The 18 Best New Restaurants In NYC - New York - The Infatuation (2024)

When new restaurants open, we check them out. We subject our stomachs and social lives to the good, the bad, and more often than not, the perfectly fine. And every once in a while, a new spot makes us feel like Adam Sandler at a sweatpants sale. When that happens, we add it here, to The Hit List.

The Hit List is where you’ll find all of the best new restaurants in New York. As long as it opened within the past several months and we’re still talking about it, it’s on this guide. The latest addition might be a buzzy new restaurant with caviar priced by the bump. Or it might be an under-the-radar lunch counter, where a few dollars gets you something that rattles around in your brain like a loose penny in a dryer.

Keep tabs on the Hit List and you'll always know just which new restaurants you should be eating at right now. (If you're looking for more Brooklyn spots, check out our borough-specific Hit List, too.)

​​New to the Hit List (2/26): Theodora

THE SPOTS

Your next night out should start with a co*cktail made with feta cheese and tequila at Theodora in Fort Greene. Then, it should continue with za’atar kubaneh, which looks like cinnamon rolls if you swapped the cinnamon sugar for za’atar, and comes with three sauces for dipping. This Mediterranean restaurant with fish-forward small plates is from the people behind Miss Ada, and it’s where you should bring someone who’s ears perk up at the words “earth-toned” and “open-fire cooking”. Early and late reservations are available for now, and when we visited last week, there was lots of space for walk-ins.

It took exactly one hyphenated chef, a 24-foot abstract painting, a sea of servers dressed in burgundy, and a touch of creativity to make the Midtown brand of Contemporary American food exciting again. At Four Twenty Five, Jean-Georges serves compelling takes on crudo, pasta, and foie gras terrine in a bi-level space lined with the longest sheer curtains you’ve ever seen. The scallop tartare with shiso on the side is well worth its $25 price tag, and the dining room is grand enough for any occasion short of world domination.

Demo in the West Village encapsulates a whole word-cloud worth of recent trends: a coffee shop by day and a wine bar by night, it sells shoppy-shop items, and shares a kitchen with a bagelry. The pounding R&B deep cuts are working even harder than the staff’s forearm tattoos to make this place feel exciting, but you can get some pretty good snacks to go with a glass of wine made from some grape you've never heard of. A full meal may run you over $100 per person, so unless you're flush with cash, stick to the smaller plates like the lengua tonnata decorated with caper berries, or artistically sliced raw diver scallops with simple lemon and herb gremolata. Crudo chasers, your next target is acquired.

There’s a new West Village restaurant that isn’t very hard to get into, and it’s from the folks behind one of the top Mexican spots in the city, Casa Enrique. Located on a relatively quiet stretch of Bedford Street, the walk-in-only Quique Crudo has just around 20 stools spread across a narrow room where you will, at some point, elbow a fellow diner. Pop in for a crab tostada and some aguachile, and be sure to try the tequila Old Fashioned or one of the other 40-ish drinks on their obsessively extensive co*cktail list.

If you stop by Postcard in the West Village for some bubble tea, you might see us hanging out on a yellow banquette. And there’s a reason for that: This gluten-free Japanese bakery is a very cute place. In addition to being attractive and excessively red, the new spot from the Nami Nori team also serves quality baked goods and a couple of good sandos. Pick up a few chewy mochi donuts, a miso chocolate chip cookie, and an egg salad on bread that tastes like angel food cake.

Crispy grilled skewers, spicy and funky fruit salads, and co*cktails that are described with just enough smut to keep things spicy are all things you can expect at Sappe in Chelsea. This restaurant from the Soothr team brings the drama, with a theatrical marquee and a dining room that's lit bright neon pink, with a mirror on the ceiling. The co*cktails are named after seductive characters in Thai movies and novels (the Boonleung is named for a “seasoned widow” who would ask her stepson to rub ice cubes on her back). Only the two $27 drinks have their origin stories on the menu, but you can find the rest on their website, and they’re a perfect pair with the menu’s classic Thai street food and drinking snacks.

Coqodaq serves their fancy fried chicken in silver buckets. They sell baby bottles of champagne, and you can get a single “golden nugget” with caviar on top for $28. 24-karat pieces of poultry aside, this Korean restaurant in Flatiron isn’t as obnoxious as it sounds. It’s the sister restaurant to sceney Korean steakhouse Cote, and for a celebratory dinner or Friday night out, it can actually be a pretty good deal. Groups should do the Bucket List, a meal format for the table that comes with two types of fried chicken, banchan, noodles, and frozen yogurt for $38 per person. Despite being hormone-free, farmers' market-fed chickens, these birds are incredibly juicy and plump, and you get half a chicken per person. Reservations are already impossible, but walk-ins are welcome at the bar.

You know what’s hot right now? Specificity. Some of the most exciting restaurants in NYC are focusing on regional cuisine (which is, admittedly, a slightly misleading term, because all cuisine is more or less regional). We’re talking Northern Mexican at Corima, Oklahoma smashburgers at Hamburger America, and pretty much everything at Dhamaka, Naks, and Semma. The latest proof of concept is Kanyakumari, a new spot near Union Square serving ultra-flavorful takes on mostly coastal South Indian dishes. Their menu bounces from state to state, with standouts like sweet, salty Kerala-style duck and crispy beef with coconut shavings.

This Thai American restaurant got its start as a repurposed hot dog cart serving pad Thai, and their highly anticipated Bed-Stuy brick-and-mortar is finally open after a delayed gas connection. Plan to visit the diner-like spot at least twice: at lunch, to eat their krapow smash and understand, in one bite, why we named it one of NYC’s best smashburgers. At night, swap the burger for natural wine, and whatever little plates are on the menu that evening—we had excellent clams over a thick slab of Texas toast, and a crispy rice salad with lap cheong, and lots of herbs. Either way, get the Thai tea cake, which is not too sweet, and perfectly moist. Everybody knows that, which means it sells out quickly. Best of luck.

We love our classic slice shops and Neapolitan pies. But lately, we’ve been excited by new pizzerias that aren’t serving the same type of pizza that you can find on every corner, like Farina, which makes pizza “irregolare,” and now Potenza Centrale, which opened in Alphabet City in November and does focaccia-like, roughly rectangular pizzas. Inside, the tiny takeout spot feels like an apothecary, with containers of dough lining a wall. The dough is fermented for about three days, and the resulting crust layers gooey, then chewy, and finally ridiculously crunchy textures. They have toppings like sausage and purple potatoes, but try the savory and acidic marinara on your first visit to focus on that crust.

There are two types of people: those who’ve managed to score a reservation at Dept. of Culture, and those who have been trying for months. Whichever camp you fall into, you should pay a visit to Radio Kwara. The tiny Nigerian spot in Clinton Hill is from the same team, but swaps the tasting format for an a la carte menu, where the most expensive thing—a whole roasted guinea fowl—is $32. It’s BYOB, so come with a friend and a bottle of red from the wine store next door. Share some goat meat pepper soup, charred octopus suya, and the butter-soaked bread ati obe with marinated mushrooms, which our server described as “brioche on steroids.”

With longhorn skulls on the wall and dark wood walls, we’d expect to come across Gotham Burger Social Club on a dusty street full of tumbleweed in the Old West. Instead, you’ll find this former pop-up at its permanent location on the Lower East Side, smashing burgers so good we immediately added them to our smashburger power ranking. These burgers are a masterclass in texture, with a hard griddle on the outside of the top bun, caramelized beef, and some punchy acidity from pickles and pickled jalapeños. Grab a double cheeseburger with a side of fried pickles, and a drink from the bar, or pop in for lunch—either way, sit at the counter so you can watch a cowboy hat-wearing grill cook make your meal.

Corima serves a drink made with uni, gin, and lemon. They call it an Uni Gin Sour, and it does actually taste like sea urchin, so you’d think it wouldn’t work. But it does. So well. (Imagine a creamsicle with a hint of ocean.) This Northern Mexican-inspired restaurant in Chinatown is down to take risks, and those risks tend to have delicious results. Try the steak tartare tlayuda topped with edamame guacamole, and get the duck enmoladas wrapped in amaranth tortillas. Most of the seats in the long, dark room are reserved for à la carte dining, but there’s also a $98 tasting menu at a little chef’s counter. We’ll report back once we try it.

The people behind Dhamaka and Semma have excelled at two things: serving food that people want to eat, and doing something different. At their latest spot, Naks, they keep the streak going. The East Village restaurant serves a Filipino tasting menu that starts out slow and builds to a finale that involves a warm pile of egg-noodle pancit and a thick round of pork belly you eat with your hands. If you have $135 and the attention span required to sit through a two-plus-hour meal with speeches and explanations sprinkled throughout, this place is worth checking out. There’s also a short a la carte menu in the bar area up front, in case you want to test the waters with an order of fried duck.

What was once a teeny wine bar on the Lower East Side has moved nearby, into a larger space that was once a hyper-seasonal restaurant run by a 19-year-old. The chef has grown up, and so has Gem Wine, which is just about as perfect an early date spot as you can find. The wine is good but unpretentious, the design is fun but not in-your-face (note the little wooden fishes attached to the wall lamps), and you should start your evening with some sourdough and marmite butter before moving on to small plates of lion’s mane schnitzel or crab toast. If you’ve already committed to “I love you,” there’s a $75 “Experience” sampler menu of mostly vegetable-forward dishes to try.

Clam chowder served with youtiao on the side. Soy-poached chicken with hoppin’ john and collard greens. Any guesses as to what type of cuisine we’re talking about? If you said “New American Chinese food inspired by the lower Atlantic coast,” congratulations. That was very astute and specific of you. Figure Eight, from the Silver Apricot folks, is doing something fun and unique in a narrow space on Cornelia Street in the West Village. The aforementioned chicken is super flavorful, and you can pair it with some turnip tots that come with lap cheong mayo.

In 2023, two of the best pizza places in NYC opened Manhattan locations, which is good news for everyone, but especially the people who have never left the island and never, ever will. First there was L’Industrie in the West Village, and now there’s Lucia, a Soho newcomer that tops each slice with a sprinkle of fresh parmesan, a drizzle of olive oil, and a tear of fresh basil. Swing by for a day-improving spicy pepperoni slice, or, since Lucia is smack dab in the middle of L’Industrie and Scarr’s, just do what you’ve always wanted to—go on a pizza crawl.

From the chef at Parcelle, Tolo is just down the road in the Dimes Square area of Chinatown—and it successfully pairs Parcelle’s funky, fruity natural wines with a short menu of dishes from various Chinese regions: like gingery string beans with crisp ground pork, or a big shareable plate of sweet-and-sour fried fish. Behind the former tenant’s bright red-and-yellow awning, you’ll find a small dining room with metallic tiles and red candles, ‘90s hip hop, and razor-thin wine glasses on a handful of little round tables. Catch up with friends and show off your wine-swirling skills while admiring the wok action in the open kitchen.

Swoony’s is the second restaurant from the people behind the criminally charmingCafe Spaghetti, just around the corner in Carroll Gardens. And while it doesn’t have Spaghetti’s picturesque backyard or understated pomodoro, this American bistro evokes the same feelings of nostalgia with its crab Louie and wedge salads. Stacked with fine china and various tchotchkes, and painted in nautical shades of blue, Swoony’s feels like an extension of the neighborhood’s best brownstones. It all works, especially that tender short rib au poivre, and creamed spinach topped with breadcrumbs.

Williamsburg’s natural wine-slinging, naturally leavened pizza palace has arrived in the West Village. At L’Industrie’s Manhattan outpost, the pies are as perfectly charred and chewy as at the original, and still finished with gigantic basil leaves and parm shavings. And while this location has a little less of that block party charm, the indoor seating here will have us changing directions on the L Train for a hot slice in a warm space to sustain our winter hibernation. To avoid the worst lines, head over for lunch. And if they’re still serving the concord grape sorbetto, do yourself a favor and stain your teeth purple with this lush, acidic dessert that’s a best friend to the spicy salami slice.

What exactly is happening in Greenpoint? You look away for one second, and all of a sudden there’s a candlelit warehouse filled with people in all-black uniforms who want, more than anything, to tell you about their foraged autumn olives. From a Noma alum, Ilis is a fine-dining spot where each locally-sourced ingredient has a quaint backstory and dinner starts at five courses (with an a la carte option at the bar). Your server, who is also a cook, will give a short speech on every dish, from the charred wild boar to the sweet smoked eel that’s meant to be eaten like corn on a cob. It’s all a little ridiculous, and it’s also enthralling.