A Chicago Chef’s Guide to His Hometown New York

This Mott Street spot in SoHo is open all day, but Psaltis highlights its breakfast offerings as “no better way to start the day.” His order: the Thai Diner egg sandwich served on freshly baked roti, chicken liver mee krob, and a pitcher of tamarind margaritas. “It’s the coolest diner in the world for breakfast,” he adds, “with great Thai influence from two amazing chefs, Ann Redding and Matt Danzer.”

Designed after Tokyo’s Toyosu Market, the world’s largest fish market, Noz Market offers both a standing hand roll bar and a full-service restaurant. Psaltis tends to opt for the former, stopping in for a hand roll tasting that gets him in and out in about 30 minutes while still enjoying some of the “most amazing sushi,” he says. The hand rolls rotate regularly, with recent offerings including Hokkaido uni, squid, spicy caviar, tobiko, shiso leaf, and shiso flower garnish. “Their casual luxury is hard to beat.”

For “the perfect martini,” Psaltis heads to The Grill in Midtown. “It’s a freezer-door martini and a pinnacle in its class,” he says. “Sit at the bar and ask for a snack suggestion with it.”

For as small as this Upper East Side Italian staple is, its panini operation is mighty, with more than 30 selections, including Psaltis’s favorite, La Madunina. “It’s the first time I ever had a prosciutto sandwich with a smear of pate on it—that sent me for a loop,” he says.

Psaltis’s appreciation for Basque cuisine leads him to Txikito in Chelsea for a taste of northern Spain’s Galician-style seafood. “I love their rosé vermouth cocktails and always order whatever they have on special that day.”