Daily Times

Want to see the best of New York? Then forget about the tourist traps and head to the places that native New Yorkers rate the highest: the bars, the burgers, the brunches and everything in between. We have pulled all the latest award-winners together to reveal a best-in-show New York that’s full of surprises.

Testing out all the venues has taken me to parts of the city I didn’t know existed – and it’s given me a road map for the perfect city tour.

Here’s my verdict on each of the new local favourites.

No accolade is fought over more fiercely than the one for the city’s best burger – and at the New York Wine & Food Festival, Clinton Hall’s Double Smash romped home with the People’s Choice award for its two beef patties with cheese, cheese sauce and crispy shallots, served on a mountain of fries.

How does it work, I ask, when I turn up to the Washington Street branch. ‘You find a flat space and put your butt on it,’ says the barman cheerfully. The place is noisy, with a bank of TVs, plus an outside area with pitch and putt and giant Jenga. It’s as much a hangout as a hamburger destination.

Filling, but with two burgers, cheese and cheese sauce, it’s a bit much. I prefer the simple Corner Bistro burger on W 4th Street.

Just a year after opening, Frenchette in the Tribeca district has scooped a collection of awards, including Eater’s Restaurant of the Year for its gutsy Gallic food. The decor belongs to a Truffaut film. Best of all, there’s a bargain prix fixe menu – two courses, a glass of wine and an espresso for $28.

I came expecting pretension but it’s relaxed with a buzz Coffee Project, East Village – Time Out magazine named this tiny coffee bar the best in the city, and owner Chi Sum Ngai’s signature drink is a deconstructed latte. For the uninitiated, that’s separate cups of espresso, steamed milk from a farm in Salem in upstate New York, and a latte, which you sip one at a time. They come accompanied by a glass of sparkling water to cleanse the palate, and a wafer. This may be a place of coffee pilgrimage, but you can still pop in for a quick cappuccino if you prefer.

Wins on every level – a world away from Starbucks.

From the pretzels in Central Park to artisanal cookie dough in Brooklyn’s weekly Smorgasburg market, New Yorkers have a full-throated passion for street food, and the annual Vendy Awards reward the best of the best. This year, Royal Grill Halal won the People’s Choice Cup. On 44th Street near Bryant Park, the tiny metal cart may look like all the others in the street, but the appreciative queue at its shiny counter makes it stand out.

One of the best curries I’ve ever eaten. Delicious, fresh and, at $6.99, a bargain

New York is all about the skyscrapers, and as it is the epitome of big-city cool to have a drink at the top of one, the race to be awarded the best rooftop bar is tough.

The latest Grub Street magazine winner is Ophelia, and even though it’s next door to the no-fun UN building, this 26th-floor eyrie has all the hipster bar essentials, including taxidermy, laid-back charm and well-constructed cocktails – favourites include classic martinis for $28.

The place also has a playful history – Frank Sinatra hung out here when it was called the Top Of The Tower restaurant. It’s a charmer of a bar with no attitude, despite the altitude

Best New Pizza Mama’s Too – in December, this tiny pizzeria topped website Gothamist’s best pizza list. Based on Broadway, high on the Upper West Side, it was a controversial choice because owner Frank Tuttolomondo uses a focaccia base instead of a more traditional one. But the queues speak for themselves, and so do the pizzas. Toppings are loaded with a generous hand and the resulting pizza is charred, cheap and delicious.

A bargain at $4.50 for a doorstep-size pizza, but the location is a bit out of the way.

The Big Apple has made such a feature over ‘shops as social places’ that New York magazine created an awards category for them – and this is the latest winner. Traffic roars past, but this all-white shop in SoHo is a haven of serenity.

Inside, there’s a selection of ceramics, fashion and books, a small cafe and even a garden in which to hang out. My coffee comes with two sprigs of lavender. I’m not sure why, but I appreciate the gesture. It is expensive at $8 but the serenity is priceless, even if everything else in the shop is way out of my league in terms of price.

It looks a bit intimidating but I love it.

The annual James Beard awards are America’s food Oscars and in 2018 it voted Missy Robbins the best chef in New York. Her restaurant, Lilia, is a light and airy warehouse space in the ultra-hip Williamsburg area of Brooklyn. You want a table? Fuggetaboutit. Reservations open up once a month and disappear within minutes, but if you turn up with the other foodie faithful at 5.30pm, you can eat at the bar.

Sitting at the bar is great fun and lets you look into the kitchen. My pasta was delicious.

Cafe Dante has been a landmark in Greenwich Village since 1915, and since it opened a bar in 2015 it hasn’t stopped winning awards.

The current winner of best bar from Time Out, it has style in spades, with bow-tied barmen behind the counter. The negronis are spectacular, and the food is just as good as the cocktails. Real fans sit at the bar – and get there early as happy hour runs from 3pm to 6pm. This place doesn’t rest on its award-winning laurels – it’s welcoming, relaxed, and the cocktails and food are delicious.

Grub Street says that the minuscule Madcap Cafe in Brooklyn serves the best brunch in New York. The rave dish is the blueberry pancake, baked in a skillet and it’s a light and fluffy winner at $11. The decor is 1940s small-town America and so is the feel, with locals perched on seats at the counter. But chef and owner Heather Fuller has worked at some of the best restaurants in town.

Madcap, which opened in April 2018, is set to become my new New York hangout. Charm and bargain prices make it a winner

The stylish readers of Travel & Leisure magazine voted this hotel New York’s finest. Tucked away on a leafy street near Central Park, an understated entrance leads to a series of hidden bars and restaurants – some available only for guests, others open to all – and some tiny terraces.

Serving French food with Moroccan touches, flower-filled Majorelle has been called New York’s prettiest restaurant.

Upstairs, the charm and stratospheric service levels continue, with 74 very spacious rooms and suites, all eau-de-nil peacefulness and old-school luxury.

Unshowy but very polished, The Lowell definitely lives up to its billing. It’s low-key but lovely.

The City of New York, usually called either New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States.

With an estimated 2018 population of 8,398,748 distributed over a land area of about 302.6 square miles, New York is also the most densely populated major city in the US.

Located at the southern tip of the state of New York, the city is the centre of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass and one of the world’s most populous megacities, with an estimated 19,979,477 people in its 2018 Metropolitan Statistical Area and 22,679,948 residents in its Combined Statistical Area.

A global power city, New York City has been described as the cultural, financial and media capital of the world and exerts a significant impact upon commerce, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, art, fashion and sports. The city’s fast pace has inspired the term New York minute.

Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important centre for international diplomacy.

Situated on one of the world’s largest natural harbours, New York City consists of five boroughs, each of which is a separate county of the State of New York.

The five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898.

The city and its metropolitan area constitute the premier gateway for legal immigration to the US.

As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world.

New York City is home to more than 3.2 million residents born outside the US, the largest foreign-born population of any city in the world.

As of 2019, the New York metropolitan area is estimated to produce a gross metropolitan product of $1.9 trillion.

If greater New York City were a sovereign state, it would have the 12th highest GDP in the world.

New York is home to the highest number of billionaires of any city in the world.

New York City traces its origins to a trading post founded by colonists from the Dutch Republic in 1624 on Lower Manhattan; the post was named New Amsterdam in 1626.

The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, the Duke of York.

New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790.

It has been the country’s largest city since 1790.

The Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the US by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is an international symbol of the US and its ideals of liberty and peace.

In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a global node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance and environmental sustainability and as a symbol of freedom and cultural diversity.

In 2019, New York was voted the greatest city in the world per a survey of over 30,000 people from 48 cities worldwide, citing the city’s cultural diversity.

Many districts and landmarks in New York City are well known, with the city having three of the world’s 10 most visited tourist attractions in 2013 and receiving a record 62.8 million tourists in 2017.

Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world.

Times Square, iconic as the world’s “heart” and its “Crossroads”, is the brightly illuminated hub of the Broadway Theatre District, one of the world’s busiest pedestrian intersections and a major centre of the world’s entertainment industry.

The names of many of the city’s landmarks, skyscrapers and parks are known around the world. Manhattan’s real estate market is among the most expensive in the world. New York is home to the largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city.

Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is the largest single-operator rapid transit system worldwide, with 472 rail stations.

Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University and Rockefeller University, which have been ranked among the top universities in the world.

Anchored by Wall Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York has been called both the most economically powerful city and the leading financial centre of the world and the city is home to the world’s two largest stock exchanges by total market capitalisation, the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ.