Discontinued
This API no longer responds. Our last check on 2026-07-31 found no working endpoint — the service appears to have shut down or moved. The documentation, code samples and score below are kept for reference only; do not build against this API. See working Food & Drink APIs →
Overview
The What's on the Menu? API provides access to the New York Public Library's digitized collection of over 45,000 historical restaurant menus from the 1840s to today. You can search menus by keyword, date range, or location and explore human-transcribed dish data. It is a fascinating resource for food history research and data visualization projects.
Beginner Tip
Retrieve a list of menus with GET /menus.json?keyword=chicken and paginate through results using the page parameter. The API key goes in the query string as ?key=YOUR_API_KEY.
Available Data
The kind of data this API exposes, based on its documentation. We could not call the endpoint to confirm the exact field names.
Example Response
Illustrative shape only — we were not able to call this endpoint (it requires credentials or exposes no public sample URL), so the fields below show the kind of data this API returns rather than a recorded response.
{
"status": "success",
"data": {
"result": "Data from What's on the menu?",
"description": "NYPL human-transcribed historical menu collection",
"timestamp": "2025-01-15T10:00:00Z"
}
} Field Reference
id Unique identifier for the menu name Name or description of the menu event date Date of the menu in YYYY-MM-DD format location Restaurant or venue where the menu was used page_count Number of pages in the digitized menu Implementation Example
Calls a real endpoint of this API. Replace any placeholder credentials with your own key.
const url = "http://api.nypl.org/menus/v1/lists/menus.json?keyword=lobster&key=YOUR_API_KEY";
// Replace headers or query params with the values required by this API.
const response = await fetch(url, {
headers: {
"X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"
}
});
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data); What Can You Build?
Note: These code examples are AI-generated and unverified. Always refer to the official API documentation for accurate usage.
Common Errors & Troubleshooting
Generated guidance based on this API's documentation, not observed by us. Treat it as a starting point and check against the provider's own error reference.
Metadata Score Breakdown
Estimated from metadata — endpoint not independently tested
Metadata estimate · endpoint not independently tested
Technical Specifications
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