New York

New York eats shawarma at every hour and every price point, from halal carts on Midtown corners to family-run Lebanese, Palestinian, Yemeni and Israeli counters across the five boroughs. There is no single “New York style”, which is exactly the appeal: you can have a lafa-wrapped Israeli shawarma for lunch and a halal-cart lamb platter at 2am.

The local style

Street carts and trucks lean toward platters: shaved chicken or lamb over rice with white and hot sauce. Sit-down and counter spots tend to serve classic Levantine wraps with toum or tahini, pickles and tomato. Israeli-style shops use fluffy pita or lafa and add amba, tahini and Israeli salad.

Where to look

• Midtown and Hell's Kitchen: food trucks and quick counters for a late meal or a pre-theater bite.
• Greenwich Village: old-school falafel and shawarma counters near NYU.
• Brooklyn (Bay Ridge, Brooklyn Heights, Atlantic Avenue): long-standing Middle Eastern communities and grocers.
• Astoria, Queens: Steinway Street's cafes and restaurants, often called Little Egypt.

What to order

Try a chicken shawarma wrap with toum and pickles to compare spots fairly, then branch out to lamb or a mixed platter. At carts, ask for sauce on the side so the rice doesn't get soggy.

On our list

We're starting with Mamoun's Falafel, Heights Falafel and the late-night Shawarma Bay truck, with more on the way. Filter them by halal, late-night and delivery in our restaurant finder, or suggest a spot we should add.