New York Street Art and Good Food on Manhattan’s Lower East Side

New York street art and iconic New York eats were on the agenda when we met our favorite New Yorkers, Lynn and Justin, for an excursion to Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Our friends are foodies and street art aficionados, and the LES is one of their favorite New York neighborhoods for both.

The Lower East Side boasts some of the best street art in New York, as well as some of NYC’s most iconic restaurants.

I like to pick a neighborhood each time I visit the city—that way I really have time to get to know the area (and I don’t spend all my time traveling from one side of Manhattan to the other). Having explored Midtown Manhattan and the Upper East Side on previous trips, I was stoked to visit this quintessential Manhattan neighborhood.

Read on for some of the best things to do on the Lower East Side. Awesome snacks and candy play no small part. I’m afraid you’re going to get pretty darn hungry. And jealous. Sorry not sorry!

This post may contain affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, I earn a small commission—at no extra cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Where is Manhattan’s Lower East Side and how do I get there?

Where is the Lower East Side? While I’m sure you’ve gathered it’s in the lower and eastern portion of Manhattan—ahem—let me define the unofficial boundaries.

Houston (pronounced HOW-stun) Street acts as the northern border, Bowery the western. The East River marks the eastern boundary. The southern boundary is a little more iffy, but around Manhattan Bridge. Below that is Chinatown, with Little Italy to the west.

Take the subway

We had no problemo getting to the LES, as our friends met us at our Midtown hotel and helped us take the subway. This was fortunate, since I had some troubles with my subway ticket, per usual. I don’t know why it doesn’t work. Thanks to Justin for swiping his ticket for me. The man is a true gentleman, cuts a dashing figure and likes chocolate and peanut butter. Together.

For more about how NOT to ride the NYC subway, a subject on which I am expert, see Misadventures in the New York City Subway. Nonetheless, I do recommend you take the subway in NYC. It’s cheap and can get you anywhere.

Once you figure it out, it’s pretty easy too. When you search a location on Google maps, you can choose to get a subway route. I personally cannot even imagine trying to drive in NYC, except as a horror movie. General rule—if you want a ride, take a legal taxi (the yellow ones). Be somewhat wary about using Uber or Lyft. Personally, I’ve waited 45 minutes for a Lyft, while if you can be brave and flag down a taxi (actually fun!) you wait zero minutes.

Try getting off at the 2nd Avenue subway station, which is in the northwestern corner of the neighborhood, and walking east on Houston. You’ll hit iconic NYC restaurants Russ and Daughter’s and Katz’s Deli in less than 4 blocks.

To learn more about getting subway tickets, fares and alerts, see New York City Transit‘s website.

A Brief History of the Lower East Side

Until fairly recently, New York’s Lower East Side was a working-class neighborhood with an incredibly dense population. The majority of immigrants who came to New York in the late 19th and early 20th centuries ending up living on the LES, jam packed into crowded tenements.

In fact, the Tenement Museum, established in 1988, honors the neighborhood’s original residents and shares stories of the immigrant experience.

The museum owns two preserved tenement buildings on Orchard Street, both National Historic Landmarks. You can see a preserved immigrant home from 1863, and peruse their collection that tells the uniquely American stories of immigrants, migrants and refugees.

Germans were the first large immigrant group to come to the Lower East Side in the mid-nineteenth century. They were followed by Italians and Eastern European Jews, as well as Greeks, Hungarians, Russians, and many more.

The Jewish population was one of the largest, and left a lasting cultural footprint. The LES was also notorious throughout the 20th century as a center for anarchism and radical politics, and a bohemian energy persists.

From Decline to Trendy

The neighborhood declined in the 60s and 70s. Poverty, crime, and abandoned housing were common. A major urban renewal project proposed to demolish a substantial part of the neighborhood. Crazy stuff—razing entire neighborhoods in the name of “urban renewal” was a thing in that era. One that, sadly, did get demolished was historic Bunker Hill in downtown LA.

At the same time all this was going on, the area above Houston Street was gentrifying. Hipsters, musicians, and artists were moving in, and it became known as the East Village. When the Lower East Side began to stabilize in the 1980s, low housing prices attracted students, artists and new immigrants. And by the 2000s, the gentrification of the East Village was rapidly spreading to the Lower East Side proper.

The Lower East Side is now one of the trendiest neighborhoods in Manhattan. The remaining tenement-style buildings mix with upscale apartments and chic boutiques. It’s a popular spot for nightlife, when the young and the hip crowd to the area’s bars and restaurants.

The LES’s rapid gentrification prompted the National Trust for Historic Preservation to place the neighborhood on their list of America’s most endangered historic places in 2008. The Lower East Side’s rich history and culture make it one of the most fascinating neighborhoods in New York.

Visit a Lower East Side coffee shop

What better way to start out your LES adventure than to caffeinate? Begin in a Lower East Side coffee shop. Or you might need a pick-me-up partway through, as we did. In the local coffee shops, you’ll see how the creative and bohemian spirit of the LES persists.

MadHats took us to Kabisera, which has since moved. Too bad, look how cute it was. These days, they recommend Ludlow Coffee Supply, which Lynn assures me is equally cute. And it’s located in a very pedestrian-friendly area with nice outdoor seating.

New York street art on Manhattan’s Lower East Side

New York street art is delightfully abundant on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. And we were fortunate to have street art afficionados Lynn and Justin to show us around the Lower East Side streets. All you have to do is stroll down the main drags like Allen Street, look around, and don’t forget to look up!

One of the best ways to experience this neighborhood (aside from having resident experts show you around) is just to wander. The LES is much loved for its eclecticism and its creative and adventurous spirit. As you roam, you’ll find your own unique things to love about the Lower East Side.

Iconic New York foods

The Lower East Side has an incredible amount of history. Immigrants from all over the world have left their mark on the neighborhood, especially Jewish immigrants, who fled persecution in Russia and Eastern Europe in huge numbers between the 1880s and the 1920s.

The Jewish subculture they created here has had a profound impact on American culture. Jews once made up one of the largest LES ethnic groups and remain a strong cultural presence here and in New York City as a whole. NYC is home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel.

Food is a hugely important part of the New York City experience. There are so many iconic New York foods. Bagels. Pizza. Cronuts. Some of the most iconic, in addition to the afore-mentioned bagels, are Jewish deli favorites like pastrami on rye, dill pickles, chocolate babka, and potato knishes.

Nosh on a knish for a taste of yesteryear

Where there were once a proliferation of Jewish eateries, only a few remain. The Lower East Side is home to the famed Katz’s Delicatessen, Russ and Daughters, and the Yonah Schimmel Knish Bakery.

The Yonah Schimmel knishery gives you a taste of a former time on the LES, when you couldn’t turn the corner without hitting a knishery. Yonah is now the one and only.

The knish was a popular food as it was cheap and filling and also delicious.

What is a knish, exactly? A dough-wrapped treat, in the company of such delicacies as dumplings, pasties, samosas, calzones, and turnovers. Potato is the traditional filling, so I had that, of course. Bee tried a sweet knish with apple filling.

Yonah Schimmel opened in 1910 and survives largely unchanged. Photos of famous patrons line the walls. Barbra Streisand and Woody Allen, Joan Rivers and Martha Stewart, Larry David and Francis Ford Coppola all came here to nosh on a knish. Apparently Eleanor Roosevelt even stopped by. At one time, it was almost mandatory for a New York politician to be seen at this New York institution.

Yonah Schimmel Knish Bakery, 137 E Houston Street

Pro Tips

Pro tip: You’ll pay more if you take a seat, just like in a Paris bar. The owner was a bit rude, which I found funny, but Justin did not. Truth be told, New Yorkers working at any kind of food counter can be such cranky pants. Be warned!

I don’t know if this is a New York cultural thing, or what. It’s not exactly service with a smile like where I’m from in the Midwest. Another seems to be an excessive amount of car horn honking. Makes it hard to sleep. As New York really IS the city that never sleeps, at least in terms of people driving around and encountering reasons to honk their horns, making it so people in their hotels never sleep either. Ahem.

Those iconic New York delicatessens

Among the most iconic restaurants in New York City, Katz’s Deli and Russ and Daughters are obviously some of the best lower east side restaurants and foodie haunts. They are also among the busiest.

There was a major crush of people at Russ and D which deterred me from going in, though I sure did want a chocolate babka. As for the line at Katz’s: long long looooong. We were there on a Saturday afternoon, which might explain the problem.

Katz’s Deli, 205 E Houston Street
Russ and Daughters, 179 E Houston Street

Pro tips: Surprisingly, Justin suggests going to Katz’s on a Sunday morning. He says it’s usually pretty quiet. Like at Yonah Schimmel, you’ll pay more to eat at a table.

When it gets to be your turn, know what you want or you’ll get in big trouble with the staff. This seems to be true most anywhere in New York. DON’T ASK ME HOW I KNOW.

New York street art: See some Kobra in New York

When you’re looking at New York street art, you gotta see some of the incredible street art Eduardo Kobra made during his 2018 New York City residency. This was actually one of my “bucket list” items. I love his artwork. L and J ushered us to two Kobra murals located on the LES, Stop Guns and the 27 Club.

I’m so glad we were able to see The 27 Club. Lynn tells me it has since been defaced. Noooooooo! That boggles my brain, it was such a beautiful piece. The mural depicts 5 musicians who died at the age of 27: Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse.

For a map of all the Kobra pieces in NYC, and some great info about the artist, see MadhattersNYC blog In Living Color.

So many things to eat on the Lower East Side!

You may notice the food selection here is a bit heavy on the sweet. I’m not sure if that’s because MadHats know I’ve got a terrible sweet tooth, or because they do 😉 In any case, be sure to walk around a lot and burn off some calories so you can indulge in these delicious goodies. All of these are on or just off Allen Street.

Pastéis de Nata

Joey Bats Café, 129 Allen Street
What are pastéis de nata? They are an absolutely heavenly Portugeuse egg tart that will transport you, yes, transport you. (Cue opera music)

The guy who owns Joey Bats Café is super nice and will never yell at you, even as you dither for ages about how many million pastéis de nata to order. AND you can get a whole tube of ’em and take them with you. The next day—if you can wait that long—you will have the breakfast of the gods (it is an egg dish, right?)

Breaking news! I see Joey has opened a second location in Midtown Manhattan. It’s close to the Rockefeller Center and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. You can find directions to both locations on the website. While you’re there, check out the New York Public Library, one of the best free attractions in New York!

Joey Bats Café, 129 Allen Street
Website: joeybatscafe.com

Pie

Petee’s Pie Company, 61 Delancey Street
At Petee’s Pie Company you will face a very difficult decision: what kind of pie to eat. The chocolate pie we had was absolutely dreamy. It’s a regular menu item, the salty chocolate chess. They also offer seasonal selections.

Petee’s Pie sources fresh, local ingredients and bakes their pies twice a day in small batches. During COVID they started shipping nationally, so you don’t even have to go to NYC to eat it—though eating it there is definitely more fun!

Candy

BonBon, A Swedish Candy Company, 130 Allen Street
I love candy shops. What’s better than bins full of candy? This one happens to be a great Instagram spot, with its colorful and gorgeous interior.

Their selection is rather unusual and includes all kinds of Swedish specialties, not least Swedish fish. You can pick a mix, and they have lots of things with marzipan, which is my VERY fave.

Changing Murals: First Street Green Art Park

33 E 1st Street
www.firststreetgreenpark.org
Another of our stops was to see the murals in First Street Green Art Park. This is a must-see and the artwork changes frequently. It’s just like an art gallery, but for street artists. And free. You will love it!

Other things to do on Manhattan’s Lower East Side

Our visit was brief, making me want to spend more time in this neighborhood in future. Next time I get the chance to explore the LES, I want to visit the Tenement Museum, eat at Katz’s Deli, have a doughnut at the Doughnut Plant, and wander on over to Chinatown and Little Italy (which were part of the original LES).

I’d love to have time to see historic buildings, such as the Eldridge Street Synagogue and other landmarks. I’d like to check out the New Museum as well. In the meantime, check out some more New York City neighborhoods.

More New York City neighborhoods

More Food Travel Posts

• Tour Grand Central and Eat at the Oyster Bar
• Road Tripping Southeast Kansas with good eats
• The Best Restaurants Near Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis
• Stuffing Myself With Foods On A Stick at the Minnesota State Fair
• The Best Places to Eat in Oklahoma City
• NYC: What You Must See And What You Must Eat
• Best Things to Do and Eat in Wisconsin Rapids

Map of our Lower east Side Stops

Like it? Pin it!