As is the tradition at Eater, our closeout of the year is a survey of friends, industry types, and bloggers. We've already covered best standbys, top newcomers. Now it's time for Best Dining Neighborhood. Readers, please add your thoughts to the comments.
[Alder by Daniel Krieger]
Nick Solares, Serious Eats meat bureau chief, amNY features writer, and publisher of Beef Aficionado: I am being parochial but I continue to believe in the East village. This year we added Alder, Han Dynasty, Mighty Quinn's BBQ, Joe's Pizza, Papaya King and East 12th St Osteria to an already strong cadre of restaurants.
Lockhart Steele, Eater co-founder: The Seaport, of course. But seriously, watching restaurant and bar after restaurant and bar bounce back from the ravages of Sandy over the course of 2013 was inspiring. One by one — Fresh Salt, Acqua, Meade's, Mark Joseph Steakhouse, Barbalu, Paris Cafe — they all came back, quite literally better than ever. And now the Seaport's comeback year closes with the reopening of New Zealand bar Nelson Blue on New Year's Eve. Perfect.
Kate Krader, Food & Wine restaurant editor: Is there a name for Houston Street hood, from West to the beginning of the East Village?? Starting at Charlie Bird, it includes Carbone, Ushiwakamaru, Estela, and Musket Room. Pearl & Ash, and Uncle Boons, and also Torrisi, Parm, and Il Buco Alimentari, if you're pushing the boundaries a little bit.
And now — Gotham West Market! Ivan Ramen, Cannibal, Blue Bottle Coffee, Court Street Grocers. All one place, which is miraculous.
And I continue to love that little stretch of the Gramercy area off Broadway that starts with Nomad (which I can't say enough good things about, restaurant and bar), and now also includes the awesome Sweetgreen and then a block away includes The Breslin, John Dory, Stumptown, and No 7 Sub.
Talia Baiocchi, Punch editor in chief: Oof. If anything, I'd say Nolita/Noho win for most improved.
[Hanjan by Daniel Krieger]
Matt Rodbard, Food Republic contributing editor: Nomad! Hanjan, Maysville, Num Pang, Sweetgreen, along with April Bloomfield, Christian Pappanicholas and Daniel Humm still doing their thing very well. Carroll Gardens is my real answer, but I don't want my rent to go up.
Chris Stang, one half of Immaculate Infatuation: Would you believe it if I said Midtown? Didn't think so.
Joe DiStefano, Chopsticks + Marrow blogger: This a tough one, as much as I love Jackson Heights and Flushing I'm going to give it to Long Island City. It's full of my old favorites like Sweetleaf Café, M. Wells Dinette, and Manducatis Rustica, plus newcomers like Mu Ramen.
Matt Duckor, Bon Appetit multimedia editor: Between Aska, The Elm, Reynard, and the burger at Allswell, it was a good year to live in North Williamsburg.
Kim Davis, The Pink Pig: Still Williamsburg/Bushwick, and I'm ready for a change.
Charlotte Druckman, author and senior editor at Medium: That murky Nolita/Bowery/LES territory.
[Dover by Krieger]
Ryan Sutton, Bloomberg critic: South Brooklyn. If the wait is too long at the excellent La Vara, you can walk to Pok Pok, Frankies 457, Prime Meats, Lucali, Dassara, Clover Club, Battersby or Dover, all of which are no more than a ten minute walk from one another. Outside of the East Village, I don't think there's a single neighborhood with such a densely packed group of ambitious restaurants.
Stan Sagner, Daily News critic: LES/East Village had more than their fair share of greatness this year. Astoria is the new frontier and am expecting lots more promising talent to emerge there. Manhattan's UWS strangely remains, albeit some notable exceptions, a culinary black hole.
Danyelle Freeman, Restaurant Girl: Brooklyn at-large… again. It makes me wonder why I live in Manhattan, which I never thought I'd wonder. Ever.
Foster Kamer, senior editor at Complex: Kips Bay. No, come on, it's Williamsburg. You already knew that, though.
Scott Solish, Eater nightlife editor: Greenpoint.
Helen Rosner, executive digital editor at Saveur: For me, with my complete lack of coolness and tendency toward habit, Noho was the place to be.
Levi Dalton, Eater wine editor: I ate a lot of good meals pretty close to Houston Street, East and West. I spent a lot of time walking along Houston, the length of it. Maybe I should call that, what, like, Long House?
Bret Thorn, Nation's Restaurant News senior editor: The East Village.
Ben Leventhal, Eater co-founder: I mean, it wasn't, but Upper East Side.
Kat Kinsman, Eatocracy managing editor: I found myself in Noho and Nolita more this year than I had been in ages, from multiple dinners at City Grit to marvelous outings at Parm, Torrisi, Lafayette, Il Buco Alimentari, Five Points and a few other neighborhood joints. I hadn't felt that way about it as a dining destination in many years, and I'm thoroughly delighted.
Amanda Kludt, Eater editorial director: The Houston Street Corridor.
[The Marrow by Daniel Krieger]
Marc Shepherd, NY Journal blogger: You have to give it to the West Village. In the last year or so, it gained Sushi Nakazawa, Carbone, ZZ's Clam Bar, Piora, The Marrow, Louro, and I'm probably missing a few. (Some people will argue that I'm merging the West Village and Greenwich Village. Let them argue.)
Erik Torkells, Tribeca Citizen: The West Village—but then that's about as far as I'll generally venture....
Andrew Steinthal, one half of Immaculate Infatuation: Red Hook. Respect to those who stuck with it and dug out of the Sandy mess in Red Hook. Hometown Bar-B-Que is the closest thing NYC will ever have to a Texas style BBQ hall and the food is awesome. Plus, we're really looking forward to trying Grindhaus.
Robert Sietsema, Eater contributing editor: The East Village, which finally aced out several other contenders such as Astoria and Flushing for the first time this year. You can get nearly everything your heart desires in a single region now, from Sichuan to old-time Italian to sushi to fine dining to creative vegetarian to Isaan Thai and beyond.
Mimi Sheraton, former Times restaurant critic: It's between the West Village (although lacking good Chinese and Indian) and what I believe is Noho..i.e. the Bowery to Bleecker, Lafayette area.
Jay Pascual, The Food Doc: The Lower East Side, based on the sheer variety and quality of the restaurants in the area.
Marguerite Preston, Eater NY associate editor: The Villages (East and West) will always be titans, but Greenpoint came out pretty strong from left field this year.
Jordana Rothman, veteran food editor/cocktail expert: Isn't it always the East Village and Williamsburg?
Joshua David Stein, Observer critic and Eater contributor: In the Observer, I picked Greenpoint. But the runner-up, for me, is Harlem. Now I'm not sure if this is because of new restaurants or if it's because I've had the time to delve deeper into the scene. Sietsema makes the case for East Harlem. On the west side / Morningside Heights, I've really enjoyed The Cecil (and Minton's), Flat Top, Vinateria, and Kuro Kuma for coffee.
Michael Kaminer, Daily News critic: Harlem. It seems to be the only place in Manhattan where people with ideas are moving.
Darin Bresnitz, Snacky Tunes/Finger on the Pulse: Greenpoint finally graduated from Williamsburg spillover to its own dining destination with The Bounty, Alameda, Troost, Achilles Heel and, of course, Glasserie
Greg Morabito, Eater NY editor: The East Village gets my vote for the sheer number and variety of affordable restaurants that opened in the neighborhood this year. Short list: Mighty Quinn's, Somtum Der, Han Dynasty, Otto's Tacos, Taverna Kyclades, Tacos Morelos, and Joe's Pizza. Also, although it's not a cheap eats destination per se, Alder is a wonderful addition to the neighborhood.
· All Coverage of Year in Eater [~ENY~]
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