The people.

Fine dining in Manhattan, and the plant-based end of it in particular. His map is a working chef's: pizza, bagels, Korean barbecue and one pastry counter, plus the room he runs.

Italian cooking as London learned it from her, and the New York she has been visiting for decades. She reads a room through its people first: how the staff are treated is her stated test.

Japanese cooking in New York, and the Korean and Taiwanese rooms he eats in on his own time. He eats late, and he says when.

French fine dining worldwide; a global chef whose restaurant group spans Paris, Monaco, London, Tokyo and New York.

French cooking in New York.

French technique built around butchery and theater, at her own West Village room; the fine-dining tables she calls the other chefs'.

Seafood and Japanese-French technique at the 20-seat Clover Hill in Brooklyn Heights, and a Detroit-raised chef's map of sushi and fried food on his nights off.

Plant-based fine dining at Eleven Madison Park, and the vegetable-forward end of the city he eats on his own time.

Mexican fine dining at Cosme, and the wine bars and tasting counters she seeks out off duty.

Mexican fine dining worldwide from Pujol in Mexico City, and the New York rooms he runs or visits on book tour.

French seafood cooking at the top of New York fine dining, and the wider city he eats when he is not at the stove.

Italian-inflected cooking at Ci Siamo in Manhattan West, and a Williamsburg parent's map of coffee, bakeries and neighborhood delivery.

Eastern European and Jewish comfort food at Agi's Counter in Crown Heights, and a Prune-trained chef's map of coffee shops, cocktail bars and rotisserie chicken.

French-American bistro cooking at his own Landmarc restaurants, and a wide personal map of New York industry spots. Also a television personality (Chopped judge).

Levantine and modern American cooking across three New York rooms; a wide personal map of the city's cheap eats and special-occasion tables.

French cooking at FOOD in New York.

Casual New York cooking at Ops in Bushwick.

Italian cooking in Brooklyn, at the restaurants she runs herself.

West Village and Flatiron all-day Italian-American rooms she runs with her husband, chef Nick Anderer, and a former-sommelier's map of pizza, sandwiches and neighborhood Italian.

Live-fire cooking at The Four Horsemen in Williamsburg.

Italian-American cooking in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.

Queer-led, vegan-accommodating fine dining at HAGS, and a Lower East Side chef's map of pop-ups, dive bars and traveling-chef spots.

New York restaurants across five decades, from the fine-dining rooms down to Chinatown. She reviewed them for a living, which is a different kind of authority from a chef naming a competitor.

Cheap and mid-priced eating across all five boroughs and into New Jersey. He covers the counters, bakeries and one-dish specialists that the star-rated desks rarely reach. If an entry in this unit is a bakery, a slice shop or a Chinatown counter, he is the critic most likely to have been there.

New York restaurants and bars for The Infatuation, where he is Editorial Lead, NYC; scored reviews across the city and the desk's ranked guides (the 25 Best Restaurants, the best cocktail bars, the best Vietnamese).

Restaurants and food culture for The New Yorker. Her column steps back from the individual room to whatever is happening across many of them at once.

New York restaurants at length, in The New Yorker's Food Scene column, plus long-form interviews with the people who run them.

New York restaurants at every price band. She writes takeout windows, trucks and one-cook kitchens as readily as she writes the tasting menus. She travels nationally, but New York is where she is based and where her word is worth most.

New York restaurants, week in and week out, at magazine length. He grew up in Tribeca and writes the city as a resident rather than a visitor.

Food reporting and restaurant reviews for The New York Times.

The New York Times newsroom across two decades, and New York restaurants as he reviewed them years ago rather than as they are now. He is not the paper's restaurant critic today.

Restaurants across the United States at every price point and format, from truck stops to tasting menus to pop-ups. Los Angeles is her base, so in this unit she is a visiting critic rather than the local one.

Korean steakhouse and fried-chicken hospitality across his Gracious Hospitality Management group, and a Tribeca-and-Flatiron restaurateur's map of sake bars, delis and old-guard Manhattan spaces.