I Used to Avoid Hell’s Kitchen. That Was a Mistake.
For years I wrote off Hell’s Kitchen as the neighborhood you walked through to get to a Broadway show. Too close to Times Square. Too many chain restaurants. Too many people in matching family T-shirts.
I was wrong. Spectacularly wrong.
Hell’s Kitchen is one of the best eating neighborhoods in Manhattan, and most tourists never figure that out because they stop at the Olive Garden on 47th Street and call it a day. The real neighborhood starts on 9th Avenue and stretches west, and it’s packed with some of the most affordable, genuinely excellent food in Midtown.
TimesSquareNight-2859-3-1-scaled-1.jpgTimes Square · Times Square
The Name Is Misleading Now
Hell’s Kitchen got its name in the late 1800s when it was one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in New York. Gang territory, tenement slums, the whole thing. Real estate agents tried rebranding it as “Clinton” in the 1960s, which is technically still the official name.
Nobody calls it Clinton. And the neighborhood today is safe, walkable, and full of restaurants where you can eat incredibly well for $15.
9th Avenue Is the Real Eating Street
Forget Restaurant Row on 46th Street between 8th and 9th. That strip is mostly pre-theater prix fixe menus designed to get you in and out before curtain. The food is fine. Just fine.
The actual eating in Hell’s Kitchen happens on 9th Avenue, roughly between 42nd and 57th Streets. This is where the neighborhood lives. Every block has something worth stopping for, and the prices are shockingly reasonable for being ten minutes from Times Square.
I’ve been working my way up and down this avenue for years. Here’s what’s worth your time.
Thai Food That Will Ruin You for Pad Thai
Pure Thai Cookhouse (766 9th Avenue) is the one everyone knows, and for good reason. The pad see ew is $16 and legitimately one of the best noodle dishes in Manhattan. The space is tiny. You will wait. Go at an off-hour or put your name in and walk around the block.
But the real move is Larb Ubol (480 9th Avenue), which serves Northern Thai food that’s harder to find in the city. The larb itself is perfectly funky and spicy. The khao soi is rich and coconutty and costs $17. If you tell them you want it spicy, they’ll actually make it spicy, which is more than I can say for most Thai places in New York.
Mexican Food. The Real Kind.
Tehuitzingo (695 10th Avenue) is a deli counter inside a bodega. You order at the back. The tacos are $3.50 each and they’re better than anything you’ll find at a sit-down restaurant charging four times that. Get the al pastor. Get the carnitas. Get both.
Empanada Mama (763 9th Avenue) is open 24 hours and serves empanadas stuffed with everything from chicken mole to sweet plantain. They’re $4-6 each, and three of them make a full meal. The place is cash only, cramped, and a little chaotic. I love it.
nyc-1002279.jpgPorto Rico Importing Co. · East Village
Italian That’s Actually Worth It
Don Antonio (309 W 50th Street) makes pizza in a style you won’t find at most NYC pizza places. Their signature is the montanara, where the dough is fried before it’s baked. It sounds excessive. It is. It’s also incredible. A pie runs $22-28.
This is the place I send people who say they want “good Italian food near Times Square.” It’s a block from the chaos but feels like a real restaurant, not a tourist trap.
The Bar Situation
Rudy’s Bar and Grill (627 9th Avenue) is a dive bar that gives you a free hot dog with every drink. The drinks are cheap. The hot dogs are exactly what you’d expect from a free hot dog at a dive bar. But honestly, after a $7 beer and a free hot dog, you’re having a pretty good night in Midtown for $7.
Look for the giant pig statue out front. You can’t miss it.
Industry (355 W 52nd Street) is the late-night spot. It’s a gay bar with a massive space, strong drinks, and it doesn’t really get going until midnight. If you’re looking for something to do after a show, this is the move.
Hudson Yards. I Have Mixed Feelings.
Hudson Yards sits at the western edge of Hell’s Kitchen, and I’ll be honest. I have complicated feelings about it. It’s a $25 billion development that feels like a luxury mall dropped from space onto what used to be a rail yard.
The Vessel (that giant honeycomb staircase thing) is currently closed to climbing. The Shops at Hudson Yards are exactly what they sound like. Expensive stores. Nice food hall. Nothing you couldn’t find at any high-end mall in the country.
But the Edge observation deck ($44 adults) is genuinely thrilling if you’re not afraid of heights. It’s the highest outdoor sky deck in the Western Hemisphere, and the glass floor section made my palms sweat. I’d pick it over Top of the Rock if you can only do one observation deck.
The Intrepid Museum Is Better Than You’d Expect
The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum (Pier 86, W 46th Street, $36 adults) is an aircraft carrier parked on the Hudson River with planes, a submarine, and a space shuttle on it. I dragged myself there expecting a tourist trap and ended up staying three hours.
The Space Shuttle Enterprise pavilion alone is worth the admission. Standing under an actual space shuttle is one of those moments where your brain can’t quite process what it’s seeing.
broadway-theaters-times-square.jpgHell’s Kitchen Flea Market
Every Saturday and Sunday, the Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market (W 39th Street between 9th and 10th Avenues) sets up with vintage clothes, antiques, jewelry, and random stuff you didn’t know you needed. It’s free to browse and smaller than you’d expect, but I’ve found some of my favorite jewelry here.
Get there early on Saturdays for the best picks. By early I mean before 11am.
Getting to Hell’s Kitchen
Take the A, C, E to 42nd Street-Port Authority or the 1, 2, 3 to Times Square-42nd Street and walk west. The N, Q, R, W to 49th Street also works. Basically, if you can get to Midtown, you can walk to Hell’s Kitchen in five minutes.
The neighborhood is easy to combine with a Times Square dinner or a walk through other NYC neighborhoods. My ideal Hell’s Kitchen day starts with tacos at Tehuitzingo, a wander through the flea market, and ends with pad see ew at Pure Thai Cookhouse.
Spoiler alert. You’ll want to come back.