Its people and the variety in good eating the people provide to all of us.<\/p>\n
That was my awed response to 2026 The New York Times annual 100 best restaurants list. Which I embraced in its entirety — while eating a big salad. (You need to have a satiated stomach before absorbing the short, lyrical and luscious Times writer’s descriptions of these restaurants lest you instantly head out to one of them and not come home until you’ve eaten at every one.)<\/p>\n
Astonishing, the range of city locations (all five boroughs and some neighborhoods I’ve never heard of until now), ambience (“scruffy” t0 palatial) and prices (a meal for $10 to a meal for $$$$).<\/p>\n
But most wondrous is how the entire world<\/em> is centered here, in New York, a tale told by its restaurants.<\/p>\n I’ve pulled together the cuisines represented in the 100 Best list, indented below. I haven’t included the many variations within each area, or repeated the number of times Japanese restaurants, say, are on this list:<\/p>\n Pakistani, Indian, Mexican, Italian, Albanian, Trinidadian and Tobagonian, West African, Ghanian, Sri Lankan, Jewish deli, Jamaican, Caribbean, Taiwanese, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Japanese, Chinese, Singaporean, American southern soul food, Burmese, Korean, Moroccan, French-Caribbean, Asian-Southern, Middle Eastern, Filipino, Nepalese, Uyghur, Basque-Spanish, Tibetan, Thai, Iranian, French, French-Vietnamese, Mediterranean, Malaysian,\u00a0 Chinese, New American, Asian American Diner, French-Seafood, Yemeni,\u00a0 Egyptian, Georgian, Indonesian, Scandinavian, Creole, African, Swedish.<\/em><\/p>\n Needless to say, this remarkably varied list doesn’t cover all the ethnic cuisines (and the people) available in New York. My quick reckoning picked up other countries’ cuisines not currently represented in the 100, like Haitian, Russian, Ethiopian, Afghanistani, South American, British, Irish — and a whole heap of others which would probably make a 500-Best, or no Best List at all, except our personal favorites list.<\/p>\n Thing is, for reasons I need not mention, more than at any other time in my life I’m experiencing a deep love for and enhanced awareness of my birthplace and eternal home. It is the best place, and is the best because of its foundation, the early 17th century Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam, the initial and burgeoning population of which was not exclusively Dutch.<\/p>\n As I’ve learned from reading Russell Shorto’s terrific history, The Island at the Center of the World<\/em>, and its (sort of) sequel, Taking Manhattan,\u00a0<\/em>the 100 Best began with the even-then heterogeneous immigrant colony that was New Amsterdam, and is now even more heterogeneous New York City.<\/p>\n I am ever grateful.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Its people and the variety in good eating the people provide to all of us. That was my awed response to 2026 The New York Times annual 100 best restaurants list. Which I embraced in its entirety — while eating … Continue reading