Rosie Galvez
When it comes to food, New York brings a lot to the table. Manhattan alone seems to account for many American culinary traditions, including pizza, hot dogs and bagels with lox. But beyond the city, iconic dishes abound. From whether you're craving bar-style buffalo wings or fancy lobster Newberg, here are the iconic foods of the state of New York.
Pastrami is made by curing meat with salt and spice, then smoking and steaming it until tender. It was brought to NYC by Romanian Jews in the late 1800s, during a period of mass Eastern European immigration.
Up in Utica, the usual spaghetti and meatballs gives way to a unique regional specialty, chicken riggies. Rigatoni (i.e. riggies) are mixed with chicken and hot or sweet peppers in a spicy cream and tomato sauce.
Dominique Ansel’s Cronut is made from sheeted, laminated and proofed pastry dough that’s fried like a doughnut, rolled in sugar, filled with cream and topped with glaze.
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Nick Tahou created a combination plate with two burger patties and a choice of two sides — picks include home fries, macaroni salad and beans — slathered with ketchup and hot sauce now called the Garbage Plate.
Anchor Bar co-founder Teressa Bellissimo's buffalo wings are deep-fried wings flavoured with a secret sauce.
According to some, the hot buttered lobster roll was actually invented in Connecticut and the lobster salad roll — the version with cold shellfish tossed in mayo with celery — originated on the east end of Long Island at a place called The Lobster Roll.
Try oysters from all around Long Island at Little Creek Oyster Farm & Market. Set on the North Fork in Greenport, the market offers one of the largest selections of local oysters in the region, with rotating picks like Summer Blues, Peconic Gold, Shinnecock and Montauk Pearls.
Beef on weck is not as widely known, but it’s just as good. It starts with the kummelweck (or kimmelweck) roll — essentially a seasoned Kaiser roll crusted with caraway seeds and copious amounts of pretzel salt. The bun serves to enhance the juicy, flavorful beef and freshly grated horseradish cradled inside.
The frank is a combination of unsmoked, uncured pork, beef and veal, in a natural casing. The best-known producer is Zweigle’s, and the top place to try one is Schaller’s Drive-In in Rochester.
The Boston Shake is one of those hybrid dishes that long predates the hip hybrid-food trend. with its hard-packed homemade ice cream in a variety of flavors, from classic vanilla and mint chip, to Blue Moon and salty caramel.
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