Exclusive NYC Restaurants Getting Into the Delivery and Takeout Game

As the ban against dining in continues amid the novel coronavirus outbreak, New York restaurants are pivoting to takeout and delivery to feed their neighborhoods and keep some of their staffers on payroll. This effectively means that some of the city’s toughest-to-get-into establishments — venues that sometimes require a month-ahead booking or a two-hour wait — are offering speedier access to their exclusive wares.

Beyond that, takeout prices are occasionally less steep than on the dining room menus. Keep in mind, however, that high demand at some of the following institutions can lead to long waits or early closures. Carbone from Major Food Group has already seen logistical issues that has caused overcrowding outside its restaurant.

And though this may be a way to try the food of previously inaccessible restaurants, remember that there are plenty of other options for delivery and takeout right now, too. Find more restaurant and food recommendations, check out this guide.

Here are some of the previously super-hot and often exclusive restaurants, in alphabetical order, that are now doing delivery and takeout.

Blue Hill

Chef Dan Barber is now distributing produce and grocery boxes at his acclaimed farm-to-table restaurants in Greenwich Village and Tarrytown, New York. The pick-up boxes started as a way to continue paying some of Blue Hill’s essential staff, Barber said in an interview with CBS earlier this month, but the project has since grown into an operation being used to support local farmers. Blue Hill’s current offerings include a pantry box with vegetable purees, fresh pasta, condiments, crackers, and butters ($98) and a box of pastries that comes with granola, rice pudding, and “warm slices of just-baked brioche,” according to the restaurant’s website ($98). Boxes can be pre-ordered for pick-up from either of Blue Hill’s locations.

Brooklyn Fare

In April, fine dining destination Brooklyn Fare jumped into the luxe delivery game with a modified version of chef Cesar Ramirez’s acclaimed Japanese and French menu. The three-Michelin-starred restaurant has divided its delivery menu into courses, with dishes ranging from $12 to $60 each. Chicken soup with truffles and foie gras ($22) are available, as is veal shank with fingerling potatoes ($60) and Japanese sobacha cake for dessert ($22). The restaurant requires a 48-hour advance notice on all to-go orders.

Daniel Krieger/Eater

Carbone

Major Food Group’s famous Greenwich Village red-sauce joint put together a truncated menu that includes the spicy rigatoni vodka ($32), the tortellini al ragu ($34), the veal parmesan ($69), and a whole branzino ($95) for takeout and delivery via Caviar. The response to the takeaway menu has been almost depressingly popular — for those that are able to get through to the restaurant to place an order, the wait times to actually receive the food are lengthy, and the NYPD was called to the restaurant on multiple nights to police the crowds of customers and delivery people that formed on the sidewalk outside.

Cosme

Chefs Enrique Olvera and Daniela Soto-Innes’s high-end Mexican place in Flatiron now has a delivery menu available on Caviar, and it appears as though the to-go prices on the short delivery menu are often quite cheaper than the in-restaurant menu. The delivery menu includes a half pound of duck carnitas with a side of onion, cilantro, lime, and salsa picante ($27), a half pound of lamb barbacoa also with a side of onion, cilantro, lime, and salsa picante ($27), and tortillas sold separately for $4 for a pack of six. The popular guacamole is listed at $17 for a serving, and the corn husk meringue dessert is offered at $17 for one order.

Daniel Krieger/Eater

Cote

New York’s only Michelin-starred Korean barbecue spot is launching takeout and delivery through Caviar, with three percent of all sales going to the City Harvest charity. Diners can expect the restaurant’s signature starters — wedge salads ($12), Korean bacon with jalapenos ($12), and tenderloin tartare with osetra caviar ($48) — as well as their beef feasts. A butcher’s selection of three cuts runs $32, while a larger feast for two costs $84. Japanese A5 wagyu is also available, starting at $96. Since most New Yorkers lack fancy tabletop grills in their apartments, the Cote team pre-grills most of the meats.

Di An Di

Ultra-cool Greenpoint Vietnamese noodle shop Di An Di — which usually has hours-long waits at prime time — listed a range of its most popular pho bowls on Caviar for takeout or delivery through lunch and dinner, including the beef pho Hanoi with brisket and poached egg yolk ($15), the vegetarian pho Hanoi with shiitake and oyster mushrooms ($15), and the bo bo chicken pho ($15). Check the restaurant’s Instagram for a rotating selection of weekly specials, like a two-bound crawfish boil with sausage, corn, and potatoes, available through Toast.

The Four Horsemen

This hip, but fairly small spot from LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy is usually jam-packed — and even more so after the restaurant nabbed its first Michelin star in October 2019. During the novel coronavirus pandemic, though, the Four Horseman has scaled back its menu of small plates and instead leaned into its impressive collection of rare and natural wines. More than one hundred bottles of wine are available for local delivery or pick-up from the restaurant Monday to Friday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. A host of other sundries are also available for pick-up through the restaurant’s online store, including sourdough starter, coffee beans, cultured butter, Sichuan peppercorns, and aged parmesan cheese.

Lucali

Iconic Brooklyn pizzeria Lucali, which doesn’t take reservations and requires putting in names at opening time, will be offering its famous thin-crust pies and hearty calzones for takeout starting at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, March 24, according to owner Mark Iacono’s Instagram feed. Prices typically start at $24 for a large pie and $12 to $22 for the calzones.

Masa

In April, Masa Takayama, the chef behind New York’s most expensive sushi restaurant, launched what could go down as the city’s priciest takeout option: an $800 box of sushi or sashimi that diners must assemble themselves. Every Friday, Masa sells just 20 boxes of its delivery sushi special, available for free delivery in Manhattan and for a $20 fee to other boroughs. Each box feeds up to four people, according to an email from the restaurant group, which actually makes the luxe delivery option a cheaper alternative to the restaurant itself, where an omakase dinner for two can run close to $1,500 after drinks and tax.

Gary He/Eater

Sushi Noz

One of the toughest spots to get a seat at, this small sushi counter from chef Nozomu Abe is now available for takeout through Tock and Caviar, with more of a focus placed on rolls. Bluefin tuna and salmon don, squid karaage, and mix-and-match maki sets ranging in price from $25 to $55 are all available from this Upper East Side restaurant, as is an oversized Namo Futomaki roll, stuffed with seafood and veggies, and large enough to feed two. A selection of the restaurant’s wine, champagne, and sake can also be purchased online.

Nur

Chef Meir Adoni’s ambitious Middle Eastern establishment in Flatiron offers takeout from noon until 9 p.m., though Nur may stop taking orders earlier due to supply. Shortly after re-opening in April, the restaurant said that it was not taking any more orders just two hours after opening. Among the offerings are the venue’s signature breads (crunchy Jerusalem bagels and squishy kubaneh, both $15), smoked eggplant carpaccio ($23), and meatballs made from fish and herbs ($29). Takeout is available by calling Nur directly.

Jenny G. Zhang/Eater

Rao’s

Extremely exclusive, 10-table East Harlem Italian restaurant Rao’s started offering takeout last week and was immediately inundated with orders, employee Marc Mel tells Eater. For now, the restaurant is taking orders directly through Instagram, and the Rao’s team is wading through meal requests one by one. According to Yelp, the restaurant is now open on Saturdays to keep up with the takeout demand. There’s no public menu listed.

Rezdôra

Chef Stefano Secchi’s Flatiron hotspot, lauded by local critics, normally books up a full month out, but amid the shutdown, a limited selection of signature preparations are available for takeout and delivery via Caviar. There aren’t any pasta tasting menus on tap, alas, but the venue offers a variety of burrata preparations, pork raviolini with parmigiano sauce ($23), pyramid-shaped pasta stuffed with braised lamb and black truffle butter ($23), cappelletti verdi with leeks and mushroom puree ($25), and lasagna bolognese for two ($39).

Alex Staniloff/Eater NY

Uncle Boons

This no-reservations Thai restaurant in Nolita is a hotspot for birthdays and other celebrations, despite seeing wait times as long as two to three hours. In March, though, chefs Ann Redding and Matt Danzer launched a takeout version of their Michelin-starred dinner menu that includes the restaurant’s popular khao soi, crab fried rice, and spicy som tum papaya salad. The full menu — which is mostly composed of dishes from Uncle Boons Sister and the newly-opened Thai Diner — is available for delivery through Seamless and Caviar.

This guide was originally published in March and has since been updated with more options.