Best Restaurant: Eleven Madison Park, 11 Madison Ave. (tel. 212/889-0905). Higher praise has consistently gone to chef/restaurateur Danny Meyer's other restaurants, Gramercy Park Tavern and Union Square Café, and as a result this gem often gets overlooked, which is a shame. It is a magnificent restaurant on every level. The Art Deco room is spectacular, the service almost otherworldly -- and the food truly memorable.

Best Special Occasion Restaurant: The River Café, 1 Water St., Brooklyn (tel. 718/522-5200). Located at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn, there is no better dining view of Manhattan. Go at twilight as the lights of downtown begin to flicker on; it's a magical experience. Though the food at restaurants with views is usually not very good, you won't be disappointed by the sophisticated fare prepared here.

Best for Romance: Reserve at One If By Land, Two If By Sea, 17 Barrow St. (tel. 212/255-8649; www.oneifbyland.com), where candlelight, lush piano music, and tuxedoed service in a pre-Revolutionary Greenwich Village town house take you back in time and put you in the mood for love.

Best Newcomer: Voyage, 117 Perry St. (tel. 212/255-9191). With travel as the theme, the food here takes you to different lands, in innovative ways that are bursting with flavor.

The runner-up, Aix, 2398 Broadway (tel. 212/874-7400; www.aixnyc.com), is another restaurant that takes a few risks that have paid off in spades. Chef Didier Virot has put his own novel spin on the cuisine of Provence making Upper West Siders, who have longed for quality restaurants, very happy.

Best Service: With an almost-unheard-of 27 (out of a possible 30) rating for service from Zagat's, Chanterelle, 2 Harrison St. (tel. 212/966-6960), simply can't be beat. The service somehow manages to be impeccable without being too formal or stuffy. Other restaurants try, but this is how it's supposed to be.

Best Wine List: Veritas, 43 E. 20th St. (tel. 212/353-3700), boasts what must be the most enthralling wine cellar in town. Serious oenophiles can download the full list -- market and reserve -- for advance study, and then call up to have their choice opened and decanted for dinnertime.

Best for Breakfast: Good Enough to Eat, 483 Amsterdam Ave. (tel. 212/496-0163). They've been lining up on Amsterdam Avenue on weekend mornings for over 20 years to get a taste of chef/owner Carrie Levin's bountiful home-cooked breakfasts. But why wait on line? You're on vacation, go during the week.

Best for Brunch: Though I am not a devotee of brunch, Norma's, at Le Parker Meridien hotel, 118 W. 57th St. (tel. 212/708-7460), is an exception. I put it in the brunch category only because it is a bit above the standard breakfast budget. Traditional breakfast items are available but skip them and go for the creative interpretations like the asparagus and seared rock lobster omelet.

Best for Pre- (or Post-) Theater: Aquavit, 13 W. 54th St. (tel. 212/307-7311), offers a three-course pretheater menu for just $39 -- and their light Scandinavian cuisine won't weigh you down in your theater seat. After the show, Joe Allen, 326 W. 46th St. (tel. 212/581-6464), is the ultimate Broadway pub -- and the meat loaf is marvelous.

Best Dessert: There are many impressive pastry chefs in town, but few of them can top the remarkable Elizabeth Katz of Fiamma Osteria, 206 Spring St. (tel. 212/653-0100). Her creations make you want to skip the entrees and head straight for dessert. Everything on Fiamma's "Dolci" menu is outstanding, but her torta (the dark chocolate praline cake layered with hazelnut brittle) and gianduja gelato (hazelnut-flavored chocolate gelato) are as close to perfection as you can get.

Best Chinese Cuisine: With all the culinary wonders that Chinatown has to offer, this is a tough choice. But I can't stop thinking about those steamy soup dumplings at Joe's Shanghai, 9 Pell St. (tel. 212/233-8888). New York Noodletown, 28 1/2 Bowery (tel. 212/349-0923), runs neck and neck with Joe's, where anything that's salt-baked is guaranteed to be sublime.

Best French Cuisine: La Grenouille, 3 E. 52nd St. (tel. 212/752-1495), serves the classics with elegant perfection.

Best Italian Cuisine: With Babbo, 110 Waverly Place (tel. 212/777-0303), Food Network chef Mario Batali has created the ideal setting for his exciting northern Italian cooking. The room is beautiful, the service warm and gracious, and the food excellent. Nobody does pasta better.

Best Japanese Cuisine: In a category all its own is inventive Nobu, 105 Hudson St. (tel. 212/219-0500), where unusual textures, daring combinations, and surprising flavors add up to a first-rate dining adventure that you won't soon forget.

Best Home-Style Cooking: No other restaurant warms my heart more than the aptly named Home, 20 Cornelia St. (tel. 212/243-9579), where the cumin-crusted pork chop sits in a bed of homemade barbecue sauce that's better than Dad used to make, and even Mom would tip her hat to the silky smooth chocolate pudding.

Best Jewish Deli: Katz's Delicatessen, 205 E. Houston St. (tel. 212/254-2246), is the choice among those who know their kreplach, knishes, and pastrami. No cutesy sandwiches named for celebrities here -- just top-notch Jewish classics. The all-beef wieners are the best in a town known for its top-quality dogs.

Best Burger: Burger Joint, at Le Parker Meridien hotel, 118 W. 57th St. (tel. 212/708-7460). Who woulda thunk that a fancy hotel like Le Parker Meridien would be the home to a place called Burger Joint that serves great burgers at great prices?

For the most decadent hamburger, try the burger at db Bistro Moderne, 55 W. 44th St. (tel. 212/391-2400). Daniel Boulud's creation is made with braised short ribs, foie gras, preserved black truffles, and minced sirloin. This one comes in at a whopping $29.

Best Pizza: Patsy's Pizzeria, 2287 First Ave. (tel. 212/534-9783). This great East Harlem pizzeria has been cranking out coal-oven pizza since 1932. It was the favorite of Frank Sinatra who used to have Patsy's pizzas packed and shipped to him in Vegas. You can also order by the slice here, but only do so if the pie is fresh out of the oven.

Best Seafood: The black bass ceviche alone -- not to mention everything else that comes out of its blue-ribbon kitchen -- keeps Le Bernardin, 155 W. 51st St. (tel. 212/489-1515), at the top of the world's great fish restaurants.

Best Steak: Peter Luger Steak House, 178 Broadway, Brooklyn (tel. 718/387-7400). Don't expect great service. Don't expect an intimate atmosphere. But do expect the finest steak in New York, where there are many fine steaks to be had.

Best for Families: If you're traveling with a kid you want to impress, don't pass up an opportunity to eat at Serendipity 3, 225 E. 60th St. (tel. 212/838-3531), a classic ice-cream parlor, but better. Sure, they have real food so you can pretend to be there for a real meal; but Serendipity is all about getting to the sweet treats.

Best for Vegetarians: Pongal, 110 Lexington Ave. (tel. 212/696-9458), re-creates the flavorful and pleasing vegetarian fare of Southern India -- and thanks to a daily visit from a rabbi, it's kosher, to boot.

Best Cheap Meal: Gray's Papaya, 2090 Broadway (tel. 212/799-0243). Though the $2.45 "recession special" -- two hot dogs and a fruit drink -- is almost a $1 increase from the previous recession, it's still a bargain. But is it any good? Witness the lines out the door everyday for lunch.

Best Ice Cream: Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, Fulton Ferry Landing Pier, Brooklyn (tel. 718/246-3963). The perfect reward after a brisk walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. Rich homemade ice cream with a view of the Manhattan skyline; a tough combination to beat.

Best Bagel: H&H Bagels, 2239 Broadway (tel. 212/595-8003; www.handhbagel.com). The competition is fierce in this category but despite arrogantly breaking the $1 barrier for the price of a bagel, H&H still makes the best.

Best 24-Hour Restaurant: Veselka, 144 Second Ave. (tel. 212/228-9682). This Ukrainian diner will meet almost all your food needs at any time of day or night. If you want borscht at midnight, you can get it. If you want French toast at four in the morning, you can have it. A true comfort to know that they will make pretty much whatever you want when you want it.

Best All-You-Can-Eat Buffet: Charles Southern-Style Kitchen, 2841 Eighth Ave. (tel. 877/813-2920). Not only is this Harlem restaurant the best all-you-can-eat buffet, it is also the best soul food restaurant in the city. For $9.95 on weekdays, and $11.95 on weekends, the down-home offerings will tempt you to make an obscene amount of visits to the buffet line.