the grand guides: the lower east side

all of my favorite places in the LES (my neighborhood!)

ah, the lower east side.

the neighborhood i’ve called home for the last 7 years. my favorite place i’ve ever lived in new york. the area where so many of the city’s immigrants first lived. a place that vibrates with energy and grit and soul. if you’ve spent any time down here, you know it’s not the cleanest, or the most quaint (you’ll want to venture uptown or to the west village for that). but it is a place positively packed to the brim with incredible restaurants, bars, and coffee shops. it’s home to markets and music venues, wine bars and weird dives. when so much of the city feels like one big line of mattress store—taco bell—bank—repeat, the lower east side still—to me, at least—feels like the new york i imagine new york to be. loud, bustling, diverse, with secret stories hidden behind every stoop.

it’s a place where the hippest of hipsters dine on tilted sidewalks, sipping orange wine and spearing small bites of crudo or french fries. a place where some of the city’s best bialys are two doors down from the city’s best donuts. a place that rejects (to its best efforts) giant developments in favor of small business, a place where you can get pickles in literally every way, shape, and form (cucumbers, beets, string beans, garlic—you name it, the pickle guys have it!). it is a place of institutions (katz’s deli, russ and daughters) and newness (corner bar, casino). it is perfectly imperfect, full of history and heart. and it is home.

so! in the spirit of sharing it with you (or so i hope!), here’s a list of my favorite places.

the ones i frequent often. the places i think everyone should visit, at least once. this is not an exhaustive list (that would be nearly impossible!), but it is a good one, full of bars, restaurants, coffee shops and shopping that i’ve personally vetted. i hope it inspires you to spend more time down here if you’re a native, or visit if you’re not.

ps: if you’re planning a trip to new york, might i interest you in my where to stay in nyc guide?

pps: for our purposes, i’m including the two bridges neighborhood in here, too. that means our area is: south of houston, east of the bowery, west of FDR/the east river, and extends down to the area north of the brooklyn bridge (once we’re down there, we hit south street seaport territory, which is it’s own thing). the lower east side’s main thoroughfare is delancey street, also known as the insanely loud street that feeds into the williamsburg bridge. when i was young, i partied above delancey. now that i am older, i live (and mostly live my life) below delancey, which is far more neighborhood-y and worth the schlep.

lastly: i’ve broken this guide out into restaurants, coffee shops, bars, cultural must-do’s and shopping. you’ll notice that my “bars” section is mostly wine bars; that’s because i’m 37 and much prefer a nice dinner + a few glasses of wine over a wild night out. but i promise you at least a handful of gems on that front.