The best new restaurants in NYC in March

Philadelphia chefs have been flocking north to New York in droves, from the folks behind bread-focused High Street on Market (see review) to the Spanish tapas-slinging Amada, set to open later this spring. Now, Philly dining titans Michael Solomonov and Steve Cook make a splashy entrance to the scene with an expanded, 18-seat outpost of their house-made–hummus stall Dizengoff in Chelsea Market. As with the original, hummus and salads are offered for takeout by the pint, and fresh pita breads are boxed by the half and full dozen. New York exclusives include larger composed offerings such as a North African shakshuka (eggs poached in a spicy stew of tomatoes and peppers) and salatim, or Israel-style salads (Moroccan carrots with saffron, raw kohlrabi marinated in Yemen's hot-sauce-like schug). Beverages include a selection of Israeli wines and frozen limonana (Israeli mint lemonade) spiked with bourbon.

With the continued popularity of modern speakeasies, it’s no longer rare to find bars clandestinely tucked behind telephone booths or hidden above a burger joint, like the Garret. When the team expanded to Avenue A with the Garret East, it seemingly shed its original speakeasy conceit—until a further look, that is. A doorbell installed inside the bar leads to a “reverse speakeasy” restaurant helmed by husband-and-wife chefs Scott Tacinelli and Angie Rito (Quality Italian). Situated with marble tabletops, linen place mats and framed food photos, the 20-seat eatery centers on family-style dishes: smoked short-rib tartare served with marble rye, dumplings with potato and pecorino, and a cappellacci nestling braised veal, guanciale and black garlic. The Garret barman Grant Wheeler moonlights here, complementing the fare with Italian beers, bottled cocktails poured tableside (Moscow mule, negroni) and a rotating list of biodynamic wines.

Following the success of their heavily Instagrammed Australian coffeeshop of the same name, Giles Russell and Henry Roberts launch this Tribeca-set sophomore project, a 50-seat, full-service restaurant and bar overseen by Melbourne-bred chef Frankie Cox (Montmartre, Navy). Doubling down on the original's relaxed, beach-inspired aesthetic, the space is decorated with blue concrete floors, lobster-pot light fixtures and a wooden bar flanked by a steel-arched back bar. Diners can squeeze into cushioned banquettes for flat whites and Cox's health-forward plates, including all-day breakfast dishes (beet-cured salmon on rye caraway with poached eggs; coconut porridge with raspberry-chia jam) and sandwiches (poached-chicken ciabatta, mushroom foccacia).

With it’s rich, red-sauced Italian heritage, New York is one of the only cities that can boast representation of Italy's many diverse regions, from Roman fare at Maialino to Sicilian specialties at Sessanta Ristorante. Now the team behind Chelsea's Eolo brings you a 130-seat shrine to the paradisiacal Isle of Capri, trimmed with blue-and-white accents, ceramic tiles and photos of 1960s icons Jackie Onassis and Valentino strolling the island's cobbled streets. At the helm of the kitchen is Italian young gun Franco Aliberti, formerly of the Michelin-starred Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy, who offers seafood-heavy fare such as a grilled whole Mediterranean branzino and a grigliata di pesce, with grilled shrimp, calamari and a half lobster over pasta. Along with the pesce, the menu features brick-oven pizzas, large-meat offerings like a grilled veal chop with rosemary potatoes and traditional Italian cocktails spiked with Campari and limoncello.

in the past year, a new wave of culture-crossing cooking has launched restaurants both successful (Korean-Italian at Nishi) and less so (Chinese-Spanish at Tasca Chino). This 90-seat Italy-meets-Japan outfit from prolific restaurateur Barbara Matsumura (Joe’s Shanghai, Haru) hopes to be in the former category. Expanding on a concept first introduced at the Theater District’s Natsumi, Matsumura enlists Italian-born chef Andrea Tiberi (Via del Mare) and sushi chef Hiroyuki Nagao (Nobu) to collaborate on dishes such as spicy sunomono with shrimp and surf clams in sake-konbu vinaigrette; a seared salmon toro don with caviar and avocado; and shiitake penne in a truffle cream sauce. Drinks rep both cuisines, like the Rising Sun-gria (sparkling Lambrusco, blackberry brandy) and the Whiskey Hunny (Japanese whiskey, yuzu honey), but decor skews more toward the Japanese side, with washi-papered walls and a bar fitted with a traditional Kumiko panel.

Eight months after Przemek Adolf opened and quickly shuttered the brick-and-mortar arm of his zero-waste catering service Saucy by Nature, the chef-locavangelist has revamped the space as a 32-seat farm-to-table restaurant, fondly named after his schnauzer, Jinkx. In collaboration with executive chef Gus Ulrich (Esme), Adolf doles out vegetable-forward dishes including a skirt steak salad tossed with cured egg yolks, a black-bean tartare with quail eggs, and mackerel slicked in kohlrabi consommé. Diners can share plates at a central 10-seat concrete table or settle into Viennese-style curved-wood chairs along the perimeter of the dining room, which is inspired in part by Weimar-era Berlin (artwork is displayed in gilded picture frames, and the space is sectioned off with gold velvet curtains). Cocktails are served in vintage glassware and are named after famous German intellectuals and artists.

They’ve already tackled omakase sushi and rooftop cocktailing inside the Park South Hotel; now Boston-based couple Tim and Nancy Cushman (O Ya, the Roof at Park South) are getting into the pizza-and-pasta business with this 70-seat Mediterranean dining room connected to the hotel’s lobby, set with a U-shaped bar, colorful banquette seating and a copper-tiled Stefano Ferrara pizza oven visible through the open kitchen. That wood-fired hearth is responsible for charring pies like a traditional Margherita, a brussels-sprouts option and a salsiccia topped with roasted red peppers and mozzarella. Pastas, like a faro farfalle with braised greens, are house-made, and mains include lamb kofta skewers with charred-garlic yogurt and a bone-in tomahawk rib eye with porcini-kombu-dashi au jus. A soon-to-open adjacent café offshoot will serve Counter Culture Coffee options plus takeaway pastries and sandwiches from chef Deanie Hickox.

Nearly 6,500 miles from its home in the mountains of Japan’s Akita province, the Teisui Hotel gets a tasting-menu restaurant sibling in the Flatiron District, from entrepreneur Takuro Hirabayashi. Inspired by traditional ryokan (Japanese inns), the 44-seat space is decorated with graphite tabletops, sculpted maple walls and Namahage masks, and is centered on a 17-seat dark-stone counter overlooking an open kitchen. From there, a roster of Japanese chefs—including Nobutaka Watanabe of Vancouver’s Hapa Izakaya and Yuichiro Yoshimura of the original Teisui—collaborate on a 10-course yakitori kaiseki menu. Composed dishes include egg custard folded with foie gras and sea urchin; miso-marinated rabbit with miso “cappuccino”; and yakitori chicken breast with root sauce. A house miso soup, made with king crab and Tokyo scallion, is served tableside and heated using rocks from Mount Fuji.

Alex Raij and Eder Montero have excelled in smart Spanish fare at Txikito, El Quinto Pino and their Michelin-starred, Moorish-spiced La Vara. Now the wife-and-husband team breaks out of its comfort zone with this all-day Cobble Hill café, fitted with whitewashed marble and local-artist murals inside the former home of Ted & Honey. Taking its name and credo from the Guarani word tekoha (meaning “where you are, what you are”), the space shifts gears throughout the day: Breakfast includes single-origin coffee, house-baked pastries (sticky date–honey buns) and egg dishes (scrambled with crème fraîche, oeufs mayonnaise with tarragon); lunch is in the soup-salad-sandwich vein, with options like a three-bean salad with ham-bone vinaigrette and a grown-up grilled cheese with anchovies and piquillo peppers. Rotating dinner specials, a small wine list and house cocktails will soon come.

After a three-year sojourn in his native St. Louis, where he helmed sleek basement pub Basso, James Beard Award–winning chef Patrick Connolly (Bobo) makes his New York return with this 64-seat bi-level restaurant, set inside Williamsburg’s nonprofit music venue National Sawdust. And although it’s named after tour riders, the often ridiculous dressing-room requests of musicians, you won’t find color-coordinated M&Ms or Rihanna-approved Hot Cheetos on Connolly’s menu—instead, expect vegetable-forward plates such as ricotta toast with grilled mortadella and shaved raw beets with blue cheese and quinoa. Meatier offerings include confited chicken wings with caramelized fennel, and roasted beef served on a bagna-cauda–lavished baguette with roasted marrow.