This Indian restaurant of recent vintage was founded by British immigrant Jaz Rupali, and it specializes in the Balti cooking popular in London. There are kebabs aplenty, shrimp balcho fried in onions and chile, mellow chicken tikka masala, and lamb cooked in ginger and figs. The interior is elegant enough to be a date spot, and the spice level is higher than expected at an NYC Punjabi restaurant.

Once, restaurants serving a menu of food from Afghanistan were common along 9th Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen, now Ariana is the only one that remains. Dating to 1986, it specializes in charcoal-grilled kebabs (try the ground meat lamb kofta) matched with rice pilaf, pumpkin-filled turnovers, eggplant curries, and fist-size steamed dumplings filled with meat or vegetables.

This French chain is an inexpensive dining resource, its rotisserie chickens cooked with more care than is usual in competing places, and with a spicing scheme appropriate to its name. Don’t miss the amazing mashed potatoes, which could be a meal in themselves, and ratatouille is another durable choice for sides. Fried chicken and chicken wings also available, with a seating area comfortable but not luxurious.

Desi Deli is a closet of a space with a bit of seating around the corner. You can order what’s visible on the steamtable or on the glass shelf above, or from the menu that almost looks too big to produce in such a small place. With a menu equally divided between vegetarian and non- your choices include lamb biryani, butter chicken, okra masala, kati rolls, Indian breakfasts, and desserts — all available 24 hours, which is nothing short of amazing.

Jim Lahey’s modern Italian bakery focusing on Roman baked goods sells almost too many awesome things to list: rich and flaky chocolate croissants, sweet-salty egg sandwiches, vanilla custard bombolini, and over a dozen types of breads, including all the classic Italian shapes. But the highlight at Sullivan Street are the focaccias sold by the rectangle and paved with things like potatoes and rosemary, mushrooms, zucchini, ripe tomatoes, or nothing but herbs.

Opening in the spring or 2022, LumLum succeeded Pam Real Thai food in the same double-storefront location just off 9th Avenue, and it succeeds just as admirably in introducing new Thai dishes, several originating in the region north of Bangkok in Central Thailand. Pay special attention to drinking snacks called kub kaem. including stuffed river prawns, and street fare like krapow — a fiery stir fry of ground chicken and yard beans snipped small.

In the days two decades ago when many Pueblan immigrants worked in the Garment Center, this grocery store turned into a cafe was their hangout and refuge. It’s still a great place for a full Mexican meal, with the dairy chalkboard specials particularly recommended for homestyle Puebla cooking, which might include pork ribs with verdolaga (purslane), the round sandwiches called cemitas, a heartwarming pozole, or a cheese-stuffed chile relleno swimming in a mild tomato sauce.

This Mexican deli, bakery (AKA Leon Bakery), and grocer on the West Side is home to many things, including absolutely epic torta loca sandwiches. The Cubana version includes refried black beans, beef milanesa, hot dogs, ham, Oaxacan cheese, avocado, tomato, iceberg lettuce, and jalapenos, all of which threaten to spill out of the sandwich. Tamales and chiladquiles are two more specialties better here than almost anywhere else in the city.

Retro hamburger stand Lovely’s has a window on the street for easy hamburger acquisition, but you can also sit inside at a formica-clad lunch counter. The burgers might have been made 40 years ago and transported here by time machine: well browned, of moderate size, and juicy. You can also get a patty melt, onion rings, and chocolate chip cookies.

Who’d have expected one of the city’s best Hunan restaurants to be situated near the corner of 9th Avenue and 42nd Street? For 7 years, too! Open till 10:30 p.m. seven days, the place is bigger than it might be and signatures include smoked pork and dried turnips — showcasing the Huanese penchant for preserving things, as well as braised fish with mustard greens and corn in salted egg sauce.

Over the last few years, 9th Avenue in HK has established itself as a a sort of linear Chinatown, with over a dozen restaurants running the gamut from Cantonese dim sum shops to Sichuan fish restaurants to spots specializing in Hunan and other regional cuisines. When Chi appeared not long ago as the southernmost of these, it quickly established itself as the flagship, with extra elegance, a full bar, higher prices, and a menu that includes fare from Sichuan, Dongbei, and Xianjing.