Best-of Guides New York

The Best Apple-Focused Desserts in New York City

0 Restaurant
Updated on 05 June 2024

Junior’s cheesecake. The black and white cookie. Chef Dominiqe Ansel’s viral cronut. New York has its fair share of iconic desserts but when in New York, doesn’t it make sense to want to literally take a bite out the Big Apple?

We've rounded up a few spots where apple-focused desserts steal the spotlight. 

View all of the sweet treats below. 


Le Bernardin’s trompe l’oeil apple

When the definitive history of NYC's dining scene is written, Le Bernardin will have a chapter all to itself. Maguy Le Coze and Eric Ripert’s icon has been entertaining the city’s movers and shakers for over 20 years and its popularity remains undimmed. The menu is divided into headings of “Almost raw,” “Barely touched” and “Lightly cooked,” but don’t be fooled, these product-driven items have considerable depth.


Nigel Parry / Daniel Krieger
Nigel Parry / Daniel Krieger

Gotham’s tarte Tatin

Three decades in, longtime pastry chef Ron Paprocki now runs the show at this tried-and-true institution. Gotham exudes old-school New York, as does the classic American cooking with Continental accents. 


Noah Fecks
Noah Fecks

Lord’s Calvados apple trifle

It feels straight out of London at this meat-centric restaurant with a nose to tail ethos from Chef Ed Szymanski and Patricia Howard, the partners behind smash hit, Dame. Come on a cold day for hearty English classics with a touch of creativity (think curried lamb scotch egg).


Evan Sung
Evan Sung

Café Sabarsky’s apple strudel

This Museum Mile kaffeehaus is so authentic it may as well be set along Vienna’s Ringstrasse. Instead, find it in a Beaux Arts mansion—home to the Neue Galerie, replete with 20th-century Austrian-and-German art and design.


Cafe Sabarsky
Cafe Sabarsky