Hudson Yards Restaurants Top Many Best-Of-The-Year Lists

As New York City’s most-read restaurant critics looked back on their best eating experiences in 2019, their minds—and taste buds—turned to several restaurants at Hudson Yards.

New York Times food critic Pete Wells named Mercado Little Spain the best new restaurant of 2019 writing that “Putting it in the No. 1 slot for the year isn’t a close call.” It makes sense: the food hall delivers flavors never before tasted in New York and excellent renditions of classic dishes like gazpacho and churros from world-renowned chefs José Andrés  and Ferran and Albert Adrià. “These and other dishes are so much better than what we’re used to that Mercado Little Spain might as well be the only Spanish restaurant in New York.” Also on Wells’ top 10: Kāwi, whose “kimbap selection alone is more rewarding than the entire menu of most restaurants.” And Wells appreciates more than the Eunjo Park’s food, noting the drinks, hospitality and playlists.

The two eateries were also among the absolute best restaurants for New York Magazine’s Adam Platt: “...this pleasing, multi-faceted, José Andrés extravaganza isn’t your average food hall,” he wrote of Mercado Little Spain. “It’s more like a rolling food fair with expertly curated Spanish delicacies designed for every occasion and every part of the day.” And at Kāwi, Platt recommends the oxtail and soybean with pork belly stews, chicken served over sweet glass noodles and, for dessert, bingsoo—a Korean version of shaved ice kakigori.

Kāwi was also the setting for Eater critic Ryan Sutton’s best meal of the year—more specifically, the raw clams with gochu garu—which was what he craved after spending the day at the ER with a kidney stone(!). The restaurant is one of Sutton’s two restaurants of the year and Park’s chile rice cake gets a special mention on his list of best dishes. Another Hudson Yards dish beloved by Eater’s critic—in fact, it’s among his top three of the year—is the Electric Lemon Curd at Equinox’ new Electric Lemon. The combination of lemon verbena sorbet, tart lemon curd and homemade pop rocks, he writes, is “pure creativity.”