NYC’s 10 best new restaurants of 2022

Clover Hill got its second start in February after an unlucky beginning in December of 2019. Its return roared, earning five stars in these pages, plus Michelin recognition overall and for its executive chef/co-owner Charlie Mitchell, who was named the guide’s young chef of the year in October. Its tasting menu changes seasonally, and I was initially enticed by its aguachile with Kombu-cured scallops, crimini mushroom and truffle-stuffed fluke and chicken lightly accessorized with foie gras and lobster in an intimate, cinematically-brownstone Brooklyn space. 

A lot of restaurants planned or promised some kind of dinner party experience in the early post-vaccine pandemic days as though anyone could matchmake tables into, what, joining conversations? That part was never clear. Ayo Balogun actually did it at Dept of Culture, which opened in January. Here, just 16 people a seating bring their own booze and gather around a communal table for four courses influenced by north-central Nigeria that might include fiery pepper soup, gbegiri and maybe even a splash of somebody else’s wine. 

After the “dinner party” thing, everywhere was about to be a “neighborhood restaurant,” and Gus’s was one of them when it opened in August. Like most declaring the designation before serving drink one, it was, and is still, too hard to get in, to truly fit the genre. Instead, it’s a nicer-than-normal night out spot, with a wonderful tri-tip on its surprisingly high-value Sunday roast menu, anytime binchotan-grilled pork shoulder and reliably nice classic cocktails. 

I still don’t think anybody needs to wait, as I did, for two hours and change to visit Laser Wolf (or any restaurant under normal circumstances), but, once you get up to The Hoxton hotel’s rooftop, it’s fun, lively and plentiful. The shipudiya’s skewers are terrific, of course, but the unlimited salatim assortment is showstopping, particularly the ideal hummus, babaganoush, gigantes with harissa, Turkish celery root and green beans with matbucha. It’s almost all enough to overshadow the sensational soft serve for dessert, and the beautiful skyline view competes for attention, too. 

That Le Gratin manages to be romantic in Manhattan’s seventh-least romantic neighborhood, and as a celebrity chef (Daniel Boulud) restaurant is a tidy surprise. To be fair, it owes a lion’s share of its design to previous occupant Augustine, but the enduring warm, fluttery, X-factor ambiance was not a guarantee, nor was the success of its Lyonnais-inspired menu items when Le Gratin opened in May. The quenelle de brochet au gratin essential to Lyon is also imperative at this address, in addition to the gratin dauphinois comme marie, peak escargots decadently plated with pig trotter, lovely duck and an effervescent seafood tower. 

Long-awaited Le Rock led rumblings of Rockefeller Center’s still supposed resurgence when rumors of the Frenchette team’s next act began at what feels like a century ago in 2019. It rose to almost immediate crown jewel status when the brasserie finally opened in July. Little bites, like the chicken liver mousse, from the menu’s amuses section are delicious and cleverly arranged to sample more than a few flavors, the agnoletti with corn and chanterelles outdoes every new pasta in town, the bison and duck are high among the best meat entrées I’ve had this year and the desserts are outstanding and occasionally dizzyingly overwhelming in the most delightful way. 

Well, it seems like it just wouldn’t be a year without another exceptional operation from Unapologetic Foods, whose Dhamaka was one of 2021’s best new restaurants. The original and dissimilar Masalawala closed after a decade on the Lower East Side in 2021, and this reimagined “celebration of India’s yesteryears” bloomed in Brooklyn this past September. Its novel cocktails are uncommonly good, its rice is extraordinary, the limited-availability macher dim is worth dining early and the keema kaleji will get you clicking those reservation notifications before you’re out the door. 

A lot of the time a restaurant can be obviously cool or have great plates, but seldom the two shall meet. Nudibranch, which began as a pop-up before going permanent in March, does both. Jeff Kim and Matthew Lee’s three-course tasting includes hopping-good fried frog legs, steakhouse-threatening grilled flatiron and the city’s finest premier premiere mushrooms in a dynamic display of fungi possibilities. 

Dangerously close to Coinage Metal Square, Potluck Club successfully mints the sometimes self-consciously stylized vibes a few blocks over. The space is a slick, chicly industrial, happy place to be, seemingly made for jubilant groups. Head chef Zhan Chen’s Cantonese-American menu is authored as a “newish take on old classics,” with winning dishes like braised short ribs, spicy eggplant and XO fried rice with shrimp, sausage and a technically optional but vital tea egg add-on. 

Like Clover Hill, Zaab Zaab nabbed oodles of commendations since opening its small, exceedingly welcoming and hospitable space in April. Chef Aniwat Khotsopa’s one page menu spotlighting “the true flavors of Thailand’s Northeastern Isaan region,” can be mixed and matched to different effect over many visits, but it’ll take a while to move on from the gaeng om with beef shank’s bright heat and layers of flavors, festivity-igniting moo tod pla ra and signature larb ped Udon.