The 11 Most Stylish New Restaurants in New York City
It’s no secret that New York’s restaurant scene is ever evolving. Just when you’ve finally managed to check out last year’s hottest restaurants, a whole crop of new openings is shaking up the scene. This year’s most stylish new restaurants represent a diverse bunch of styles and cuisines ranging from Italian to Indonesian. Herewith, AD’s list of the top eye-catching—and delicious—restaurants to book.
Le Jardinier
For his first restaurant in New York, AD100 designer Joseph Dirand created a tranquil space that evokes an indoor garden and provides a serene counterpoint to the midtown location. Set on the ground floor of Aby Rosen’s new residential building, 100 East 53rd Street, by AD100 architect Norman Foster, Le Jardinier serves a vegetable-forward menu by Michelin-starred chef Alain Verzezoli, a longtime protégé of Joël Robuchon. For the interiors, Dirand used copious amounts of marble for the walls, floors, bar, and dining tables. Grass green chairs and a multitude of plants soften the vibe, creating a sophisticated setting for artful dishes like heirloom tomatoes and stone fruits with burrata and French white asparagus with blood orange and buckwheat puff.
Feroce Ristorante
Designed by the Rockwell Group, Feroce Ristorante is the ground-floor Italian hot spot at the new Moxy Chelsea hotel. Run by Francesco Panella and the team behind Antica Pesa in Rome and Brooklyn, it brings a new level of sophistication to the Moxy brand. For the design, the Rockwell Group drew inspiration from the surrounding Flower District and romantic Italian gardens to create a dramatic backdrop for diners to indulge in dishes like eggplant parmigiana and fettucine with lobster. Artwork drawn from vintage Italian advertisements adds a playful touch.
Maison Yaki
The sophomore restaurant of chef Greg Baxtrom of the ever-popular Olmsted, Maison Yaki aims to be more casual, in both its menu and its design. Baxtrom designed the space himself and built it with the help of his father. No doubt the most eye-catching element is the hand-laid mosaic floor inspired by Café Constant in Paris, which provides a colorful canvas, complemented by red leather seats and fun touches like a neon “Oui Chef” sign. The food combines classic French sauces and Japanese yakitori to dazzling effect, with skewers as the stars of the show.
701West
For the buzzy Times Square Edition, which opened in March, Ian Schrager tapped rising star chef John Fraser to bring his culinary magic to New York’s most scorned neighborhood. Fraser rose to the challenge, creating refined menus at both the Terrace—whose design was inspired by L’Orangerie at the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris—and the more formal 701West. Designed by Yabu Pushelberg and ISC Design Studio, the hotel is a study in beige and blond wood, but 701West is darker and more clubby, with black walnut paneling, sapphire blue tufted banquettes, marble tables, and high-gloss French polish lacquer armchairs.
Mercado Little Spain
Thanks to the dream team of José Andrés, Ferran, and Albert Adrià, New Yorkers can now enjoy Mercado Little Spain, the 35,000-square-foot dining destination and market at Hudson Yards that comprises 15 kiosks, two bars, and three full-service restaurants that showcase the best of Spanish cuisine. The design by Capella Garcia Arquitectura in collaboration with iCrave and Anthony Mrkic Architect aims to transport guests to the Iberian peninsula with bespoke tiles by Vives Ceramica, murals by Spanish artists, and furniture by some of Spain’s most talented designers. Spanish Diner is especially bright and airy, evoking the bustling eateries in Barcelona and Madrid.
Summerly
Though it’s technically a bar, not a restaurant, Summerly serves a menu you could easily make a meal out of. The breezy rooftop bar at the Hoxton Williamsburg evokes New England coastal style, with a pastel color palette, floral barstools, and delicate vintage chairs. The British hotel brand teamed up with Brooklyn-based Brightside Hospitality on all the hotel’s food and beverage outlets, including Klein’s on the ground floor. Now that summer has arrived, the place to be is Summerly, where you can enjoy burgers and lobster rolls with spectacular views of the Manhattan skyline.
Poni Room
Inspired by Japanese izakayas, this new subterranean restaurant is hidden under Saxon + Parole. Designed and run by AvroKO, the Poni Room has a strong focus on rosé, which comes across in the design as well as the menu. The walls are covered in pink fabric swatches, and diners can go to the small beverage room in the back and help themselves to rosé on tap or try one of the wines chilling on ice in a vintage sink. The pan-Asian menu is seafood-centric, with dishes like coconut laksa with crab and grilled octopus skewers with fingerling potatoes and ginger-scallion relish.
TAK Room
Thomas Keller’s latest opening feels like an oasis in the middle of Hudson Yards. Designed by David Collins Studio, TAK Room channels the glamorous New York of yesteryear, with walnut veneer walls, plush banquettes and chairs upholstered in leather or velvet, crisp white tablecloths, and a staircase with a Cubist-style mural. Start with a martini in the lounge before settling in for continental classics like oysters Rockefeller, a Caesar salad prepared tableside, Dover sole meunière, and filet mignon. By the time the meal’s over, you will have completely forgotten that you’re eating in a mall.
Wayan
For his debut solo restaurant, Cedric Vongerichten—son of Jean-Georges Vongerichten—and his wife, Ochi, tapped into her Indonesian roots to create Wayan. Though you’ll find Indonesian specialties like nasi goreng, satays, and curries, the menu has a bit of a French influence thanks to Cedric’s formal culinary training. He and Ochi hired the Rockwell Group to design the restaurant, which has a barroom up front and a dining room in the back. They incorporated natural materials like teak paneling, several different types of stone, and whitewashed brick, complimented by Balinese carvings, lush plants, and brass lamps that cast a romantic glow over the space.
The Fulton
It’s a busy season for the Vongerichten family, as chef Jean-Georges has a new restaurant of his own. Opened in May, the Fulton at Pier 17 in the Seaport District takes its inspiration from the Fulton Fish Market that was formerly located nearby. Designed by Yabu Pushelberg and architect Cass Calder Smith, the bilevel space is adorned by whimsical murals and nautical light fixtures that look like buoys. Request a seat by the windows for views of the Brooklyn Bridge and the East River and prepare to enjoy seafood prepared in every way imaginable: raw, steamed, fried, baked in a pastry crust—you get the idea.
Misi
It’s no surprise that when award-winning chef Missy Robbins opened the follow up to her Williamsburg hot spot Lilia, it was an instant hit. At Misi, the focus is even more squarely on pasta and vegetables. Located on the ground floor of a new apartment building designed by SHoP Architects on the Domino Sugar refinery site in Williamsburg, Misi features a clean-lined modern design with narrow white wall tiles, lots of counter seating, and a temperature- and humidity-controlled room where Robbins and her team make heaps of fresh pasta. If you manage to get in, double down on ricotta by starting with the whipped ricotta on toast with charred peppers, followed up by the sheep’s-milk-ricotta-filled occhi with bottarga and lemon.
Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
