Midtown’s now home to a big, multi-level French restaurant from the Quality team, the same company behind hits like Don Angie and Quality Eats. Like at the other restaurants, Quality Bistro remixes classics, this time dishes from French brasseries. Chef Antonio Mora serves shrimp cocktail with passion fruit hot sauce and saffron aioli, as well as a “Detroit tarte flambée” topped with pepperoni cups. The majestic space, filled with cushy booths and trees, was built with special celebrations in mind, and meals typically cost $85 to $90 per person.

Ex-Per Se and Neta chef Sungchul Shim turns to Korea at his new Hell’s Kitchen restaurant Kochi, where flavors of the cuisine come in an elegant tasting menu primarily presented on skewers. The nine-course, $75 meal features dishes like a saengseon-gui (binchotan-grilled Mackerel) and tteok-galbi, a charcoal grilled beef ribeye patty that’s a specialty of the Gyeonggi Province, where Shim grew up. Cocktails pull from Korean flavors too, like a martini with konbu-infused vodka.

There’s a new European cafe on the second floor of Gramercy’s Swedish photography museum, Fotografiska. The grand, 100-seat space, called Verōnika, comes from hit restaurateur Stephen Starr and chef Robert Aikens, with a menu that pulls influence from France, Vienna, and Eastern Europe. The schnitzel, potato pierogies with caviar, and lamb goulash present upscale takes on classics, but the space is an attraction in itself. Designed by luxury firm Roman and Williams, the dining room features mohair chairs and velvet blue banquettes, while 20-foot ceilings and archways loom overhead, part of the church that houses the museum. Eater critic Ryan Sutton found that even the lowest-cost entrees stun — though the meal is a splurge at all levels.

The presence of Southwestern food in NYC has been significantly upped with the opening of the Banty Rooster, a new West Village restaurant from an acclaimed Denver restaurateur. Some dishes here shout Southwest, including roasted delicata squash with pepitas, brown butter, and squash mole and sopapillas (fried dough) with honey and powdered sugar. But the rest of the menu is not straightforward Southwestern, instead pulling in various influences like in a roasted pork collar with hatch chile or grilled short rib steak with ancho barbecue sauce. The 75-seat space, with a dozen spots at the bar, is done up in whitewashed brick walls, pale oak tables, and blue banquettes throughout.

Michael Toscano, a chef known for his lauded turn at Italian restaurant Perla, made his return to New York this year after a five year absence. Da Toscano, his new Greenwich Village restaurant, focuses on regional Italian cooking with dishes like octopus carpaccio, lamb neck-stuffed agnolotti, and a pork chop wrapped in crispy pork belly. Marble-topped tables, velvet chairs, and green leather banquettes all create a warm ambiance at this restaurant, which seats 62 people.

Korean-American dishes are on deck at Nowon, a playful East Village restaurant from chef Jae Lee. Expect options like chopped cheese rice cakes or honey butter tater tots alongside mung bean pancakes and cucumber salad. True devotees of Lee will show up for the dry-aged burger with cheese and kimchi mayo — the chef gained a following for it while doing a pop-up in the neighborhood. Note: Nowon is still waiting on its liquor license. 

The latest restaurant focusing on Indian regional cooking in NYC comes from Peter Beck, a chef who had stints at acclaimed Indian restaurants Chola, Tamarind, and, most recently, Imli. There are items like Konkan fish curry, a popular dish from the western part of India, and laksa, a type of Southeast Asian soup that’s also popular in eastern India, served with shrimp, calamari, and a coconut milk broth. Expect cocktails with ingredients like banana-infused rum and potato vodka in a space that includes a wraparound bar made with reclaimed wood.

All-day restaurant Thai Diner, from the hit team behind Uncle Boons, has opened just a short distance away from the original. Much like their other restaurants, Ann Redding and Matt Danzer have furnished their restaurant with flourishes like portraits of Thai royalty and low bar seats with chrome. The food evokes classic American diners, albeit with a Thai twist. This can be seen in preparations like the Thai tea babka french toast and a steak and eggs combo served up with sticky rice and a spicy dipping sauce. The restaurant is only open for breakfast and lunch now, but dinner will follow in the coming months.

Basque cuisine is on full display at this buzzy new Spanish restaurant in Two Bridges, where chef Ryan Bartlow channels his previous work at the three-Michelin-starred Akelarre in San Sebastian, Spain. The menu at Ernesto’s features a variety of Bartlow’s own inventions, like calamari with squid ink, chicken croquettes, and pig’s ear with lentils and fried egg. Keep an eye out for the restaurant’s ever-changing menu of pinxtos, a small, tapas-style snack — and for the adjoining coffee shop that Bartlow is hoping to open in the future. Every table will likely be ordering the $22 chips, dramatically large plates of housemade chips piled with sliced Iberico.

Less than three years after opening her fast-casual Chinese spot Tomorrow, MáLà Project owner Amelie Kang pivoted and rebranded the restaurant as Chubby Princess. This northern Chinese bistro in FiDi now features a new, bigger menu with dishes like braised pork belly and fish with ginger and scallions, plus some table service. Much like at Chinese dry pot restaurant MáLà Project, the goal here is to “lure people in” with familiar options like wavy noodles or northern-style dumplings and encourage them to try something new — which is a whole lot easier when most of the dishes on the menu net out at under $10. A menu of cocktails and wine is also available.