New York

New York's restaurant culture began below street level. Oyster cellars were ubiquitous from the city's early years until its beds were closed; among the most celebrated was Downing's Oyster House at Broad and Wall streets, run in the early 1800s by Thomas Downing, an African-American businessman who listed his occupation as "oysterman." Delmonico's, in business since 1837, is commonly credited as the country's first fine-dining restaurant; under Charles Ranhofer, named chef de cuisine in 1862, the kitchen is associated with Eggs Benedict, Baked Alaska, and Lobster Newburg, which reached the menu in 1876.

Immigration and the working day produced the other half of the record. As women entered public life, eating houses gave way to luncheonettes, cafeterias, and Horn & Hardart's nickel-operated automats. Gennaro Lombardi's Spring Street pizzeria, opened in 1905 amid mass Italian arrival, is recognized by the Pizza Hall of Fame as the first in the United States — though later research identified earlier ones — and is credited with New York-style pizza.

Mid-century Manhattan set the terms for American fine dining twice. Le Pavillon (1941–1972), an outgrowth of the French pavilion restaurant at the 1939 World's Fair, defined French cuisine in the United States under Henri Soulé, and its alumni went on to found restaurants of their own. The Four Seasons, opened in 1959 and the most expensive restaurant then built in New York, pioneered what became known as New American cuisine, introducing seasonally changing menus and American wines before closing in 2019.