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2 Jewish delis and a modest falafel joint are among the ‘100 best restaurants in NYC’
(New York Jewish Week) — The legacy Upper West Side appetizing store Barney Greengrass and the hot new “Jewish luncheonette” S&P are among the Jewish eateries on the New York Times’ list of the city’s top 100 restaurants of 2023.
Other Jewish and Jewish-adjacent restaurants on the list are Falafel Tanami, an unassuming kosher falafel counter in Midwood, Brooklyn, and Mark’s Off Madison, which offers eggplant parm alongside smoked fish, freshly baked bagels and Jewish rye bread.
The list, compiled by restaurant critic Pete Wells, includes 65 spots in Manhattan, 19 each in Brooklyn and Queens, four in the Bronx and two in Staten Island.
Barney Greengrass, a neighborhood icon on 541 Amsterdam Ave. that has been open since 1908, is feted for its herring, latkes, scrambled eggs and smoked fish.
At Flatiron’s S&P Lunch (174 5th Ave.), which reopened and reinvented the classic Eisenberg’s deli in 2022, Wells calls a lunch there a “time-honored Manhattan ritual.” With the updated menu, “the pastrami, tuna-salad, chopped liver and so on are as easy to love as the atmosphere was all along.”
Wells calls Mark’s Off Madison, a bakery and restaurant, a “career retrospective” from Mark Strausman, who once was the chef at Freds at Barneys and Campagna.
As for Falafel Tanami (1305 East 17th St.), “Your options are basically falafel or sabich,” Wells writes, referring to its fried eggplant and hard-boiled egg sandwich. “The falafel are extraordinary. The thick cushions of pita, baked to order, may be better yet.” The food is “as fresh as if you were standing in a market in Tel Aviv.”
Also mentioned is the Lower East Side’s Shopsin’s General Store, which occupies Stall #8 in Essex Street Market (88 Essex St.). The eponymous diner and its extensive menu was run by the Jewish and famously eccentric Kenny Shopsin from 1973 until his death in 2018. “Seeing the restaurant he founded on this list would kill Kenny Shopsin if he weren’t already dead,” Wells writes.
Nearby at 86 Allen St. is Amanda Cohen’s vegan restaurant Dirt Candy, number 60 on the list, which has been open since 2008. “I have a big family and we spend a lot of time together around the Jewish holidays, so to me that’s always been a really important time in my life,” Cohen told Life & Thyme in 2016. “Those are certainly the moments I love food the most, because it’s about the people.”
Israeli-inspired Middle Eastern restaurant Shukette (230 9th Ave.), whose name is a riff on the Hebrew and Arabic word “shuk,” meaning market, gets a nod, though Brooklyn-born chef Ayesha Nurdjaja is neither Jewish, Israeli or Arab. Wells names the spicy house pickles, labneh, hummus, pita and laffa brushed with za’atar in a mouthwatering sequence.
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NYC Mayor Mamdani Unveils Major Tax Hike on Unoccupied Luxury Real Estate
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani holds a press conference at the New York City Office of Emergency Management, as a major winter storm spreads across a large swath of the United States, in Brooklyn, New York City, US, Jan. 25, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Bing Guan
i24 News – NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani has officially introduced a controversial new tax targeting secondary residences valued at over $5 million.
The measure, designed to tap into the city’s vast concentration of unoccupied luxury wealth, is projected to generate roughly $500 million annually for the municipal budget.
“This tax is specifically aimed at the ultra-rich,” Mamdani stated, highlighting high-profile examples such as Ken Griffin’s $238 million Midtown penthouse and Alexander Varshavsky’s $20.5 million Columbus Circle residence.
While the city has yet to finalize specific evaluation criteria or the methods for distinguishing primary from secondary homes, the proposal has already become a flashpoint for economic debate.
The move has drawn sharp condemnation from billionaire investor Bill Ackman, who argued that the policy is fundamentally flawed.
Ackman contended that owners of luxury secondary residences contribute significant capital to the local economy without utilizing costly municipal services. He warned that the tax would likely trigger a corporate and high-net-worth exodus to low-tax jurisdictions like Miami, ultimately harming the city’s tax base.
President Donald Trump also entered the fray, denouncing the policy as “totally misguided” and claiming it is “destroying New York.” Trump, whose own extensive real estate holdings in the city could be impacted, argued that such taxation serves only to drive away the international investors who fuel New York’s development.
Implementation remains a significant question mark, as the tax could potentially affect nearly 13,000 property owners, including major figures like Jeff Bezos. Financial analysts point out that many of the city’s most expensive apartments are held through complex offshore structures and shell companies, making the identification and appraisal of these properties an immense administrative challenge for the city.
As the debate intensifies, the Mamdani administration faces a difficult path ahead in balancing its “tax the rich” mandate with the practical realities of New York’s competitive global real estate market.
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Iran Rebuffs Trump Announcement of New Peace Talks, State News Agency Reports
Iran rejected new peace talks with the United States, its state news agency reported on Sunday, hours after US President Donald Trump said he was sending envoys for talks in Pakistan and would launch new strikes on Iran unless it accepts his terms.
Trump posted on Truth Social that his envoys would arrive in Pakistan on Monday evening for negotiations, a timetable that would leave only a day for talks to make progress before a two-week ceasefire ends.
“We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran,” he wrote. “NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!”
Iran’s official IRNA news agency cited no specific source in its report that Iran had rejected the talks.
“Iran stated that its absence from the second round of talks stems from what it called Washington’s excessive demands, unrealistic expectations, constant shifts in stance, repeated contradictions, and the ongoing naval blockade, which it considers a breach of the ceasefire,” IRNA wrote.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Iran’s rejection of the talks.
Earlier, a White House official said the US delegation would be headed by Vice President JD Vance, who led the war’s first peace talks a week ago, and also include Trump’s envoy Steven Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner. Trump had initially told ABC News and MS Now that Vance would not go.
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Israel Confronted White House After Trump’s Harsh Posts Against Israel About Lebanon Strikes
US Vice President JD Vance is welcomed by Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee upon his arrival at Ben Gurion airport in Lod, Israel, Oct. 21, 2025. Photo: Nathan Howard/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Behind the scenes of a fragile regional peace, a series of blunt social media posts and urgent diplomatic calls have revealed deep tensions between the Trump administration and the Israeli government regarding the scope of the ceasefire in Lebanon.
The friction began hours after the cessation of hostilities was announced, when President Trump issued an unusually sharp directive on social media, catching Jerusalem by surprise. “Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the U.S.A. Enough is enough!!!”
The post sparked uproar within the Prime Minister’s Office. According to sources directly to i24NEWS, the concern was twofold: the rhetoric appeared to undermine signed agreements regarding Israel’s “freedom of action” against Hezbollah, and the blunt, authoritative language was viewed as exceptionally harsh for a close ally.
Following a round of emergency consultations, the Prime Minister’s Office dispatched Israel’s Ambassador to Washington, Yechiel Leiter, to contact the White House. Leiter reportedly conveyed Israel’s deep dissatisfaction with the implied restrictions on its security operations and the public tone of the directive.
In the wake of the Israeli protest, US officials moved quickly to de-escalate. A spokesperson issued a clarification to reporters, framing the President’s stance within the technicalities of the agreement:
“The President’s ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel clearly states that Israel will not carry out any offensive military operations against Lebanese targets but preserves its right to self-defense against planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks.”
By overnight, President Trump appeared to shift his tone significantly, praising Israel’s military prowess amidst the ongoing broader conflict with Iran. “Whether people like Israel or not, they have proven to be a GREAT Ally,” Trump wrote, describing the nation as “Courageous, Bold, Loyal, and Smart.”
Despite the digital firestorm, the tactical reality remains nuanced. Over the weekend, the IDF acted several times to neutralize Hezbollah threats before they could be executed against Israeli forces.
However, in a notable sign of restraint aimed at preserving the truce, Israel elected not to respond to the recent deaths of two of its troops in separate incidents. Israeli officials maintained that the explosive devices responsible for the casualties had been planted prior to the ceasefire taking effect, choosing to categorize the events as legacy threats rather than fresh violations.