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[title]Ceremony Room MatchaBar turns from tea to sake cocktails during this Saturday-night takeover, which also offers intimate live jazz performances from the likes of Cibo Matto and Tops. 93 Wythe Ave between North 10th and 11th Sts, Williamsburg, Brooklyn (718-599-0015, ceremonyroom.com)
COLORS At the worker-owned cooperative created by former Windows on the World employees, this retooled downtown offshoot features an entirely gluten-free menu from chefs Colt Taylor (One If by Land, Two If by Sea) and Steven Picker (Good Restaurant), with dishes such as buttermilk fried chicken with pommes puree and spiced honey, and a seared rib eye with mushroom ragout and Parmesan polenta. 417 Lafayette St between Astor Pl and E 4th St (212-777-8443, thehighroadnyc.com)
Gansevoort Market The Meatpacking District welcomes this brick-walled indoor market featuring two dozen food-and-beverage stands: Ed's Lobster Bar (shrimp roll, lobster BLT) and Sushi Dojo (salmon, yellowtail) are among those doling out eats, while FeelFood serves smoothies like their Limonada Juice, a blend of fresh cucumber, pear and lime. 52 Gansevoort St between Greenwich and Washington Sts (212-242-1701, gansmarket.com)
Limani The second outpost of this Greek/Mediterranean spot favors fresh fish and Hellenic home cooking, dishing out mains like wild black bass for two and char-grilled lobster with broccoli rabe and feta. 45 Rockefeller Plaza at 51st St (212-858-9200, limaniny.com)
The Milling Room Expect to find earthy Italian plates (rabbit pappardelle with porcini, chitarra with cockles) from Bacchanal alum Scott Bryan at this Upper West Side eatery, kitted with skylights, suspended tree branches and a wall of potted greens. 446 Columbus Ave between 81st and 82nd Sts (212-595-0380, themillingroom.com)
The Palm Court The Plaza Hotel's iconic atrium returns after three months of renovation with a focus on afternoon tea. Helmed by Iron Chef alum Geoffrey Zakarian (Town, Country), the revamped restaurant features a larger indoor garden below its soaring stained-glass dome, furnished with potted greens, ceiling-high palm trees and an ivy-covered trellis above the new oval bar. Hints of Zakarian's Armenian-American upbringing come forward on the menu—see Middle Eastern-inspired dishes like Tunisian-Israeli shakshuka (pita bread and poached eggs in a spicy, cumin-tomato sauce). Afternoon tea service, a collaboration with Palais des Thés, features leaves such as Lords Earl Grey (bergamot, safflower) and a tribute to the hotel's literary heroine, the Eloise tea, which includes childhood favorites like grilled cheese and cotton candy. The Plaza Hotel, 768 Fifth Ave at Central Park South (212-546-5300, theplazany.com)
Upland A childhood chockful of fresh produce—plucking sun-warmed tomatoes from the vine, biting into juicy stone fruits from a tree in the backyard—inspired Il Buco Alimentari vet Justin Smillie to merge the East and West Coasts at this Gramercy spot, named for his Southern Californian hometown. The bicoastal menu pays tribute both to his upbringing and his mentors (Washington Park's Jonathan Waxman, Gramercy Tavern's Tom Colicchio). "I'm informed by my Italian training, but now I'm cooking from memory," he says. The punch line of his beer-brined baby chicken is not the hazelnut-studded picada sauce, but the side of carrots roasted in a pizza deck oven until intensely caramelized and infused with smokiness. For the skin-on pork chops, it's a side of pickled persimmons, while the farro pasta is treated like soba uni: first flash-chilled and then given a toss with sesame seeds, scallions and sea urchin. The same nuanced approach molded the drink docket, which highlights classic cocktails—but with a spin. The bar's riff on an old-fashioned, renamed the American Honey, pours a mixture of maple whiskey, apple brandy and house-made orange bitters over a king ice cube; a daiquiri is made over with green chartreuse and apple bitters. "Nothing is designed to be flashy or to attempt to reinvent the wheel," Smillie says. "It's all about complete harmony of ingredients." 345 Park Ave South at 26th St (212-686-1006, uplandnyc.com)