Top Chef star, Kwame Onwuachi, who opened two shortlived fine dining establishments in Washington D.C., has returned to his hometown New York City to open his first restaurant here. Tatiana, which debuted in early November, is the crown jewel restaurant inside of the  $550 million overhaul at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall. Onwuachi pays homage to his Bronx roots, with a menu that includes a crudo-style escovitch, a truffle chopped cheese, and patties, in a high-end dining room with color-changing cloud pendants.

From conception to completion, this new food court between Times Square and Rockefeller Center took several years — and involved Anthony Bourdain’s input — to try to replicate the feel of a hawker food mall in Singapore. From an eventual collection of vendors, the counters include Hainan Jones (Hainanese chicken, steamed or fried), Mr. Fried Rice (stingray fried rice), and Mamak’s Corner (Indian food as served in Singapore). Oh, and there’s a full bar specializing in gin drinks at the 51st Street entrance.

Greg Baxtrom made a name for himself in Prospect Heights with Olmsted, his fine dining restaurant, followed by his more casual Japanese French Maison Yaki, and family-friendly comfort joint Patti Ann’s. He now has his first Manhattan restaurant, the latest marquis spot to debut in buzzy Rockefeller Center, with plenty of smoke-show drama, in cloche-reveal dishes like the oysters Vanderbilt and the s’mores dessert.

Cafe China, an acclaimed Sichuan restaurant that held a Michelin star for seven years, temporarily shuttered for five months in 2021. It has now been reborn in a three-story brick building in Midtown. The chic restaurant, run by Xian Zhang and Yiming Wang, marries old menu favorites like cumin lamb and tea-smoked duck with new-guard entries like a whole steamed fish with cayenne and tabasco peppers, plus dim sum and other regional Chinese dishes.

Chef Marcus Samuelsson opened his first New York City restaurant in almost a decade in November. The menu, which emphasizes seafood, highlights the Swedish and Ethiopian flavors Samuelsson grew up with, dressed up in a 5,000 square-foot, 125-seat Chelsea restaurant, where mermaid motifs appear throughout. The chef says Hav & Mar, “is a reflection of Black joy and excellence.”

Eric Finkelstein and Matt Ross, owners of Court Street Grocers, have opened  S&P, located in the former home of Eisenberg’s, one of Manhattan’s last old-school lunch counters that closed during the pandemic. Here you won’t find much of a change on the menu aside from classics that are better than you remember them. They include tuna melts, peanut butter and bacon sandwiches, pastrami on rye, matzo ball soup, latkes, cheeseburgers, and egg cream.

Add Oiji Mi to the running list of restaurants offering tasting menus for around $100. The one served here — priced at $145 for five courses — highlights modern Korean inventions like scallops with gochugaru vinaigrette, green apple pearls, and yuja, and deconstructed bo ssam with oysters and pork belly, in a kitchen from the team that formerly ran the acclaimed modern Korean restaurant Oiji, in the East Village.

One of the borough’s best new spots arrived this summer in the form of Claud. This restaurant masquerading as a neighborhood wine bar found a fast following online with its escargot croquettes and massive slices of devil’s food cake. Both are good, but it gets better with the dishes spared from hype — the mille-feuille made with confit tomatoes and the tart agnolotti pasta stuffed with chicken liver are both must-orders.

Torrisi Bar and Restaurant is a revival of sorts for Torrisi Italian Specialties, the Nolita restaurant which closed in 2015, reborn in the historic Puck Building. Since its original incarnation, Major Food Group has been on a global expansion tear, bringing its theatrical red-sauce hits like Carbone to other cities. At Torrisi, the team attempts to keep things local by infusing some New York elements in dishes like chopped liver, Jamaican-style ragu, and linguine in a Manhattan pink clam sauce.

Burmese food has always been a rare find in NYC, but Little Myanmar is one of a handful of restaurants that spotlight the cuisine across the city. The family behind the operation famously started out with Yun Cafe, a tiny stall inside a subway station in Jackson Heights (which remains open). But in the East Village, Little Myanmar stretches out with more space (and with more equipment) and that’s clear in the menu: The restaurant boasts an extensive range of punchy salads, grilled skewers, and both subtle and spicy curries. Don’t miss the goat curry, which Eater critic Robert Sietsema praised as one of the best versions of the dish in the city.

Let’s cut to the chase: The food at Casino isn’t the most distinctive. It’s a part of a new wave of pricey “coastal Italian” restaurants that import the fantasy of vacation. But the vibes of this restaurant, with its red booths and moody lighting, have made it a scene. Stop by for drinks at the bar with a plate of fritto misti and a butterscotch budino for dessert, or head to the main dining room for a more substantial plate of linguine with clams.