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What makes an it restaurant an it restaurant? Usually, it’s a combination of things: culinary heavy-hitters behind it, excellent food and drinks, even more excellent service, a subtle air of secrecy tucked inside a beautiful setting, good timing (when we’re cooped up indoors as snowstorm after snowstorm hits, there’s something about trying a new NYC restaurant that feels especially electric) and, let’s admit it, a bit of luck.
Or’esh, a new Levantine spot that just opened at 450 West Broadway in SoHo, nails that formula. Let’s start with the team: the restaurant comes courtesy of the folks behind The Corner Store—still one of the hardest reservations to snag in town. It’s also helmed by Michelin-starred chef Nadav Greenberg, formerly of Eyal Shani’s Israeli concept Shmoné in Greenwich Village, which is also perennially packed. That brings us to the food.
Or’esh translates to “light” and “fire” in Hebrew, and that duality defines the menu: a coal-fired kitchen and custom charcoal grill turn out handcrafted Jerusalem bagels (those elongated, baked breads you see all over the Middle East) served with house-made dips, a curated selection of market fish, a Wagyu New York strip and more. Bonus points: everything is free of seed oils and refined sugars (we do, after all, live in the age of wellness).
The space is just as considered as the menu. Dining here feels like a quick trip across the Atlantic, transportive in both flavor and ambiance.
As for that final ingredient, luck, it seems Or’esh has it in spades. The place is already so in demand that landing a reservation, no matter how much you play around with dates, times or party sizes on the website, feels nearly impossible. In New York, that kind of frenzy isn’t manufactured. It's earned and, sometimes, yes, a little bit serendipitous.
🗓 Reservation Hack:
Reservations drop exclusively on DoorDash seven days in advance at 9am. Set your alarm, log in early and move fast. This is not a “circle back later” situation.
🔥 Order This:
The Jerusalem bagel with house-made dips—because bread and dips is how the Mediterranean does it, and it’s about time that ritual fully takes over NYC. To drink, the grilled olive dirty martini, which feels like the natural next step for a town built on the cocktail.
👀 Who It’s For:
The people who need to dine in every buzzy room in town but also the ones who can tell the difference between a gimmicky frenzy and a reservation that’s actually worth chasing.