Hidden in a fading strip mall, Cannelle is one of the city’s best and most doctrinaire French bakeries. There’s table seating, and the parade of customers is well worth watching for its amazing diversity. The raspberry almond croissant is formidable, and you won’t find fault with the napoleons, gateaux Breton, cheesecakes, or cherry-loaded Black Forest cakes, either. A small collection of sandwiches permit more savory repasts.

Open since 1967 on Northern Boulevard, Pizza Sam is a father-and-son operation prone to excellence. The thick, bouncy Sicilian slice is bigger than it ought to be, overflowing with cheese. Also available: calzones in six configurations, cutlets of chicken and veal, a predictable group of baked pastas — don’t miss the baked cheese ravioli with meat sauce — and heros are further lures.

There aren’t too many old-guard Spanish restaurants left in the city, and this Castilian spot that dates to the late 1980s is one of the better ones. Find a full roster of tapas in the elegant but timeworn dining rooms: Try in particular the paprika-dusted octopus or the well-browned tortilla, sold in its entirety rather than in wedges. Main courses emphasize seafood, of which the best is a stew called zarzuela, containing multiple fish and crustaceans, and more lobster than you might have expected.

Probably the most popular snack along Northern Boulevard is the South American hot dog. This is not your New York street frank dressed with sauerkraut and mustard, but a supermarket weenie heaped with so many toppings the sausage disappears. Several restaurants specialize in them along Northern Boulevard of which a favorite is the tiniest, El Perro (“the dog”). Seven signature franks are available, dressed with ingredients like pineapple, bacon, potato chips, quail eggs, raspberry jam, and a rainbow of sauces. Other Colombian snacks and street foods are available, nearly all of them as elaborately dressed.

The evolution over the last decade of this spot that was once a cart on Roosevelt Avenue is astonishing, especially when you consider the current comfy dining room and fully licensed bar. The menu skews toward southern Mexican, sometimes showcasing food from the state of Morelos, including a fine red pumpkin seed mole, goat barbacoa, and outsize tacos placeros, which feature giant hand-patted tortillas and contain ingredients like rice, boiled eggs, chile strips, potato fritters, and chiles rellenos.

Maria Piedad Cano, also known as the Arepa Lady, used to sell her fluffy Colombian corn cakes out of a cart in front of the Jackson Heights post office. These days, there are multiple branches and her family is running the show as fans still seek out her arepas filled with salty cheese, perfect for topping off with any number of sauces, from leche condensada (condensed milk) to green-tinged garlic.

Named after a garlicky white sauce, El Toum is a good place to drop in for a coffee scented with cardamom with a baklava; or a rolled sandwich (the falafel has been extensively praised). But owner Sami Dib also offers full meals, from rack of lamb to pan-seared branzino. Additionally, a beguiling weekend brunch may feature fava beans or calves livers, both including two eggs cooked your way. There are lots of vegetable options, too.

One of a half dozen Bangladeshi cafes in downtown Jackson Heights, Kotha at least partly functions as a snack shop, where one can run in and get dal poori, samosas filled with chicken or potato and laced with mustard oil for a mild burn, or sweet crepes. But a steam table reveals biryanis, curries, and kurmas.

The menu of this Nepali restaurant originates in the north central region of Mustang. Expect the usual steamers of momo, handmade noodles in soups and stir fries, vegetable salads, and warm meat jerkies sometimes containing offal. Goat is a highlight. Many of the meals are served on round metal thalis, each containing 10 or so small dishes and condiments.

This Pakistani halal café and sweet shop occupies the original storefront of the sainted Jackson Diner, and the diner atmosphere persists. Save the Bengali sweets in the refrigerated glass cases near the entrance for later, while you first chow down on tandooris and curries. The palak paneer is particularly lush with fresh cheese, while the chicken keema is exceedingly smooth and mellow.

This bright blue truck named after Ecuador’s great seaside port parked just off Roosevelt Avenue is a rolling picanteria, a lunch wagon with all-in meals and soups perfect for your noon or afternoon repast. Some of the food sold here isn’t generally available at the Ecuadorian restaurants that line Roosevelt Avenue, including a wonderful blood sausage soup (“caldo de salsicha”)

This Roosevelt Avenue spot specializes in Mexican ceviches presented in several guises, many originating in Sinaloa. Heralded by a personified yellow submarine with a handlebar moustache, the vibe is fast casual: Order at the counter an aguachile (a soupy cousin of the ceviche presented in a volcano-stone molcajete); a tostada (limey fish mounted on a crisp flat tortilla); or plainly presented ceviche, featuring shrimp, fish filet, octopus, or crab. Wash it down with fresh-fruit beverages and slushies.

The neighborhood boasts a solid number of Asian restaurants — Thai, Filipino, Chinese American, and of course, Indian — though there’s no Japanese option quite like 969 NYC Coffee. Owner Mitsumine Oda offers nearly a dozen different onigiri options, which he sometimes fashions into heart-shaped rice balls filled with everything from kaarage to pickled plums. But that’s not all: He serves ramen with green tea noodles, crispy shrimp tempura, and there’s a decent selection of Japanese snacks like sesame mochi and seaweed snacks, plus some of the best matcha in town.

This restaurant with a bright pastel interior expanded to three locations a few years ago, making this one of the biggest Mexican restaurant empires in town. The unfailing dedication of its menu to inexpensive antojitos — sopes, huaraches, flautas, chalupas, quesadillas, and such — with their expansive roster of toppings, make this a crowd-pleasing place and there are beers to wash it all down. Standouts from the Pueblan-centered menu including the fiery chicken soup chilate de pollo, overstuffed cemita sandwiches, and an entrée of steamed tongue.

Angel was founded in 2019 by Amrit Pal Singh, who cut his teeth at Adda Indian Canteen. It started out vegetarian, but had to add meat dishes during the pandemic to keep the business afloat. Now it’s Jackson Heights’ most distinguished Indian restaurant, with a menu that is half-vegetarian, half-not, with a pleasingly eclectic mix of mainly northern Indian dishes. Find the mustardy fish moilee, paneer khurchan with homemade cheese, and chicken or goat biryani with a Lucknow-style pie crust on top.

If Jackson Heights has a best Nepalese restaurant, this is probably it. It attracts a distinctly mixed crowd, maybe because of the publicity it has received and its proximity to the 74th Street subway station. The staff is extremely helpful, and there’s nothing better than thalis (complete dinners served on a metal tray) to offer first-timers a thumbnail of Himalayan food. It is also a good place to dash into for a noodle soup with homemade noodles.