2022 Holiday Gift Guide: Must Have NYC Restaurant Cookbooks

Have you even dined at a New York City restaurant, wishing that you can make what you ordered at home? Yes, you can. Here is a sampling of cookbooks from various city restaurants and a food festival that bring a taste of NYC right to your kitchen.

In spring 2022, Vittorio Assaf and Fabio Granato, the culinary duo behind this Italian restaurant brand with locations throughout NYC, are celebrating 25 years of business. This cookbook is the first release for Assaf and Granato, who share their signature recipes and personal stories.

The name of this Ukrainian restaurant in Manhattan’s East Village means “rainbow” and it is a neighborhood for perogies, borscht, goulash and other traditional dishes. “The Veselka Cookbook” includes recipes and tales from this culinary institution that has been around since 1954. Veselka also sells the book bundled with their branded coffee mug and dessert plate, at $55.

This comfort food dining spot in Manhattan’s Tribeca attracts crowds for their pancakes. In this cookbook, recreate your experience with Bubby’s right in your kitchen with these specialties and recipes for other menu favorites.

The newly-released cookbook from this West Village trattoria is a labor of love by Via Carota chefs Jody Williams and Rita Sodi in honoring old-world Italian food. Your book comes signed by both chefs and with a Via Carota canvas tote bag.

Since starting out in 2005 as a stall in Flushing, Xi’an Famous Foods has expanded to multiple locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. In the cookbook of the same name, CEO Jason Wang tells how this brand came to be, alongside recipes of these Xi’an dishes that home cooks can prepare.

On Saturday evenings during the summer months, the Queens Night Market brings immigrant vendors and chefs together to sell foods and drinks representing many countries around the world. Market founder John Wang and his wife Storm Garner co-author this cookbook featuring 40 recipes from them. Entries highlight vendors such as Sangyal Phuntsok and his Tibetan Beef Momos with Hot Sauce and Liia Minnebaeva’s Bashkir Farm Cheese Donuts.