A&N Fruit Store's watermelon slush.
WITH APOLOGIES TO the many thousands of talented cooks and chefs toiling away in this city's kitchens, we must note the most memorable food we've eaten this year hasn't been inside a dining room. It's been shared with friends standing on a corner, snatched from a takeout bag at a park, or unwrapped and messily dribbled onto a bench. This is no knock against proper restaurants, but when the most exciting development to come along recently at an establishment like Eleven Madison Park is the arrival of an alfresco croissant pop-up (Bake It Nice), it's a testament to the joy of great food without any pomp and circumstance. Maybe the act of sitting down to a meal has begun to feel stultifying-"Have you dined with us before?" comes across less like a helpful inquiry and more like a threat to explain the concept of "appetizers"-or perhaps it's that low overhead and a ravenous dining public happy to seek out whatever food appears on TikTok afford a greater range of creative expression. While the weather is warm and New York is at its most walkable, we're choosing to focus on the food right in front of our faces: the crisp-rolled lumpia Shanghai, icy watermelon slushies, over-size Swedish hot dogs, and pork-stuffed Vietnamese doughnuts being slung from carts, counters, stands, and windows all over town. Consider this hit list to be the jumping-off point. It's not an exhaustive catalogue of all the street food in the city-how could it be?-but it's made up of our absolute favorite snacks, drinks, and meals right now; many are brand new, while some have flown under the radar for years. In every single case, they are perfect for gulping down on a sidewalk somewhere this summer. - A.S.
A Bottle of Gazpacho From Mercado Little Spain
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