NYCGuide
NYC’s Most Exciting Spring Restaurant Openings
photo credit: Teddy Wolff
With a bunch of intriguing openings coming down the pipeline, the dining trends of 2024 are already taking shape. This year, apparently, will be very casual. The Cosme chef is doing counter-service tacos, and the people who run our favorite East Village sushi spot are going the H-Mart route with grab-and-go maki. Should you want to make conversation with a server, there will also be a revamp of a classic diner, as well as an anticipated NYC location of a chain known for soup dumplings, which we assume will be an absolute zoo.
THE SPOTS
Opening: March
Having a tough time landing a table at Claud? You might have better luck at Penny, an affiliated seafood spot opening just above that East Village wine bar. The 31-seat place will serve snacky stuff like shrimp cocktail and tuna carpaccio, with glasses of wine that start at $12. It’ll probably be just as busy as its sibling—but, crucially, it’s mostly walk-in-only.
Opening: April
Contra, the tasting-menu spot from the Wildair team that closed in 2023, is turning into Bar Contra. The menu will be similar in spirit, with a la carte dishes like fried scallops and celeriac crumpets intended to go with drinks from the nerdiest of cocktail nerds, Dave Arnold (previously of Existing Conditions). With mostly booth seating, the reboot seems like it might be a little comfier than the original.
Opening: April
The Wildair people are keeping busy. Their restaurant Brass is coming to the Evelyn Hotel in Nomad, behind the recently opened Tusk Bar, which they also did the food for. It's inspired by French brasseries but with a New York spin. That means French dishes, lots of classic cocktails, and a wine list that, given the team's track record, will probably lean in a natural direction.
Opening: April
Former Gramercy Tavern pastry chef Lauren Tran has been selling Vietnamese-American and French pastries via roving pop-up since 2021. Now, the pandemic-born operation is headed to the majors. A permanent location will debut by the end of April in Chinatown across from Golden Diner. You’ll no longer have to check your IG feed and scramble around town to get your bánh bò nướng, macarons, and pandan coconut chiffon cakes.
Opening: April
Two hundred years before every block of downtown Manhattan featured a sub-$100 omakase joint, sushi was more of a casual street food sold from stalls and carts. Sendo, from a Nakazawa alum, wants to bring that back. Sort of. The restaurant is opening on the second floor of a Nomad building, and it’ll have room for exactly 10 people to stand at a counter. (No chairs in sight.) Expect nigiri, handrolls, chirashi, and sets that range from $30-$50.
Opening: April
A former chef of Greenwich Village’s now-closed 232 Bleecker, which was operated by the fast-casual chain Dig, is going solo. Lola’s is inspired by the owner’s Filipino-American heritage and roots in South Carolina. It'll offer vinegar-forward vegetables in addition to fried and slow-cooked mains, all in a Nomad space with an open kitchen.
Opening: May
Octopus and tomato pies—also known as tielle Sétoise—are coming to the West Village, along with more southern French dishes like soupe au pistou and the anchovy flatbread pissaladière. Zimmi's is from a few vets of Lodi, Flora Bar, and Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group. There's going to be an extensive list of French and Italian wines, which you can enjoy in a '50s Thonet armchair salvaged from a Pennsylvania Country Club.
Opening: May
At the 12-seat Yamada in Chinatown, the namesake chef will be serving a 10-course $300 kaiseki menu with a seasonal focus and a few European touches. The Japanese tasting will cycle through various cooking techniques—frying, grilling, steaming, simmering—and end with a tea ceremony. Just a few feet away, you'll find another spot from the same restaurant group, Kono.
Opening: May
Not long ago, there was a meme of Adam Driver saying "good soup" ping-ponging around the internet. It was from the show Girls, and the words were spoken at Kellogg’s Diner. Open since 1928, the Williamsburg establishment recently changed hands, and it sounds like the food will be more impressive this time around. A chef who worked at Roberta’s and Empellon Cocina will be doing Tex-Mex, Southern, and classic diner dishes 24 hours a day.
Opening: TBD
Finally, our own Din Tai Fung. The worldwide chain, which has a bunch of locations on the West Coast, is opening its first New York City outpost a few blocks from Radio City in a space that’s Tao levels of enormous. You’ll be able to eat cucumber salad, spicy wontons, and, of course, delicate xiao long bao with exactly 18 folds each.
Opening: TBD
From the people behind the Korean/Southern mashup C as in Charlie, Kisa is an upcoming LES spot modeled on kisa sikdang, Korean restaurants that have traditionally catered to taxi drivers. The place will have a retro feel, with vintage televisions and a coin-operated coffee machine, and the food will be homestyle, with plenty of accompanying sides.
Opening: TBD
Cosme and Atla are certified hits several times over. Now, the same team is opening a fast-casual taco spot on a treacherously touristy stretch of Williamsburg's Bedford Avenue. They'll be nixtamalizing masa in-house, and serving tacos with ribeye, grilled chicken, and al pastor. We’re already a little stressed thinking about the crowds.
Opening: TBD
First, there was Rosella, a sushi spot serving fish exclusively sourced from North America that we dubbed a Best New Restaurant of 2021. Then, the same people opened Bar Miller, another sustainable place offering a $250 omakase. Now, the restaurant group is loosening up with a New York-style deli that serves sushi instead of pastrami. The East Village shop will have fish by the pound, as well as takeout rice bowls, maki, and salads.
Opening: TBD
Self-proclaimed "oyster disco" Strange Delight was supposed to open last fall. Seeing as how it didn’t, we still can’t tell you what an oyster disco is. But it sounds fun. The Fort Greene restaurant will be doing a New Orleans-inspired menu in a space that consists of two rooms, each with its own bar. Pop in for a Ramos Gin Fizz, and request some Donna Summer.
Opening: TBD
With its 60+ page wine list and sofas conducive to long-term slouching, the original Soho location of Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels is an essential stop for both wine nerds and those who have not yet deleted their dating apps. The new Flatiron location, parked in a squat building from the 1860s, sounds like more of the same. Pair some grilled meat with a Brunello, and keep an eye out for a revamped version of Experimental Cocktail Club—the French import LES bar that closed in 2016—opening below.
