New York is full of places to have an excellent meal, but few tell the complex story of the city and its people the way Torrisi does. In this installment of Story of a Restaurant, Sam Sifton takes you on an immersive video journey through some of the city’s most evocative dishes. As he puts it, “Restaurants tell stories about the places they exist in, the places they aspire to.”

One of the most celebrated restaurants in Manhattan, the Michelin-starred Torrisi is the home kitchen of the chef Rich Torrisi, one of the partners in Major Food Group. It’s not easy to get a reservation, but if you do manage to secure a table, the culinary history of the five boroughs unfurls as the meal arrives at your table.

Through dishes like capellini Cantonese and cavatelli with Jamaican beef ragù, Mr. Torrisi traces the influences of the various communities — Chinese, Caribbean, Italian, Jewish and others — that make the city what it is.

“The fact of the matter is what we eat tells us something about who we are,” Mr. Sifton said.

“Anyone who comes to this restaurant will taste the flavors of America as refracted through the eyes of — I’ll just say it — the artist who created the dishes.”

This video was made with support from Meta. The version here was designed for the web. The full spatial-video experience is available on the Meta Quest 3 headset. To view it, visit Meta.