Costata is Michael White's return to the old Fiamma space, where he first garned acclaim from the New York critics seven years ago. At this modern, very comfortable restaurant, chef Bianco is serving many of his signature pasta dishes (including the sensational, must-order "Garganelli Della'Fiamma"), plus slabs of dry-aged premium beef. Costata is aiming for straight crowd-pleaser, and the early word suggests that White is delivering the goods. In spirit and price point, this restaurant is similar to Marea and Ai Fiori.

At Betony, former Eleven Madison Park executive sous chef Bryce Shuman is serving modern American cuisine in a relaxed setting. The food is similar in spirit to what you might find at EMP, except that everything is offered a la carte, and most of the entrees are priced in the mid-20s. Eamon Rockey, formerly of EMP and Aska, is running the front of the house. Make sure to order the sensational "fried pickle" dish, which is actually a tangle of crispy ramps.

Matt Lambert, a veteran of Saxon + Parole and Public, recently opened this casual new restaurant in the old Elizabeth space. The Musket Room has a handsome dining room and a menu that's inspired by the chef's New Zealand heritage. The menu includes quail with "bread sauce" & roasted onions, seared foie gras, duck with carrot & huckleberries, and tofu gnocchi.

This spinoff of Jean-Georges Vongerichten's wildly popular ABC Kitchen offers market-driven Latin-influenced small plates, many of which are cooked in a wood-fired oven. The menu includes things like spring pea empanadas, crispy fish tacos, poached prawns with paprika, fluke with green chili dressing, and beef tenderloin "burnt ends" with chimichurri. ABC Kitchen's Dan Kluger is overseeing the kitchen here with chef de cuisine Ian Coogan.

Lafayette is the blockbuster French restaurant from chef Andrew Carmellini and restaurateurs Luke Ostrom and Josh Pickard. You can have a big, decadent meal here feasting on steak au poivre and foie gras terrines, but the menu is also full of lighter dishes too, like the excellent, earthy duck au poivre. The front space at Lafayette features an all-day patisserie with bread from James Belisle and pastries from Jen Yee.

The chef Wylie Dufresne, who has been pushing the envelope at his Lower East Side restaurant wd-50 for the past decade, branches out with Alder, in the East Village. This new restaurant eschews tasting menus in favor of an à la carte selection of items like rye pasta with pastrami, Caesar salad "nigiri," pigs in a blanket, and other Dufresne takes on dishes from the pub canon. The food complements an impressive beverage program from Kevin Denton. Jon Bignelli, a wd-50 vet, is executive chef.

This is the new Greenwich Village restaurant from the team behind Parm and Torrisi Italian Specialties — chefs Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi, and partner Jeff Zalaznick — that's inspired by the mid-century Italian-American restaurants of New York City. Except here, Zac Posen designed the waiters' tuxedos, Vito Schnabel curated the art, and the veal parm goes for $50. Pete Wells just awarded three stars to Carbone.

Chef Richard Kuo, who earned raves as one half of Scandinavian pop-up Frej, recently opened this stylish new restaurant in the Bowery House. The menu includes many fish dishes as well as things like short rib with chanterelles, and quail with pomegranate and chicken skin. In an interesting twist, a lot of the menu items can be ordered in either appetizer or entree portions. Acclaimed sommelier Patrick Cappiello put together a sizable program that plays to regions like Bordeaux and Burgundy. So far, the early word is very strong.