Chelsea's Best Restaurants Span Italian Delis to Georgian
An Eater guide highlights standout dining in Chelsea, from a century-old Italian deli to modern Basque and Palestinian spots.
The Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea offers a dense collection of notable restaurants, according to a guide from Eater. The area's dining scene is marked by Italian, Basque, and Japanese flavors, alongside standout spots for dim sum, Mediterranean fare, and Georgian cuisine.
Italian Classics and Modern Plates
Salumeria Biellese Delicatessen has been a Chelsea fixture for over 100 years. Before Italian cured meats were widely available in the city, this deli was a key source for products like guanciale and lardo. It now operates a steam table with red-sauce pastas at lunch and serves giant hero sandwiches.
Pepe Giallo provides a homey refuge in Chelsea's gallery district. Founded in 1997, it originally focused on discount pastas made on the spot. Its current menu highlights antipasti, panini, and pizzas, with occasional risotto or lasagna.
Global Flavors and Small Plates
Txikito, a Basque restaurant from chefs Alex Raij and Eder Montero, returned to Chelsea in 2022. It serves small plates such as octopus, olive oil-poached cod, beef cheek and jowl, and king oyster mushroom carpaccio in a space styled like a Spanish tapas bar.
Hey Yuet serves Cantonese dim sum and Hong Kong dishes all day and into the night. The restaurant offers classics like har gow and char siu bao, which the source calls some of the best dim sum in town.
Qanoon occupies a townhouse in western Chelsea serving Palestinian food. Its mezze, including muhammara, hummus, baba ghanoush, and labneh shaped into orbs, are reportedly rarely produced so well in the area. A standout main dish is the makloubeh, a lamb and eggplant casserole.
Chama Mama is highlighted as one of the city's best Georgian restaurants. Its menu features pomegranate-strewn appetizers, herby stews, and various khachapuris. Recommended dishes include lamb-stuffed grape leaves and game hen in garlic broth.
Contemporary Concepts and Neighborhood Staples
Hav & Mar is a restaurant from Marcus Samuelsson and chef-partner Fariyal Abdullahi on Chelsea's western edge. It merges Swedish, Ethiopian, and New York influences, with a signature dish called the Addis York, a version of Ethiopian doro wat with glazed chicken drumsticks.
Markette, from chef India Doris, offers modern European dishes with Caribbean touches. Dishes include peri peri chicken and braised oxtail gratin. The restaurant also houses a downstairs cocktail bar called the Argyle.
Shukette is Ayesha Nurdjaja's Eastern Mediterranean follow-up to Shuka. It features a menu of dips, breads, and braised and grilled meats and vegetables, seasoned with fresh herbs, harissa, pickles, za'atar, or citrus. The source notes it can be very loud during peak dining hours.
Cookshop, founded with a farm-to-table ethos in 2005, is noted for emphasizing vegetables and seafood, with many dishes prepared in a wood-fired oven. It is described as a favorite for both tumultuous brunch and quiet dinner.
Konban is a Japanese restaurant specializing in tonkatsu, or fried pork tenderloin. Its menu also includes fried chicken, shrimp, and minced pork katsu, alongside mackerel sushi and spicy pork mazemen noodles. A recommended dessert is corn ice cream.
Casual Counters and Market Eats
Johny's Luncheonette is a tiny lunch counter that opened in 1994. It serves eggs, pancakes, hamburgers, and sandwiches, and has adapted with invented heroes like the Sloppy Johny and Curious George. Some sandwiches even contain french fries inside.
Dickson’s Farmstand Meats at Chelsea Market operates an eatery and butcher shop in the market's basement. It sells grass-fed and sustainable meats as hamburgers, roasts, hot dogs, fries, and hot sandwiches. Patrons can also buy pate at a separate counter. Seating is summer camp style, and the operation recently expanded with an on-site grocery store.
The Donut Pub, a doughnut shop founded in 1964, displays around 30 doughnuts for takeout. Its interior features an old-fashioned lunch counter where customers can order doughnuts, coffee, and sandwiches like ham, tuna salad, and bacon-egg-cheese. It is open 24 hours.
Empire Diner reinterprets the classic diner format with international dishes from a modern perspective. Its menu includes lavish breakfasts, memorable fried chicken, tuna tartare, rye pancakes, and tuna nicoise.
