The City’s Best Sauce

Too often taken for granted, sauce is the stuff that makes a meal complete, and the flavors available across the five boroughs right now are as bright, bold, and varied as ever. I know this because I’ve spent the past weeks scouring every truck, stand, shop, and bar I could find on the theory that the most vibrant sauce doesn’t come from a copper pot in a high-end kitchen; it’s more likely to be served in a cup in Bay Ridge. I was right, of course, as the list below proves. This isn’t intended to be an exhaustive guide to the best sauce in the city; instead these are my current favorites, the vinaigrette, toum, salsa, and mustard that made me immediately take notice of whatever it is they’d been drizzled over.