The best Italian food is made by Grandma, and that’s just who you’ll find cooking at Enoteca Maria. Each day, the restaurant features a dish from a different region of Italy — made by a Nonna who grew up there. Grandmothers from southern Italy make the Pappardelle di Mare, filled with octopus, cuttlefish, calamari, shrimp and, of course, fresh pasta.

Head to this hip tavern for your fry fix. Michael Symon favors the Gravy Frites, which are cooked in duck fat and then smothered with mozzarella cheese and brown gravy. The Animal Style Frites are also a must-try: These fries come heaped with cheese curds, pork belly lardons and sunny-side-up eggs.

Crowds flock here for the meatball Parm hero. Veal, beef and pork sausage are given the old-school Italian treatment when mixed with panade (milk-soaked bread) to make delectably tender meatballs. Tomato sauce and mozzarella add to the flavor. Another standout is the chicken Parm on a semolina roll.

This tropical-inspired spot has brought Jamaican flavors to an island of another sort — Manhattan. Crowds flock here for distinctively Caribbean cuisine like the jerk chicken wings: A bold paste made from Scotch bonnet peppers adds both sweet and spicy notes to the succulent grilled meat.

Chef-Owner Carlos Swepson uses his French culinary training to riff on soul food staples. The mouthwatering results include the Double Cut Pork Chop. For this signature dish, a 20-ounce pork chop is rubbed with a spicy-sweet mixture and seared to seal in the meat’s natural flavor. The chop is roasted until tender, then smothered with a sauteed onion-and-apple mixture and nestled on a bed of rich black-eyed peas.

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.

Best Pizza dishes out classic New York slices at old-school New York prices, making them one of the best deals in the city. Many of the ingredients are housemade, including the mozzarella cheese that’s the star of the popular white pie, and each thin-crust pizza is cooked until satisfyingly crisp in a century-old wood-fired oven.

French cooking meets American comfort at this spot, where you can dig into buttery chicken fresh from the rotisserie and a mound of fluffy mashed potatoes laced with chives and Gruyère cheese. These creamy spuds are stuffed into deep-fried potato skins, baked and then finished with melted butter.

Amid his two locales, Chef Joe Ng turns out over 20,000 dumplings weekly. He brings a whimsical twist to the classic har gow with his Pac Man dumplings. Stuffed with shrimp fillings and vegetables, they come complete with black sesame-seed eyes. A winter must is the black truffle soup dumplings.

It may seem impossible to find fresh fish in the middle of a desert, but Joyful House is no mirage. The chefs at this seafood-centric spot prepare dishes with fresh lobsters, prawns and more plucked straight from tanks right on the premises. One menu highlight is the Honey Walnut Shrimp. Fresh shrimp are wok-fried, then tossed with a sweet sauce made from pineapple juice and condensed milk. Candied walnuts add to the richness. Bonus: This spot is open until 3 a.m. for your late-night cravings.

Executive Chef Skip Steele uses the techniques he honed on the competitive barbecue circuit to turn out succulent ribs infused with an addictive blend of smoky, savory and sweet flavors. The meat is seasoned with Skip’s secret dry rub and sprinkled with brown sugar before being smoked slow and low.

When Tito Gonzales opened this family-owned joint three generations ago, he set out to create a dish that blended the bold flavors of his Mexican heritage with the Italian cuisine he loved. And so the Carne Adovada Turnover was born. For this dish, pork shoulder meat is marinated in a fiery Hatch red chile blend and roasted until tender. The juicy pork meat, along with Wisconsin cheddar, is then stuffed into a flour tortilla that’s sealed shut like a calzone and fried until irresistibly crisp.

This restaurant’s signature ribs pay homage to a defining ingredient of New Mexican cuisine: the chile. Baby back ribs are marinated for 24 hours in a tangy paste that’s made fresh daily from red chile pods, then cooked for six hours until they are fall-off-the-bone tender and full of spicy flavor.

Giada says Tia Sophia’s breakfast burrito makes for “the perfect hearty breakfast.” Soft tortillas are stuffed with bacon and hash browns, smothered in melted cheese and served with a poached egg on top. For added kick, order the Christmas version that comes with extra-spicy red and green chiles.

This diner is still going strong after 70-plus years in business, thanks to a varied menu rife with reliable standbys and upscale spins on comforting classics. A standout is the Lobster Mac & Cheese, which earned rave reviews on Top 5 Restaurants. Canadian hard-shell lobster is the star of this creamy dish, which combines succulent tail and claw meat with a cognac-laced sauce that features three different cheeses: Grana Padano, fontina and sharp Vermont cheddar.