The stretch of Greenpoint Avenue near Transmitter Park has seen a wave of openings in recent years, including the tapas bar El Pingüino and the Mexican restaurant Panzón, said to be inspired by the street foods of Mexico City. Lingo landed on the scene last month, bringing “Japanese-influenced American food” to the block. Early hits from chef Emily Yuen, the former chef of Bessou, include teeny tamago sandwiches and a whole fried chicken topped with chile gremolata.

North Brooklyn is home to some of the city’s best burritos right now, with help from New Mexican restaurant Santa Fe BK and the pop-up Border Town. Rounding out the scene is the new location of Super Burrito, which started with a stand on the Rockaway Beach boardwalk in 2017. The shop specializes in massive Mission burritos stuffed with rice, beans, cheese, and meats like al pastor or carne asada. Keep an eye on the restaurant’s Instagram for weekly specials, like California burritos and a riff on Taco Bell’s Crunchwrap Supreme.

The city’s most unhinged sushi counter has touched down in Brooklyn. Sushi On Me, the underground Jackson Heights restaurant known for its sake-fueled parties, opened this second location in Williamsburg last year, and it’s managed to stay faithful to its rowdy roots. Workers behind the bar keep the sake flowing, while a live DJ perched overhead supplies the small, one-room restaurant with vibes. The $129 omakase includes 18 courses of sushi and sashimi, plus unlimited sake. Cash only.

Even before the pandemic, the city’s old-school diners were becoming an endangered breed: Eisenberg’s and Odessa are no longer here, but a new crop of more modern restaurants is helping to fill the void. There was MeMe’s in Prospect Heights before it closed, and Golden Diner in Two Bridges, still home to some of the city’s best pancakes. Baby Blues Luncheonette is the latest, providing a Greek spin on the theme. The menu has everything you need, from an “HLT” sandwich (halloumi, lettuce, tomato) to fig jam toast and baklava banana bread. Coffee is unlimited.

Lula Mae opened at the start of the year on a crowded stretch of Myrtle Avenue in Clinton Hill, giving the neighborhood a dedicated home for Cambodian cooking, still a rarity in most parts of the city. Helmed by Dan San, an alum of Manhattan restaurants Chinese Tuxedo and the Tyger, the atmosphere is casual, with a menu that lists oysters with fried shallots and a Chinese kway teow (fried pastry) served warm with tom yum butter and chicken pate.

Ursula is off to a hot start at its new location in Bed-Stuy, a much-needed expansion for a New Mexican restaurant that used to operate out of a standing-room storefront. The new space is bigger, but nowhere big enough for the hordes of customers who amass out front on weekends in search of enchiladas and burritos smothered in green chile. Show up on a Sunday morning, and don’t be surprised to be quoted more than an hour wait for a table of two. Things are slower at dinner, when a separate menu is served and a bar supplies the restaurant with cocktails.

Bobbi’s Italian Beef opened last fall, bringing Chicago dogs, Italian beef sandwiches, and other foods from the Windy City to Cobble Hill’s main thoroughfare, Smith Street. The restaurant used to operate out of the Dekalb Market Hall in Downtown Brooklyn, but a bigger storefront has made way for more sandwiches — there are around a dozen on the menu — and a dining room with about 30 seats. Order the Italian beef, a hunk of bread that’s split in two, dunked in meat juices, and stuffed with thin slices of top round.

Café Mars is the city’s newest maximalist Italian destination — over-the-top restaurants with greyhound dog statues and three-foot-tall pepper grinders in their dining rooms that feel par for the course in 2023. This one, in Gowanus, comes from a pair chefs whose resumes list some of the biggest names in the fine dining world: Noma, Momofuku Ssam Bar, Wd~50, and others. The restaurant’s aesthetic dining room and unusual menu of Negroni Jell-O olives have turned it into a spot that books out a month in advance. But time it right, and you could find a table tonight.

Bar Mario opened earlier this year, inheriting a corner space that was once home to the area’s popular Fort Defiance cocktail bar. (It’s since moved up the street.) The new tenant is a proper Italian restaurant, whose throwback chandeliers and retro tile flooring make it feel a bit like a movie set. Consider a few appetizers, like diminutive slices of veal, fried artichokes, and charcuterie, as well as gnocchi and daily pasta specials. True to its name, the restaurant doubles as a fantastic place to drink Italian wines and cocktails.

Masalawala & Sons is the latest opening from Roni Mazumdar and Chintan Pandya, the pair behind New York’s only Michelin-starred Indian restaurant. The spot gets its name from a restaurant Mazumdar’s father, Satyen, once ran on the Lower East Side. He can be seen in the dining room from time to time, but his menu has been overhauled with dishes that aim to bridge the gap between what’s eaten in Indian homes and served in Indian restaurants. Highlights include the macher dim (a sac of fish roe poached in curry) and daab chingri (tiger prawns served in a young coconut shell). Be warned, it’s one of the hottest tables in town.

Find Syrian and Korean food — not Syrian Korean fusion — at this popular Windsor Terrace takeout shop. The menu is divided into two sections: Korean dishes on the left and Syrian ones on the right, with kimchi fried rice, chicken shawarma, bibimbap, mezze, and banchan prepared in the same kitchen. One of the most popular dishes here is the bulgogi “fat boy,” a barbecue beef burrito wrapped in a greasy pancake that can also be ordered with chicken or tofu kimchi.