The Best Late-Night Food in the U.S.A. (2024)

Grand Forks, North Dakota

Ham. Swiss. Lettuce. Hot sauce. White sauce (secret). Colby cheese. A roll from Hugo's Bakery up the street. And, of course, taco meat, ground daily at L&M Meats up the other street. Open till: 2:30 A.M. Friday and Saturday, 1:30 A.M. Other days; 1011 University Avenue; 701-775-9671; redpepper.com

Iowa City, Iowa

The clientele aren't drinking PBR because it's hip, bitches. They're drinking it because their stamped-leather-belted asses have been parked on those barstools since about 11:00 this morning and there's no punk kid gonna kick them off until someone plays Hank Williams on the jukebox. Don't ask if they have any microbrews. Oh, and there is no buffet. Just cheeseburgers. The cheeseburgers are perfect. 2:00 A.M.; 312 East Market Street; 319-351-9614

—Jennifer Wilson

Chicago

Big round tables fill this tiny, weirdly named place south of the Loop. The waiters are so angry it's endearing. An enormous menu dares your brain to stray from what you know. The starters — knockout egg rolls, pot stickers — might finish you off, but try the spicy Mongolian beef or salt-and-pepper shrimp and you'll understand why Chicagoans like their original happiness in threes. 24/7; 209 West Cermak Road; 312-842-1964

Detroit

They up the meat-and-pita game here by wrapping in cabbage and french fries and slathering on garlic paste. Good after a few pints of Motor City Brewing Works' Ghettoblaster ale, which you're likely to have drunk, since the Bucharest is located inside a bar. 2:00 A.M.; 2040 Park Avenue; 313-965-3111; bucharestgrill.com

Buffalo

You know what the wings taste like. Get the Buffito instead, an alchemy of Buffalo chicken, blue cheese, and burrito fixings. Cut the heat with a Loganberry, a raspberry-blackberry drink sold only in these parts. People drive hours to do this. 2:00 A.M. Friday and Saturday; multiple locations; mightytaco.com

Bangor, Maine

Yankee pot roast for the downstaters, lobster rolls for the tourists, and eggs how you like 'em all day. Save room for pie. 24/7; 530 Cold Brook Road; 207-942-4878; dysarts.com

Boston

Bostonians have made do with less for centuries. Just ask anyone trying to find an open restaurant after last call. But South Street defies the city's abstemious ways, serving up-to-the-brim plates of breakfast staples and burgers. Don't forget to feed the jukebox. 24/7; 178 Kneeland Street; 617-350-0028; southstreetdiner.com

Newport, Rhode Island

Where everyone ends up. There's always a fight. The pizza's not bad. 2:00 A.M.; 372 Thames Street; 401-846-4074

New Haven, Connecticut

Louis Lassen may well have invented the hamburger, and his great-grandson still slings them from the same counter for the benefit of Yale's drunken, hungry male population. Burgers are hand-patted daily, cooked on ancient, sinister-looking vertical cast-iron griddles, and served between two slices of toasted white bread — the way Louis did it in 1900, predating the bun. You can get your hamburger sandwich topped with onions, tomato, and a squirt of Cheez-Wiz. Just don't ask for anything else. 2:00 A.M. Thursday through Saturday; 261 — 263 Crown Street; 203-562-5507; louislunch.com

—Elizabeth Gunnison

New York City

Little-known secret: Korea-town is always the most fun neighborhood of any city. In restaurants, people sing, usually well. Skylines of OB beer bottles and glasses of soju (cold Korean vodka) cover the tables. And the food — like pajun, a spongy pancake studded with chunks of shrimp and squid and panfried to a golden crisp — never stops. Wonjo is all of this. 24/7; 23 West Thirty-second Street; 212-695-5815; new-wonjo.com

Brooklyn

Ethereal Chinese. Call for delivery or grab a seat and start ordering — till sunrise, if you like. 6:00 A.M.; 549 Metropolitan Avenue; 718-384-8008; mnoodleshop.com

Pittsburgh

When it's late and you're drunk in Pittsburgh, what you do — what everyone does — is go to Primanti Bros., down in the Strip District since the thirties. You get what they call their number-two best seller — they put fries and slaw right in the sandwich. Wash it down with one last beer and disappear into the fuzzy end-of-the-night chaos. 24/7; 46 Eighteenth Street; 412-263-2142; primantibros.com

Hagerstown, Maryland

It's quiet. You're alone in a dark alley, hungry for doughnuts. You could be out of luck (in a lot of ways) unless the dark, quiet alley happens to be the one in which a glowing orange OPEN sign hangs in the window of a nondescript shoebox of a shop. Same family, same recipe, same perfect doughnuts since 1934. 2:00 A.M.; 912 Maryland Avenue; 301-733-6103; krumpesdonuts.com

Washington, D.C.

The later it gets, the funnier the name of this place becomes. 5:00 A.M. Friday and Saturday, 3:00 A.M. other days; 610 H Street NW; 202-628-0491; newbigwong.com

Louisville

The fried chicken in Kentucky is the best in the world, and the fried chicken in Louisville is the best in Kentucky, and the fried chicken at Indi's is the best in Louisville ... so, transitive property, Indi's fried chicken is the best in the world. Get the spicy version plus the special hot sauce for twenty-five cents extra. Late night is a little sketchy — the protective glass you have to order through isn't comforting — but you can always do the drive-through. 2:00 A.M. Friday and Saturday, 1:00 A.M. other days; 4419 Cane Run Road; 502-448-1108

—Chef Edward Lee, 610 Magnolia

Nashville

If Nashville's hottest restaurant, the Catbird Seat, is the cloister that feeds your soul, then the Patterson House, its retro-speakeasy downstairs, is the shadowy refectory where the monks (in this case, bartenders) feed your hunger. There's something addictive in those tater tots. 3:00 A.M.; 1711 Division Street; 615-636-7724; thepattersonnashville.com

Atlanta

Fried oysters and a fine collection of bourbons should hold you until ten, when chef Linton Hopkins rolls out exactly twenty-four double-patty cheeseburgers. Every fixing is made in-house, from the ketchup to the bread-and-butter pickles. 1:30 A.M.; 2277 Peachtree Road, Suite B; 404-948-1175; holeman-finch.com

North Miami Beach

Your first decision at this strip-mall hideaway is where to sit. The bar's on your right. The sushi bar is straight ahead. Pick one. If it's after eleven, it's two-for-one drinks, which leads to your next decision: beer, wine, sake, or co*cktails. But your last decision is the hardest, given Yakko-San's sizable menu of sushi, tempura, noodles, and other Japanese comfort foods. Here's help: seafood-miso hot pot. Pork sautéed with kimchi. Grilled yellowtail jowl. Sake-steamed clams. Now go. 3:00 A.M.; 3881 NE 163rd Street; 305-947-0064; yakko-san.com

—Evan S. Benn

St. Louis

They're almost an inch thick and soak up anything they touch — syrup, melted ice cream, the smear of bacon grease on the side of your plate. Same as they have since 1961. 24/7; 3427 South Kingshighway Boulevard; 314-832-1973

New Orleans

There will be a wait. And it's one of those places where you have to be decisive. And you should avoid the bathroom. But forget these annoyances and order the jambalaya, rich with soft rabbit meat and smoked-pork sausage, bound with just enough tomato-y rice. As jambalaya should be, at any hour. 1:00 A.M. Friday and Saturday; 1109 Decatur Street; 504-525-9053; coopsplace.net