If you tried to keep track of every brand new restaurant in New York City, your head might spin. So just read this list instead. These are the new restaurant openings that seem like they have the most potential—although keep in mind, for the ones we haven’t tried, we make no promises. Go forth and be a pioneer.
November
Cock-a-doodle-doo, spicy fried chicken sandwich fans: Rowdy Rooster, the East Village chicken sandwich shop from Unapologetic Foods, has a second location near Penn Station. This one has a longer menu, with grilled chicken, paneer, and various bowls, so it could be a solid option for lunch in Midtown, or a meal before a Knicks game.
Figure Eight is a New American-Chinese restaurant by the team at Silver Apricot, and it's right next-doors in the West Village. In the old Pearl Oyster Bar space, this ocean-blue restaurant pays its respects with a lobster roll with fermented black beans, and there are also seafood towers, dishes that draw from Southern cooking—like hoppin' john and hush puppy waffles, cocktails with tahini, shiso and mustard seed, and of course oysters, grilled with XO butter.
Brooklyn pizzerias are coming for Manhattan (see L’Industrie), and Lucia Pizza in Sheepshead Bay—one of our top pizza NYC pizza spots—is the latest to open an outpost. The second location is in Soho, and their Caramelle Piccanti and clam pie should make a sizable dent in the line at nearby Prince Street Pizza.
From the team behind Maison Premiere, Williamsburg’s favorite oyster-eating spot, Tigre is a loungy cocktail bar on the Lower East Side. Meant to evoke a sceney house party from the last decades of the last century, it's got gold-accented everything, and some innovative cocktails. Make a reservation to order a martini by your preferred gin to vermouth ratio.
Video killed the radio star, but there's a new restaurant in Greenpoint that's staging a little resurrection. Radio Star is an all-day Mediterranean spot from the folks behind Glasserie, one of our favorite Greenpoint restaurants. It’s right next to Transmitter Park, the former transmission hub for WNYC, and it celebrates the radio era. You'll find us in the vintage '40s seats, doing our best attempt at a transcontinental accent.
photo credit: Weston Kloefkorn
Ray's Hometown Bar
Another business is trying to make a 2-Gregg Tomelette at the “cursed” 905 Lorimer Street in Greenpoint. Ray’s Bar, the Lower East Side celeb-spotting dive that’s owned by Succession star Nicholas Braun, now has a second location on the corner of McCarren Park. You can expect cocktails and beers, and probably lines around the block for the first couple of weeks.
The Greenpoint restaurant boom shows no signs of slowing. The Noble is a corner wine bar with mid-century decor, from the same owners as Gran Eléctrica. You can eat small plates of food inspired by the Aegean coast, like seared haloumi or sujuk toast, and we may just have to take the ferry here to complete the experience.
While eating your boeuf bourguignon on a Staub plate at Chez Francis, you may momentarily wonder if you’re in some kind of commercial. And in some ways, you are—the Parisian brasserie in the old Les Halles space (where Anthony Bourdain famously worked) is run by Francis Staub, the king of enameled cast iron. This one looks like a bit of a rebrand, as the restaurant originally opened last year as La Brasserie.
The Zumbador is a Mexican restaurant inside Nowadays, the Ridgewood palace of dance. They’re serving food and drinks inspired by Puebla, and we’re looking forward to fueling up our dancing feet with grilled nopales, and tacos with longaniza sausage.
photo credit: HAAM
HAAM Caribbean Plant Cuisine
Healthy as a Motha’ is a plant-based Caribbean pop-up, which now has a brick-and-mortar location in East Williamsburg. There's a tropical mural and rattan lamps in the breezy corner spot, and you eat things like mofongo with lion’s mane chicharron, and other vegan takes on Dominican and Trinidadian food.
The team behind Miznon and Port Sa’id have a new restaurant on the Upper West Side where North Miznon used to be. Malka, a concept they’re bringing from Tel Aviv, will be the group’s first kosher-certified restaurant in New York, where you can enjoy things like grouper shishlik and schnitzel with mashed potatoes. Just not on Friday night, as the restaurant will close to observe Shabbat.
Bar Birba, from the masa experts at For All Things Good, is a wine, aperitivi, and pizza bar in Bed-Stuy, across the street from the restaurant. You can drink Italian natural wines in the small, forest-green space alongside pizza that we’re hoping is as good as their tetelas.
There’s a new lunch buffet in Nomad, and it costs $22. Cloves Indian Cuisine, from the people behind Jaz in Hell’s Kitchen and Forest Hills Indian Cuisine, also has long lunch and dinner menus. Finish off a Madison Square Park power walk with lasuni gobi, and anything that comes out of their clay oven.
If you’ve ever wanted to dine like one of New York’s most preeminent robber barons, now’s your chance. In Fort Tryon Park, The Bonnefont is in a fieldstone cottage that was built for the guy they named Rockefeller Center after. They serve what they call “FreNoCal” (that’s French-Northern Californian) food, which includes everything from vegetarian Wellington, to duck confit. Check it out for your next post-Cloisters meal.
If you live in Long Island City and dream about dishes with names like Munchie Tripes and Heavenly Intestine, we have great news. Fer Restaurant, from the people behind Burp Bowl Cafe, is an all day corner spot in Dutch Kills serving southwestern Chinese cooking, with a heavy emphasis on rice noodles.
The next time you go shopping for an $8,500 bar cart, you might need a drink to make that purchase feel a little more easier. The matryoshka doll that is the Guild Bar—it’s inside La Mercerie, which is inside Roman & Williams Guild—might be a good option. The elegant bar only has five seats, and drinks are served in primo glassware that you can also buy, if your bar cart needs some company.
If you pronounce The Whitney Museum as “HWitney,” you might enjoy this new spot around the corner from that museum. Restoration Hardware Guesthouse’s Champagne & Caviar Bar requires “proper attire,” and looks like the view from inside a flute of bubbly—golden and fizzy. After contemplating some Gilded Age art, decide whether you want your Imperial Kaluga caviar with pommes purée, latkes, or potato skins, and follow that up with a $16 slice of “American Birthday Cake” (no extra charge for sprinkles).
With dishes like stewed cabbage and lion’s mane cutlets, Gem Wine—which recently moved into the larger Gem space—looks like an ideal place to bring a vegetarian date. The menu has expanded too, but it still looks like the nicest neighborhood bar you could possibly walk into. They take reservations as well.
If you’re the kind of person who wishes they could fly the Spirit of St. Louis, or know what it was like to take a transatlantic zeppelin flight, good news: the team behind The Drunken Munkey, an Upper East Side Indian restaurant, have opened L’Avion Cafe, where you can sip coffee while dreaming of soaring above Central Park.
photo credit: Rob Greig
Le Relais de Venise
If you, like us, are constantly lurking in the steak frites corners of the internet, we have good news: after a two-year hiatus, Le Relais de Venise has reopened in Midtown East. The Paris-based restaurant offers exactly one menu option—steak frites—priced at $34. It comes with a walnut salad and unlimited chicken liver-and-butter based sauce, so you might catch us sneaking in a thermos to bring some home. The lines are already long.
If you had Hand Hospitality opening five restaurants (including Samwoojung and Moono) on your 2023 Bingo card, congratulations! You’ve just filled out your card. At Hojokban, the group’s latest K-Town spot, you can sit under some hand-painted tigers and eat Korean comfort food, like baby octopus tteokbokki, dramatically plated short ribs, or Shin Ramyun fried rice.
Tolo, from the chef behind Parcelle Wine, is a Chinatown restaurant with a menu of regional Chinese and Hong Kong dishes. Expect things like rice noodles and typhoon shelter fried chicken, alongside a wine list curated by the folks at Parcelle.
The current owner of La Bonne Soupe, which has been ladling french onion in Midtown since 1973, has opened a Levantine restaurant in the old Edith’s Grocery space in Williamsburg. It's got big windows and a bar, dishes like charred eggplant with black garlic toum, and the playlist leans towards hip hop and habibi funk.
The Portrait Bar in the Fifth Avenue Hotel looks like a great place to wait for your Café Carmellini table (if you managed to get a reservation for the hot new Nomad restaurant, see below). Run by the same team, the bar has dark wood-paneling, and a big stone hearth that’s just begging for the temperature to keep dipping.
photo credit: Agency of Record
Agency of Record
From the team behind Patent Pending, Agency of Record is a Midtown cocktail bar and vinyl lounge in the Renwick Hotel that’s a “tribute to the golden age of New York City advertising.” What this means is that you can sit on a tasseled barstool at a bar that looks like a backgammon board, and consult the historical drink popularity graphic on their website to decide on your next cocktail.
From the people behind Long Island City izakaya Takumen, Taku Sando is a Japanese sandwich shop that specializes in shokupan. Located at the end of Greenpoint Ave., almost on the water, this counter has chicken and pork katsu, and egg salad sandos, which you can take to Transmitter Park and pretend you’re enjoying the 4pm sunset.
Hen House, a Smorgasburg standby, is ready to serve the late-night East Village crowd. They are currently open from 8pm-3am on Fridays and Saturdays, so danced-out and delirious East Village people can head there to satisfy their drunchies.
Glizzy’s is throwing their hat in the ring to be top dog on St. Mark’s. While we were devastated when the original Williamsburg location closed, we looking forward to seeing if they can recreate their hot dog magic in the East Village.
photo credit: Will Hartman
Downtown Burritos Cocina Mexicana
After closing earlier this year, Downtown Bakery Cocina Mexicana has reopened as Downtown Burritos Cocina Mexicana. The little breakfast burrito spot is back to nursing the hangovers of East Villagers, and the rebrand should lower any confusion for people wandering in for a concha.
New York City has yet another new smashburger. Chinatown’s bright red-and-yellow KO Burger is boxing-themed. It burger menu is the “Main Event,” while the Double Jab Chocolate Cookie lives in the “Throw in the Towel” section.
Attention New York City rom-com lovers, a new meet-cute spot is opening the Upper West Side (November 15). Cafe 77 is located within the New York Historical Society, so if you need a place to stumble into your soulmate while admiring a Tiffany lamp, and then keep the conversation going over cappuccino, this could be the place.
photo credit: Regina's Grocery
Regina's Grocery
Regina’s Grocery, the Orchard Street sandwich shop, has a fourth location on the UES. Their well-stuffed Italian deli sandwiches are all named after the owner’s family members, so now, instead of saying “Let’s eat, Grandma,” Upper East Siders can say “Let’s eat Grandma.”
photo credit: Dan Chen
Poppy’s Brooklyn Heights
Poppy’s, a beloved all-day cafe in Cobble Hill, has a second location Brooklyn Heights. You can pick up baked goods, like a fig leaf cardamom bun, sandwiches, and rotisserie items, as well as shop for gourmet ingredients in their market.
It’s not easy to replace a neighborhood watering hole, but that’s exactly what Madeline’s, which has moved into the old Ramona’s space, is trying to do. Complete with paintings of giant moths and three distinct areas, Madeline's has all the potential to kickstart a night in Greenpoint.
This bar in the Kimpton Hotel Eventi in Chelsea has a serious art collection, craft cocktails and snacks from the Skirt Steak people. The hotel bar will also host weekly live jazz and the occasional private mixology course.
If one meet-cute spot wasn’t enough this week, Ridgewood’s bookstore-cafe Topos just opened Topos Too, also in Ridgewood. You can read next to some bright orange wallpaper all day, and switch from coffee to wine or beer at night.
Café Carmellini is from the chef behind Locanda Verde, and Lafayette, and it’s the first spot that his name on it. Located in the newly opened Fifth Avenue Hotel, this Italian and French restaurant has a 1,800-bottle wine list, cannelloni of lobster and caviar, and squab en croute. In other words, Café Carmellini is a very fancy place—and reservations are already hard to come by.
If you’re a diehard Cafe Spaghetti fan (of the food, and also the backyard), this one's for you. Swoony’s is the second restaurant from the team behind that Italian spot, and it’s located right around the corner, in Carroll Gardens. You won’t find any spaghetti at this American bar and grill, but you can get creamed spinach or some lobster orzo. There’s also no backyard, but there’s a cozy central bar, and french toast for dessert.
We checked out Swoony's and added it to the Hit List.
It's not enough to open a restaurant these days—you must open a Metropolis. The newest restaurant from Marcus Samuelsson, the chef behind Red Rooster and Hav & Mar, is an all-day spot at the Perelman Performing Arts Center in Fidi. And it’s the latest in a growing list of upscale restaurants that claim New York City itself as inspiration (see Tatiana, Torrisi). You’ll find things like a lavish vegetable platter, smoked hamachi tacos, oysters with XO sauce, and a separate lobby lounge called Wine Barre.
Sonbul is a Korean pop-up that has made frequent appearances at Burly Coffee in Bed-Stuy over the past year. Now, things are becoming more permanent—on Wednesday-Sunday evenings you can head to this coffee shop-turned Korean spot for bibimbap, fried chicken, and soju cocktails.
Rockmeisha originally opened in 2004, serving Hakata style ramen out of a small spot in the West Village, until closing in 2020. Now it’s back, this time in a larger space in the East Village, where you can sip rich tonkotsu broth and a big beer.
NYC loves a new-school luncheonette (see: Baby Blues, Revelie) and this one on the Lower East Side certainly qualifies. There’s a large variety of bagels, a “TV Dinner Du Jour” and bottles of wine for $34 and under. We’d be shocked if this didn’t turn into a Dimes Square destination for sundae-eating and wearing something Y2K.
photo credit: Miznon Times Square
Miznon Times Square
We’re always looking for ways to make weaving between tourists and naked cowboys in Times Square more tolerable. A falafel burger, or a steak and egg pita from NYC’s fourth Miznon location might help. Keep this casual, counter-service spot in mind for the next time you have to accompany an out-of-towner to Midtown, or need a quick bite before a Broadway show.
photo credit: Gino Mascardo
Ask for Janice
The listening bar Eavesdrop, and Upside Pizza have joined forces for their very own Manhattan Ave. collab in the form of Ask For Janice in Greenpoint. The bar, located in the back room of Upside, spins ’90s hip hop, mixes soppressata martinis, and dishes out Italian-American food ready to be devoured by hoards of nostalgic Brooklynites.
There’s a new cash-only sports bar in Bushwick. With $7 beer-and-a-shot deals and $11 cocktails, you might find us dealing with the Giants QB situation at Lou’s Athletic Club.
Good news: you won’t have to wait until you’re melting into the sidewalk in July to try out a Williamsburg summer fair classic. Dee Best Zeppole and Calzone, a staple of the neighborhood’s annual Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Feast, just opened a storefront on Graham Ave., where you can get their calzones and fried treats year-round.
photo credit: David A Lee
Caroline's Donuts
One of the best doughnut shops in Brooklyn has opened a second location on the Upper East Side. Fans of the orange cream cheese flavor at Caroline’s Donuts can sleep more soundly, knowing they can now get their hands on expertly fried dough at not one, but two locations. We like the original Bed-Stuy spot because it’s near Fan Fan (essentially mandating a doughnut crawl), but taking a box on a walk in Central Park doesn’t sound bad either.
At this Pakistani street-food spot in the East Village, you can pick up paratha rolls filled with chicken or beef, and french fries. Swing by for a casual weeknight dinner (they’re open from 4pm, Monday-Friday) or a quick weekend lunch. In case you’re in need of a later dinner, they keep the lights on til midnight, every night.
Fossetta is the Lower East Side’s newest Italian wine bar, where you can pair your bottle of something natural with chicken liver rigatoni, antipasti, or several kinds of foccacia. It’s from the owner behind Cafe Colette, a popular brunch spot in Williamsburg.
At Shipwreck Seafood Boutique in Bed-Stuy you can order some fried shrimp to eat for lunch, and pick up some raw shrimp to cook for dinner. This local fish market and eatery has now expanded to Williamsburg, so if you’re in need of a catfish sandwich now, and a whole branzino for later, this might be the place.
As far as we’re concerned, a bowl of avgolemono soup on a sub-40 degree day will single-handedly solve every one of your problems. So, the next time you find yourself on the UES on a cold day with a lot of problems, head to Mykonian, a Greek restaurant with a welcoming blue awning, and a three-course prix-fixe lunch for $35.
Inside the Hotel Belleclaire on the Upper West Side, you’ll find Allure, a self-described “alluring” restaurant and cocktail lounge. Come here for a Hot Tropic cocktail and caviar in a glass atrium. They also do brunch—expect avocado toast, and truffle fries.
Columbia students rejoice—there’s a new pho shop in Morningside Heights. With a cozy stone wall, lots of plants, and fried catfish on the menu, Pho Amsterdam looks like a solid spot to grab a steaming bowl of comfort food when you need to ward off finals season woes.
At this new Thai spot in the East Village, you might eat something made with lemongrass from their backyard farm on Long Island's North Fork. It’s a small, counter-service spot with a few stools, and it could very well become your go-to for takeout pad thai and green curry. They also do lunch specials for $11.50.
Sure, this city is swimming in smashburgers, but have you ever had a baby smashburger? You can try this beef creation, along with a crispy chicken sandwich, and burrata, at The Wolfe, a new restaurant and bar on the Upper West Side.
The Sutton Place bakery has opened a second location, up the street in Yorkville. Complete with a big pastry case and a few savory goods, this spot on 2nd and 89th might be a good option for a pre-commute sugar fix on the UES.
photo credit: Anita Gelato
Anita Gelato
This gelato chain with two locations in NYC now has a third shop in Times Square. Our only question is whether their 150 flavors will rival the spread the M&M store puts out. Only time will tell, but for now, head over for a scoop of Lemon Meringue Pie and, if it’s anything like their other stores, loud party music.
Is the rain starting to get you down? Are you already tired of the colder weather? Does the sun feel like it’s actually setting at 1:30pm these days? Cue a stylish Noho restaurant that’s inspired by Tulum. With palm fronds and wooden ceiling beams, Casa Bond looks like a good place to wear your oversized blazer and eat ceviche and lobster guacamole.
There’s a new sandwich shop on the Upper West Side where you can eat a mushroom cheese “steak”, and a turkey meatball sandwich. It’s a block from the Natural History Museum, in case you need lunch after standing under the whale.
As you might know, we love a well-named restaurant, especially ones that also happen to sell banh mi, and big bowls of beef pho. This casual Vietnamese spot on Fulton might come in handy for you, especially if you live in Clinton Hill.
October
L'Industrie has opened a Manhattan outpost, so now you can wait in line for some of the best pizza in the city in two boroughs. The new West Village location will of course have the burrata-topped slices, and it’s a seven-minute walk from Joe’s, and a four-minute walk from John’s of Bleecker St., so your weekend L’Industrie excursion could easily turn into an impromptu pizza crawl.
We checked out L'Industrie and added it to the Hit List.
If you’ve always dreamt of eating a lobster Newburg at the New-York Historical Society, you are officially in luck. Clara is from the team behind a slew of Brooklyn wine-drinking destinations (Rucola, Rhodora, June, Anaïs), and at their first Manhattan restaurant, you can follow your lobster with duck breast au poivre and other historically informed food. They’ll open a cafe in the adjacent space within the next few weeks as well.
A 400-year-old Japanese restaurant has arrived in NYC, and this Murray Hill spot seems like a perfect destination for a very fancy work lunch, or a fish-lover’s birthday, with chu-toro and at least two wagyu dishes. Go, eat nigiri, and pay your respects to an establishment that was catering to Nagoya nobles back when Henry Hudson was still sailing around Manhattan.
photo credit: Michael Tulipan/MST Creative PR
87 Ludlow
Fans of Gugu Room, this one’s for you: the co-owner and chef of the Filipino-Japanese spot on the Lower East Side has opened 87 Ludlow, a Filipino-Spanish tapas restaurant where you can eat oyster sisig and gambas al ajillo with a soju-based cocktail. Have a small-plate dinner here before a night out on the Lower East Side.
photo credit: Siren Oyster Bar & Restaurant
Siren Oyster Bar & Restaurant
If you’re like us, you keep track of every place where you can eat oysters in every neighborhood in NYC. The newest addition to the bivalve game is Siren, a seafood restaurant in Park Slope that has dollar oyster Happy Hour on Tuesday-Friday from 5-7pm. There’s also a buy-one-get-one-free deal on glasses of wine, so you may as well put your shoes on and head that way right now.
Wei’s Instagram bio reads “Williamsburg’s favorite late night eats” but if you go out in Williamsburg, you likely already knew that, because you’ve definitely been here for shrimp mee fun or soup dumplings. The Chinese spot, which is open until 2am, Tuesday through Sunday, now has a Clinton Hill location. Currently, the new location is only open until 10pm.
An intimate 10-seat sushi counter has joined the rapidly growing list of intimate 10-seat sushi counters in NYC. Coral is inside Point Seven, a recently opened seafood spot in the MetLife building. From a chef with experience at BondSt and Morimoto, Coral offers a $350, 21-course omakase experience. There will be uni. There will be truffle. And there will also be wasabi yuzu ice cream with sudachi citrus foam.
ER Hotpot has opened a second location, a short walk away from their original spot on 36th Street. We’re not completely sure of the logic there, but if one is full you’ll be able to walk over to the other one, and that gives us a sense of hotpot-related security. It’s a large place with lots of tables for groups, so bring some friends for a value combo, which costs $99.99 before 5pm.
Sure, a restaurant could organize a menu by things like appetizers, entrees, and desserts, but what about something more exciting? Maybe Earth, Air, Water, and Fire? At Altair you can eat something seasonal, like chestnut agnolotti or a wild mushroom cocktail, in a room full of greenery. A Midtown escape to the elements—and it's open all day.
We don’t want to give it all away, but there’s a new speakeasy in Long Island City that’s only open on Fridays and Saturdays. Look out for the sign for a "Station Lounge," and an “unassuming newsstand,” and you’ll know you’re in the right place. The aerial performances start at 8:30pm, so you should make your reservation for sometime around then.
Until now, there’s been Blue Ribbons where you can eat a steak, and Blue Ribbons where you can eat sushi. Now, you can do both at the very same time. At the new Penn 1 location, you can eat the chain’s famous fried chicken alongside some Hokkaido uni before a show at Madison Square Garden.
It’s not enough to just have an Italian restaurant chain these days—you have to open a wine bar, too. At Serafina Vino e Cucina, everything on the menu has a wine pairing, so you can drink Pecorino Pantaleone with your burrata and prosciutto. More locations of Serafina Vino e Cucina will open in the coming months, so you’ll never be too far from a convenient if predictable wine bar experience.
Eulalie, a French restaurant in Tribeca, is from the husband-and-wife team behind the now-closed Upper East Side favorite, The Simone. As at their previous spot, you have to call ahead for a reservation, which might already qualify this as the neighborhood’s quaintest dining experience. They’re currently doing a prix-fixe menu—call 646-476-2380 to secure a table for an evening that might include a terrine, or a savory tart.
Ayat has opened in Manhattan, marking the fourth location of this Palestinian restaurant in NYC. Their new corner spot in Alphabet City looks like a prime location for eating baba ghanoush and chicken shawarma with a group, perhaps on a Saturday, when it is raining yet again. They don’t have a liquor license currently, but we’ve heard that if you ask, you can BYOB.
The greatest grocery store on earth has opened its first Manhattan location (and second in NYC). Why yes, we were in the line down the block and around the corner on Day One, and if you cannot fathom why someone would stand in line for a grocery store opening, we suggest you go and check it out. In the old K-Mart space at Astor Place, Wegmans has groceries on the second floor and a vast amount of prepared food on the first, so it could be a good lunch option if you work in the area. They’re also opening an omakase counter in 2024.
When Scarr's moved to a new space down the street from their old one on the Lower East Side, the fate of their old pizza parlor kept us up at night. Then Sushi Oku opened in the back of the old spot, and now, there's Clubhouse Sandos, open until 8pm, in the front. In a perfect world, we’d swing by to try a sandwich of gochujang braised brisket or baked eggs with creme fraiche, then settle in for a 17-course omakase, and finally end the eating marathon with a slice at Scarr's.
photo credit: Eva Woolridge
Please Tell Me
Reportedly not related to Nobody Told Me or Please Don't Tell, this new bar in Williamsburg has DJs, shrimp and kimchi croquettes, and a cocktail called “Drink That Drake Drinks.” They’re also serving weekend brunch, featuring a loaded Bloody Mary, and we will not sleep until we have taken a sip. Then we’ll probably come back a second time for a “Winyl” set on Wednesday.
Whenever we pass a Japanese market, we have to go inside and get a little snack. Onigiri, perhaps, or a fun flavor of chip. If you can relate, you’ll be happy to know that Mitsuki, a Japanese market in Greenpoint, has opened a second, small location in the Financial District. Any trip to the bottom of Manhattan just got a lot more exciting.
If you're a fan of this Australian cafe, you probably already know about their new location, but we're going to tell you anyway. And while you're here, since you're such a fan, we're also wondering—when did they rebrand from Ruby’s to Little Ruby’s? Whatever the answer may be, their fourth location in the West Village seems like a prime spot for eating pasta and wearing a very nice outfit.
Now that there’s a third outpost of Talea in the West Village, Manhattanites no longer need to travel to Williamsburg or Cobble Hill to visit the city’s first and only women-owned brewery. But wait, there’s more: Bryant Park will also get a Talea, opening in December 2023.
Recently we were walking down 14th Street and we saw someone drinking some sort of hot beverage that seemed to have a small egg on it. We found this extremely intriguing. Further investigation led us to Uluhuluh, a new bubble tea shop in the East Village from the team behind Uluh. For their soft opening they’re serving something called a “Matcha Latte Sunny Side Up”. Guess we’ll all just have to go to find out more. See you there.
There's a new cafe in Williamsburg, in case your classic avocado toast needs a refresh. Cafe Canary has a yellow awning, yellow tables, and yellow umbrellas, so this place might have the ability to cheer you up even on your darkest Sundays. Go eat some crepes near some indoor greenery and feel happiness.
At this new bar in Gramercy, you can drink Guinness and eat a 16-ounce grilled ribeye, but more importantly, if you work in Flatiron, this might be the after-work spot you’ve been waiting for. They do $1.50 oysters at Happy Hour (4-7pm), and there’s a menu item called the Honorable Mention, which adds blue cheese-stuffed olives to any martini for $3. We feel seen.
photo credit: Francesco Sapienza
Side Hustle
The newest opening in Long Island City is Side Hustle, a pub with six televisions where you can watch sports and eat crab cakes. With a retro bar and tables for groups of all sizes, it seems like the destination in LIC for weekend sports-watching.And yes, they have chicken wings.
Ilis comes from a founding chef at Noma, so the fact that no animals with four legs will be served, except for bison and venison of course, just seems to make a whole lot of sense. The food at this restaurant, located in a former Greenpoint warehouse, will be served raw, or cooked over an open fire, and meals begin with carts of produce and seafood presented tableside. Guests will also be able to pick the length of their meals, and the chefs will personally deliver each dish. This is a strong contender for the city’s most unique dining experience, if that wasn’t already crystal clear.
photo credit: Jaclyn Warren
Bread & Butter
Back Alley Bread, a beloved pandemic-era pop-up, has officially opened a brick-and-mortar in Bed-Stuy, and you can either walk in or place an order for pick-up on their website. They’ve got loaves of fresh bread, but we’re also excited about things like ube morning buns, mushroom pot pie, and spicy tomato salami focaccia.
If you’re looking for a potentially very fun bar to check out this weekend, this new tiki-inspired, tropical cocktail bar in the East Village might be of interest. You can sip on the rum-based Cobra’s Fang, eat something called Damned Dumplings, and sit in a snakeskin banquette. It’s a self-described “campy, transportive experience,” and they boast a large collection of taxidermied creatures.
The West Village and affordable sushi aren’t usually things we imagine existing in the same universe, but this Aussie-style sushi spot might yet prove us wrong. Their Instagram bio promises “really good hand rolls, no trust fund required”, and that feels like something we might be able to get behind. This passion project is now open, and they're offering one roll for $5, two for $10, and three for $12—and there’s also yuzu lemonade.
We don’t have the exact numbers, but New York City has a lot of really small restaurants where you can’t use your fork without bumping elbows with your neighbor. For that reason, when a particularly large restaurant opens, we take note. Paros is a 3,500 square foot Greek restaurant in Tribeca, where you can drink something called a Grecian-tini, and eat filet mignon kebabs or fresh fish flown in from Greece at a safe distance from the next table.
photo credit: Two Doors Down
Two Doors Down
This is how your Friday night on the Lower East Side could go down: you could start with a cocktail in the upstairs area of Two Doors Down, a new bar from the Cafe Balearica team, and then head downstairs to the hidden dance floor. This bar asks that you don’t take pictures of other people while inside, which means you can actually dance like nobody’s watching.
It’s time to drink tea, wear sweaters, and dodge viruses, and there seems like no better place to do so than Sorate, a Japanese teahouse with Italian influences in Soho. At this tiny, earth-toned spot on Sullivan Street, you can drink genmaicha at a counter, and eat a lunch box that might include prosciutto and black sesame tofu.
We had to pause the sizzle reel several times to figure out exactly what’s going on at Guest, an all-day restaurant in Noho, but here’s what we’ve got: floral arrangements, latte art, avocado toast, focaccia muffins, exposed brick, burrata, and potential good vibes. Swing by for a rosemary cold brew or prosciutto panino during the day for now—they’ll be starting dinner and cocktails soon.
photo credit: Liz Clayman
Friend of a Farmer
Brunch enthusiasts, listen up: Friend of a Farmer’s second location on the Upper West Side seems like one of the coziest places to eat eggs benedict this fall. We also see evidence of a fireplace in their new space. Their original location in Gramercy Park has been open since 1986, so it’s safe to say they probably know a thing or two about making really good eggs at brunch, or a really good kale caesar at dinner.
We've had our eye on Jean’s for a while, because we saw evidence of a disco ball, and thought it might have most fun bar potential. But then, we started seeing photos of particularly juicy burgers, and tuna au poivre. Now we think this New American bistro, which grows all its produce in Pennsylvania and has Superiority Burger and Red Farm ties, might be the hottest place to eat tuna in NoHo this fall.
We checked out Jean's and added it to the Hit List.
A popular Smorgasburg stand serving “the best PORKing lechon in town” has opened a storefront in Inwood, where you can eat some earth-shatteringly crispy-looking lechon and other Filipino food in a dining room that has a whole tree in it. We're not sure about you, but sisig after a visit to the Met Cloisters sounds like a pretty lovely Saturday.
At this new spot in the East Village, you'll eat an a la carte menu of dishes that celebrate India’s food hawkers and roadside eateries, and drink cocktails made with ingredients like curry leaves and coriander purée. In the old Momofuku Ssäm Bar space, Jazba is a more casual spot from the team behind Junoon, the upscale Indian restaurant in Flatiron.
We checked out Jazba.
Should you find yourself in Greenpoint with a hunger that only pork dumplings in chili oil will fill—we know, very relatable—head to Breeze. At this new Sichuan spot on Manhattan Ave., you can eat spicy cumin lamb and drink cocktails in a plant-filled dining room.
If you've waited in line during the day for croissants (or mini croissant cereal) at L'Appartement 4F, you might now have the chance to wait in line during the evening too. Or just make a reservation for this candlelit wine bar, which occupies the bakery's upper floor, and is now open from Thursday to Sunday, from 6pm. Come for wine, tinned fish, and small bites under the gaze of some oil-painted portraits.
Mokbar fans, listen up: the chef behind the casual Korean eatery now has a sit-down spot in Park Slope, where you can find Korean American food like bulgogi wild mushroom nabe, and pork belly buns. Gahm is on Flatbush Ave., so consider this a win for the pre- or post-Barclays Center meals of your future.
photo credit: Robiee Zeigler
Mēdüzā Mediterrania
The homepage of Meduza Mediterrania shows a woman whose face is halfway under water, with the caption “Surrender To Temptation”. This isn't the sort of thing we normally seek out at dinnertime, but it certainly seems like you'll be able to have a truly over-the-top evening at this new restaurant in the Meatpacking District, complete with a cocktail called the Garden of Eden Spritz.
Uptown doughnut and coffee fave Super Nice has taken over Bosqe, a Chelsea flower shop, where they're serving pressed egg sandwiches with Japanese-style egg custard on rosemary ciabatta, croissants, and of course their excellent coffee and fruity-glazed doughnuts.
photo credit: Michael P.H. Clifford
The Wooly
The next time you put your name down at Thai Diner and have a few hours to burn, consider The Wooly. At this cocktail bar in Nolita, you can drink a Saturday Night Pink (a cosmo) and eat drakes in capes (mini duck franks). We appreciate a cocktail bar with food, for an oh-so-classic Nolita wait.
There's a new spot in Greenpoint where you can get coffee, buy flowers and hopefully see a cat. If you've got a visitor in town and you're planning to show them around Greenpoint, a stop at the flower coffee shop seems extremely Brooklyn.
At this new Italian spot in the East Village, there’s an in-house accordion player. There’s also pizza, pasta, and homemade bread, which is great, but might we again remind you that there is an in-house accordion player? And they take requests. If that weren't OTT enough, you'll also find cocktails like Pepperoni Pizza, and Pistachio Cream Pie, and a cheese wheel fettucine Alfredo.
There will come a time when you will try to plan a dinner in Williamsburg, and you won't know where on earth to go, but you will know that you want it to include margaritas. Remember Mexi, a stylish-looking Mexican spot with green marbletops, where you can pair your tequila with pork shoulder al pastor or tuna serrano aguachile.
We're not sure who needs to hear this, but if you frequent caviar stores (what do you do at a caviar store?) the newest Petrossian outpost in the Meatpacking District is now open, for all your fish egg needs.
September
If you find yourself in City Island with a hankering for meatballs or pizza with caramelized onions and mushrooms, make a beeline for City Island Pizza Company, a cozy, neighborhood-style Italian restaurant in the very center of this island in the Bronx. And if that day happens to be a Sunday, make a reservation for their Sunday Supper, which is $25 per person and includes all the Grandma’s Sunday Gravy, garlic bread, and garden salad your heart desires.
If you’re in need of an evening that involves drinking a martini and eating pheasant under a large chandelier, Le B could be the place. The latest project from chef-owner Angie Mar, this West Village restaurant takes over her previous spot, Les Troix Chevaux, and the name is a reference to The Beatrice Inn. The continental menu includes things like dungeness crab wellington, and a tableside preparation or two.
We checked out Le B.
photo credit: The Waterfront Club
The Waterfront Club
There's a lavish spot on the water in Long Island City where you can eat shrimp cocktail, drink a raspberry rosemary spritz, and listen to live music. No, we didn't necessarily see this one coming, but now we're extremely intrigued, and we will eat a shrimp here one day.
Ever since we tried the tasting menu downstairs at Roscioli, we’ve waited patiently for the unveiling of the upstairs. The time has come. The alimentari is a la carte, and if you’re fully expecting to be transported straight to Italy with one bite of carbonara, so are we. There’s a bar where you can watch a chef make your amatriciana, and tables where you should just go ahead and try all five different types of burrata. Just like the Roscioli in Rome, you can follow your meal with a jarred tomato sauce purchase.
We checked out Roscioli and added it to the Hit List.
The Rosella team is behind this eight-seat chef's counter in the East Village. Bar Miller has a 15-course omakase for $250, and the meal puts the spotlight on North American seafood and local produce. You can expect nigiri, sashimi, and chawanmushi, as well as couples who had their first date at Rosella, and now like each other enough to drop around $500 on a night out.
We checked out Bar Miller and added it to the Hit List.
If you’re a fan of Antidote, one of our favorite restaurants in Williamsburg, then you’ll understand that the news of the Antidote team opening another restaurant is kind of a big deal. Nemesis is a Southeast Asian restaurant in Flatiron, where you can eat tiger prawn lumpia and drink a BKTea, a Bangkok-inspired take on a Long Island Iced Tea.
We don’t have the exact data to prove it, but people started going to bed a whole lot earlier during the pandemic, and that meant that late-night dinners decreased in popularity. Slowly but surely, they’re making a comeback. Don Don is a new Korean BBQ spot in Midtown from the chef behind Kochi and Mari, and it’s open until 2am, Thursday through Saturday. Go eat meat way past your bedtime.
But wait, there’s more! In addition to Don Don, the same chef has also opened Mari Ne, a casual hand roll counter in Midtown. They’re open daily for lunch and dinner, and with $5 hand rolls, we can quickly see this becoming a great quick meal option near Bryant Park.
photo credit: Noah Fecks
Midnight Plus One
Below Bar Pasquale and next to Pasquale Jones in Nolita you’ll find Midnight Plus One (owned by the same team). Recently, we walked by it and felt too intimidated to go inside in our sneakers—and that should tell you everything you need to know about this new Italian cocktail lounge and live music venue.
photo credit: Sonal Shah
There is a new $45 cocktail in New York, and you can find it at Rampoldi, a Monte Carlo-based import that has expanded to a second location opposite Lincoln Center. There are chandeliers, extremely lavish vibes, and a soufflé, and if this fine dining establishment is anything like Rampoldi Monte Carlo, it’s bound to quickly become one of the most fun dinners in NYC.
BondSt, the Japanese-inspired restaurant for people who might also frequent Tao, has expanded with a second location in Hudson Yards. According to their Instagram, you can eat something “adorned with exquisite garnishes, shimmering with elegance, and radiating with sophistication,” and drink something that’s “a symphony of flavors”. The only thing we’re certain of is that it sounds expensive.
Sometimes, when it starts getting cold and bitter, we dream of eating copious amounts of seafood on a beach somewhere. We can’t help you with the beach part, but we might be able to help with the fish part: Point Seven is a seafood-centric restaurant in Midtown East, where you can eat shrimp and grits, and something called “Sushi Unrolled.”
People really like eating pasta at Le Pecora Bianca. Now they can eat steak at Lupetto. At this Italian wood-fired steakhouse in Nomad from the La Pecora Bianca team, everything is wood-fired, including the pasta. We’ve already seen multiple vlogs about it, so it’s safe to say this is an emerging micro-influencer hot spot.
Have you ever yearned for a seven-course journey? You’re in luck. Wangbi is an upscale Korean chef’s counter inside Antoya where your journey might include prime ribeye, prime short rib, and oxtail. The tasting menu costs $125, in case you’re in the market for a special occasion meal.
Now that Veselka has a location in Grand Central, we can’t help but imagine crowded Metro North trains full of people eating pierogies. Can you picture it? A truly beautiful sight. Consider this a formal reminder to always leave room for a Veselka stop before your train ride. We will no longer run to make our trains. We will leave time for pierogies.
Conveyor belt sushi is having a moment in NYC. We recently reported on the opening of Kaiten Zushi, and also paid an underwhelming visit to Sushidelic (where the conveyor belt is purely decorative). The newest addition to the genre is Salute Revolving Sushi in Flushing, which serves nigiri, poke bowls, and ramen.
photo credit: Cantina Cubana
Cantina Cubana
The couple behind this East Village cantina used to own Cafe Cortadito, a Cuban joint with solid food and a hard-partying brunch. Cafe Cortadito closed earlier this year, but you’ll find similar food at Cantina Cubana. If you like to pair your cubanos with pitchers of margaritas, we think you’ll be happy here.
photo credit: Stella Santini
Water and Wheat
Fast casual pasta is all the rage in NYC these days, apparently. Forget a sandwich on the go, how about a cup…of pasta? We don’t fully understand, but the newest addition to the fast casual pasta sphere is Water and Wheat on the UES, where you can have a quick brisket bolognese for lunch, or just take it to-go and make everyone on the street really jealous.
We stumbled upon this place in Park Slope because of the large crowd gathered outside of it. Upon further inspection, we discovered that from September 5th to October 5th, this casual, high-energy sushi restaurant is doing a BOGO omakase. Buy one $68 14-course omakase, get one free. Plus free sake. We’re not sure how this exists. But we’re letting you know, before it’s too late. Missed the deal? Check out our guide to the city’s best under-$100 omakase experiences.
It’s about time to start thinking about what on earth you’ll do once you can’t hang out outside anymore. How about an afternoon tea? This Thai dessert bar in Midtown does a high tea that might include a blooming flower brew, steamed coconut layer cake, and mung bean cake. They offer afternoon tea for one ($29 for seven desserts) or two ($65, for nine desserts each).
photo credit: Canela Cafe Bar
Canela Cafe Bar
There’s a new cafe in Crown Heights, where you can drink a latte and eat an apple turnover, yuca fries, avocado toast, or all three. They also have a community bookshelf, and if you bring a book you might get a surprise.
If you’ve always dreamt of eating sushi in a former pizza parlor, you’re in luck. The owner of Scarr’s has teamed up with the people behind Taikun Sushi to open Sushi Oku, an eight-seat sushi counter that’s doing a 17-course omakase for $165. We have a feeling that an evening here followed by a pepperoni and jalapeño slice at Scarr’s might become one of the more epic double-headers you can have on the Lower East Side. Reservations are filling up fast, but you can always do the $85 13-course omakase at Taikun while you wait for your chance to secure a table. We checked out Sushi Oku.
After years of pop-ups all over the city, Oti has found a permanent home on the Lower East Side. Oti calls itself a New American spot with Romanian roots, as well as the home of the pickled grape, and you can eat Romanian burrata here. There are regular reservations, but you can also make a reservation for something called the Love Seat, so we’re thinking there might be a lot of date nights at this spot.
When a restaurant claims to serve a tasting menu “that makes Eleven Madison Park jelly”, you listen up, and you also wonder when the last time was that you heard the word jelly. This new East Village spot is a self-proclaimed fast-paced, chaotic fine dining experience, with purple lighting, an art gallery, and caviar. If you’re lucky, you might get to eat that caviar dish with a Miller High Life.
2023 has been the year of maximalist and unusual Italian restaurants (see: Bad Roman, Cafe Mars), but now there’s also unconventional Thai. Untable is a new spot in Carroll Gardens from a former chef at the Red Hook location of Somtum Der, and there’s something called What The Hell!! Fried Rice, which has 12 hot pepper symbols on the menu. You’ll also find less spicy things, like crab croquettes, and khao soi.
photo credit: Fabio Ciccarelli
The Irish Exit
There’s a new Irish pub in Penn Station’s Moynihan train hall from the team behind The Dead Rabbit, where you can drink a Guinness before you hop on the Amtrak. They also have espresso martinis on tap, and they’ve teamed up with Jacob’s Pickles and Pastrami Queen for their food menu, so expect pickle combos, and corned beef. In true Irish pub fashion, they open at 10am, so even if you have an earlier train you can still have a Bloody Mary before departure.
At this new Sichuan restaurant in Flatiron, you can share whole fish, dry pot chicken, and mapo tofu with a group. There’s also a section of the menu entitled Delightful Vegetables, which we’d like to explore. Head here soon for their grand opening deal: You can get your first order of soup dumplings for $1, and on Sundays, they have a buy-one-get-one-free dim sum deal.
From 2012 to 2020, Muchmore’s was an entertainment venue, but after a three-year break, they’re back as Muchmore’s Gastropub and Wine Bar. There won’t be live music anymore, but there will be wine and jambalaya, as well as a full menu of New Orleans and Greek-inspired food. Oh, and natural wine, because you really can’t open a wine bar these days without it.
We’ve spent many evenings eating dim sum platters at the original Chinatown location of Dim Sum Go Go, and now we can do the same in the East Village. Their second location is smaller than the original, but as long as we can eat steamed shrimp dumplings and pork buns, we’re not complaining. This newest location has been in the works since 2021, so we’re happy that it’s all finally happening.
They really like the number nine at Nine Cases, a new gastro tavern in the East Village that serves nine international appetizers, nine white wines, and nine red wines. We’re not exactly sure why but we appreciate the commitment to the bit. They never order a case of wine more than once, so if you become a regular here you’ll always try something different.
If you find yourself in the Williamsburg area in need of a seafood feast, try Steamers. There’s a massive menu of things from the sea, including a hot seafood sampler, a chilled seafood sampler, and a whole lobster stuffed with crab. It’s in the former Kitsby Dessert Bar space, and run by the owner of Kitsby and her father. He also makes a slow-roasted prime rib, in case you’d like to go full surf and turf.
After a Portuguese tinned fish store, the biggest new Times Square opening is this bar from Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake. At T-Squared social, you can play darts, watch sports, eat hamachi crudo, and drink a $21 cocktail called Upstate Lumberjack. And when your darts game ends, there’s a golf simulator. This place might give the Times Square Margaritaville a real run for its money (if they had any left).
There’s something comforting about a place that serves both coffee and wine. If you can relate to this statement, you should know about Thermostat, a new European-style coffee shop and wine bar in Park Slope. Next time you find yourself on Flatbush Ave. in need of a cappuccino, a glass of orange wine, or maybe both, you’ll be right at home here.
Noodle Lane started in 2011 at Smorgasburg, and now it’s got a brick-and-mortar in Park Slope, where you can eat shrimp paste fried rice and cold cucumber salad. It looks like it’ll be a go-to spot for a casual weeknight dinner, but they’ve also got a weekday lunch special, and everything on it is under $20.
photo credit: Evan Sung
There’s a new Thai spot in the West Village inspired by Bangkok’s late-night food scene, and it’s from the team behind Fish Cheeks, one of the top Thai restaurants in NYC. Appropriately, they have pork jowls and beef cheeks on the menu here, as well as a whole branzino. The bar is reserved for walk-ins, and there's an intriguing cocktail list involving fermented tropical fruit, rice wine and more. We checked out Bangkok Supper Club.
Delmonico’s closed in 2020 after 184 years, partly due to the pandemic, and partly due to some sort of feud that we don’t really need to get into. Now that the steakhouse is back, in its original location in the Financial District, what we do need to get into is its namesake Delmonico steak. Also its caviar service, and iconic baked Alaska.
photo credit: Rachel Lombardy
Fini Pizza
Fini Pizza, the popular Williamsburg spot from a co-owner of Lilia and Misi, is opening a second NYC location on Atlantic Ave. It is literally right next to the entrance to Barclays Center, so it might beat out Shake Shack and Chick-Fil-A as the quickest and closest pre-game meal. There’s a seating area outside, with lawn chairs where you can eat a slice and gaze upon the We belong here sign.
There’s a new cocktail lounge beneath the Beekman Hotel in the Financial District, where you can experience early evening martini service, and eat a wagyu burger. There are also late night DJ’s, and plenty of disco balls. If you’ve ever been in the Financial District after 7pm you might know how quiet it gets, but Laissez Faire might change this forever.
