The NYC Restaurants JFK Jr. And Carolyn Bessette Loved

With the release of Ryan Murphy's latest docudrama, "Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette," there's been a surge of interest and nostalgia surrounding the world inhabited by the glamorous couple. That world was 1990s New York City, and the pair were practically royalty during that bygone era of the Big Apple. The paparazzi followed them everywhere, the tabloids recorded their every move, and eyes turned to them the moment they stepped out of their downtown loft at 20 North Moore Street.

Where were they going when they stepped out? Often to their favorite restaurants. The renewed focus on their short, glittering, and ultimately tragic lives led newfound obsessives on a mission to find their preferred NYC haunts — a number of which are still in operation today. This has led to many a TikTok and Instagram pilgrimages to these very places.

Here's a comprehensive journey of our own. From Tribeca and Noho to the Upper East Side and East Harlem, we follow in the footsteps of John-John and Ms. Bessette as they dine on Indian, Italian, Japanese, and fusion cuisine before fusion was a thing. Here are ten New York City restaurants the star-crossed lovers loved.

Where else to start but at the beginning. It was under a canopy of color, nondescriptly tucked into a restaurant storefront, a short flight of stairs up from 1st Avenue, that the JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette romance was born. And since "Love Story" aired, the setting for their first date has become a mecca for those wanting to emulate their inaugural meal together, many requesting to sit at the very booth where it happened.

Panna II Garden Indian Restaurant has been a beloved East Village spot since it opened in 1989. Famous for its rainforest of Christmas lights draping across its ceiling year-round (can they even be called Christmas lights at that point?), the Indian eatery has experienced something of a renaissance thanks to the show.

Although it was the place where their first date happened — after a supposed false start where John Jr. initially showed up a half-hour late, causing Bessette to storm off — the restaurant became a regular visit for the couple. The scene from the first episode of the show was filmed inside the restaurant, but it wasn't the first TV series to bring cameras and crew inside the cozy eatery. "Sex and the City" and "Daredevil" did the same. But aside from all the showbiz stuff, Panna II has all the signs you're in a fantastic Indian restaurant.

JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette liked to stay in their neighborhood. And remember, this was a Tribeca that was only just emerging as a chic, tony, and influential pocket of Manhattan. Tribeca in the 1980s was an afterthought, dotted with mechanics, parking lots, and derelict factories. This was a far cry from the well-heeled Upper East Side and Hamptons roots of his mother, Jacqueline Onassis, neé Kennedy, neé Bouvier. However, by the time John Jr. moved into the neighborhood in 1994, its rise had already begun.

Their apartment (Carolyn moved in with him in 1995) was only a few doors down from Walker's. Like much of the neighborhood at the time, especially for Manhattan, it was low-key, almost sleepy. It served, and still serves, pretty typical American food that would belie the area's eventual culinary prominence. We're talking menu items like meatloaf, sirloin steak, shrimp scampi, chili, and even non-kids menu chicken tenders.

Maybe that's why the couple, whose level of glamor would see them fit in at any of the finest eating establishments in the world, liked to go there. One, it was on their block. Two, it was a nice, plebian break from the rapacious public eye. And they possibly didn't want to spend the time making their own meatloaf recipe at home.

These days, Bubby's is a brunch hotspot famous for its nonpareil pancakes, its homemade-style pies (including special recipes for Pi Day), and its long, weekend lines that are as trendy to be a part of as the actual sit-down dining crowd. But back in 1990, on its second day of operation, a certain high-profile customer stopped in who would become a mainstay of the eatery for years after. And it would even one day become associated with the couple's tragic end.

Eventually making their home only a few blocks away, John Jr. and Carolyn treated the comfort-food spot "like a living room," according to owner-chef Ron Silver (via Page Six). It was a place in which they could be anonymous, unbothered, just regular folk eating regular food on their own, at their own regular time. To most of us, this is a given. But for this coupling, in a time when celebrity wasn't as cheap as it is nowadays, this must have been a welcome haven of non-excitement.

They would come together, they would come separately, accompanied by friends, family, and associates, talk business, or casually chit-chat. John Jr. would have his bacon, eggs, and pancakes; Bessette would order her soup and salad. It was downright homey. It makes it all the more heart-wrenching that it was the place John enjoyed his final breakfast before the plane crash that would claim both their lives.

Over on West Broadway, only a five-minute walk from John and Carolyn's home, stood The Odeon. Its doors are still open today, with a menu that spans everything from comfort food to high-level cuisine: chicken pot pie and ribs, braised duck leg and trout meuniére, French onion soup and fried calamari, braised lamb garganelli and beef bourguignon (competing with Anthony Bourdain's version).

In the 1980s, the brasserie played host to much of New York City's artistic movers and shakers. So, it was already a well-established hotspot by the time the couple began patronizing the place. Bessette, who was a publicist for Calvin Klein, would frequent the restaurant. Her favorite meal there was a straightforward hamburger with a side of sautéed spinach, eschewing the French fries.

A far less pedestrian aspect of The Odeon in the couple's lives: It was where they got back together after a short split. According to a report, Carolyn was at a private party hosted by her employer, Calvin Klein, when John showed up. Before he could be rejected at the door (can you imagine?) Carolyn stepped in, and the rekindling happened from there. The rest was history.

A confluence of a sushi superstar, an acting superstar, and a hot-shot producer, Nobu opened its doors for the first time in Tribeca in 1994, the same year John-John moved into his nearby pad. The brainchild of chef Nobu Matsuhisa, Robert De Niro, and Meir Teper, the Nobu brand would go on to become an all-conquering, global hospitality titan. John and Carolyn, back in its early days, would have many date nights at the immediate smash hit.

Famed restaurateur Drew Nieporent was the manager of Nobu and talked about the couple as being completely down to earth and never making a fuss about where they sat, unlike many others of lesser cultural stature. In fact, Nieporent referred to Kennedy as "the ultimate customer." He even recalled a dinner party he attended along with John and Carolyn, hosted by De Niro (whose own favorite dish at Nobu was the legendary black cod with miso). John asked for a bag to take his giant leftover Osso Bucco home to his and Carolyn's no-doubt grateful dog.

These days, nabbing a reservation at the original Nobu is still a tough get. So, if you're looking to reenact the dining habits of JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette, you'll have to attempt it exactly a month in advance (exactly). Otherwise, you can always take selfies outside the restaurant on the street. Those don't require reservations.

Lafayette Street used to be known as Gasoline Alley, back in the day. This small stretch of NoHo (which is also home to cultural institution The Public Theater, world-renowned for Shakespeare in the Park) was once just a ramshackle corridor of car garages and gas stations. It's hard to picture anything like that now in this, or nearly any, part of Manhattan.

But in 1984, French-Vietnamese fusion restaurant Indochine was opened on this very street, right near Astor Place, by one-half of the famed McNally brothers (who also opened another aforementioned Kennedy-Bessette favorite, The Odeon). The spot quickly became a spot for the who's who of the music, fashion, and art world in this gritty underbelly of Manhattan. Mick Jagger, Madonna, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Keith Haring were known to frequent the eatery.

This was the place that John and Carolyn apparently dined right after they got married. Unlike many of the other establishments on this list, this pioneering "club-staurant" was super-hip and had the kind of clientele that probably wouldn't be seen at places like Walker's and Bubby's. But the couple seemed to easily straddle both worlds.

Back in 1896, Italian immigrant Charles Rao bought a storefront on 114th Street in what was then a heavily Italian area of East Harlem. Since that time, the modestly-sized restaurant has played host to celebrities of both the underworld and regular society — making the family-style Italian joint one of the hardest reservations to get anywhere on the planet. Long-time customers often pass down their regular reservations as if they were an heirloom instead of just a place to eat dinner.

With that said, if anybody was going to just waltz in there and snag a table, or rather, bike there, it was going to be a Kennedy. And John Jr. was certainly one of those. He dined at one of the ten tables in the entire corner restaurant after he got the financing set for his political magazine, George. The place became to Kennedy what Via Carota in the West Village has become for Taylor Swift: a go-to yet exclusive joint for fantastic Italian eats.

Carolyn would, of course, join John at the historic red sauce eatery throughout their relationship. No wonder a place with a hundred-plus years of history and so much mystique would go on to sell one of the more expensive tomato sauces in the supermarket. For average Joes and Janes, it's probably the closest you'll get to food from its kitchen.

Robert De Niro must have gotten to know John and Carolyn pretty well over the years. They used to frequent another one of the renowned restaurants under his ownership (along with the aforementioned Drew Nieporent). This one was Tribeca Grill. And like Nobu, it became a Zagat-acclaimed, award-winning magnet for the influential in downtown Manhattan. It also played host to a number of notable moments in the shared life of Carolyn Bessette and JFK Jr.

It's the restaurant where they ate before one of their paparazzi-captured blowouts on the streets and parks of NYC. It was also the locale for John-John's 35th birthday dinner before the party was taken elsewhere into the wee hours of the morning (what's a more celeb New York City birthday than that?).

A shame that, after 35 years of wining and dining the blue bloods of New York City, Tribeca Grill closed for good in 2025. It goes to show that even the greatest restaurants can have a shelf life. The combination of overhead cost, budget pressures, and the constant need to meet high expectations can make it impossible to continue sometimes. But legacies live on, especially when legends are a part of it.

About that 35th birthday bash for John Jr. that went on until the sun rose the following day: Mudville 9 — one of those nondescript dive bars that the rich and famous love to get grimy at — was where it happened. Dancing in sandals with a cadre of friends and family around him (along with Carolyn, of course), Kennedy was comfortable enough in the Chambers Street watering hole to let loose and celebrate the prime of his days. All the more poignant when you consider the sudden and shocking brevity of his and Carolyn's lives.

What's great about Mudville 9, and symbolic of the galactic couple's dining and socializing habits, was that the place was merely another TV-strewn, almost generic sports bar. Carolyn and John were just as comfortable in everyman spots like this as they were in the most exclusive eating establishments in the world.

Unlike some of the other places on this list, anyone could have easily gone in there, enjoyed a few rounds, and gotten their fingers dirty with a basket of wings. You may not have felt like a Kennedy, but in a way, you could've eaten like one.

This famous hotel holds a special place, not only in John Jr.'s heart at one time, but in American culture. John's father, President John F. Kennedy, used to frequent this Upper East Side institution when he was in town. As a result, John-John spent a lot of time there in his childhood. As an adult, he would continue to dine at the restaurant, always sitting at table 29.

In a moment that totally jives with the stature of the Carlyle, it played host to a seismic meeting of 1990s mega-icons — one member of American royalty and one member of actual, British royalty. JFK Jr. and Princess Diana set up a pow-wow at the Carlyle's restaurant as John tried to convince Diana to pose for his magazine, George. The then-Princess of Wales ultimately shot the idea down, but nonetheless, a lore was created about the date.

And it wasn't the last time the hotel played host to an heir to the English crown. Prince William and Princess Catherine stayed here on their inaugural visit to New York City in 2014, presumably completely aware of his mother's previous rendezvous with her American male counterpart. After all, both were bigger than life, both had a connection with the average person, and both saw tragic ends to their brief yet influential existences.