The Chinatown Guide: Chinatown, Two Bridges and Dimes Square in 2026
Dim sum since 1920, dumplings for pocket change, a queer Asian American bookstore and the downtown scene's favorite corner. Here is how to do Manhattan's Chinatown right.
Neighborhood
Lower East Side.
The Best Bagels in New York City
Eighteen bagel shops worth the line, from century-old appetizing counters to sourdough upstarts, with exactly what to order at each one.
The Best Bakeries in New York City
Eighteen bakeries worth the line, the train ride and the sugar crash, from Greenpoint croissants and Bahraini morning buns to Bensonhurst cannoli and Bronx sfogliatelle.
Great Meals in New York for Under $20
Twenty-one places across four boroughs where a twenty still buys a real meal, from birria at midnight to roti in Bed-Stuy and a $6 patty in the Bronx.
The Best Cocktail Bars in New York City
Twenty bars pouring the best drinks in New York right now, plus a straight answer on whether the hidden-door speakeasy is still worth the hunt.
The Best Date Night Restaurants in New York City
Eighteen rooms for every stage of the thing, from the first drink to the anniversary, with what to order, where to sit and how to get in.
The Best Dive Bars in New York City
Twenty-one bars across Manhattan and Brooklyn where the beer is cheap, the jukebox has opinions and nobody has redecorated since the last recession.
The Best Independent Bookstores in New York City
Twenty-five shops across four boroughs where the staff picks are sharp, the readings are free and nobody minds if you browse for an hour and buy one paperback.
The Best Karaoke Bars in New York City
Where to sing in New York, from $1-a-song Chinatown stages and live piano rooms to Koreatown private suites that stay open until the trains get weird.
The Best Natural Wine Bars in New York City
Seventeen places to drink skin contact, pét-nat and funky Jura in New York right now, from twelve-stool counters to backyard hangs with a pool table.
The 30 Best Novels About New York City
Gilded Age drawing rooms, Harlem tenements, Brooklyn stoops and a Manhattan apartment where a woman tries to sleep for a year. The city, told by the people who wrote it best.
The Best Pizza Slices in New York City
Nineteen counters across four boroughs, from the plain cheese that sets the standard to the burrata and oxtail slices worth crossing a river for.
The Best Rooftop Bars in New York City
Thirteen rooftops worth the elevator ride, from 64 floors above Wall Street to a Rockaway deck facing the Atlantic, with straight notes on prices, lines and dress codes.
The Best Small Music Venues in New York City
Twenty rooms under 500 capacity where you can still stand ten feet from the band, pay less than a movie ticket and see someone before the rest of the city catches on.
The Best Thrift Stores in New York City
Charity shops with Upper East Side closets, a Bushwick warehouse priced for students, and the buy-sell-trade counters that turn your old clothes into new ones.
The Best Vintage Stores in New York City
From Orchard Street designer racks to a Bushwick warehouse where the denim never ends, these are the vintage shops worth your Saturday and your rent money.
Is This Still It? The rooms that made New York rock again, and the ones you can still walk into
Between 1999 and 2005 a few hundred people in a handful of small clubs changed what guitar music sounded like. Most of the rooms are gone. Some are not.
The Museum and Gallery Shows to See in New York This Fall
Krasner and Pollock at the Met, manga in Brooklyn, Arthur Jafa on the Bowery and a Chelsea season stacked with heavy hitters. Our list for fall 2026.
First Shout: New York acts to see before everyone else does, fall 2026
Ten New York artists with records out and rooms to fill, from a Harlem rapper Tyler, the Creator already vouched for to a two-drummer electropunk band that played a laundromat.
Free and Pay-What-You-Wish Museum Hours in New York, Verified for 2026
The Met, MoMA, the Whitney and two dozen others can cost you nothing or close to it, if you know the right day, hour and ID to bring.
Where to Eat After Midnight in New York
Pastrami at 3am, pierogi at 4, empanadas whenever: the New York kitchens that stay open after the bars close, checked and confirmed for 2026.
The Lower East Side Guide: Where to Eat, Drink and Go Out in 2026
Pickles, pastrami, a doubled New Museum and the best cocktail bars in the city, all inside twenty blocks. Here is how to do the Lower East Side right now.
How to Do the New York Gallery Circuit: Chelsea, the Lower East Side and Tribeca
Free wine, free art and a crowd that dresses like it has somewhere better to be. Here is how Thursday openings work, and the galleries worth the walk.
Every Major New York Concert Venue, Ranked by How It Feels to See a Show There
Sound, sightlines, lines at the bar and the walk home. We ranked 25 New York concert venues from the 575-capacity perfect room to the arenas by the only measure that matters: the night itself.
Where to See Street Art in New York
From Bushwick's warehouse walls to a Harlem handball court Keith Haring painted in 1986, the city's best open air art costs nothing and changes every month.
