Restaurants

Siblings Will and Julie Horowitz are making culinary waves in NYC’s East Village with their restaurant, Ducks Eatery. Largely inspired by his extensive travels and his chef grandparents, Will serves up creative dishes like goat neck and pig ears. Guy also recommends the whole, smoked chicken wings.

When New Yorkers and Italians call it the best pizza they’ve ever had, it has to be legit. Guy digs into the pistachio and sausage pizza fresh out of the wood-fired oven imported from Naples. He also can’t get enough of the Montanara Starita, a fried pizza with a smoky flavor and fluffy crust.

Since 1922, this multigenerational old-school Italian deli in Brooklyn has been a local staple. Guy adored the tender steak pizzaiola with fresh mozzarella in the Sinatra Special. He called the thinly sliced roast beef, fried eggplant and mozzarella sandwich ridiculous and the real deal.

The tomatoes are San Marzano, the flour is superfine Italian, the cheese is buffalo mozzarella and the crust is, dare we say it, flawless: puffy, chewy and just a little charred.

Former Chopped contestant Jeremy Spector lures locals to his spot with a scratch-made menu. The star is Sebastian’s Steakhouse Burger: a patty-cheddar-onion combo that Guy calls “dynamite.” The duck confit poutine made with hand-cut fries, cheese curds and, of course, duck confit, is also a hit.

Guy calls Black Tree “hard core” because this spot takes its farm-to-table mantra very seriously. He feasts on the Winter Pig, a cheesy pork-belly sandwich that he likens to “an enormous roast-pork dinner … in a sandwich.” Menu items change with the seasons, but all have a reputation for tastiness.

At unassuming East Village gastropub The Redhead, seasonal, Southern-inflected food and carefully-made cocktails reign supreme. On Triple D, Guy was blown away by chef Meg Grace's Homemade Pretzels With Beer Cheese. For a comforting main course, try the Buttermilk Fried Chicken or Shrimp and Grits.

On Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Guy Fieri visits Mama's Food Shop in New York, NY, for homemade fried chicken and peach cobbler like mom used to make.