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If you’re heading to New York City and want to eat like a local, this is your guide to the best street foods in NYC. From classic New York hot dogs and halal carts to dollar slices, empanadas, arepas, and late-night eats, NYC is packed with amazing flavors you can grab right on the street — and today we’re tasting the best of them.
This isn’t a “TikTok trend” list or the super-Instagrammable stuff that looks great but disappoints when you bite into it. This is an honest breakdown of what’s actually worth your time and money, based on real taste, real value, and real New York food culture.
We’ll talk about:
The best cheap eats you can grab on the go
Iconic NYC street foods every first-timer should try
The street carts locals actually line up for
Global flavors from neighborhoods across Manhattan, Queens & Brooklyn
Sweet street snacks perfect for walking the city
Street food tourist traps to avoid
If you’re visiting New York City for the first time, this video will help you eat well, save money, and enjoy some of the best street food in the world.
Whether you're exploring Times Square, wandering Greenwich Village, heading out to Jackson Heights, or grabbing something after a Broadway show — this guide has you covered.
Welcome to NYC — come hungry.
Filmed in New York City
#newyorkcity #nyc #nycvlog
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0:00
Hey there fellow hungry travelers, Mark here with Walters World's Day. We're in New York City and
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today we're going to talk about are the street eats that you should have when you come to New York
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because honestly not only is it probably going to be your best budget option when you're looking to
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eat when you come to New York, it's also one of the tastiest options you have. And if you're coming
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to New York and you're going to get something when you're walking around, you want to get the street
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food du jour, the street food du jour, the street food du New York, you got to get a slice of New
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York pizza. And the thing is it's not just the New York slice, you get Napolitano, there's all
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kinds of great pizza when you're here, but it's a street food. Go on and grab a slice and they heat
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it up for you. So it comes at that crisp bottom. You fold it over and take a bite like, oh my God
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this is so amazing because I'm going to guess your idea of a New York slice of pizza is like
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the Pizza Hut version of New York style or Domino's New York style pizza. And they never
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ever, ever compare to an actual slice of New York pizza. So when you're here, grab a slice. That is
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my favorite favorite favorite street food again you won't go wrong with it okay now another thing
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you want to have when you're here if you're looking for like a cheap quick bite to eat is a dirty water dog you know a new york hot dog just put some mustard on there and go to town
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is it fancy no is it healthy no is it tasty yes and it is something you should really have because
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it is a traditional eat of new york city but also it's a cheap street eat that you could enjoy and
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you'll see carts all around town whether here in central park you're down at battery parker
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walking through you'll see that it's really just right there for you and another street eaters you're
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going to see because you're going to see a lot of these little little uh like kiosks or i guess
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you tell some might say it's a food truck but they're not really trucks it's more of a food stand you got to go to the halal stands okay when you get there you want to get the chicken on rice
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what is you have the seasoned rice they put a little salad next to it and they literally will
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grill up your chicken or lamb you want to get lamb or other things they'll grill up right there
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put some onions on there some peppers on there put it all in a nice nice little you know aluminum
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dish shall we say for you key thing is let them put all of the sauces on there okay you eat that up it like you almost feel like you eating healthy I like yes I having chicken and rice and salad I am doing good on my diet when I here in New York and it street food
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But those halal cards, fantastic things to grab. And some people are like, I don't know if I want to eat that off the street
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You'll be fine. That's the cool thing here is most of the streets here, you're not going to get sick on them
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So that's good because they get checked. They do have a health code here. So that is kind of a nice thing, all right
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So you have that. Now, another thing you might grab when you're going around, and it might not be on the street at a cart or something
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but relatively easy to get. Of course, you got to get a bagel with a schmear, you know, big, huge New York bagel
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And I don't know what's thicker, the bagels or the amount of cream cheese they put in the bagels here
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It's insane. And whatever kind you like, you want popsicle, you want it with everything, you want it plain
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You got to get a bagel when you're here. It's one of those easy things you can walk around, eat, enjoy, get your views in while you're enjoying something
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So that's another fantastic food. Now, whether you're at the halal carts or maybe at one of the hot dog stands
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another street you're going to see here are the soft pretzels and it is just literally the big
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soft pretzel that you see you know at the fair you see other places you get them here too and
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it's one of those things that's easy to carry around you're not worried about getting messy like with with uh you have all the sauces from the hall card you have the chicken on rice or
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or the mustard from the dog or the sauce from the pizza kind of stuff it's one of those like hey
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it's easy to walk around great if you have little kids because they just hold on to it and they're struggling and gnaw on it you can't go wrong with a nice soft pretzel when you're here now another
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thing you got to grab when you're going around is i would say it's the hand pie family when i say
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hand pie family it can be in different variations one if you like that latin american hand pies i
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eat empanadas you know it's the folded over dough it's either baked or fried they have it already
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usually with meat inside or you could i mean but it could be the cheese in there it could be meat
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and onions it could be all kinds of stuff but empanadas fantastic get around grab one or two
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when you're going around nice warm bite to eat when you're going around another hand pie version
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Jamaican patties. Basically, it's more of a flaky crust with the filling
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a little bit spicier, a little more flavorful. I find that empanadas, that another thing you can get when you going around You know and if you going right you going through Chinatown you see there be little little cart selling dumplings yeah get dumplings on the go i mean you have so many international street eats when you are here in new york that it just
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one of these it's not just a pretzel and a dog or a slice there's so many other things you can get
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different parts of the city will have different streets you want to get that's why it's really
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good to say hey what should i get in this neighborhood like ask your hotel hey what should
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i get around here they might tell you all my favorite carts over there go see him or go over
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there for that. I mean, that's what's cool about New York is that people are going to be super helpful with the street eats. They're going to tell you, like New Yorkers, tell people where they
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should get a slice, where they should get a dog. Let us know in the comments below to help out other travelers get the best Jamaican patties, all right? Now, another street that's very near and
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dear to my heart are the street tacos. And I know when most people think about New York, they don't really think about tacos. Well, honestly, in the last 10 years, the street
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taco scene has gone from straight garbage to actually really good. So you can actually get
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good tacos when you go around. So you want to get your little street tacos. They're not as
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popular not as easy to find as some of these other things but if you can find them they are worth
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grabbing and you know if you're going to have street eats you also have to have street desserts
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and you'll see the churro carts around you'll see the cotton candy you'll see people selling ice
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cream you can get that especially on a hot summer day you can't beat a cold ice cream when you're
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here in the park or walking around it's super nice on a cool day like today maybe not but that's
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what i'm gonna get a churro later but you have these sweet eats you can get and one thing i want
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to tell you just overall looking at the street eats here in new york it's going to be a economical
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way to eat i'm not going to lie to you new york's expensive but the street eats a lot of times
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they're affordable options so if you're here with a family that might be your lunch or maybe your
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dinner to like save money and just have that for your dinner thing you're walking around town and
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having those another thing i want to tell you is when you're looking for the street eats cash is
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king okay some of them won't take card or they only take card over a certain amount so it's good
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to have cash when you're there because sometimes you'll see you know the cart will actually have
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an ATM inside of it like we don't take card but there's an ATM right there and now all of a sudden
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you're you know your five dollar snack becomes ten bucks because you're paying a five dollar fee on the ATM so cash is king when it comes to street foods here in New York Now I didn mention this earlier but I think sandwiches are also kind of a street eat you might want to grab when you are here Now if you looking at it that way I recommend going to a deli or a bodega and grab a sandwich there
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to go like bacon egg and cheese in the morning on a roll from a bodega. You can't go wrong with that
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Chopped cheese which is like ground beef with like onions and cheese in there and they'll put
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in a hoagie roll and they'll like lettuce and tomato on it. You have that. That's really good. You know pastrami sandwiches. You got all kinds of fantastic delis around here. You can grab those
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and go. I kind of put this at the end because it's not necessarily there's a cart selling it
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Now, sometimes there are, but I will say if you're going to grab a sandwich, bacon and cheese and chopped cheese, you're never going to go wrong with that. But other ones
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I would ask when you go to that cart, you go to that deli, ask them, hey, what's your
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specialty sandwich? What should I get? Go with that because not all the sandwiches at the sandwich
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place, the bodegas are actually that good, but some are great. So you'll make sure you get the
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right ones. That's a key thing. Know what those specialties are. And sometimes you'll be able to
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tell which ones are really worth going to because I think noticing the line or lack of line when it
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comes to lunchtime and eating times at the street eat plates will tell you a lot. So maybe follow the
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crowd when you're looking to get your street eats when you are here. And a last little word of
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advice when it comes to street eats in New York City, look at the price. If there is no price
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listed, you should ask because you could have an amazing surprise when you get that hot dog and
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like, wait, 10 bucks for a hot dog? What, wait, I thought it was, oh, you got the special New York version of it
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that's way more because you got our specialty one. Ask for the prices, okay
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Ask for the prices because you might give them a 20. Like, you're done. I'm like, what? For this and a drink
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What happened? It is one of those things. Just ask prices. Look and see the prices
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so you have that. So my fellow New York tourists and New Yorkers that are out here
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what's your favorite streetie when you come to the city? Let us know in the comment below and let people know
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where they can grab it because honestly, it's not just Manhattan when you get great street eats
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You get great street eats all over the city at great prices and with great fun and great people
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Because honestly, the street food's fantastic. But for me, the people in New York are even better
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I wish you all the best. I'll say bye from here in New York
#food
#Tourist Destinations