New York
Alone

PRACTICAL SAMPLE

Neighborhood Food Guides: Eating Through the City

Brooklyn’s food scene has exploded in recent decades. Williamsburg’s waterfront contains restaurants with views across the water to Manhattan. Williamsburg contains a mix of international cuisines reflecting the neighborhood’s diversity. Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill are historically Italian neighborhoods now gentrified but still containing Italian restaurants, bakeries, delis surviving since the early 20th century. Prospect Heights has become trendy in recent years, with new restaurants constantly opening. A practical approach in Brooklyn is to walk the neighborhood, look at restaurant windows, and choose based on what appeals to you.

Chinatown remains the center for authentic Chinese food. The neighborhood is vast, with hundreds of restaurants serving regional cuisines: Sichuan, Cantonese, Fujianese, Shanghai, Hunan. Menus are often in Chinese; English translations are approximate or absent. Menus may include dishes you haven’t met before. The food is excellent, and prices are cheap. Strategy: start at Jing Fong on Centre Street (see above), ask the server what’s good, and order.

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