It’s not just staples like Mexican food: there isn’t great Vietnamese, Thai, and options for other cultures too. There’s barely passable Korean food in Korea town. It’s commercialized tourist goop. I’m talking Manhattan, gentrified Brooklyn, and LIC here.
Having Japanese and a handful of decent Chinese places != diverse.
I’ve lived in NYC for 10 years. I’ve looked.
Here’s the breakdown of where to go to get authentic, good non-tourist food:
An hour+ to get to different parts of Queens for decent Korean, Chinese, Mexican options.
Three hours to get to Northern VA for Vietnamese food (or 2 for Philly).
1-2 hours to get to New Jersey to get decent Indian food.
Yes, NYC has great sushi that costs 500 per person. Again, that doesn’t make it the #1 food city in America.
