Image via Complex Original
With new, daring restaurants opening on the regular, New York continues to keep its gastronomic game tight. Old favorites continue to thrive, but new culinary lifeblood is constantly being fed into Gotham. We're lucky to have a wide range of internationally known restaurateurs and master chefs fronting new spots citywide, and what's more, the most exciting choices aren't always going to fixate on weird foams or warm mayos. Some of the most exciting restaurants to open this year offer relatively straightforward takes on American classics like fried chicken.
Whether you're craving something gutbombing or you want your plate to appear decorated by a kitchen Picasso, the year's offerings have you covered. And we've got you covered so that you can fill your dining calender with sure-shots. These are NYC's 10 Best New Restaurants of 2011 (So Far).
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Pop Pub
WHERE: 83 University Pl
CUISINE: Burgers
Sometimes you want simple, and for most of us, simple is a grilled piece of beef between bread, the toppings left to your discretion. Add a fifteen beer draught line-up and you're a restaurant tickling all the right pleasure centers. Enter Pop Pub, the Pop Burger spin-off that opened recently, fixing to sate the simpler cravings of NYU students and more. Because they're enfolding the backpack and binge-boozing set into the mix, Pop Pub offers breakfast times like French toast sticks, doughnuts, and eggs. They're correctly predicting the hangovers they incur with their beer and wine might send those same customers back in the next morning for a hangover cure. That's smart.
The decor is heavy on the wood, something like a hunting lodge but less burly. We're not saying the inside screams "man," but add all the beer and burgers and you're approaching something quite manful. Stereotypically speaking, of course. But leave the gender studies for the students. You're here to stuff your face and tip a couple back. Pop Pub just wants to make you happy.
900 Degrees
WHERE: 29 7th Ave. S
CUISINE: Pizza
In the city where pizza is king, we know it's risky claiming this San Fran-based restaurant offers something new and exciting. But we’re taking that risk. Forget the recession-proof $1 slice and bring on the flavor. Where the average slice is overloaded with processed cheese and dripping grease, 900 Degrees offers cow’s milk mozzarella, fresh crushed tomatoes, and flour imported from Naples.
All of the pies are preconfigured, which makes ordering less complicated. The menu boasts 21 styles spread over 6 different categories, but their Napoletana-style pies rise above the pack. Their signature, the 900, is more of a day’s meal than a pizza, stuffed with agave nectar, pulled pork, queso fresco, and cactus with a dual pepper combo. If that’s not enough, there’s a slew of meatballs, antipasti, and salads to choose from. Mangia.
Co-Op
WHERE: 107 Rivington St.
CUISINE: American and Sushi
co-oprestaurant.com
Two years in the making, the LES now has a restaurant whose walls are covered with blown-up Polaroids of folks like Deborah Harry and Jay McInerney. Woot! But you want to hear about the food, which the Co-Op's website promises is a "creative experience" (the sushi chef goes by the name of Neo). The menu skips easily from Angus burgers with truffle butter and red chili aioli to buttermilk brined chicken with polenta. American is less an explicit description of a cuisine; really, it's an idea, a commitment to playfulness.
Co-Op plays with sushi, too, though that's probably not the right word for what Neo does. The signature roll served here is a spicy tuna topped with rock shrimp tempura, which doesn't strike us as particularly weird, though there is an appetizer that employs lobster foam. Which is weird. But we won't hold it against them. The food is just too damn good for that. And ending the meal with an old-fashioned banana split, we've even forgotten about those oh-so-hip Polaroids.
Brushstroke
WHERE: 30 Hudson St.
CUISINE: Japanese
Seriously, Brushstoke? You're going to take almost 10 years to open? Terence Malick has made two movies in the last ten years, and he moves at a glacial pace. Consider famed restaurateur David Bouley a kindred spirit, as Brushtroke has been in the works since the early aughts. In April, it finally opened in TriBeCa.
Though Brushstroke is a Japanese restaurant, don't think it's exclusively sushi. Instead, the spot specializes in kaiseki, a style of cooking that emphasizes marathon, multi-course meals and season specific ingredients. A great emphasis is placed on creating a whole meal experience, one where texture, color, and shape are just as important as flavor. Expect items like duck breast smoked in sencha tea, artisanal soy sauce, and Wagyu beef, along with a number of fresh seafood options. If you sit at the bar, there is a small sushi menu to order from. Just remember: if you're sitting down for kaiseki, don't expect to get up anytime soon.
Miss Lily's
WHERE: 132 West Houston St.
CUISINE: West Indian
misslilysnyc.com
Though Anna Wintour, EIC of Vogue, lives close by and tried her damndest to keep Miss Lily's from opening for fear that restaurant crowds would disrupt her life, this new spot proudly came into the world earlier this year, much to our delight. Established by the owners of La Esquina, The Box, and 1 Oak, this 19 table jerk hut serves up posh versions of island favorites like jerk chicken, curry goat, and oxtail stew.
Miss Lily’s also offers seafood dishes like Jamaican pasta with spicy lobster, red snapper and escovitch fish. After grabbing a Red Stripe or ginger beer from the bar, diners can head to the back for a late night after dinner drink in the dimmed, black-cushioned room. Miss Lily’s low-key atmosphere and modern Jamaican pop art décor takes us to the islands with an urbane twist.
Boulud Sud
WHERE: 20 West 64th St.
CUISINE: Mediterranean
danielnyc.com
The latest restaurant from Daniel Boulud, the man behind twelve other eateries, grabs the globe and blots out everything that isn't Northern Africa and Southern Europe. The menu at Boulud Sud leans hard on seafood, everything done up in a vibrant Mediterranean fashion. The lamb loin arrives drizzled with spicy harissa, the scallops sit next to polenta. There are a number of vegetarian choices as well. None of the dishes stray into avant-garde territory; these are simple dishes prepared with care.
The half-open kitchen allows patrons to witness moments of the staff's process inside the inoffensively modern, some might say slightly bland, interior. The colors hew close to light blonds and white, keeping the atmosphere bright, which is fine—you'll want to take note of the presentation; it counts here. But the food trumps all, as it should. As the place is small, we recommend securing a reservation.
Gravy
WHERE: 32 East 21st St.
CUISINE: New Southern
gravyny.com
Do you like Michael Jordan? Do you enjoy Southern food? If you've answered yes to both of these questions, we'd like to direct you to Gravy, the new restaurant from Michael Vignola, the executive chef behind Michael Jordan’s The Steakhouse NYC. His latest endeavor seeks to gather up all the divergent cultural strands that make up the South—French, Spanish, Caribbean, and Mexican—and make the flavors pop in all their complexity.
A quick stroll through the menu's pages reveal Blackened King Crab Legs, three varieties of grits, Spice Rubbed Venison, and Black-Eyed Pea Hummus, just to name a few. At Gravy, they make it a point to source local products from the regions their recipes draw on, ensuring that the ingredients will be just as fresh as the riffs and variations on the Southern classics Vignola and crew cook up.
Limited Time Only
WHERE: 171 East Broadway
CUISINE: Varies
At LTO you can’t bank on the kitchen concocting your favorite meal every time you visit because the executive chef is always changing. Like its name, Limited Time Only’s charm comes from its inconsistency; each month, week, and sometimes even each day a new chef rotates in. It's a gimmick, sure, but a novel one and, more importantly, a gimmick that allows for greatness.
As of late, reality TV stars have graced the kitchen with their cooking skills (no Lil B) including Top Chef contestant Leah Cohen and Rising Star’s RJ Cooper. For those who can’t travel the globe and test out different chefs, this “pop up” restaurant showcases different tasting menus and makes each and every dining experience a new one. The only guaranteed regularity is the mahogany dining room you’re served in.
Niko
WHERE: 170 Mercer St.
CUISINE: Japanese
helloniko.com
With its oversized windows, high ceilings, and brick walls, Niko’s décor feels hip, but the food is an unqualified success. Name drop 30-year sushi vet Chef Hiro Sawatari, formerly of the Sushi Yasuda, and now we’re talking high-end. Previously a semi-pro baseball player, Hiro now serves up paper-thin hirame sashimi (sliced raw fish) and custom omakase (chef’s choice) dinner options rather than home runs.
No cream cheese or mango in the makis here—instead Niko’s menu puts a spin on the expected by using ingredients like fried sweet potatoes in their tempura-salad or watermelon radish and macerated cucumbers in the Soy Burnt Octopus.
Non-sushi lovers have no fear; Niko offers an array of hot plates sure to wet your palette including their take on southern cuisine with a seasoned Tokyo style fried chicken. The dessert, mochi (rice cake), is free, but don’t skip out without trying their Japanese margarita with jalapeño infused tequila.
If seated at the intimate eight-seat sushi bar, guests can kick it with Hiro himself and if among the selected eight, be sure to bare gifts, preferably Asian baseball player bobbleheads to add to Hiro’s collection.
The Dutch
WHERE: 131 Sullivan Street
CUISINE: American
thedutchnyc.com
You will find no wooden shoes and no marijuana at The Dutch, the latest restaurant from Andrew Carmellini, the chef behind Locanda Verde. This Soho spot serves up American fare, which acts as a vague placeholder allowing Carmellini to do whatever he feels like, whether it be Lamb Neck Mole, Asian White Boy Ribs, or Rabbit Pot Pie. The website's "About" section, structured like a Q&A, is charmingly frank about the food and experience at the Dutch. "Do you buy local?" "Sure." This place puts good food and an easy-going atmosphere above trendhumping.
They keep night-owl hours, with a bar that's open till 2 a.m. and a late-night eats menu for the tipsy and wandering. There's an oyster bar if you're looking to slurp something salty and wet. Hung from the surrounding brick walls are b&w photos of quintessential New York iconography. The drink menu is healthy, with more than enough spirits and brews. You'll want to make a reservation; they seat celebs (Derek Jeter, Minka Kelly) here on the regular. Probably you'll be too busy digging in to notice, though.