New York Restaurants, Through Their Own Lens

Keens has served dinner off Herald Square since 1885, under a ceiling hung with tens of thousands of clay pipes. The order is the mutton chop. Raoul's has been on Prince Street since 1975, a pressed-tin room crowded with art where the steak au poivre has been the order for decades. Victor's Café opened in 1963 and is still family-owned; book a pre-theater table and order the ropa vieja.

Upstairs on Houston Street, Ignacio Mattos's Estela has been one of the city's defining restaurants for more than a decade; always get the endive salad. Its Italian sibling, Altro Paradiso, catches the late light off the Hudson on Spring Street. On Mott Street, Thai Diner picked up where Uncle Boons left off, from Thai tea babka French toast at breakfast to khao soi later on.

Two Williamsburg rooftops put the Manhattan skyline in front of you: Laser Wolf grills Israeli skewers on the roof of the Hoxton, and Westlight looks out from the 22nd floor of The William Vale. Back at street level, Bonnie's serves Calvin Eng's Cantonese-American cooking, from the cha siu McRib to an MSG martini, and Lise & Vito keeps Nassau Avenue up late with natural wine under pink neon.

Okdongsik's Bell Boulevard room serves almost one thing: dweji gomtang, the clear pork soup that has made its Seoul original a Michelin Bib Gourmand since 2018. In Ridgewood, Hellbender is built for groups, with fried Oaxacan cheese to start and a jello of the day to finish.

Peter Pan has been frying donuts on Manhattan Avenue since the early 1950s; get the sour cream glazed, early, at the counter. Barker Cafeteria on Nostrand bakes its own focaccia and changes its menu often, so ask what's on the board. Patisserie Tomoko in Williamsburg makes Japanese desserts with French technique, with a weekend dessert flight paired with wine or sake.

We'll keep adding to this as more photos arrive. If you run a place we write about and want to share a picture, we'd love to hear from you.