NYC’s Most Anticipated Restaurant Openings of Spring 2022

Spring is around the corner and so is a whole new onslaught of restaurant openings. This preview includes plenty of spots worth clearing the calendar for these next few months, including a queer-run tasting menu spot from fine dining vets, a BYOB restaurant inspired by Rochester-style cooking, and a former Jungsik pastry chef’s first solo dessert project, among many others.

As always, the opening dates listed below are moving targets. Delays or not, here are the most anticipated openings in the next few months.

Eyval

Opening: Late March

Nasim Alikhani and Ali Saboor, the duo behind Persian fine dining hit Sofreh, are opening a bar next door to their recently launched, more casual cafe outpost in Bushwick. Saboor tells Eater that Eyval will focus on live-fire small plates to complement drinks with ingredients like rose and saffron. 252 Varet Street, at Bogart Street, Bushwick

Patti Ann’s

Opening: Late March

Greg Baxtrom is expanding his small empire of restaurants along Vanderbilt Avenue in Prospect Heights. Following the opening of Evi’s Bäckerei earlier this year, the chef and restaurateur behind Olmsted and Maison Yaki is embarking on a more personal project. Patti Ann’s, named for his mom, will fuse comfort foods popular in the Midwest — ice box cakes, a blooming onion — with the chef’s fine dining background. 570 Vanderbilt Avenue, at Bergen Street, Prospect Heights

Brooklyn Hots

Opening: Late March

Brian Heiss’ first restaurant, Brooklyn Hots, is inspired by the Rochester, New York, delicacy known as the “Garbage Plate.” The new spot will be BYOB, encouraging customers to shop next door at Radicle Wine, a natural wine shop where Heiss is a co-owner. 291 Greene Avenue, near Classon Avenue, Clinton Hill

Place de Fêtes

Opening: Late March

Conservas, the tinned fish and seafood commonly snacked on in Spanish bars, are having a moment right now. They’re popping up at bars across Brooklyn and will soon have a new home on the menu at Place de Fêtes, alongside pastries, pastas, and dishes prepared over a plancha. The restaurant comes from chefs Nico Russell, behind the Michelin-starred tasting menu spot Oxalis, and Jacob Harth, who made his name at Portland seafood spot Erizo. 212 Greene Avenue, between Grand Avenue and Cambridge Place, Clinton Hill

Kitchen Co Ut

Opening: March

After a successful year selling banh mi and takeout-friendly versions of Vietnamese classics like pho, the family behind Banh Mi Co Ut plan to open a bi-level restaurant a few blocks away. The expanded menu explores other favorites of the Southeast Asian country, including spicy bun bo Hue and lesser-seen desserts like banh bo nuong, a subtly sweet pandan honeycomb cake. 85 Chrystie Street, between Grand and Hester streets, Chinatown

Little Flower

Opening: April

Ali Zaman, whose father owns the local favorite Sami’s Kabab House, is helming the launch of Little Flower in the old Antojitos Ecuatorianos 2 corner spot on the same block as his family’s restaurant. Zaman’s debut venture is an all-halal specialty sandwich shop outfitted with a kombucha and coffee bar. 25-35 36 Avenue, at 28th Street, Astoria — Caroline Shin, Eater contributor

Oddly Enough

Opening: Early April

Longtime Eugene & Company employee Laura Poladsky and her partner Caitlin Frame (formerly a bartender at Andrew Tarlow’s Marlow & Sons and Diner) are taking over the recently shuttered Eugene & Co space. The duo is turning the space into Oddly Enough, a queer bar with wine, an extensive zero-proof drinks list, and small plates. 397 Tompkins Avenue, at Jefferson Avenue, Bed-Stuy

Makina Cafe

Opening: April

Eden Gebre Egziabher rolled into Manhattan in 2017 with the city’s first Ethiopian-Eritrean food truck. Now she’s opening her first full-service operation, Makina Cafe, that will showcase dinner and cocktails, too. 46-11 Skillman Avenue, near 46th Street, Sunnyside

Mermaid Mexicana

Opening: April

The co-owners behind Mermaid Inn — Danny Abrams and Cindy Smith — leave behind their well-received blueprint for running a hit oyster bar to focus on street tacos. From chef Victor Marin’s kitchen, expect a range of tortillas filled with birria, al pastor, and vegetarian options, among others. 79 MacDougal Street, between Bleecker and West Houston streets, Greenwich Village

Kebabwala

Opening: April

After conquering fried chicken in a quick-service format, chef Chintan Pandya is now taking on kebabs. Pandya and restaurateur Roni Mazumdar, known for their bevy of hit restaurants including Dhamaka at Essex Market and Semma in Greenwich Village, are plotting casual Indian kebab shop Kebabwala for the East Village. 82 Second Avenue, near East Fifth Street, East Village

Ipanema

Ipanema

Opening: April

Restaurateur Alfredo Pedro’s Brazilian and Portuguese stalwart Ipanema is rising again in Midtown after shutting down in 2020 and moving — for a brief period — to Norwalk, Connecticut. Pedro’s sons, Carlos and Victor, are leading the revival, which includes a sunny all-day cafe up front and a refreshed dinner menu courtesy of Brazilian chef Giancarlo Junyent. 3 West 36th Street, near Fifth Avenue, Midtown

HAGS

Opening: Mid-May

HAGS, an acronym for have a good summer, is a forthcoming queer and trans-led fine dining destination with a tasting menu by partners in business and life chef Telly Justice and sommelier Camille Lindsley. 163 First Avenue, near East 10th Street, East Village

Cafe Spaghetti

Opening: May

Chef and Brooklyn native Sal Lamboglia, a seven-year veteran of Andrew Carmellini’s Bar Primi, is striking out on his own. Cafe Spaghetti will have both a fun name, and a full-service dinner menu that includes its namesake spaghetti — as well as espresso drinks and breakfast sandwiches in the daytime. 126 Union Street, between Hicks and Columbia Streets, Carroll Gardens

Zaytinya

Zaytinya

Opening: May

José Andrés is set to bring his D.C. favorite Zaytinya to the new Ritz-Carlton in Nomad with his crowd-favorite Mediterranean hits like shareable mezze, grilled kebabs, and creative cocktails. A rooftop with panoramic views of the city skyline is set debut shortly afterward. 25 West 28th Street, at Broadway, Nomad

S&P

Opening: May

Eisenberg’s, a decades-old Manhattan sandwich shop that closed during the pandemic, will get another shot at life this spring. Just don’t call it by its old name. Eric Finkelstein and Matt Ross, the owners of the Court Street Grocers chain, are relaunching the lunch counter following a legal dispute over the Eisenberg’s brand with its latest owner. S&P, as it’s now called, will serve tuna melts, individual cans of sardines, and other not-under-copyright dishes from Eisenberg’s. 174 Fifth Avenue, near 22nd Street, Flatiron District

Masalawala

Opening: May

Shortly after Kebabwala opens its doors, Pandya and Mazumdar are turning their attention to Brooklyn to open a revival of former Lower East Side favorite Masalawala. Pandya will be expanding on the beloved menu of Kolkata fare — including the muri ghonto, or fish head pulao — at the new location. There will also be a retail shop on the premises. 365 Fifth Avenue, between Fifth and Sixth streets, Park Slope

Louise Palmberg/Eater NY

Le Rock

Opening: May

The Frenchette team is adding more star power to the revival of Rockefeller Center, which recently added Pebble Bar, backed by Pete Davidson, and Lodi, from restaurateur Ignacio Mattos, to its growing roster of restaurants and bars. Details on Le Rock are still coming together, but owners Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson say the French-leaning restaurant will operate all day, with seating for around 200 people between indoor and outdoor spaces. 45 Rockefeller Plaza, between West 49th and West 50th streets, Midtown

Laser Wolf

Opening: Spring

Famed Philadelphia chef and restaurateur Michael Solomonov is bringing his hit Israeli skewer shop Laser Wolf to the rooftop of the Hoxton Hotel in Williamsburg. 97 Wythe Avenue, between North Ninth and 10th streets, Williamsburg

Lysée

Opening: Spring

Star pastry chef Eunji Lee, an alum of Korean fine dining spot Jungsik, is branching out this spring with her own high-end dessert shop Lysée. 44 East 21st Street, near Park Avenue South, Flatiron

Nick Solares/Eater NY

Superiority Burger

Opening: Spring

One of the city’s most sought after vegetarian burgers is getting a new home. Chef and owner Brooks Headley has uprooted his cult-favorite vegetarian restaurant Superiority Burger and is in the process of moving it into a much larger space in what used to be Ukrainian diner Odessa. 119 Avenue A, near St. Marks Place, East Village

Lolo’s Tacos

Opening: Spring

Lolo’s Tacos, from the team behind Lolo’s Seafood Shack in Harlem, has been in the works for over a year (the uptown taqueria has been on Eater’s anticipated openings lists before). In that time, owners Leticia Skai Young and chef Raymond Mohan have been recipe testing their menu of fish tacos, tamales, and cochinita pibil, and doing a fair amount of travel — “research,” as Skai Young calls it — in Mexico and Central America. 2799 Broadway, at West 108th Street, Upper West Side