If you’re the kind of person who gets high once a year, today is likely the day you do it. If you're the kind of person who gets high way more times than once a year, every day is likely the day you do it. If you're the kind of person who does either, you're gonna want to read about these 20 must-eat NYC munchies.
Oh, and we pulled some of these from our new hasthtag #forkyeah, so if taking pics of ohmygodfood and getting Insta-famous is your thing, start tagging your photos and we’ll share the best ones on our Instagram and Facebook. Enjoy.
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Fried chicken and waffle sandwiches
Root & Bone (address and info)
East Village
Duh.
Late-night breakfast sandwiches filled with meatballs
Meatball Shop (address and info)
Multiple locations
After 11pm, scoring this American cheese, fried egg, bacon, and breakfast meatball sandwich from The Meatball Shop should be your only goal.
Dim sum, all the dim sum
Multiple locations
Oh, but you don’t know which one to hit up? Let us enlighten you.
Subway churros
Assorted subway stations throughout the city
Get them before the NYPD does.
Nugchos
The Nugget Spot (address and info)
East Village
They’re a hybrid of nachos and nuggets, and thanks to the Nugget Spot, now you don’t have to do this yourself. Also of note here: the 420 Combo, which includes 20 pieces of any chicken nugget, two sides, two drinks, and one CSB (deep-fried cookie dough nuggets) for $20 and a nugget eating contest at 8pm today.
Korean baked goods
Tous Les Jours (address and info)
Koreatown
It has some excellent bread, but also, some insanity like this hot dog cheesy bread shot by Thrillist Partnerships Manager @yvngandrew.
Mac & cheese
Mable’s Smokehouse (address and info)
Williamsburg
You're thinking about licking your screen right now, aren’t you? DON’T! Get this killer mac from Mable’s like @instafung did.
Crispy arepa frita Cubana
Patacon Pisao (address and info)
Lower East Side
@PataconPisaoNYC does a lot of good stuff, but not a whole lot looks better than this crispy arepa frita Cubana, loaded with fried queso blanco, pulled pork, and ham.
Vito Corleone Dog
New York Dog House (address and info)
Astoria
This links spot just debuted this bad boy with sautéed peppers, mushrooms, marinara, and mozzarella on a weisswurst. You’re gonna want this.
Adult Cheese
The Commodore (address and info)
Williamsburg
Distract yourself with a video game or a weird movie from the '80s while you house down on this master class in grilled cheese making.
Shake Shack's breakfast sandwiches
Shake Shack in Grand Central (address and info)
Midtown
What you’re doing up this early and in Grand Central is a mystery, but make it worthwhile by scoring a box of these bad boys.
Torta Puma
Tortas Neza at Juan Bar (address and info)
Corona
Get out to Corona for some of the best cheap eats in the city at the window for Tortas Neza at Juan Bar and experience a massive sandwich that’s packed with pretty much every meat you can think of (or at least everything they have).
Falafel
Taïm (address and info)
West Village
Munchies are better when you can pretend they’re healthy.
Smoked meat poutine
Mile End (address and info)
Nolita/Boerum Hill
Cheese curds, gravy, fries, smoked meat, repeat.
Donuts
Brooklyn Star (address and info)
Williamsburg
Another winner from @yvngandrew, these go great with fried chicken and another order of donuts.
Chairman Bao
Baohaus (address and info)
East Village
Eddie Huang is famous now, and these are the buns that got him started. Those are two facts you will probably not remember while taking down, like, 20 of them. The photo’s by @Wendsdaway.
Crazy chicken fingers
Sticky’s Finger Joint (address and info)
West Village/Murray Hill
@one4islands knows what's up: get bomb chicken fingers covered with all kinds of crazy toppings, including pretzels and salted caramel. Also, don’t leave without getting the s’mores fries.
Ramenrrito
PressTea (address and info)
West Village
A burrito with ramen jammed in it sounds exactly right.
The Bacon Egg and Cheese Bagel bacon egg and cheese
The Bagel Store (address and info)
Williamsburg
It doesn't always have this concoction, but there always is something interesting like the Cragel, a croissant-bagel hybrid, or a French toast bagel.
Anything from our recipes section
Your kitchen
Have you seen what our mad genius chef is doing over there? Bacon Bowls. Deep-fried Cadbury Cream eggs. Breakfast cereal cookies. Bacon-wrapped, stout-battered onion rings, we could go on... what’s that? You want us to go on? Fine... enormous meatballs stuffed with spaghetti.
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Andrew Zimmer is Thrillist's NYC Editor and he is almost definitely eating an entire can of Pringles right now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
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1. The Nugget Spot
230 E 14th St, New York -
2. Tous Les Jours
31 W 32nd St, New York -
3. Root & Bone
200 E 3rd St, New York -
4. Mable's Smokehouse and Banquet Hall
44 Berry St, New York -
5. Patacon Pisao
139 Essex St, New York -
6. New York Dog House
37-06 30th Ave, Queens -
7. The Commodore
366 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn -
8. Shake Shack
Grand Central Terminal, 109 E 42nd St, New York -
9. Tortas Neza at Juan Bar
11103 Roosevelt Ave, New York -
10. Taïm
222 Waverly Pl, New York -
11. The Brooklyn Star
593 Lorimer, New York -
12. BaoHaus
238 E 14th St, New York -
13. Sticky's Finger Joint
31 W 8th St, New York -
14. Presstea
167 7th Ave S, New York -
15. The Bagel Store
349 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn
An entire restaurant based on the simple concept of the chicken nugget? You betcha. Stop by and enjoy their laid-back atmosphere and some beer (or wine) or grab your nuggets to go!
Check out this Korean bakery in Koreatown for freshly baked bread, coffee and tea, sweet desserts, and even some ridiculousness like a cheesy bread with a sausage baked into the middle.
Top Chef veterans Jeff McInnis and Janine Booth dominate Alphabet City's fried chicken scene with Root & Bone. It's a Southern kitchen doing takeout-able, down-home (yet sneakily refined) eats, in a spot that could easily be the ground floor of some country B&B somewhere. Irresistible offerings include gooey corn spoonbread, BBQ brisket biscuits, and, of course, fried chicken.
Refurbishing former tonic water factory digs with their own four hands, the husband & wife team behind Mable's stocked their airy, industrial barn-steezed "roadhouse" with long communal tables set with chairs they either built themselves or sourced from flea markets, a giant buck head shot by the owner's cousin, and a central bar lit by hanging rusted buckets. The sliced brisket is lean with the perfect amount of fat and smokiness to not even require sauce. Order at the counter and be served almost as quickly as you can sit down.
This food truck turned restaurant has been serving Queens the best of Venezuelan cuisine since 2005, including their plantains, which have been raved about by everyone from locals to the New York Times.
Astoria's New York Dog House steps up with an impressive lineup of dogs, plus burgers, sandwiches, and an extensive signature cocktail list that you wouldn't necessarily expect from a hot-dog centric establishment.
The Commodore is a Southern/tropical-themed dive bar in Williamsburg. Open late, hipsters flock to its incredible fried chicken sandwiches, burgers, biscuits, and seriously dope grilled cheese. Its cocktails are also top-notch: get the eponymous Commodore, which is a Pina Colada gone buck-wild with an extra shot of amaretto thrown in there for good measure.
Located at Grand Central Station, this Shake Shack location is just as tasty as the original, doling out the seriously delicious burgers, shakes, custard & dogs that have made it a Big Apple institution.
The best tortas in town can be found from a little walk-up window at a bar in Corona, Queens. The chorizo and egg “Torta Chivas” is pretty much the best breakfast ever, and the carnitas are excellent, so be sure to make the trip up there.
This West Village counter-serve makes crave-worthy falafel that should definitely be part of your weekly lunch repertoire if you work nearby. The three varieties of falafel -- traditional, harissa, and roasted red pepper -- are served as sandwiches or platters, and are complemented by healthy sides like Israeli salad, spicy Moroccan carrots, and marinated red beets. Taim is quick and cheap (most sandwiches are under $10) but the food isn't greasy or fast-food like at all.
This Williamsburg spot is a renowned Southern foodery, thanks to its country-fried steak, Dr. Pepper ribs, bacon-wrapped trout, and of course, Chicken and Waffle Cones.
The incomparable Eddie Huang's shaking things up at the EVill follow-up to his smash hit BaoHaus, not only adding to the menu, but also upping the kitchen equipment (Actual gas! A real fryer!), going large enough to accommodate dining tables in addition to counter seating by the open kitchen, and throwing up a "Great Wall of Chinamen" mural featuring everyone from Confucius, to Connie Chung, to Gizmo, to a Dance Dance Revolution machine.
Pizza and burgers be damned, Sticky's wants to convert you to the chicken finger camp. Part lunch counter, part gourmet version of KFC, Sticky's is a sparsely decorated NYC chain whose graffitied walls and simple booths force you to focus on its wonderfully crispy chicken fingers and poppers, house-made dipping sauces, and loaded sides like the cheesy, greasy bacon mac fries.
Presstea, the West Village's prime dessert and small bites eatery, is also home to the city's only Ramenrrito. Head in for a delicious snack, or indulge in one of the heartiest ramen concoctions known to man.
Scot Rossillo, the legend behind The Bagel Store in Williamsburg, turns the round-shaped bread obsession into an art form. Using classic old-fashioned techniques and top-notch ingredients, the bagels and cragels that come from his imagination are nothing short of visionary. From the Rainbow Bagel to the German Pumpernickel Beer Bagel, it's clear that no color or ingredient is off-limits.