How often do you eat out? Where do you like to go most? What are your favorite dishes?
If you were to compile a list of the best places to eat in your area, what would be on it? Why? And how would you convince others that you were right?
If you’d like some examples of how to do this well, check out “The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City 2023,” written by Pete Wells, The Times’s restaurant critic. He introduces the feature by writing:
Here they are, the 100 best restaurants in New York City, ranked.
There are at least two ways to read this list. Obviously, it is a guide, based on my decade of reviewing. If you use it this way, though, be warned that at some of these places you’ll have a smooth leather seat with a full view of the kitchen and at others you’ll have to find an empty patch of sidewalk and eat on your feet. And most fall somewhere in between.
The list can also be used as a composite portrait of the city. I’ve attempted to arrange my favorite restaurants into a pattern that captures the diversity and character of dining in New York. This was the fun part because it gave me a chance to see the dining landscape differently.
This is what he wrote about four of his favorite spots — a pizzeria, a food cart, a large outdoor market and a “general store” with diner food.
Una Pizza Napoletana
Did the first baker in Naples to smear tomato pulp on a patch of dough realize he was starting a cult? He was, and its house of worship in New York is Una Pizza Napoletana. True believers can recite the standing menu of six pies. Some pies bring the pinprick acidity in buffalo mozzarella to the foreground; others hit you with oregano’s mildly druggy aroma of camphor. But above all, the faithful come for the soft, tender, char-freckled crust. It has more integrity and character than some of the people you talk to every day.
Tacos El Borrego
Nobody ever seems to use its name. You just say you are going to the late-night al pastor cart on Roosevelt Avenue and people in this part of Queens know what you mean, even though Tacos El Borrego is far from the only one. It also sells a lot more than al pastor. Taqueros whose movements are a blur fill tender, soft corn tortillas with all the usual meats, supplemented sometimes by brains and eyes and tongue, to make palm-size tacos that sell for $2.50 each. The red and green salsas could, on their own, earn this sidewalk operation a following. But after trying the carnitas and chorizo and so forth, you might find that you still prefer the al pastor. Moist from its adobo marinade, the pork is carved from a spinning trompo the size of a church bell and then topped with a spoonful of fresh pineapple cut into a neat, skillful brunoise.
Shopsin’s General Store
Seeing the restaurant he founded on this list would kill Kenny Shopsin if he weren’t already dead. He tried to ban critics, fearing they might attract new customers who wouldn’t understand such unhinged diner food as mac-and-cheese pancakes and Blisters on My Sisters. You may not quite get them, either, but go anyway. To eat at Shopsin’s is to see once again the beauty in going your own way, critics be damned.
Queens Night Market
You might think of this seasonal Saturday-night bazaar, which starts up again on April 29, as one-stop shopping for many of the far-flung cuisines sold throughout Queens. But one of the market’s strengths is finding entrepreneurs who are just starting out; some of the cooks haven’t even made it to the entry-level sidewalk stage yet. The tents behind the space-age oddity of the New York Hall of Science have introduced many New Yorkers to flaky Sudanese sambuxa pastries filled with spiced beef, and to cinnamon-scented chimney cake in the style of Romania and Hungary, roasted on a spit and brushed with butter. At most stalls you’ll wait in line something like 20 times longer than it takes to eat whatever it is they’re selling. Then again, almost nothing costs more than $6.
Students, read the entire article and then tell us:
Which descriptions in this piece stood out to you? Why? Which made you hungry? Did any make you laugh?
What would you put on your personal list of the best eateries in your area? Consider the full range of places people eat out, like fancy restaurants, fast-food chains, diners, pizzerias and food carts.
Did this list of 100 places make you want to be a more adventurous eater in your area? If so, what establishment, or type of food, would you like to try?
Have you ever introduced your friends or family to a great place that you discovered? What was notable about it? Did those you recommended it to agree with you?
Choose one of the places on your list and write a short description of what makes it special. What are the best dishes? How are they made? What ingredients are notable? How would you describe the taste? What else is interesting about this place? Think about the location, clientele, owner, décor, prices or anything else.
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.
Find more Student Opinion questions here. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate these prompts into your classroom.
