New York City has always been a food lover’s city — you’re likely to encounter several restaurants on any given block, and the sheer number of cuisines represented is mind-boggling, not to mention the number of awards, stars, and other accolades handed out. Currently there are more than 28,000 restaurants across the five boroughs, so deciding where to eat in the city isn’t always easy. And while many of us have our favorites (I see you, Gramercy Tavern, Russ & Daughters, and Nom Wah Tea Parlor), new restaurants open their doors daily, making the decision of where to (attempt to) make a reservation during your visit as hard as choosing where to go for spring break. Thankfully, we’ve got the inside track on the newest fine-dining restaurants locals are flocking to this year, Rockefeller Center hot spots, Brooklyn tasting menus, and celebrity chefs’ latest openings included.
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Torrisi Bar & Restaurant
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Torrisi Bar & Restaurant, or as many are calling it, Torrisi 2.0, heralds Major Food Group's return to NYC since the successful hospitality group started focusing on Miami and other destinations as they expand their empire. (Partners Mario Carbone and Jeff Zalazanick have even moved to Miami.) But the third partner, Rich Torrisi, has remained in NYC to open this namesake restaurant. The restaurant is intimate and convivial, with a communal standing table plus a few seated tables by the bar, and a separate dining room with a massive Julian Schnable painting hanging on one wall. The cuisine takes inspiration from New York City's Chinatown, Little Italy, and Jewish delis, with dishes like rich chopped liver with a Manischewitz gelee served with rye toast, pillowy tortellini pomodoro, and a smoky, juicy duck with mulberry. A long bar up front serves drinks by Nathan McCarley-O'Neill (formerly of NoMad New York and Claridge’s), with co*cktails divided into classics, aperitivos, Negronis, Garibaldis, and martinis.
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Jupiter
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Rockefeller Center is undeniably going through a restaurant renaissance, with several big names opening fine-dining restaurants around the plaza. Jess Shadbolt, Clare de Boer, and Annie Shi, who own the intimate King in Soho, debuted this much larger pasta-focused restaurant there at the end of last year. With views of the ice rink, patrons munch on appetizers like fried artichokes, crab bruschetta, and a salad with hazelnuts, poached quince, and radicchio in various shades of pink and purple, and (for now) wintry pastas like a green-colored paccheri with pork sugo, agnoli stuffed with rabbit, and a unique baked buckwheat pasta dish with cabbage and potato. There are only two entrées on the menu, but if you order enough pasta, you won’t need them.
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Kru
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Don’t expect Thai takeout standbys like pad Thai at this Williamsburg spot opened by husband-and-wife team chef Ohm Suansilphong (previously of Fish Cheeks) and Kiki Supap last fall. Instead, the couple is serving modern spins on ancient dishes once enjoyed by Thai royalty, including some recipes that are centuries old. The menu is divided into small plates, relishes, and curries. There are several dips called lon, including one made with cured pork jowl simmered in coconut and tamarind; a pineapple and lobster curry with salted egg yolk pearls, coconut, and kaeng kua chili paste; and a dish called Khai Phra Arthit, which translates to “sun egg” and was apparently a favorite of the Thai king — it’s an omelette cooked with rice. If you can handle heat, the beef tongue curry is a signature dish.
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Shinji’s
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An unassuming-from-the-outside spot you might walk past without even noticing, Shinji’s is attached to the Michelin-starred Noda and is technically a co*cktail bar, but has enough small plates to make a meal out of. The small, barrel-like room recalls the inside of a ship with the décor that includes octopuses and booths meant to mimic waves. You truly can’t go wrong with any of the co*cktails (although the Tropicana, served inside a whole frozen orange is a favorite). Tableside carts are a thing here, and if you order a handroll, someone will come by to roll it in front of you. Other food bites worth ordering include the uni chawanmushi with caviar and a petite Wagyu sandwich.
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HOUSE
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Located inside the new Japanese hub 50 Norman, which also includes a dashi counter and a location of Tokyo’s art and design shop Cibone, this marble tasting counter with just eight seats is an outpost of the Tokyo restaurant of the same name. Much delayed because of Covid, HOUSE’s Michelin-starred chef (Yuji Tani) moved to Greenpoint from Japan in 2019 and is found in the open kitchen every night. There are no menus here, instead diners are served seven courses of French Japanese cuisine with rotating dishes. But some signatures courses will endure, including a stunning strawberry burrata dish and a rich foie gras pilaf studded with homemade pickles. A highlight of the night is when diners get to choose their own knife for a Wagyu steak course, with Chef Tani presenting a tray of hand-carved wood-handled knives from Japan.
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Brasserie Fouquet’s
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For a little taste of Paris in NYC, book a table at this chic brasserie, a location of the Paris original found inside the hotel of the same name. Opened last fall, this Tribeca spot has already become a see-and-be-seen spot, thanks to its plush red velvet seating, dangling chandeliers, crisp white tablecloths, and French attitude. Currently opened for breakfast and dinner (lunch to come), the menu is classic French, with dishes like beef tartare, escargot, lobster fricassee, and a 22-ounce côte de boeuf for two. And if you’re there for breakfast, it’s practically a requirement to order the pastry basket, or at the very least a croissant, which will be one of the crispiest, flakiest, butteriest ones you can find on this side of the Atlantic.
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Hav & Mar
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The latest restaurant from celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson and executive chef Rose Noël focuses on carefully sourced seafood, with globally inspired small plates and family-style feasts. The menu includes items like the Swediopian, a berbere-cured salmon with mustard seed caviar and buckthorn; Mermaid black rice with djon djon mushrooms with crab, lobster, and green peas; and H + T Roasted Chicken, an Amish chicken with brussels sprouts, red pearl onion, and Nigerian suya sauce. Just as interesting as the food is the artwork inside the 125-seat Chelsea dining room: original, site-specific, and specially curated mermaid artwork adorns the walls through a collaboration with artist and creative partner Derrick Adams and creative partner Thelma Golden, who is the director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem.
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K’Far
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Michael Solomonov, the beloved Israeli chef with a plethora of eateries in Philadelphia, has tried to export his Philly hits to NYC before, and it hasn’t stuck. But he seems to finally have found a hit with his restaurants inside The Hoxton, Williamsburg. First with Laser Wolf, which opened on the rooftop last summer, and now with all-day spot K’far (meaning “village” in Hebrew) on the hotel’s lobby level. Here, guests can enjoy Israeli pastries and mash-up dishes like a Jerusalem bagel egg sandwich in the morning, kubaneh (Yemenite bread) toasts topped with smoked trout or a patty melt at lunch, and za’atar brick chicken at dinner.
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Tatiana
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A long time coming, James Beard Foundation Award-winning chef Kwane Onwuachi’s Lincoln Center restaurant finally opened at the end of 2022. Named after his sister, the menu features dishes inspired by Onwuachi’s childhood in the South Bronx, like truffled chopped cheese buns with dry-aged ribeye, smoked mozzarella, and taleggio; Egusi soup dumplings stuffed with crab and served with Nigerian red stew; Wagyu short rib pastrami suya; and mushrooms with scallion pancake, plum sauce and pickled ginger. Bar master Don Lee (Death & Co., PDT, and Momof*cku) makes co*cktails like a Negroni with sorrel and an espresso coquito.
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Oiji Mi
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There’s a fine dining contemporary Korean cuisine renaissance in NYC right now, and Oiji Mi encapsulates the trend perfectly. The beautiful dining room behind a showpiece bar at the entrance is the perfect setting for the elaborate five-course pre-fixe that showcases creative takes on classics. Current menu highlights include a bo ssam with pork belly, oysters on the half shell and spicy mustard mignonette, chili lobster ramyun, and black bass and manila clams in a seafood broth. And for dessert? The Chapssal Donuts made with gooey gruyere and raclette, sweet rice, and crème fraîche ice cream — trust us, it works.
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Five Acres
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Another new restaurant jewel in Rockefeller Center’s crown, Five Acres is the first Manhattan eatery from Brooklyn chef Greg Baxtrom, where he also owns Olmsted, Maison Yaki, and Patti Ann’s. At Five Acres, he brings his fine dining background (he previously cooked at Alinea and Blue Hill at Stone Barns, among others) to seasonal cooking in a plant-filled dining room with green leather banquettes. The menu includes dishes like a tuna tartare with Leche de Tigre made with preserved heirloom peppers from the summer; a fennel Caesar salad with savory seeded granola; a lamb “gyro” in a potato pita with herbs, pickled bird beak peppers, and a consommé for dipping; and winter root ratatouille with beet butter and sprouted grain risotto.
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Lord’s
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Lord’s is the fancier follow-up restaurant to the casual fish and chips spot, Dame, which started as a pop up in 2020 to much acclaim. British food is the focus here, with competent and delicious renditions of things like Welsh rarebit, a Scotch egg made with curried lamb, steamed clams with black pudding and cider, veal sweetbreads, and a pie of the day — on our visit it was made with ox cheek, carrots, and Stilton cheese. Save room for dessert, with options like a trifle and a rich Guinness chocolate cake smothered in an Amara-caramel sauce.
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Monterey
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Besides the multitude of new restaurants in Rockefeller Center, Midtown hasn’t gotten a whole lot of exciting openings recently, but this new one from Simon Oren (who also runs Israeli spot Dagon) is an outlier — in a good way. The spacious art deco, pastel bi-level dining room is already popping up on Instagram thanks to its stunning design, but the food by James Tracey is no slouch either. Midtown menu musts like steaks, roast prime rib carved tableside, and a raw bar are there, but so are barbecued prawns with grits, Japanese eggplant with carrot harissa, and porcini lasagna with black truffle to keep things interesting.
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Koloman
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The former Breslin inside the Ace Hotel in Manhattan has gotten a makeover. Chef Markus Glocker (previously of Bâtard and Augustine) is celebrating his Austrian heritage here with dishes like duck liver parfait with a gelee made from a sweet Austrian wine; roasted beets “Linzer,” which uses the flavors of a traditional Linzer torte in a beet salad; and a schnitzel served with lingonberries, sea buckthorn, and a potato and cucumber salad. Dishes like a lobster burger and celery root “tartare” round out the menu. Save room for desserts like the peach and raspberry charlotte, a traditional Sacher torte, and the Salzburger soufflé, which is shaped into quenelles to represent mountains.
