I don’t get why eating at the bar is considered a last resort. It has many benefits: there’s usually no wait, no wobbly tables, more comfortable for tall people, service is excellent and you can talk to your dining companion more easily in a loud space. Plus there’s usually something interesting going on behind the bar.

Whether you’re just visiting New York or you’ve lived here all your life, chances are you haven’t spent enough time exploring Jackson Heights, Queens. Take it from someone who lives there—truly knowing this immigrant-dominated neighborhood, where Colombians and Mexicans rub shoulders with Tibetans and Thai—is an impossible task. It’s the New York dream writ small: astonishingly diverse, always changing, and endlessly interesting. Few other places on earth are as culturally rich and complex, and even fewer are dense enough to walk through in an afternoon.

That’s enough of a reason to learn more about Jackson Heights. Then there’s the food—dumpling shops hidden in cell phone stores, tacos and tortas cooked on every block, late night ceviche hawkers under the rumbling 7 train. Step off the subway and the air itself tastes good: grilled lamb and the perfume of 100 curries.