Time Out’s Hot Spots in NYC

Lilia’s James Beard Award–winning chef Missy Robbins is serving her famous pasta and vegetable dishes in a brand-new space, which has a pasta-making room that’s visible to diners and passersby alike. Witness the chefs prepare 10 starchy specials, including fettuccine bathed in buffalo butter, corzetti peppered with Sun Gold cherry tomatoes and summer herbs, and Sardinian gnocchi packed with clams, sea beans and saffron. 

Hold on to your bunny ears, New York City. The divisive magazine and brand has reopened its East Coast club with several concepts, including a bar, four lounges and a private speakeasy. Oh, and of course plenty of Playboy Bunnies hopping around.

There's been a lot of buzz around this old-school Italian spot that has recently been thrust into the Instagram spotlight. Whether you're going for the "scene" or spaghetti, you can't go wrong visiting this Chinatown institution. 

London’s Chelsea institution has flown across the pond to Columbus Circle’s third-floor perch. The brasserie serves modern European fare and classic English dishes, such as beef Wellington, Cornish chicken pie and afternoon tea—all with a bird’s-eye view of Central Park.

Don't call it a coffee shop. This ultra-elevated coffee bar and café makes everything from scratch, including its own milk (almond, cashew, pepita and oat). Order cocktail-style espresso drinks like the hickory-smoked s'mores latte or the deconstructed espresso tonic in a lush space designed by Ken Fulk (Legacy Records). Treats are provided by LES wunderkind Supermoon Bakehouse.

The restaurant’s name means, “a place where people hang out,” which is the desire of the team behind this Queens spot. Indulge in traditional dishes—buttered chicken on the bone, say, or Lucknowi biryani—in the eclectic space lined with collages of Indian newspapers. 

From the steaming rice-noodle bowls of the Yunnan province to the tear-jerking orders of spicy Szechuan dry pot, dining out in the East Village is a celebration of regional Chinese cuisine, and we’re here for it. Enter artist and Hunan native Chao Wang, who opened this slurp shop to bring a taste of his home to NYC. The space is like the opposite of a mullet: party in the front and business in the back. 

A Per Se and Daniel alum is teaming up with a chef from Blanca and Marea for this modern Asian restaurant in Nomad. The elevated dishes churned out at this New American-Asian spot are fixed with local and seasonal ingredients served in sun-lit space with an outdoor garden ("hortus" in Latin).

The Seaport District kicks into culinary overdrive this summer with several food- and drink-focused programs popping up for the season. The headliner is the Seaport Food Lab, a bi-level restaurant hosting chefs from all over the country for one-week residencies, this year, the line-up is all-female with James Beard Award winner Nancy Silverton, Angie Mar of the Beatrice Inn and Noma alum Rosio Sanchez. Opens September 11th.

The cheese-and-pepperoni classics are joined by the Hellboy (pepperoni with Mike’s Hot Honey) and Freddy Prince (an upside-down Sicilian with a sesame-seed bottom) slices at the Greenpoint darling’s casual spin-off. True to Brooklyn form, the 1970s-diner space’s menu has four vegan pies.

The James Beard–nominated Joseph “JJ” Johnson (the Cecil, Minton’s) headed just south of Harlem for his first solo venture, which takes its inspiration from the pan-African dishes of his childhood. Look out for house-made roti with eggplant-date puree and the “Afropot,” which is stuffed with king crab, shrimp, clams and Chinese pork sausage. 

The first U.S. location of this elevated Japanese chain specializes in yakitori (grilled chicken skewers) seasoned with Japanese sea salt, soy sauce and fresh wasabi. You can even eat the whole bird, thanks to the chicken necks, hearts, gizzards and tails impaled on rows of sticks.

Hill Country Barbecue and Dinosaur Bar-B-Que veteran Jared Male fires up his own community-minded restaurant, serving classic American plates like brisket and spare ribs alongside traditional ’hood dishes, such as smoked chopped chicken liver and house-cured pastrami. 

The Grill moved into the old Four Seasons space in the Seagram Building to buzzy fanfare and fawning reviews, so the Four Seasons is hoping the luck continues by staging a comeback itself. Stationed a few blocks south of the original space, the power-lunch behemoth now has Le Bernardin alum Diego Garcia helming the kitchen using seasonal ingreidents for updated spins on classic dishes in the two-story, mid-century-modern space.