A Running List of New Restaurants That Opened in New York City, February 2021

Nearly a year into the coronavirus pandemic, restaurants across the city continue to move forward with openings, sometimes because their concepts could be adapted for delivery and outdoor dining service, but more often because their owners saw no other choice but to forge ahead. Since mid-March, when the state first temporarily closed indoor dining, hundreds of new restaurants have opened their doors. This list of pandemic-born businesses includes an exciting Indian concept, a tortillería, and a classic, old-school Brooklyn restaurant that’s finally opening.

Here’s a round-up of the restaurants and bars that opened in February. This list will be updated weekly. If there’s an opening in your neighborhood that we’ve missed, let us know at tips@eater.com.

February 25

Battery Park City: This takeout and delivery restaurant quietly started serving burritos from the kitchen of Stephen Starr’s El Vez earlier this month. Jackass Burrito, self-proclaimed maker of “the best burritos on the internet,” is offering five versions of the dish to start, including a Frito pie and an all-day breakfast burrito. Starr opened a second location of Jackass Burritos out of El Rey in Philadelphia this week and, as part of the expansion, plans to eventually bring the concept to college campuses across the United States, according to a spokesperson for the restaurant. 259 Vesey Street, at West Street

Boerum Hill: Boerum Hill bistro Bacchus has been temporarily closed since last November, but the restaurant’s employees are now serving Pueblan and Oaxacan fare from a pop-up called El Zason out of its kitchen. The restaurant is open for takeout, delivery, and indoor dining in Bacchus’s wine room. 409-411 Atlantic Avenue, near Bond Street

Flushing: There’s a new source for jianbing crepes in Downtown Flushing. Followsoshi, which opened late last year, is now serving the Chinese street food with toppings like Peking duck, spicy crawfish, and pork floss. 135-24 40th Road, between Main and Prince Streets

Long Island City: Geena’s Cucina, a new neighborhood Italian restaurant, opened its doors a block from the Greenpoint Avenue bridge last week. All of the restaurant’s pastas are made in-house, while its pies are modeled after A16 and SPQR in San Francisco, where chef and general manager Phillip Martinez grew up. Martinez had planned to open his own restaurant called Gurst in Chicago ahead of the coronavirus pandemic but has since put that project on hold to work on this restaurant with owner Gene Pullo. 36-21 Review Avenue, near 37th StreetAvenue last week.

Lower East Side: Fried chicken sandwiches, burgers, wings, and empanadas have a new home at Meat and Bread, an alley-like restaurant that opened at the turn of the new year. The owner is Azimuth Bari, who grew up on nearby Orchard Street. Open for takeout and delivery. 201 Allen Street, near East Houston Street

Noho: Chef Justin Smillie and owner Donna Lennard of il Buco Alimentari recently launched a new business, called Smillie Pizza, out of the restaurant’s kitchen, serving green chorizo, cacio e pepe, and anchovy pies for takeout and delivery. 53 Great Jones Street, between Bowery and Lafayette Street

Upper West Side: Izzy’s Smokehouse in Crown Heights is one of the few barbecue joints in the city that specializes in kosher meats. This week chef and owner Sruli “Izzy” Eidelman is bringing his 15-hour smoked brisket to the Upper West Side with a second location. Open for takeout and delivery. 660 Amsterdam Avenue, near West 92nd Street

February 18

Crown Heights: A new Cajun-style seafood counter has popped up in Crown Heights just in time for crawfish season. Crab Bros sells a dozen types of boiled shellfish by the pound, including shrimp, crawfish, lobster tails, and Dungeness crabs. The seafood counter, which has a second location in Bed-Stuy that opened earlier this winter, is offering a 20 percent discount on in-person orders as part of its grand opening. Open for takeout and delivery. 770 Washington Avenue, between Park and Sterling Places

Downtown Brooklyn: Gage and Tollner was set to open on March 15, one day before the state-mandated shutdown of restaurants and bars. Almost a year later, chef Sohui Kim and restaurateurs Ben Schneider and St. John Frizell have decided to reopen the historic Brooklyn restaurant for takeout and delivery. The menu includes two make-at-home meal kits — one with braised heritage pork ($175) and another with ribeye steak and french onion soup ($275) — while the restaurant is selling cocktails for takeout and delivery from its upstairs bar, Sunken Harbor Club. 372 Fulton Street, near Smith Street

Lower East Side: Chintan Pandya and Roni Mazumdar, the chef and restaurateur team behind acclaimed Indian restaurants Adda and Rahi, branch out with a third project this week in the Essex Market, called Dhamaka. Open for indoor dining. 119 Delancey Street, at Essex Street

Midtown: A little more than a decade after Tartinery opened its first outpost in Nolita, the mini-chain of French cafes continues to expand. Its fifth location, located in the former home of Bouchon Bakery on the third floor of the Shops at Columbus Circle, debuted on February 12. 10 Columbus Circle, between West 58th and West 60th streets

Sunset Park: Despite the high concentration of Mexican immigrants in South Brooklyn, Sunset Park has never had a tortillería to call its own, says owner Jesús Israel Delgado. That changed this week with the opening of Tortilleria La Malinche, a colorful corner spot that’s now selling fresh, wholesale corn tortillas by the pound starting at 8 a.m. each morning. 4202 Fifth Avenue, at 42nd Street

Upper West Side: Restaurateurs Simon Oren, David Sasson, and Gil Ohana opened Dagon over the weekend, a new Mediterranean and Middle Eastern restaurant serving dishes like Lebanese mushroom dumplings and duck matzo ball soup. 2454 Broadway, at 91st Street

Upper West Side: There’s a new bi-level sushi and ramen restaurant on the Upper West Side, where temaki hand rolls are served open-faced and stacked with condiments, rather than rolled into a cone. Hachi Maki is the latest from owner Jeremy Wladis of the Restaurant Group, who also owns Good Enough To Eat next door. Max Zumwalt, who owns Usumoya in the East Village and as an alum of the Michelin-starred Satsuki in Midtown, is the head chef. The restaurant’s indoor dining room can seat 19 at 25 percent capacity, with more 40 seats outdoors. 522 Columbus Avenue, near West 85th Street

Washington Heights: Following a successful run at the Queens Night Market in 2019, chef and owner Amy Pryke recently opened a brick-and-mortar outpost of her popular Singaporean food stall, Native Noodles. 2129 Amsterdam Avenue, at West 166th Street

Williamsburg: Blank Street, the coffee shop that got its start as a roaming cafe and pastry cart last year, has opened its third location in Williamsburg, according to a spokesperson for the company. 277 Bedford Avenue, near Grand Street

February 11

Bed-Stuy: Calaca, the mezcal bar and taqueria has closed, but Cafe Calaca, the neighborhood coffee shop, is just getting started. The new cafe opened its doors earlier this month in the former location of Daily Press, a decade-old business that closed its doors due to the pandemic in mid-December. Olivia Allbee and Ivan Arteaga, two former baristas at the cafe, decided to take over the location and team up with David and Patti Hurtado, the co-owners of Calaca who are in the process of relocating the Bed-Stuy taqueria to its new home on Putnam Avenue. 505 Franklin Avenue, near Fulton Street

Clinton Hill: Vito Randazzo, the longtime owner of Clinton Hill Italian restaurant Graziella’s, has opened a new deli and market a block away called Brooklyn Hero Shop. Two former Graziella’s employees — Anna Maria Stagno and Robert Farley — join Randazzo at the new business, which sells pastries in the morning and hot hero sandwiches in the afternoon. 270 Vanderbilt Avenue, near Dekalb Avenue

East Village: It’s been a big openings week for the East Village. To kick things off, the First Avenue location of Black Seed Bagels recently started selling Sicilian-style pan pizzas as part of an after-hours business called Black Seed Pizza. Starting at 4 p.m. daily, chef Bobby Hellen will use the bakery’s ovens to make sourdough pies for takeout and delivery. 176 First Avenue, near East 11th Street

East Village: Celebrity chef Matthew Kenney is back in Lower Manhattan this week with a new vegan chocolate shop called Casse-Cou Chocolate. The chocolate shop and online retailer is a joint effort between Kenney and Sebastian Brecht, the chef behind OCD Chocolate Shop, which formerly operated out of the space. 63 East Fourth Street, between Second Avenue and Bowery

East Village: International ramen chain Kyuramen continues its New York expansion this week with a new location on East 14th Street. The ramen company operates more than 120 outlets internationally and has three additional stores in the works in Long Island City, Chinatown, and Bayside, according to its website. 210 East 14th Street, between Second Avenue and Third Avenues

East Village: Dairy-free versions of popular French pastries including cheese croissants, pain au chocolat, and kouign amann are now available from Plant-Baked, a vegan bakery that opened its doors on East Seventh Street last month. This is the brick-and-mortar debut for 3B Eats, a vegan bakery that started catering on the Lower East Side last spring. 117 East Seventh Street, between Avenue A and First Avenue

Flatbush: Vegan mofongo and hearts of palm “lobster” rolls are just part of the draw at Aunts et Uncles, a new restaurant and bar that opened late last year. From this pastel-colored storefront on Nostrand Avenue, wife-and-husband duo Nicole and Mike Nicholas are also selling books, magazines, art, and clothing items. 1407 Nostrand Avenue, between Linden Boulevard and Martense Street

Midtown: Chef JJ Johnson’s fast-casual rice bowl restaurant Fieldtrip continues to grow with a fourth New York City location now open in the Rockefeller Center. 45 Rockefeller Plaza

Upper West Side: Vanessa’s heads uptown this week with the soft opening of its newest dumpling shop. The purveyor of destination-worthy pork and chive pan-fried dumplings now has five locations in New York City. 452 Amsterdam Avenue, between 81st and 82nd Streets

February 4

Bushwick: In the year and a half since Tijuana-style birria started blowing up in New York City, the dish has appeared on tortas, in burritos, and atop bowls of ramen. Now the beloved dish has an even unlikelier home, as the star of a ghost kitchen’s menu. Red Tacos Grill opened last month down the street from Mood Ring in Bushwick, with a second location in Manhattan at 294 Third Avenue, near East 23rd Street. 1264 Myrtle Avenue, near Cedar Street

East Village: The East 14th Street and Third Avenue outpost of Five Napkin Burger Express has been replaced by Tamam Falafel, an Israeli vegan restaurant that opened its first location on the Upper West Side last year. 150 East 14th Street, at Third Avenue

Flatbush: A new source for pho, bubble tea, and banh mi has opened a few blocks south of Prospect Park. At Saigon Spice, the restaurant’s buns and sandwiches can be stuffed with beer-battered fish, lemongrass pork chop, and other meats. Order by calling (347) 972-2714. 1021 Church Avenue, between Stratford Road and East 10th Street

Williamsburg: Detroit-style pizza finds a home this week at Ace’s Perfect Pizza. The new restaurant and bar is slinging crispy, pan-baked pies, along with Grandma-style pizzas, served whole or by the slice. Chef Matthew Etchemendy, a former chef at Ichabod’s and Koi, is overseeing the ovens here. Open for takeout and delivery. 637 Driggs Avenue, between North 4th Street and Metropolitan Avenue

Lower East Side: Acclaimed Brooklyn jerk chicken destination Peppa’s made its long-awaited Manhattan debut in December. The Stanton Street restaurant has an expanded menu that includes more seafood options, like fried fish sandwiches and Escovitch fish. 96 Stanton Street, between Ludlow and Orchard streets

Lower East Side: Also new to the neighborhood this month is 7 Elephants, a small Thai restaurant serving spring rolls, stir-fried noodles, and build-your-own meal sets available with a handful of curries. Open for takeout and delivery. 221 East Broadway, near Clinton Street

Midtown: Texas-based fast-food chain MOOYAH Burges, Fries, and Shakes has found its way to New York City after half a year of delays due to the pandemic. Originally slated to open in August 2020, the restaurant is now open underneath the Moxy Hotel near Times Square. 485 7th Avenue, at West 36th Street

Midtown: Japanese-Italian fare continues to gain steam in New York City. The pairing, which dates back as far as 1990 in NYC when Basta Pasta opened, received a jolt of life last year with the arrival of Kimika. The newest entrant is Marezzatta, a Japanese-Italian restaurant from the team behind East Village newcomer J-Spec. Both restaurants’ menus lean heavily on wagyu beef, but Marezzatta also offers dishes like its “onigiri-cini,” a mashup of Italy’s fried arancini and the onigiri rice balls of Japan. 231 East 50th Street, between Second and Third avenues

Soho: Thin, bubbly focaccia and wood-fired personal pizzas are on the menu at the newly opened Coco Pazzeria, where restaurateur Pino Luongo is teaming up with Ciro Verdi, founder of Da Ciro, and Alessandro Bandini, general manager of Coco Pazzo. The restaurant is open for takeout and delivery to start but plans to add a raw bar with oysters and seafood when the city resumes indoor dining on February 14. A second location is slated to open on the Upper East Side this March. 307 Spring Street, at Renwick Street