADS outside of NY.

    I will grant NY the bagels and bialys, maybe the pickles (although the Midwestern states are pretty good at those too). But it is not the only place for dim sum, pizza, or hot dogs. It sure as HELL is not the only...+READ

    Hm. Having never lived in NY, but having lived in Oklahoma, California, Iowa, Massachusetts, and Colorado, in that order, I have to say—you can get pretty good SALADS outside of NY.

    I will grant NY the bagels and bialys, maybe the pickles (although the Midwestern states are pretty good at those too). But it is not the only place for dim sum, pizza, or hot dogs. It sure as HELL is not the only place for salsas—in fact, it might not even be in the top 5.-COLLAPSE