Eater's 30 Iconic NYC Restaurant Dishes

[Wilfrid]

No, you've only tried it if it spills all over the dubious plastic tray.

[Orik]

Ok, looking at the list on a PC, it's actually 17.

[joethefoodie]

I was thinking how regional these picks were, how uninteresting most of them were to my taste and wondered how SF would fare. Voila. https://sf.eater.com/maps/san-francisco-iconic-foods-classic-dishes-best-drinks

 

Yup. Definitely hometown favorites.

I've actually had 10 if those!

 

SF list much smarter by including drinks as a category.

[Seth Gordon]

28. Never even been to Delmonico's or 21 Club..

 

Odd assortment. And if Levain makes the list its a shonda it's missing a classic NY Black & White, say, or Green's Chocolate Babke.

 

Im not a sweets-for-brunch guy but I'll defend their choice of Clinton Street for pancakes. I prefer Tom's, yeah, and they've been around longer, and the lines are just as long. But CSBC has established themselves as iconic at this point, I suppose. They've been around longer than a number of places on the list.

 

Id probably add a Roast Beef n' Mutz. Original John's or Roll n' Roaster.

 

Typical Eater, though, Queens barely exists unless Sietsema is talking about it. The only two Queens places on the map are joints with outposts in Manhattan.

[joethefoodie]

I guarantee there's at least one poster on MFF who believes (and perhaps justifiably so) that the veal chop at Parkside is iconic-ier than the one at Carbone.

[Peter Creasey]

I tend to think of veal chops as boring and totally dependent on its sauce treatment.

 

Unless the iconic listing cites the sauce treatment, then I'm surprised a veal chop would be considered iconic.

[Suzanne F]

I don't see how dishes at so many relatively new places could possibly be iconic. That is, the dish might be, but not that version.

 

FWIW: I used to make the tuna tartare, although not at Gotham. Chefs who worked for Portale took some dishes with them.

[Orik]

 

I was thinking how regional these picks were, how uninteresting most of them were to my taste and wondered how SF would fare. Voila. https://sf.eater.com/maps/san-francisco-iconic-foods-classic-dishes-best-drinks

 

Yup. Definitely hometown favorites.

I've actually had 10 if those!

 

SF list much smarter by including drinks as a category.

 

 

I don't know that any of those drinks are on tourist lists, feels more like after they listed the 10 or so actual items (including ice cream and pastry) they've had to pad the list with another 20. Once you get away from Pier 39 it does end up accurately reflecting what people in SF eat (sweets, bread, sweet bread, sweet cocktails, rice in bread) but that's not the same as listing iconic dishes.

 

The nyc list is not bad in that sense, even if some of it is outdated. For example I don't know that GCOB is on tourist lists any more - instead everyone has to get lobster at Chelsea Market, and eggs benedict are "the thing to get" at Balthazar.

[voyager]

 

 

I was thinking how regional these picks were, how uninteresting most of them were to my taste and wondered how SF would fare. Voila. https://sf.eater.com/maps/san-francisco-iconic-foods-classic-dishes-best-drinks

 

Yup. Definitely hometown favorites.

I've actually had 10 if those!

 

SF list much smarter by including drinks as a category.

 

 

I don't know that any of those drinks are on tourist lists, feels more like after they listed the 10 or so actual items (including ice cream and pastry) they've had to pad the list with another 20. Once you get away from Pier 39 it does end up accurately reflecting what people in SF eat (sweets, bread, sweet bread, sweet cocktails, rice in bread) but that's not the same as listing iconic dishes.

 

The nyc list is not bad in that sense, even if some of it is outdated. For example I don't know that GCOB is on tourist lists any more - instead everyone has to get lobster at Chelsea Market, and eggs benedict are "the thing to get" at Balthazar.

 

There is nothing more iconic than Liguria Bakery's focaccia or the Buena Vista's Irish coffee. Alcatraz is on tourist lists.

[Adrian]

21 on the NYC list because I've done much of my NYC eating as a tourist. I was initially surprised at the relatively low numbers from the locals, but this now seems a feature not a bug and an argument for the list - Eater is making the foodie equivalent of a list that includes the Statue of Liberty, Top of the Rock, Coney Island, a Broadway Show, and "taking a photo with the Wall Street Bull"

 

From that perspective, the SF list is just weird and seems to reflect a pre-tech money list. No gibralter/cortado at Blue Bottle? Two ice creams but not Humphrey Slocomb's "secret breakfast"? No torta at Torta Gorda? No tiki cocktails? No fine dining dishes (mock-shark fin soup at Benu)? State bird at State Bird (which is actually kind of a mediocre dish)? Their list strongly deviates from the "quintessentially San Francisco" tourist foodie itinerary in a way the NYC list doesn't.

[wingding]

I’ve had eleven of these,and the falafel at Mamoun’s is the only one that I have et more than once...and there is much better falafel around now,anyhoo... Love Liguria focaccia and Swan Oyster Depot,and Tartine bread in SF,and have enjoyed all more than once...

[voyager]

From that perspective, the SF list is just weird and seems to reflect a pre-tech money list. No gibralter/cortado at Blue Bottle? Two ice creams but not Humphrey Slocomb's "secret breakfast"? No torta at Torta Gorda? No tiki cocktails? No fine dining dishes (mock-shark fin soup at Benu)? State bird at State Bird (which is actually kind of a mediocre dish)? Their list strongly deviates from the "quintessentially San Francisco" tourist foodie itinerary in a way the NYC list doesn't.

"Quintessentially San Francisco" and "tourist foodie itinerary" are hardly synonyms, nor is much post-tech money food truly iconic. Iconic traditionally has meant something that has withstood the test of time. Audrey Hepburn is iconic; Katy Perry not likely.

[Steve R.]

I’ve had eleven of these,and the falafel at Mamoun’s is the only one that I have et more than once...and there is much better falafel around now,anyhoo... Love Liguria focaccia and Swan Oyster Depot,and Tartine bread in SF,and have enjoyed all more than once...

Of my 16, I’ve had 12 more than once &, of those 12, I’ve eaten 6-8 of them countless times over the years.

[Adrian]

 

From that perspective, the SF list is just weird and seems to reflect a pre-tech money list. No gibralter/cortado at Blue Bottle? Two ice creams but not Humphrey Slocomb's "secret breakfast"? No torta at Torta Gorda? No tiki cocktails? No fine dining dishes (mock-shark fin soup at Benu)? State bird at State Bird (which is actually kind of a mediocre dish)? Their list strongly deviates from the "quintessentially San Francisco" tourist foodie itinerary in a way the NYC list doesn't.

"Quintessentially San Francisco" and "tourist foodie itinerary" are hardly synonyms, nor is much post-tech money food truly iconic. Iconic traditionally has meant something that has withstood the test of time. Audrey Hepburn is iconic; Katy Perry not likely.

 

 

Something can't be iconic if only locals have heard of it. You'll get a lot more traction with people who live in the world with secret breakfast or the gibraltar than the rebel within or the cruffin.

 

No one has ever said "you're going to San Francisco? you gotta get the hangtown fry and have a martini at aub zam zam" in history, not once, ever, the way they've said "you gotta go to Katz's/El Farolito/eat a bread bowl/get the carbone veal chop" etc.

[Wilfrid]

28. Never even been to Delmonico's or 21 Club.

I've been to 21Club many times, but never eaten there. Love the bar.

 

I've been to Clinton St BC too, but not for brunch. No idea what I ate, but probably not the pancakes. I am not one who orders pancakes.