Three years ago when fine-dining restaurant Atlas Kitchen appeared, it was instantly filled with customers that we suspected were students and faculty at Columbia. The bi-level space was handsome and modern, and the menu had sourced recipes from all over China. Chef and Hunan native Kaiyuan Li directs the kitchen, and his creations run to Chongqing chicken, steamed fish head with red chiles, and beef flank in dry wok — taking advantage of the chef’s experiences in Germany.

This narrow but delicious stall concentrates on the street food of Mumbai, sometimes known as Bombay frankies. Plenty of vegetarian and vegan options are available here in the shape of rolled-up rotis with a variety of fillings, including spinach, mushroom, omelet, and potatoes. This is fast food at its flavorful best, and don’t miss the spicy masala fries.

Founded by Yunchou Liu and Jia Liu, few Hunan restaurants in the city are as good as this one, with a long menu to match. Hunan food exhibits hot and sour flavors, pickled ingredients, and other staples preserved by drying and smoking. Accordingly, try smoked pork with smoked bamboo shoots (which tastes engagingly like barbecue) and — not just for vegetarians — mustard greens that come dotted with garlic and pickled chiles.

Greek diners and their Cuban-Chinese counterparts used to fill the entire length of the Upper West Side’s Broadway like beads on a necklace. Now, few are left. Broadway Diner is one of the old-timers, all cracked formica and stools that twirl along a horseshoe-shaped lunch counter. The breakfasts are especially good, the pancakes, the bulging muffins, and the two-egg breakfasts that come with an expanded choice of meats that includes salami and pastrami shaved thin like bacon, served with mustard. Burgers and sandwiches are exactly what you’d expect.

Malecon is a venerable Cuban restaurant with overlayerings of Dominican and Puerto Rican food, showing the shifting Latin population of a neighborhood that formed the backdrop for West Side Story. Classic pressed sandwiches, pork and pot roasts, rotisserie and fricasseed chickens, mofongos, and meal-size soups have kept patrons coming for decades to this lively spot.

It started out in Crown Heights in 2016 and eventually established a branch on the Upper West Side — it might also be one of the city’s first kosher Texas-style barbecues. The brisket sandwich — anomalously topped with purple slaw — is a good choice, but then so are the nicely fatty lamb ribs and the beef “dino” ribs. Barbecue tacos, egg rolls, and chimichurri chicken are also available and worth trying.

The roster of UWS kosher choices got a boost with the arrival of this homegrown Brooklyn chain on Amsterdam Avenue, founded by Sivan and Ofeer Benaltaba and now boasting a handful of branches in NYC. The kitchen has perfected the art of cooking breaded chicken cutlets so they become super crisp on the outside while remaining moist in the middle. Several coatings are available (including sesame, panko, and cornflakes), as are several flavors. The non-cutlet items worth ordering include hot dogs, hummus, avocado salad, and potato cigars (pastry flutes oozing spuds).

Dagon is one of the more buzzy restaurants on the Upper West Side right now. The dining room is loud and airy whether or not the windows facing the sidewalk are open. Grab a seat at the bar and order the mezze collection for $45 — such as the Japanese eggplant confit, marinated beets, Moroccan carrots, chicken liver mousse, labneh, and muhamarra. Don’t miss the breads.

Styling itself as the “Sturgeon King,” this 1908 repository of preserved fish on the Upper West Side is also a fully functional meat deli, with notably normal-sized, rather than overstuffed, sandwiches (pastrami, tongue, turkey, salami, and chopped liver) on rye. There are some crossover favorites too, such as pastrami-cured salmon on a bagel and a tongue omelet.

Originally helmed by chefs Glenroy Brown and Harold Villarosa, Jacob’s Pickles appeared 11 years ago. This might be the Upper West Side’s most downtown-feeling restaurant, offering what it describes as “southern comfort food” that includes fried chicken, deviled eggs, gumbo, shrimp and grits, and biscuit-borne sandwiches, most involving bacon. There are a few Jewish flourishes, such as matzoh ball soup and pickles, pickles, and more pickles. Prominent whiskey and craft beer menus also make this a drinking destination.

Via chef Shuichi Kotani, this unexpectedly great mainstay offers reasonably priced bowls of ramen with a choice of six broths: shio, shoyu, tonkotsu, spicy tonkotsu, miso, and vegetarian. Novelty bowls incorporate Thai green curry paste and Korean kimchi, along with a choice of thin or thick noodles, firmer than usual. Starters include several salads in addition to the usual fried chicken and edamame.

This facsimile Parisian brasserie, founded in 2003, is an UWS workhorse, serving French bistro standards to the neighborhood at a brisk pace, and has continued even during the pandemic. A nice moules frites, the Provencal basil soup called pistou, and New York strip steak frites, plus a few Italian-leaning specialties such as risotto and short-rib ravioli.

NYC dim sum staple Jing Fong, owned by Ming Lam and his son Truman Lam, opened its first location nearly 40 years ago in Chinatown and expanded to the Upper West Side in 2017 with a smaller outpost. Now the behemoth Elizabeth Street branch is closed, replaced by a smaller Centre Street manifestation. The UWS branch still hoists the torch high, with a menu that highlights noodles and dim sum, along with a limited collection of classic stir-fries of chicken, pork, and shrimp.

Since the mid-’80s Charles Gabriel’s celebrated fried chicken has found a variety of homes in Harlem storefronts and trucks, but he has now settled in on the Upper West Side. His new place doesn’t offer seating, but there is an expanded menu of fried chicken, ribs, turkey wings, smothered chicken, and jumbo shrimp — with all the usual soul food sides (the lima beans are particularly good). The secret to the poultry? Gabriel fries his chicken to order in a series of bubbling skillets, resulting in a more evenly cooked bird.

This kosher Upper East Side (and before that, Queens) transplant turned heads when it opened a year ago during the pandemic, and it generated long, socially distanced lines. It’s been a long time since the Upper West Side could boast pastrami this good. Carry out — and eat fast. Matzo ball soup and hot dogs liberally smeared with mustard are tops, too.

The narrow stall on Columbus Avenue is a great place for a Middle Eastern pit stop, including a bargain chicken shawarma sandwich jammed with good tomatoes and dripping tahini (you may have to resort to a fork). Other good bets include the grilled-to-order beef kafta kebabs, garlicky baked fava beans, and the generous three-item combo platters.