3 days in New York City

Russ & Daughters · Lower East Side

Appetizing since 1914 — bagels, lox, whitefish. The sit-down café around the corner saves the counter line and serves egg creams.

• Order: The Classic board, or a sable bagel; an egg cream.

Katz's Delicatessen · Lower East Side

The pastrami on rye, since 1888. Take a ticket at the door, tip the carver at the counter, and don’t lose the ticket. Cash-era chaos that works.

• Order: Pastrami on rye, mustard, a side of pickles, a Dr. Brown’s.

Joe's Pizza · Greenwich Village

The Greenwich Village slice since 1975. No frills, no seats to speak of — a plain slice eaten standing on Carmine Street is a New York rite.

• Order: A plain slice. Maybe two.

Lilia · Williamsburg

Missy Robbins’s pasta temple in a converted Williamsburg garage. The mafaldini with pink peppercorns is the dish that broke the internet.

• Order: Mafaldini al pink peppercorn; the agnolotti.
• Reserve a month out, to the day.

Chelsea Market · Chelsea

A food hall in the old Nabisco factory at the foot of the High Line. Lobster rolls, tacos, and a good rainy-day lunch under one roof.

Please Don't Tell (PDT) · East Village

Enter through a phone booth inside a hot-dog shop. The speakeasy that launched a thousand imitators, and still mixes better than most of them.

• Reserve same-day when the line opens, or chance a walk-in early.