Those who can afford to dine out at the Mark and Nougatine may enjoy Four Twenty Five, from Jean-Georges Vongerichten. At this two-story restaurant with both a tasting menu and a la carte, Midtown power dining is in full force, here led by chef Jonathan Benno in a menu of Italian and American cooking. It’s been likened to Major Food Group’s the Grill.

Leave it to the team behind the Michelin-starred steakhouse Cote to open New York City’s most lavish temple to fried chicken. (In fact, the space itself resembles a clubby worship house of sorts). You can definitely ball out here (there are 800 tins of caviar and a list of 400 Champagnes rumored to be the largest in the country), but the menu is also plenty flexible to those looking for affordability. The Bucket List is a $38 set with the star fried chicken that comes with many dipping sauce options and banchan.

In 2020, Soothr opened in the East Village with some of the more thrilling Thai food the city had seen in years. Now, the trio of owners have debuted Sappe, a restaurant that focuses on skewers. There are 12 options —  pork belly, intestine, squid, and more — cooked over Japanese charcoal grills. The lively, neon-coated feel of the interiors makes the spot a good pre-game option. Beware: cocktails can add up with one option on the list priced at an eye-popping $27. There’s also a door that leads to its speakeasy.

The team behind Don Angie has opened a seafood-filled follow-up where whimsical Italian dishes like pepperoni carbonara and head-on shrimp Parm are pulled off expertly. Eater critic’s visited the restaurant during opening week and called its menu a flavorful “rollercoaster ride.”

In a wave of new French restaurants, Libertine is the bistro we’ve been waiting for. The restaurant serves simple-sounding dishes — sausage with mashed potatoes, scallops with seaweed — that “are a joy to eat,” writes Eater’s critic, Robert Sietsema. The jambon persille is a slice of pork and bright green jelly, and the oeufs mayo consists of boiled eggs in a bowl of fresh, foamy mayonnaise. The corner restaurant has a short bar with red stools and many, well-spaced small tables. It’s no wonder it was a winner on our Eater Awards list for 2023.

This restaurant opened at the end of 2023 from the team behind neighboring Silver Apricot. At Figure Eight, American Southern and Chinese flavors meld for a menu that feels distinctly its own. There are turnip cake tots with shrimp ketchup, starfruit salad with tofu, collard greens with pork belly, and fried skate with buttermilk ranch and chile crisp. Much of the menu includes seafood, a nod to the storefront’s former tenant, Pearl Oyster Bar.

When Claud opened in the East Village it was a hit — needless to say, the restaurant became hard to get a reservation. To help remedy that, the team has expanded upstairs with Penny, a seafood bar geared towards walk-ins and the after-work crowd (it’s only open on weekdays). The restaurant is entirely counter-seating, the kind of place to drop in for something spendy or a little luxury snack like its shrimp cocktail. Eater critic Robert Sietsema stopped by for a first look.

Demo, a new spot from Wildair alums, doesn’t want to be just another wine bar. By day it operates as a cafe, by night the lights dim and chef Quang “Q” Nguyen cooks dishes like Crab Casino with Ritz crackers and lobster au poivre with miso. Don’t skip the luxurious banana pudding for dessert, says Eater critic Robert Sietsema.

Hamburger expert George Motz serves one of the most talked-about-burgers in town. He recently teamed up with the team behind Schnipper’s to open this sunny yellow luncheonette with a burger “America deserves.” Beyond the smash burger and Motz Burger (with fried onions) available, there’s the off-menu Chester, as well as wedges of pie, coffee, and chocolate chip cookies.

One of the biggest names in Rome’s food scene opened a restaurant in Manhattan last year. Roscioli, a restaurant and wine bar, took over a townhouse in Soho that used to be home to the tasting menu spot Niche Niche. It’s the restaurant group’s first location outside of Rome and has quite a wait for tables. Downstairs, the wine cellar serves a $130 per person tasting menu, while a newly unveiled upstairs salumeria with a sit-down restaurant offers a la carte snacking options.

Jimmy Rizvi, owner of the Gramercy restaurant, GupShup, and Vikas Khanna, formerly executive chef of Junoon, and host and judge of MasterChef India, have teamed up to open something new. Bungalow, an ambitious East Village spot, features dishes like Malai chicken with pomegranate garlic reduction and a purple sweet potato chaat, as well as larger plates like the goat Nihari or chicken biryani. There’s a line here, too.