What to eat in New York
New York eats standing and to go: pizza by the slice, a bagel with lox, pastrami on rye, halal cart plates, Chinatown dim sum and cheesecake.

[ ] Get a slice of pizza
    Thin pizza from a gas deck oven, sold by the slice and reheated in front of you. A proper slice is folded lengthwise and eaten walking, which is how the crust holds the toppings.
[ ] Eat a bagel with lox
    A dense boiled bagel with cream cheese, cured salmon, capers, red onion and tomato. A breakfast order, taken away rather than eaten at a table.
[ ] Try pastrami on rye
    Beef brisket brined, coated in spice and smoked, sliced thick onto rye with mustard. One sandwich feeds two.
[ ] Order from a halal cart
    Chicken or lamb over yellow rice with salad, white sauce and hot red sauce. Cart food invented for taxi drivers that became a civic classic.
[ ] Eat dim sum in Chinatown
    Cantonese steamed and fried small plates wheeled around on trolleys and chosen by pointing. The bill is stamped on a card, one mark per dish.
[ ] Eat a hot dog
    An all-beef frankfurter in a bun with mustard, sauerkraut or onions in tomato sauce. Carts stand all over the city, and the old stands snap when you bite them.
[ ] Eat oysters at happy hour
    East Coast oysters from the Atlantic: briny and firm, unlike Pacific ones. On weekdays oyster bars run an hour when they cost about a dollar each.
[ ] Get a bodega sandwich
    The corner store open around the clock with a grill at the back: a bacon, egg and cheese for breakfast, or a hot sandwich from the counter later on.
[ ] Try tacos
    Mexican food in New York is serious and regional: al pastor from the vertical spit, barbacoa, carnitas. The best places are in Queens and the Bronx rather than Manhattan.
[ ] Try a chopped cheese
    Ground beef chopped on the griddle with onion and melted cheese, served in a roll with lettuce and tomato. A Harlem and Bronx bodega classic.
[ ] Eat New York cheesecake
    A dense cream cheese cake baked to a creamy, almost cheesy texture, with no gelatine and no fluff. The slice is tall and one is enough for two.
[ ] Try a black and white cookie
    A large soft cake-like cookie iced half chocolate and half vanilla. Sold in Jewish bakeries and bodegas across the city.
[ ] Try a cannoli
    A crisp shell filled with ricotta cream at the moment you order. Shells sitting pre-filled in the case have gone soggy, and that is the test of a pastry shop.
[ ] Drink an egg cream
    Seltzer, milk and chocolate syrup whipped to a foamy head — no egg and no cream in it despite the name. A drink from Brooklyn's old soda fountains.
[ ] Get a coffee regular
    Bodega coffee in a paper cup: a regular means with milk and sugar rather than plain black. Cheap and available from six in the morning.
[ ] Drink local craft beer
    Brooklyn and Queens hold dozens of breweries, and most run their own taproom. Ask for a flight, a set of small glasses, to try several at once.

Checklist from Unload: https://unloads.me/c/food-new-york