Over 20,000 Restaurants in New York City. Only One List

Cannonball with Wesley Morris

The New York Times

News, News Commentary, Arts, Society & Culture

4.7 • 9.4K Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2026

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A list, according to The Times’s co-chief restaurant critic Ligaya Mishan, can be a way “to make sense of chaos” and to also “destabilize the current order.” Her list of “the 100 Best Restaurants in New York City in 2026” takes that spirit to heart. A taco truck in Queens (Birria-Landia) serving $5 consommé sits alongside a Caribbean fine dining spot in Manhattan (Kabawa) with a $145 tasting menu. Ligaya makes a compelling argument that imaginative, ambitious, delicious food can be found at every price point and in every corner of this city. On today’s episode, Wesley talks with Ligaya about how she put together such an expansive and inclusive list. They dig into a few of her greatest meals, wrestle with some readers' discomfort with having casual spots ranked next to fine dining restaurants and, most of all, celebrate the culinary wonder that is New York City.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, everybody, guess what?
0:02.5	Cannonball is gonna do its first ever live show
0:06.0	at the Tribeca Festival this year.
0:08.0	The category is gonna be art about New York City.
0:12.0	Join me and a very special guest on Friday, June 12th at 6 p.m.
0:18.0	I'll say it again. Friday, June 12th at 6 p.m. The category is great art about New York.
0:24.7	You can get your tickets right now at Tribecafilm.com slash audio. That's Tribecafilm.com slash
0:31.8	audio. I can't wait to see you there. Come out. I'm Wesley Morris, and this is Cannonball today. Dinner is served. Thank you. Anytime I am on my way somewhere in southern bedstide, that's in Brooklyn, I will make sure I am just hungry enough to pass by A&A, big doubles and roti.
1:09.1	From the street, this place, it's nothing special.
1:11.9	It's just like a red awning windows and a door.
1:14.6	But the minute I get what I order, which is a double, there's chickpeas,
1:19.7	spiced and stewed and wrapped with a whole lot of Trinidadian love,
1:23.0	I get taken someplace.
1:25.3	I wish I could stay forever.
1:26.9	It's like eating a pot pie like it's a giant candy bar.
1:30.8	I mean, I am recording this on an empty stomach,
1:33.9	and the thought of A&A at all right now is making me want to cry,
1:37.6	so I'm going to try to get through this without shedding a tear.
1:40.6	This isn't the kind of restaurant that some people would expect to find
1:43.5	on a list of the greatest restaurants.
1:46.0	First of all, where are the waiters?
1:48.0	Second, there's a particularly transfixing photo in Nicki Minaj near the order window.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 20 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The New York Times, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The New York Times and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.