If you want an amazing real authenic NYC food then that means either the best pizza or best Jewish....and since Pizza has been replicated all over that means you must go to the lower east side to Houston Streen and go to Katz' Delicatessen and get the pastrami sandwich! Period end of story !  Get 1/2 of a hero roll and ask them to scoop out some of the bread which will be more than enough, you can add Cole slaw and for sure the yellow deli mustard!  Besides one of the tastiest old school NYC foods the place is an institution and that alone worth the trip to experience.  I'm 53 and lived here my entire lIfe and I still get excited every time I go for this.  Hope you make it

You sound like my kind of man!! By the time I finished reading your post, I was literally salivating.  I only wish I had asked this question earlier! I don't know if I'll be able to get a table at those places on such short notice...

Anyway, on't be surprised when I email you every time I take a trip.  I have a feeling you're a wealth of information  

Thank you so much!

I am fond of Sushi Seki, the original on 1st Avenue around 63rd Street, and with new outposts in Chelsea and the Theater District.  Seki is both inspired and a perfectionist, and the fish is always top notch.  Sushi Nakazawa in the West Village is the current go to place, the Chef having served under Tokyo's greatest Sushi Master, Jiro.  If you have large bills bursting out of your pockets, or happen to be spending an evening with someone with significant resources who doesn't mind sharing, O-ya on 28th St. off Lexington is an amazing experience but be prepared to spend at least 3 hours on the 22 course tasting menu along with about $400.00 per person including drink.  None of the above are inexpensive, as high quality Sushi just does not come at budget prices.  However (and you can all thank me later), there is one bargain location for top quality sushi which is close in quality to all the above, at a fraction of the price: Tanoshi located at 1372 York Avenue between 73rd and 74th Streets.  Tanoshi consists of two small storefronts; one reserves one of three nightly seatings on its website, and one goes to the left or the right based upon a list posted on the door.  For under one hundred dollars, you get an omakasi meal of the highest order which rivals Nakazawa at about a third of the price.  BYOB, and they only allow you about 90 minutes for the seating, but you get fantastic fish from the four corners of the earth served with pristine authenticity.  No California rolls, this is traditional sushi.