The most exciting food is sometimes the stealthiest: world-class Thai in a strip mall; a transcendent burger secreted away in a dive bar. So it was at Acme, where in January, Mads Refslund—a cofounder of Noma in Copenhagen and one of the leading apostles of New Nordic cuisine—quietly began cooking the most groundbreaking fare New York City has seen in years. Months passed before the food establishment caught wind that there was much more to this place than a hot crowd and a cool space. But word spread—with might and momentum—for good reason: Refslund’s intense, primal flavors (hay-roasted sunchokes) and outlandish combos of unlikely ingredients (bison-and-sweet-shrimp tartare) delivered not just a delicious primer on the avant-garde cuisine of Northern Europe, but also an entirely new palate to consider. 9 Great Jones St between Broadway and Lafayette St (212-203-2121, acmenyc.com)
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