The team behind the East Village’s rowdy Taiwanese hangout 886 is opened Wenwen earlier this year, a grown-up Greenpoint restaurant where it’s okay to order a round of baijiu shots. Eric Sze, a 2021 Eater New Guard, is turning to his native Taiwan for a menu with “numbing” celtuce salad, pork belly with cuttlefish, and a whole fried chicken that he makes five orders of each night. (They can sell out within minutes.) The chef has left the drinking challenges of his first restaurant behind, but he’s keeping things light with baijiu shots and a Long Island Iced tea for four that comes topped with a flaming hunk of youtiao.

Tinned seafood is having a moment right now, and in Brooklyn, one of the best places to sit down with a plate of pickled or raw fish is El Pingüino. This bar with major date night energy opened in Greenpoint last November, serving Spanish small plates — anchovy tails, canned mussels — along with aguachile and other specials that nod to Latin America. Head here during happy hour, when oysters are half off and martinis run at $12.

In a city that seems to have one ear perpetually upturned for Mexican food trends, it’s no surprise that Taqueria Ramirez has been turning heads. This Greenpoint taqueria from first-time restaurateurs Giovanni Cervantes and Tania Apolinar serves a game-changing array of Mexican meats, including suadero, longaniza, and al pastor. Best of all is the restaurant’s tripa, beef intestine that stews in a bubbling choricera before being finished off with a blowtorch.

Tables at this Cantonese American restaurant can book up within minutes — two weeks out — making Bonnie’s one of the city’s hottest reservations right now. What’s all the hype? The restaurant comes from Calvin Eng, a chef who previously worked at Williamsburg’s popular Taiwanese American restaurant Win Son in Williamsburg. Bonnie’s, named for his mom, is Eng’s breakout restaurant, and he’s paying homage to his Cantonese American upbringing with dishes like cha siu glazed pork (served on a sesame milk bun in the style of a McDonald’s McRib) and cacio e pepe “mein” tossed in a wok.

It’s been a non-stop year and a half for Elyssa Heller, the Jewish American restaurateur behind Greenpoint’s hottest bagel pop-up and more recently, one of Williamsburg’s smallest sandwich counters. Heller unveiled her latest act earlier this year, a restaurant and grocery store called Edith’s Eatery & Grocery. There’s daytime menu with plates of pickled mackerel and schnitzel, or arrive after 6 p.m. for a shorter list of shawarma lamb ribs and beef tongue tagliatelle. Dinner launches later this week.

The owners of Ayat in Bay Ridge, one of last year’s best new restaurants, opened another Palestinian spot in Cobble Hill last fall. It’s named for the world’s oldest olive tree, with bountiful, group-sized portions and seating for nearly 100 people between indoor and outdoor tables. A handful of items from Ayat — kebabs, shawarma, and mansaf — have made their way here, as have Palestinian flatbreads and other new dishes.

The restaurant scenes of Clinton Hill and Fort Greene may finally be getting their due, with recent additions like Brooklyn Hots, Place des Fêtes, Fradei Bistro, and others. Saraghina, Bed-Stuy’s popular pizzeria, is the latest to open in the neighborhood, bringing a swanky Italian restaurant that’s about much more than wood-fired pies. Head here for an extensive aperitivo list, a crudo bar seafood towers, and a full menu of pizzas and pastas priced around $20 to $40 each.

Clinton Hill is now home to a restaurant serving spruced-up versions of Rochester’s famed “Garbage Plates,” the mountains of hamburger patty, macaroni salad, and other picnic items usually served with a squiggle of hot sauce or mustard. The heaping plates of food are designed to be shared — along with smash burgers and pizza logs — and a generous BYOB policy is meant to draw customers to next-door wine shop Radicle Wine, from the same team.

A trip to Oxalis in Prospect Heights usually warrants an occasion — its seasonal, Michelin-starred tasting menu runs at $112-per-person before drinks — but at this neighborhood wine bar from the same team, the vibe toes the line between between casual and celebratory. Don’t be dissuaded by the $22 plates of fancy ham or the triple digit price tags on the wine list; it’s possible to sit down with a few glasses of wine here (most priced between $12 and $20) and some excellent desserts and spend under $50 per person.

Brooklyn mourned the loss of Gloria’s after a decades-long legal battle forced the Crown Heights institution to close its doors in 2020. Wayne Smith, a manager of the establishment for 22 years, banded together with former employees to open this restaurant a few doors down, where versions of its oxtail and curried goat live on. Don’t be deterred by the lines that stretch toward the door around lunchtime; things move quick at this casual counter-service spot.

Agi’s Counter is a place where egg creams get a new lease on life (with condensed milk and instant espresso) and sandwiches come with fanciful names like the Ritzy Titzy (a riff on the Waldorf Salad). The menu at this Crown Heights restaurant pulls from owner Jeremy Salamon’s Jewish American upbringing for a menu with gerbeaud cake, Ferdinand buns, and other Eastern European pastries — in the mornings — and larger dishes like a butterflied whole trout at dinner.