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.

This new Thai restaurant from a pair of Per Se veterans looks like a 70s-era rec room crossed with a 50s-era Tiki bar. It's an unusual, but very fun space. The menu includes a number of charcoal-grilled meat entrees, plus salads, traditional curries, and fish dishes. To drink, Uncle Boons offers beer and wine, plus Singha beer slushies. So far, the Thai snobs of this city love what's coming out of the kitchen.

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. Some seem averse to the whole concept of the place, but most of those who've been in for dinner agree the execution is impressive.

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.

Yann de Rochefort (Boqueria, Suba) recently opened this sprawling "Spanish brasserie" with acclaimed Spanish chef Dani Garcia. The menu features tapas-style "snacks," plus appetizers like a foie gras terrine with caramelized goat cheese, and entrees like suckling pig and monkfish with mussels. The entree list also has two steaks and a daily grilled fish special, both served with fries. The large bar area makes this an especially great place to grab a drink and try a few small plates.

The menu at Harold Dieterle's new West Village restaurant is inspired by the chef's German and Italian heritage. Dishes include grilled baby chicken with fried salami and Brussels sprouts, braised duck and pretzel dumpling soup, and a wagyu culotte steak. The space is stylish and comfortable, and co-owner Alicia Nosenzo created a wine list that includes over 300 selections, with a special focus on Germany, Austria, and Italy. The restaurant is home to a $26 mushroom dish that is a real treat for fungus fans -- it's a massive, whole maitake, with delicious crispy edges.

Mighty Quinn's is the new Texas and Carolinas-inspired barbecue restaurant from Hugh Mangum and restaurateur Micha Magid. Magnum smokes his meat in a pit the size of most people's living rooms, and the individual portions of the meat are all priced under $9. Pete Wells was very impressed by the 'cue at Mighty Quinn's — he recently gave the restaurant two stars.