NYC’s New Restaurant Openings

This is a casual new Israeli restaurant in the West Village, from a chef who’s worked at some other great Middle Eastern places like Taim. During lunch, you order at the counter, but at dinner it’s full-service, with a menu focused on homemade couscous, plus mains like branzino, and hummus with challah.

It was a sad day at The Infatuation when the Williamsburg bar and pork-focused restaurant called Post Office closed. This new vegan restaurant in the old Post Office space (on Havemeyer) couldn’t be more different - with things like pineapple tartare, corn toast, and a list of natural wines.

The second New York location of an udon spot we like called TsuruTonTan just opened on 48th street in Midtown. So far they’re only serving lunch, with options like donburi bowls, sashimi, and their signature (and massive) bowls of both hot and cold udon noodles.

Aside from having the name of a memoir of a jockey, this new bar on Bedford Avenue in South Williamsburg has $10 cocktails, a pool table, and the same owners as Skinny Dennis (another bar in the neighborhood).

Trad Room is a new restaurant on the corner of Malcolm X Blvd and Halsey Street in Bed-Stuy with a huge open kitchen, tall ceilings, and soda fountain stools. In terms of food, the menu has everything from miso butter grilled oysters to pork tongue to a roast chicken.

If you’ve headed to Brooklyn over the Williamsburg Bridge recently, you’ve probably seen the giant sign for Tacocina that makes it look like an amusement park entrance. This is a new taco spot (from the people behind Shake Shack) in the also-new Domino Park on the Williamsburg waterfront.

We checked out Tacocina and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

This is a small Japanese restaurant on Madison Avenue in Nomad from the people behind two Korean places we like a lot (Take 31 and Her Name Is Han). They have a full bar, ramen bowls, and many skewers.

Bocce is a new Italian restaurant in that open-air structure with Greek columns in the middle of Union Square Park (across from the Barnes & Noble). Seating here is primarily outside, and you can order things like pizzas, negroni slushies, and crudos while you watch someone confuse the restaurant’s bocce courts for the site of the Summer Olympic Games.

We checked out Bocce Union Square and put it on our Hit List.

There’s a new Tacombi location in Fort Greene with a big outdoor seating area. If you like to watch movies at BAM because of all the restaurants nearby, here’s another to add to your list - it’s right across the street.

If you’ve been reading this Openings Guide lately, you might have noticed that it looks a little like a Greenpoint neighborhood blog - there are a lot of new spots opening in the neighborhood. Here’s another. It’s a casual Japanese ramen and curry place right on top of the Nassau G stop and a block from McCarren Park.

Harlem Hops specializes in hard-to-find local craft beer from small-batch breweries. Their spot by the 135th 2 and 3 stop also has a bar menu with things like bratwurst and spicy meat pies.

We’re longtime fans of the tacos at Otto’s in the East Village, and they just opened a new location on 88th Street on the Upper East Side. This one has their usual affordable prices, simple menu, and homemade tortillas.

This is a new Mexican restaurant in Greenpoint from one of the people behind Speedy Romeo. They make pretty much everything here on a wood-fired grill, including pork cheek carnitas tacos, tostadas, and ceviches.

We checked out Oxomoco and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

One of the people behind By Chloe just opened another fast-casual restaurant on Mulberry Street in Nolita. The food is Middle Eastern and, in a shocking turn of events, mostly vegetarian- and vegan-focused.

We checked out Dez and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

Williamsburg now has its own food hall. Notable vendors include Chuko Ramen, Regina’s Grocery, Corner Bistro, and, the second location of one of our favorite pizza places in the city, Di Fara.

This is a new fast-casual Neapolitan pizza place in Meatpacking where nothing costs more than $11. It looks kind of like stopping by a slice joint, except they only take credit cards and you get a whole Neopolitan pizza. They plan to open more locations in Chelsea and Brooklyn soon.

If you spend time on Long Island, you might know about Kyma - a Greek restaurant in Roslyn that someone has probably referred to as their “little Santorini.” They just opened their first (giant) Manhattan location in Flatiron, with a long menu of seafood, familiar Greek dishes, and familiar Greek seafood dishes.

Harwood on Hudson is a new American restaurant serving things like mussels, ribs, and pastas in a space that looks like a barn, a speakeasy, and the West Village had a lovechild. They’re open for dinner (and currently taking reservations) with some sidewalk seating and a marble bar up front.

We checked out Harwood on Hudson and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

Klom Klorm is a casual new Thai restaurant in Bushwick with traditional (and affordable) dishes like curries, papaya salads, and noodle soups. The little brick-walled space has a bar, a bunch of nice plants, and a collection of decorative plates on display that we wish we could eat from, but we probably can’t eat from.

We checked out Klom Klorm and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

The Polynesian is a new tiki-themed bar on 42nd street (from the people behind Carbone and The Grill) where you can drink lots of rum cocktails in an indoor-outdoor space with a view of Midtown. They also have a large format drink called the “Humuhumunukunukuapua’a” that we look forward to hearing someone order.

We checked out The Polynesian and put it on our Bar Hit List.

The Okonomi team just opened a walk-in only sushi place in Williamsburg by the Graham Avenue L stop. Okozushi serves different sets of affordable Kyoto-style sushi, which is traditionally eaten without soy sauce and uses cured and pickling cooking techniques.

We checked out Okozushi and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

The Freehand Hotel in Gramercy has more restaurants and bars than most towns in Rhode Island. And now there’s a Smile To-Go location in there too, for all your quick bone broth and kale salad needs. This is a counter-service cafe with multiple locations throughout the city, and they have the same setup at this location.

Atomix is a new multi-floor Korean restaurant in Nomad from the people behind Atoboy. For now, they’re only serving a 10-course, seafood-focused tasting menu (for $175).

The people behind an UWS place we like (called Marlow Bistro) just opened a casual restaurant with mostly-Mediterranean tapas and a full bar. We’re not sure why it’s infamous, but this is a new place where you can get a whole chicken and a cocktail near 110th street.

The Arlo Soho hotel just updated their outdoor spaces for the summer. On the indoor-outdoor rooftop, you’ll find large-batch cocktails and bar snacks. On their summer-camp-themed patio, they have backyard games and daily hot dog specials named after different national parks.

We checked out Arlo Rooftop Bar and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

This is a new Chinese restaurant on 1st Avenue that specializes in rice noodles. They don’t have a liquor license yet, but they’re serving mains like frog legs and stir-fried smoked pork, as well as noodle bowls in the $20 range for lunch and dinner.

This is a new Vietnamese restaurant in Greenpoint (from the people behind An Choi, another neighborhood Vietnamese spot) with a bunch of different kinds of pho, and an attractive space full of plants. If Greenpoint Barbie Dreamhouse served rice paper salad and summer rolls, it would look a lot like Di An Di.

We checked out Di An Di and put it on our Hit List.

Emma’s Torch is an organization that provides culinary training to refugees and helps them transition to life in the US. They just opened their first restaurant (staffed by the students) in the old Wilma Jean space in Carroll Gardens, where they’re serving seasonal American brunch and dinner.

The team behind Glady’s in Crown Heights has finally addressed the fact that its original location is far too small for how much fun it is to eat there with a group. Their new counter-service location in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens has the same Caribbean-style food (things like oxtail stew and jerk shrimp) in a much larger space with outdoor seating and a bar that’s open until 4am.

There’s a new French all-day cafe on Bank Street in the West Village from the people behind Harold’s Meat and Three. Yes, from the name, you’ve correctly guessed that they serve French bistro food - with breakfast and sandwiches until 5pm, Happy Hour with $9 glasses of wine, and classic mains in the $30 range for dinner.

Elder Greene is a new neighborhood bar with beer, wine, and cocktails on Franklin Street in Greenpoint (across from Ramona, one of our favorite cocktail spots). The space has a mix of bar seating, booths, and high-tops, and they plan to start serving bar food in the future.

The late-night LES pie shop called Peete’s just opened a cafe in Clinton Hill where you can get all of their famous pies, as well as non-pie things like muffaletta sandwiches, breakfast biscuits, and cocktails. It looks like the 2018 TV set of a retro diner and there’s a back garden area where you can drink boozy pie milkshakes (once they get their liquor license).

A Guyanese and Caribbean counter-service place that specializes in traditional cow-heel soup (a beany broth with corn and other vegetables) just opened in East Flatbush off the Utica Ave 4 and 5 trains. They also have a bunch of vegetarian and fish options, and nothing is over $11.

Madre Cocina & Mezcales is a new Mexican restaurant on Washington Ave in Prospect Heights serving lots of mezcal, tacos, and enchiladas in housemade blue corn tortillas. This is in the old El Atoradero space, but they’ve combined the bar next door and the dining area into one restaurant, and there’s a new chef.

Madcap is an all-day cafe in Carroll Gardens that’s open from the hours you’d want coffee to the ones where you’d want a cocktail. They’ve also got biscuits and gravy, souvlaki flatbreads, pork dumplings, and crudite nachos.

We checked out Madcap Cafe and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

Shinsen is a casual neighborhood sushi bar on Bowery in Chinatown with lunch specials, handrolls, and sushi sets. It looks like a successful start-up’s cafeteria with pink lights, matcha lattes, and modern wooden benches.

We checked out Shinsen and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

This is a Nicaraguan restaurant by the Jefferson Avenue L stop in Bushwick with tropical rum cocktails and meat-and-cheese filled tortillas called quesillos. The bar here is open until 4am and they serve late-night food until 2am.

We checked out Chicha and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

This is a new Japanese restaurant in Midtown East serving a $180 omakase made up mostly of deep-fried skewers. You’ll also get some sushi and miso soup, and, at the end of the meal, they bring you outside to their patio for Japanese dessert and matcha tea, which is how we’d like all of our meals to end from now until September.

The Springs is a big new bar with lots of outdoor space in Greenpoint (if you ever went to the bar called t.b.d., this is that space). There’s some indoor seating as well, and they have a bar food menu with stuff like burgers and breakfast burritos.

Broken Shaker is the rooftop bar in the Freehand Hotel - a new hotel in Gramercy that has another bar and restaurant we like a lot. This place is serving fancy cocktails and some bar snacks that we hope are as good as what you can get downstairs.

We checked out Broken Shaker and put it on our Bar Hit List.

The Bari is a modern Korean and Japanese restaurant by Astor Place with a $65 sushi omakase and plates like soju braised ribs and uni bibimbap. They’re open and taking reservations for lunch and dinner daily.

We checked out The Bari and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

Terre is a new neighborhood Italian place in Park Slope that focuses on homemade pasta and natural wine. The pastas are reasonably priced (all are under $20), and they take reservations for both brunch and dinner.

We checked out Terre and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

Sullivan Street Bakery just revamped their Hell’s Kitchen location by adding a new cafe space. We’re fans of the original Chelsea spot for a casual weekday breakfast or lunch, and if this new version is anything like the other, you’ll want to get the bomboloni.

This is the return of a much-loved Neapolitan pizza spot, after they left NYC for a brief stint in San Francisco. Una is on Orchard St. on the LES, and the people behind Wildair and Contra are partners in it, which means there’s a bigger menu of wine (which they’ll start serving next week) and small plates to go with the 12-inch pies.

We checked out Una Pizza Napoletana and put it on our Hit List.

The people behind Jacob’s Pickles have opened a new dumpling counter spot on Amsterdam Avenue with lots of dumplings, noodles, pickled vegetables, and pickle-flavored soft serve. The space is tiny and open until 2am on weekends.

A famous Staten Island pizza place just opened its first Manhattan location on 1st Ave in the East Village. The original Joe & Pat’s specializes in very thin, crackery crust that we’re big fans of - hopefully they’ll duplicate that pizza here.

We checked out Joe & Pat’s and put it on our Hit List.

Coney Island Baby is a new bar and music venue on Avenue A. They have DJs playing every night, dance parties on the weekends, and a list of shows with bands that have names that may or not be made up.

Peachy’s is a cocktail bar under (and from the same people as) a restaurant in Chinatown that feels a bit like a club. Their new downstairs bar has a menu full of snacks, $18 “elixir” cocktails, and a glossary of the healing ingredients and their effects (from aphrodisiac pine pollen to immune-building roots).

Bar Salumi is a casual Italian spot on 4th Avenue in Gowanus that gives you over 15 options to put on your charcuterie board (likely not at the same time, but if you believe, you can achieve). They also have pasta, larger mains, and a bar that closes at 2am.

We checked out Bar Salumi and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

A cocktail speakeasy in Chelsea where the bartender makes you a custom cocktail after you fill out an electronic flavor preference profile. There’s also a set menu if you don’t want to do the Buzzfeed quiz version of ordering a drink.

Bistrot Leo is a French restaurant in SoHo serving bistro food like steak frites and smoked salmon rillette, and lots of wine. It takes over the space in the Sixty Hotel in Soho that was previously Sessanta, and is still owned by the same people.

Fan Fried Rice Bar is an affordable new Taiwanese counter-spot in Bed-Stuy. The menu is split up into appetizers (the star of the show here looks like the popcorn chicken) and different types of fried rice like a breakfast style, bone-in pork chop, and one with pastrami.

Alley Cat is a new speakeasy bar in the cellar of the Beekman Hotel in FiDi that seems like the lovechild of a Tokyo underground cocktail bar and the backstage of a haunted old theater. They have a bunch of fancy Japanese whiskey, some interesting-sounding $16 cocktails, and a few snacks like fried quail and soy braised short ribs.

This is a casual new ramen spot off the Bedford Avenue L stop in Williamsburg where your soup comes in a cheetah-print bowl. They only have a few seats and focus primarily on ramen, with some starters and a small drinks menu (plum wine, sake, and beer).

We checked out Andante and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

A partially-covered LES hotel rooftop bar with big red booths and Japanese-inspired cocktails and snacks. Judging by the disco ball and DJ programming, we’d guess there will be dancing involved here.

The original location of Devoción is the best-looking cafe in Williamsburg to get work done and drink some strong Colombian coffee. We assume that this one will somehow be even more attractive, because that’s what generally happens near the Brooklyn Bridge.

Maman and Mimi is a new French and Algerian restaurant on Prince Street in Nolita. The space looks like a bistro where you could bring a date and sit in a big booth while trying not to look at yourself in the mirrors on the wall.

This is a casual new West Village restaurant serving Middle Eastern comfort food like sandwiches, a leg of lamb, and salmon farro bowls for lunch and dinner, and breakfast all day. It seems slightly diner-y, and also the kind of place to bring a friend for a catch-up meal.

One of the better places to get a big Italian sandwich with house-made mozzarella in Hell’s Kitchen has a new location in Greenwich Village on 6th Avenue. This is a good one to know about for lunch in the area, or in case mozzarella seems to be the quickest answer to your problems (hint: it is).

Pelican is a new cocktail bar in Bed-Stuy from the people behind Hot Bird, one of our favorite places to come with a big group in the summer.

UpNorth is a new Canadian-themed bar near the Jefferson Avenue L in Bushwick with craft beer and spirits from Canada and ram taxidermy on the walls. They have typical bar food (plus an entire poutine menu), and they’ll also be serving brunch and coffee/pastries soon.

We checked out Upnorth and put it on our Bar Hit List.

A ’60s-themed bar in Meatpacking serving affordable cocktails (all of them are $10) and pizza (from the people behind Williamsburg Pizza). If the set designers from Mad Men (the later seasons) opened up a bar with pink pool tables, this would be it.

We checked out The Woodstock and put it on our Bar Hit List.

This thin-crust pizza place in LIC looks like it could also be a big Summer Guide contender this year - they have a great-looking outdoor space. They also have pastas, negronis on tap, and a large bar.

We checked out Beebe’s and put it on our Hit List.

Uotora is a new Japanese restaurant in Crown Heights with a $65 omakase. It’s a small space with a little bar, so you’ll probably want to try this place solo or with one other person.

We checked out Uotora and put it on our Hit List.

Straylight is a new cocktail bar below a multi-floor Japanese restaurant in Chinatown (Juku) with $15-$27 molecular gastronomy cocktails and Japanese bar snacks. It’s only open from Thursday-Sunday and, to get here, you have to walk down a completely-pink stairwell that looks like it belongs in the contemporary art version of the Wonka factory.

We checked out Straylight and put it on our Bar Hit List.

Sweet Chick just opened their fourth NYC location in Long Island City on Vernon Blvd. You probably already know the drill here, but if not: chicken and waffles, brunch every day, and a fun cocktail list.

Chefs behind Balthazar and Minetta Tavern have opened a French brasserie in Tribeca. It looks like it’ll be slightly more casual than either of those two restaurants, with big red booths and a bar, but still a place where you could impress a date by ordering the ribeye for two.

We checked out Frenchette and put it on our Hit List.

The Garret is a cocktail bar in the East Village, and it used to have a speakeasy-style restaurant inside of it called Dinnertable. That space is now Borrachito, a speakeasy-style taco spot.

We checked out Borrachito and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

There’s a new Urbanspace food hall location in Midtown East with options like Roberta’s, Taim, and La Pecora Bianca. The vendors and overall design seem pretty similar to other Urbanspace markets, which means it’ll be good for lunch or waiting around for your friend who wears suits to work to leave the office.

Sushi Noz is a new UES Japanese restaurant that specializes in fish preservation and aging. Their omakase is $300 per person.

An Italian-American counter in Bushwick with affordable sandwiches and homemade pasta. It seems pretty small, so take-out might be your move here, but there are a few seats for a casual lunch or dinner.

We checked out Carmenta’s and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

You no longer have to go to Bushwick to eat ramen by yourself in a sit-down voting booth. The Midtown Ichiran is on 32st street between 6th and 7th Avenues, and is a spot for people desperately seeking noodles and alone time in Midtown.

Coco Pazzo is the new Soho version of an UES Italian restaurant that was popular in the ’90s. They do daily lunch and dinner service in a bright space, and have a takeout counter in the back for things like ciabatta sandwiches and quinoa salads.

We checked out Coco Pazzo and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

A big-deal brewery from Copenhagen just opened a location attached to Citi Field in Queens (they already have one in LA that we like a lot). This new spot has its own separate entrance from the stadium, 60 weekly-rotating beers on tap, and the kind of food you’d expect to find next to a baseball stadium - pork sandwiches, bulgogi fries, and hot dogs.

A new Greek seafood spot just opened in the neighborhood with more good Greek food than anywhere else in the city - Astoria. This place has a huge list of Greek wines that should go nicely with a whole fish on your plate.

A Trinidadian cocktail bar in Williamsburg on North 8th St. with some good-looking drinks, rum flights, and DJs playing Caribbean music every night. The owner also happens to be a member of Major Lazer.

We checked out Clyde’s and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

This is a counter-service pizza spot on the Upper East Side from a famous Roman pizza maker. Alert your friend who insists on trying all of the newest pizza in the city that they have square-shaped slices with potatoes on top. And know that it’s still waiting on a liquor license.

We checked out PQR and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

Seamore’s just opened up its first Brooklyn location in Dumbo and it’s bigger than the others in the city, with a 40-seat private dining room. Dumbo already has an “attractive-body-of-water” theme, so this bright seafood spot should be a good addition to the neighborhood.

A Szechuan restaurant from Littleneck Queens just opened a new location on the Upper West Side. This place has affordable prices and a huge menu with lots of hot pepper icons and something called “burning noodles.” If you’re a fan of Szechuan food or you live and/or learn near 106th and Amsterdam Avenue, take note.

Lowerline is a casual new New Orleans-inspired restaurant in Prospect Heights on Washington Avenue near Tom’s. It looks pretty small, with just a few tables and a bar, but seems like a nice addition to the neighborhood for drinks, oysters, and a $15 half-po boy and gumbo deal.

We checked out Lowerline and put it on our Hit List.

This is a huge Korean BBQ restaurant in Midtown, with three floors dedicated to different types of occasions - one for casual walk-ins and two for larger private parties. They serve traditional barbecue options and a few unique dishes like kimchi poutine with bulgogi and cheese curds.

We checked out Sam Won Garden and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

Grunhaus is a German beer bar where Spitzer’s Corner used to be on the LES. Most of the food here includes some sort of meat and toppings on a pretzel bun. Come here with friends and fight about whether sour beer deserves a place in our current society.

A new cocktail bar in FiDi where you can get an on-fire martini in what looks like a coworking space that plays ’90s hip hop, but also happens to be an Australian coffee shop during the day. Their cocktail list looks like the reason you’d want to check this place out for a drink after work, but they also serve food like smoked mackerel toast and a burger.

This is a new Greek wine bar in the East Village from the same people behind one of the more low-key bars in the neighborhood (The Immigrant). This seems like a useful option for a glass of wine and some small plates of grilled octopus and spanakopita when you want to catch up with a friend.

We checked out The Athenian and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

Mama Fox is a new restaurant in Bed-Stuy that serves comfort food from around the world, like yucca croquettes, pork belly banh mi, polenta and parsnip pasta, and cocktails like an Old Fashioned with mole bitters. It could be a good date night spot for the neighborhood.

Legacy Records is a new Italian/Mediterranean restaurant in Hudson Yards from the people behind two of our favorite spots, Charlie Bird and Pasquale Jones. You could theoretically hang out here all day: there’s a cafe, a cocktail bar space, and restaurant serving things like seafood crudos, pasta, and a duck for two.

We checked out Legacy Records and put it on our Hit List.

An all-day Japanese cafe in the part of the Lower East Side that’s essentially the Williamsburg Bridge, this place is a coffee shop that serves breakfast sets during the day and small plates and curries for dinner. It could be good for a casual weeknight meal, though they’re still waiting on a liquor license.

We checked out Davelle and put it on our Hit List.

Basement is a very fancy 10-person omakase restaurant in the space under a Tribeca restaurant called Tetsu. By very fancy, we mean the omakase is $350/person.

NYC’s only sake brewery now has a tap room in Industry City that’s open on Fridays and Saturdays. Brooklyn Kura is right off of the N, R, and D trains and, other than the sake, has a few snacks like toasted nori and charcuterie.

Bar Freud used to be an Austrian restaurant (from the same people behind Edi and the Wolf), but they just turned it into a bar with a bit less schnitzel and spatzle (although there’s still some of that) and more experimental cocktails. The whole place is supposed to mimic the feeling of “Sigmund Freud’s Therapy Room.” Maybe don’t bring your mom.

The owners of a popular brunch spot in Bushwick (Montana’s Trail House) recently changed the space into a bar with inexpensive but interesting food like mapo nachos and tempura fried avocado. On Mondays they do a $10 burger-and-beer deal and on Tuesdays you can flip a coin to see if your next drink is free.

We checked out Hard Times Christmas Liquors at the Sunset Bar and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

A big fancy rooftop bar and lounge in the Beekman Tower in Midtown East (which we just found out was originally built as a sorority clubhouse). They have caviar service and drinks with ingredients you might find while walking in the woods and say “cool, it’s cedar” not “let’s smoke it and put it in a cocktail.”

Boru Boru is a restaurant on 98th and Amsterdam Avenue serving a menu of Chinese and Korean food that’s completely kosher. It’s a little expensive ($17 pulled pastrami bao buns and $24 oxtail fried rice) but could be worth trying if you keep kosher or want to go somewhere uptown that feels a little like you could find it on the LES.

There’s now a second location of Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken on 51st and 9th Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen. Think of this as very fancy KFC - there’s chicken-by-the-piece, a bunch of meat sandwiches, and a $50 family-style meal called “The Royal Tenders” that comes with 12 chicken tenders and sides. And they deliver, for when you need fried-chicken-on-the-couch time.

The people behind the Soho Indian restaurant called Paowalla just turned that space into a small plates spot. This spot is more casual than the original, and serves modern takes on traditional Indian food like dal burrata and a lamb sandwich “naanini.” It looks like it could be a fun place to try for a casual group dinner.

We checked out The Bombay Bread Bar and wrote a review.

Bar Belly just reopened on the Lower East Side with a pretty solid Happy Hour deal (half priced drinks and dollar oysters every day). This is a good one to know about for a drink and some snacks in the neighborhood.

We checked out Bar Belly and put it on our Bar Hit List.

The second location of a huge French restaurant in the West Village. This one is in Gramercy and has a charcuterie bar - but otherwise seems to be a lot like the first. Come with people who want to eat escargot and steak.

Originally an East Village spot, Mala Project just added a second Midtown location where you can eat Chinese dry pot (think hot pot without the boiling broth). There’s a $13 lunch special, so it’s a potentially useful option for a weekday lunch that isn’t a sandwich.

The newest Quality Eats just opened on 28th between 5th and Madison. The menu here is pretty much the same as the other two locations (affordable steaks, salads, and birthday cake ice cream). If it’s anything like the other spots, it will be crowded.

One of our go-to burrito spots just opened a new location on Metropolitan Ave in Williamsburg. In addition to tacos, burritos, and “Super Fries” (like nachos, but with fries), this location has a mezcal bar with draft cocktails and many (over 40) different types of mezcal.

We checked out Taqueria Diana and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

The Harrow is a new American restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen serving things like strip steak, lobster pierogi, mushroom tarts, and lots of cocktails. The prices are reasonable (nothing is over $30) for a place that kind of looks like it could be a hotel restaurant, so it could be good for a date or dinner with your parents who swear they’re fine with anything, but actually want something nice.

A 19-year-old just opened a new all-day cafe on the Lower East Side. Soon “The Living Room” (the cafe) will have a “Dining Room” next door with a $155 prix fixe that you can already book reservations for. Until then, you can continue to reflect on what you were doing when you were 19 years old.

Karakatta is a new ramen restaurant in Greenwich Village that specializes in spicy ramen. They also have some rice bowls, appetizers, and a full drinks menu, but if you want ramen, the only options involve fire emojis next to their menu listings. The space looks pretty small and stays open late-night.

We checked out Karakatta and put it on our Hit List.

Exciting news for Bushwick people: the chef and owner behind one of the more grown-up spots in the area (Faro) just opened up a Chinese restaurant. It’s walk-in-only and seems like it could be a great addition to the otherwise Sichuan-less neighborhood.

We checked out General Deb’s and put it on our Hit List.

Luke’s Lobster just opened up a stand in Canal Street Market with its usual seafood rolls, chowders, and lobster mac & cheese. Good to know about if you work in the Soho/Chinatown area and are feeling bold enough to eat a lobster roll at your desk (if not, there are also some places to sit down here).

Noda is a very expensive, eight-seat sushi restaurant in Nomad that serves a $285 omakase tasting. They have two dinner seatings per night (6 and 9pm), as well as a sake and whiskey lounge in the front.

After 10 years of serving Italian food in their Meatpacking location (which is now closed), Scarpetta just reopened in a new Nomad hotel called The James New York. This place looks like it’s going for a similar feel as the original - a trendy-people-eating-pasta feel.

A fancy bar and restaurant in the East Village that’s supposed to look like a Southern mansion. Mr. White serves upscale versions of New Orleans-inspired food like grilled oysters, prawns and grits, and pork cheek, but as of now they’re still waiting for a full liquor license (it’s beer and wine only).

We checked out Mr. White and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

An all-day cafe in Red Hook filled with natural light, oatmeal bowls, and egg sandwiches looks like nothing else we’ve seen recently. That’s a joke, but to be fair, Rita does seem like it’ll be good to know about for casual breakfast, brunch, and lunch in the area.

This a Kosher Mediterranean spot with interesting-looking (albeit pricey) dishes like “Northern African fish and chips.” Hopefully it’ll be a good new addition to Murray Hill.

Tender Greens in Union Square is NYC’s first location of a popular California fast-casual restaurant, and seems like it could be a good alternative for when you’re sick of Sweetgreen and Made Nice. They serve healthy-ish plates (pick a protein, vegetable, and side), salads, and sandwiches all within the $12-16 range, and have a beer and wine list.

Banzarbar is a new bar above Freemans on the Lower East Side. They serve fancy cocktails and seafood small plates, and a $95 tasting menu involving five courses with low-ABV cocktail pairings (so that you can actually drink all five of them). Also, there’s a $60 tempura-fried whole octopus to share. Just in case you’re in the mood to eat a whole fried octopus tonight.

We checked out Banzarbar and added it to our Bar Hit List.

The people behind Greenpoint Beer and Ale (a brewery) and North Brooklyn Farms (an urban farm underneath the Williamsburg Bridge) opened a restaurant in Greenpoint with stuff like little gem salads, steak, and housemade sausages. They’ll also be serving exclusively New York-made beer, cider, wine, and cocktails. Right now, it’s only open Wednesday through Sunday.

We checked out Annicka and put it on our Hit List.

This is a new Flatiron coffee shop in a building where Nikola Tesla first experimented with radio waves. That part is irrelevant to the coffee shop itself, which seems like a simple coffee/pastry place to know about in the neighborhood. The Nikola Tesla-related part comes next...

Once 5pm hits, Patent Coffee becomes an entrance to an electricity-themed underground cocktail bar that can only be accessed by ringing a buzzer on the street. Patent Pending has a few snacks (grilled cheese, pulled pork sandwich) and a cocktail menu that comes with an appendix explaining electromagnetic frequency. It could be worth stopping by for a drink in the area with someone who likes speakeasies and/or bragging about how much they remember from physics.

We checked out Patent Pending and added it to our Bar Hit List.

A new Seamore’s location is making Urbanspace Vanderbilt an even better place to get lunch or a quick dinner near Grand Central (the food market already has Roberta’s, Red Hook Lobster Pound, and Kuro-Obi by Ippudo). They’re serving cocktails, beer, wine, and seafood like poke bowls and fried fish sandwiches.

Maman’s newest location for coffee meetings and solo journaling sessions is open in Nomad. The space looks like it has enough tables to actually sit down, and the sandwiches and salads have the kinds of names you’d find in a 20th century novel (Lise, Charline, Olivia).

The last of the Freehand hotel spots is now open for dinner (they already have Studio and The George Washington Bar). Simon & the Whale is from the same people behind West Village places like Joseph Leonard and Fedora, and might be good for your friend who insists on trying the most interesting things on every menu (in this case: cauliflower with veal tongue pastrami or arctic char toast).

We checked out Simon & The Whale and wrote a review.

Meme’s in Prospect Heights looks like a modern Brooklyn version of a diner that could have been in Grease. They’re open for brunch and dinner, when they serve takes on American classics (buffalo chicken goddess salad, patty melts on rye bread, and a peanut butter pie) and a big menu of cocktails.

We checked out Meme’s Diner and put it on our Hit List.

Carroll Gardens has a new French place open for dinner and brunch near the Carroll Street F and G stop. The menu is a little pricey (the mains are mostly in the $40 range), and includes classic-sounding stuff like beef bourguignon and roasted duck two ways.

This is a Bushwick bar/restaurant (by the Jefferson L) that specializes in Basque-style cider and food. The restaurant does a two-and-half hour, five-course tasting for $37 where you can try chorizo that’s braised in their own cider. If you’re not quite ready to make that commitment, come to the bar for housemade cider and snacks.

We checked out Brooklyn Cider House and wrote a review.

The team behind the LES spot Eastwood (a beer and wine bar with Israeli-influenced food) has a new place a few doors down that serves cocktails and snacks like housemade popcorn and smoked whitefish salad. Starting in February they’ll be open all week, but until then you can check out The Dancer from Wednesday to Sunday.

There’s a new Latin restaurant on 1st Street in the East Village serving stuff like seafood mole, skirt steak with chilaquiles, and a drink called the Mexican Zombie. Everything on the menu is sub-$30, but individual dishes like the guacamole (which is $13) seem a little pricey.

Greca is an all-day Greek cafe in the part of Tribeca that’s practically the Holland Tunnel. This place is counter-service only, and open from 8am to 5pm every day, if you need a place to kill time before you bring your niece to a birthday party at the New York City Fire Museum or whatever else you do in this area.

We checked out Greca and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

A new Flatiron hotel (called Freehand) opened, which is just another way to say that a new Flatiron spot opened. Actually, there are several places in the Freehand. One is Studio, another is the George Washington Bar where you can get some bar snacks and expensive cocktails with things like prosciutto in them. If you’ve been looking for a new place to drink under the supervision of a George Washington portrait, this could be the one.

Successful NYC restaurant comebacks are about as common as Spice Girls reunion tours, but they’re both set to happen in 2018. This old-school French bistro was open for 36 years, then closed for eight, and has just reopened. The new space is bigger than their last, and the menu has things like duck foie gras terrine and steak tartare.

We checked out La Goulue and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

The people behind a famous noodle place in Sunset Park (called Yun Nan Flavor Garden) just opened a restaurant in Greenwich Village that serves rice noodles from southern China (they’re called Mixian noodles and come stir fried or in broth). This place looks like it could be a good casual lunch or dinner if you spend time near Washington Square Park.

We checked out South Of The Clouds and put it on our Hit List.

A Taiwanese comfort food place just opened for dinner in a really small space (there are around 10 seats) between Avenue A and First Ave in the East Village. Their menu is pretty much only beef noodle soup, and things you can add to your beef noodle soup.

We checked out Ho Foods and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

If you work in Soho (and have a regular need for coffee), you should know that there’s now a new location of the coffee shop known for Australians and kind-of-healthy food. Like the other Bluestones, this cafe has juices, toasts, and all of the espresso drinks you’d want.

This outdoor day-drinking spot in Ridgewood has a new indoor bar and dancefloor that was designed for people who take music very seriously. In addition to music, dancing, and board games every day of the week, Indoors has an affordable menu of Lebanese-inspired food.

An all-day restaurant in the new Freehand hotel in Flatiron. The menu is a mix of American, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean food, and the space is highly attractive.

We checked out Studio and put it on our Hit List.

This all-day vegetarian cafe has a heavy West Coast theme, which translates to a bunch of salads and chia seeds on the menu. West-Bourne also donates a portion of their profits to provide hospitality job training to people in the community, which is another reason to eat something called a Malibu Waffle at 8pm on a weekday.

We checked out West-Bourne and put it on our Hit List.

The East Village offshoot of Turntable Chicken Jazz (Turntable 5060) just reopened as a casual, Korean-inspired small plates place. There’s still a lot of Turntable chicken to be eaten here, but also seafood paella, something called miso mac and cheese, and a $30 “sangria tower.”

We checked out Tapanju Turntable and wrote about it on our Ride-Along Report.

A new cocktail bar just opened underneath Bushwick’s Cape House (a clam shack and summer day-drinking spot). Rose Gold seems pretty clubby, with black-and-white striped floors and a Tuesday night DJ “residency” program.

We checked out Rose Gold and added it to our Bar Hit List.

This cocktail bar is right near some of our favorite restaurants on West 10th and West 4th (L’Artusi, Fedora, Empellón Taqueria), so it could be half of your next one-two punch dinner-then-drinks night. Plus they have a make-your-own-old-fashioned, which is basically adult Build-a-Bear.

We checked out Due West and added it to our Bar Hit List.

In case you’ve ever dreamt of eating tortillas that were freshly made in the Empire State Building, the wait is finally over. The fifth Tacombi location is open in yes, the Empire State Building.

Soogil is a new Korean restaurant in the East Village from a chef that used to work at Daniel. This place feels like it has potential to be a date spot, but they’re still waiting for a liquor license, so for now you’ll have to stick with the French-influenced Korean food on the menu.

We checked out Soogil and wrote a review.

Yaso Tangbao’s original Brooklyn Heights spot is a great fast-casual lunch option for soup dumplings and Shanghai street foods. Now they’re opening another location at 42nd and 2nd in Midtown East for all of the people who work near the UN Headquarters and need some good news.

One of the former chefs from Miss Lily’s is now at a new Caribbean restaurant in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. This place looks a little more grown-up than Miss Lily’s, which might make it worth trying for a group dinner.

This is a new vegan restaurant in Flatiron that’s only open for dinner and serves Mediterranean food like garbanzo falafel and spiced squash. They have a full bar where you might interact with a self-identifying vegan Mixologist.

St Tropez is a new French wine bar in Greenwich Village with an affordable menu of things like branzino or truffle mac and cheese (nothing is over $17). It has a decent amount of seating and a big communal table in the middle for big parties or drinking with strangers.

We checked out St Tropez and wrote a review.

Ozi is a new spot in the bottom of a Bushwick hotel that looks like a nondescript apartment building by the Morgan Avenue L. They do traditional and creative dumplings, and stay open late during the hours when you’re more likely to be craving a cheeseburger potsticker.

The Upper East Side’s location of the 2nd Avenue Deli now has an upstairs bar area where you can sip $14 cocktails and share pastrami meat boards and herring three ways. It’s called “The 2nd Floor,” but the name “we’re hip, we promise!” works just as well.