NYC’s Best New Dishes Of 2021

"Laphet Thoke Yun Cafe in Jackson Heights represents one of two self-identified Burmese restaurants in New York City, and it’s the only subway station bodega that matters. Nearly all of Yun Cafe’s halal-friendly food hits you with sourness, bitterness, umami funk, and sweetness in every bite, but you’ll especially notice this harmony in the laphet thoke. This cold salad involves fermented tea leaves in a citrusy fish sauce with thin strands of cabbage and refreshing hunks of red and green tomatoes. It’s topped with a blanket of puffed soy nuts, crunchy peanuts, and sesame seeds. We ate this in 28-degree weather outside on a pedestrian plaza, and it was paradise." - hannah albertine, nikko duren, carlo mantuano