Where To Have Your Birthday Dinner In NYC

"This place is part fish market and part restaurant, and there’s a big display in the back where you get to pick your own seafood and bag it up before you hand it over to the kitchen. There’s always a big selection of things like snapper, porgy, shrimp, and octopus, and when your server delivers everything fresh from the grill, you’ll congratulate yourself for being such a good pick-your-own-seafood person. The waits can be long, so bring some friends, and crack open some bottles you brought while you wait for your table. (Astoria Seafood is BYOB.)" - bryan kim, neha talreja, kenny yang, sonal shah