No trip to New York is complete without a meal in one of the hot new restaurants.
But ask 10 New Yorkers what 10 of those hot new restaurants might be, and you’ll get 100 different answers. And whatever you do, don’t ask when they’re all in the same room, because someone might get hurt.
Not to mention that they’ll barely scratch the surface of possibilities. Each day, a restaurant opens in New York every five minutes. Or maybe it just feels that way.
After I ate in two dozen newer hot spots over five days, the 10 below were the ones that seemed to have captured the short attention spans of the most New Yorkers … and mine, as well.
Onera
Who knew Greek food could be so cool? In the skilled hands of chef Michael Psilakis, who cooks beautifully updated versions of the dishes from his Greek childhood in this Upper West Side spot, even octopus takes on a magical texture and taste, especially when paired with noumboulo salami, Granny Smith apples and mint.
Don’t even think about trendy takes on gyros here: Psilakis does a five-course tasting menu of such items as sweetbreads, chicken liver and braised calf tongue, and his “red rose sampling” for dessert has to be experienced to be believed.
The conservative navy- and-white decor – what it might look like if Greeks had decorated Colonial Williamsburg – is actually well-suited to the classy fare, and the wine list is another surprise, more than 100 Greek selections that go with the food like opa! and a party.
Onera, 222 W. 79th St., 212-873-0200. Open noon to 3 p.m., 5 to 10:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 5 to 11 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday. Entrees: $14-$25.
Tia Pol
Sometimes it’s easier to get a seat at the bar in this popular Chelsea tapas spot, which makes authentic versions of the Spanish snacks and serves them alongside the right Spanish wines.
If you eat only one thing here, it should be the fried chickpeas, so lightly oily, salty and crispy they could run potato chips out of town. And who’d have thought anything called “king oyster mushroom carpaccio” would be so darned captivating? Marinated lamb, Serrano ham with manchego, rare duck breast – it’s all good.
The slender, brick-lined space would have made a good backdrop for “Sex and the City,” so singles-mingling is its clientele.
Tia Pol, 205 10th Ave., 212-675-8805. Open noon to 11 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; noon to midnight Friday; 11 a.m. to midnight Saturday; 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Sunday. Entrees: $2-$16.
Cru
What happens when sommelier Robert Bohr and 65,000 wine bottles hook up with Shea Gallante, the talented chef from Bouley? You get Cru, a super-sophisticated lower Manhattan restaurant that makes a diner feel all grown up from the second the 3-inch-thick wine binder (3,500 on the list) hits the table.
The modern European menu includes handmade pastas, such as ravioli filled with young pecorino and sprinkled with walnuts and marjoram, and other, rather bold, dishes not found just anywhere: risotto flavored with sea urchin and white tuna paired with caper and olive pralines. The skilled service is slick but not stuffy.
In a hurry? Skip the main dining area in favor of the front wine room with the cozy bar.
Cru, 24 Fifth Ave., 212-529-1700, cru-nyc.com. Open 5:30-11 p.m. Monday-Saturday. Entrees: $23-$37.
Bistro du Vent
Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich have another hit on their hands, and this one in Midtown West feels just as solid as Babbo, Lupa and Esca. Eschewing trendy furnishings and frou- frou fare, they filled Bistro du Vent with red leather banquettes and café chairs, while offering a menu of French terrines and boudins, slow-cooked meats and pâtés.
The constant crowds eat it up, and the prices are too reasonable by N.Y. standards not to. Chef David Pasternack doesn’t do anything new here but does do everything right.
Bistro du Vent, 411 W. 42nd St., 212-239-3060. Open 11:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., 5 to 10:30 p.m. Monday; 11:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., 5 p.m. to midnight Tuesday-Friday; 11:45 a.m. to 4 p.m., 5:45 p.m. to midnight Saturday; 11:45 a.m. to 4 p.m., 5:45 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Sunday. Entrees: $12-$23.
Rickshaw Dumpling Bar
Consulting chef Anita Lo, whose teeny Annisa continues to wow Greenwich Village, has come up with a marketable concept in this diner-friendly dumpling bar in the Flatiron district.
Order them steamed or fried (yummier) at the counter and then stand back and watch the staff work its magic. The dumplings are available as a six-pack ($4.95) or nine ($6.95) or in noodle soups or salad (add $3), with such flavor enhancers as classic pork and Chinese chive, vegetarian or Peking duck.
Save room for dumplings as dessert, with chocolate “soup,” melted chocolate in a sesame mochi wrapper that drips Plugrá butter. Try to eat just one.
Rickshaw Dumpling Bar, 61 W. 23rd St., 212-924-9220, rickshawdumplings.com. Open 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday; 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Sunday.
Bombay Talkie
This Chelsea spot offers worldbeat tunes, movie murals and Bollywood films at the bar as backdrop to a meal of serious Indian street food. The menu even goes right there, breaking things down into “street bites,” “curbside” and “by the roadside,” and you can snack with a glass of inexpensive wine or take on a whole dinner.
Either way, check out the kathi rolls (flatbread wraps filled with meats) and the spicy vindaloo, or one of the tasty dosas. Be sure to end with a cooling gelato, such as the sugary- sweet fig.
Bombay Talkie, 189 Ninth Ave., 212-242-1900. Open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 10 a.m. to midnight Friday-Saturday; 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday. Entrees: $15-$26.
Caviar & Banana
Brasserio
Here’s what happened to the space that was in that silly TV show “The Restaurant,” and thank heavens.
All traces of Rocco’s reality restaurant are gone; instead, consulting chef Claude Troisgros has assembled a Brazilian menu that’s appealing and fun, with a decor to match: multi-colored, confetti-inspired banquettes and pretty ocean-blue walls.
The Flatiron eatery’s name comes from Troisgros’ cutie starter of tapioca “caviar” and banana chips, but there are even tastier tidbits to be had. Try tapas (salgadinhos) of cheese bread or a grilled hearts of palm salad, chewy flatbreads and tender grilled-meat skewers, and the bacon-wrapped quail is just as good as it sounds. Service is spot-on, and the mojitos are so well-balanced you’d swear the rum came with mint growing in it.
Caviar & Banana Brasserio, 12 E. 22nd St., 212-353-0500. Hours: 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday; 5 to 11 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Entrees: $18-$32.
BLT Fish
The Fish Shack on the ground floor is really the way to go at chef Laurent Tourondel’s latest venture, a two-headed restaurant in the Flatiron/Union Square area that pairs a fancier place on the third floor above a New England-style chowder house that serves better Key lime pie than in the Keys.
The tidier, top-floor eatery is great to look at, with its retractable-window ceiling and dramatic elevator diner-delivery system, but the musical choices are weird (Madonna’s “Borderline” segues into a Louis Armstrong tune), and the food seems to fall just short of tantalizing: shrimp done Buffalo- wing style in a too-tangy sauce, spicy tuna tartare that’s not spicy enough, sauces that don’t sing with flavor. The best items are the cheddar-chive biscuits with maple syrup and addictive cotton candy served in a medicine jar for dessert.
Down with the masses in the messier, more fun Fish Shack, take apart a succulent lobster or take down some salty fried clams on paper placemats.
BLT Fish/Fish Shack, 21 W. 17th St., 212-691-8888, bltfish.com. BLT Fish open 5:30 to 11 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 5:30 to 11 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Fish Shack open 11:45 to 2:30 p.m., 5:30 to 11 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 11:45 to 2:30 p.m., 5:30 to 11:30 p.m. Friday; 5:30 to 11:30 Saturday; 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday. Entrees: $21-$48 ($12-$30 Fish Shack).
The Modern at the
Museum of Modern Art
Museum restaurants have been a hot ticket nationwide, but the most popular is The Modern, which Danny Meyer (Gramercy Tavern, Blue Smoke, Union Square Café) recently reworked into two eateries, one more casual and one fine dining.
Frosted glass separates them, but sitting at the white marble bar is more fun, so you can turn around and steal glances at the folks in the staid dining room. They get the gorgeous garden views, but you get to people-
watch as folks are turned away. Only so many diners each day get to sample chef Gabriel Kreuther’s French- styled
American fare, such as bacon-
wrapped langoustines, steak tartare topped with a quail egg and potato escargot gâteau. The wine list is pricey, but filled with dream drinks.
The Modern at MoMA, 9 W. 53rd St., 212-333-1220, moma.org/visit_moma/restaurants.html. Bar room open 11:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday; 11:30 a.m. 10:30 p.m. Sunday. Dining room open noon to 2:15 p.m., 5:30 to 11 p.m. Monday-Thursday; noon to 2:15 p.m., 5: 30 to 11:30 p.m. Friday; 5:30 to 11:30 p.m. Saturday. Entrees: $17-$46.
Per Se
If you have the choice between dining here or at Thomas Keller’s other famous place, The French Laundry, there’s simply no question: a one-way ticket to Yountville, Calif., please. But this Time Warner Center location is always booked; it takes about two months to get in.
Try lunch on Fridays or dinner at 9:30 p.m. during the week.
Per Se is tiny, the gray-on-
brown dining room duller than an actuarial convention (great view of Central Park, though), and it feels like as though genuflecting would not be out of line upon entering. Hello! Can we talk? I mean, can we laugh and make slurping noises and enjoy ourselves, please?
However, this is still the best way on the East Coast to get your mouth on a whimsically superior Keller meal that will make your palate glad to be alive: The Laundry’s legendary “oysters and pearls” of tapioca, oyster and sevruga caviar are rich and supple, and foie gras au torchon (for a $25 supplement to a $175 prix fixe meal) and Kobe beef topped with crispy bone marrow just melt. Finish with a “Snickers bar” of milk chocolate creméux with salted caramel glacage and Spanish peanut nougatine and nougat ice cream. Egads.
Per Se, 10 Columbus Circle, 212-823-9335. Open 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday; 5:30 to 10 p.m. daily. Nine-course chef’s tasting menu, $175.
Travel editor Kyle Wagner can be reached at 303-820-1599 or travel@denverpost.com.
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A few NYC hotels worth checking into
Finding the right hotel in New York these days can be as frustrating as flagging down a cab. And what if you get stuck with a bad one? Here are a few we checked out:
If you’re traveling
on business …
The DoubleTree Metropolitan Hotel in Midtown is fresh off a big remodel, putting in those amenities business travelers have come to expect: flat-screen TVs, high-speed Internet, multiple phones, a nice, long desk set-up.
But they didn’t touch the curvaceous Art Deco exterior, which made it an outcast when it opened in 1961 but now makes it pretty groovy. And they only improved the icing on its seafoam-blue cake: the patio on top that makes it one of the less than a handful of hotels with breathtaking Manhattan views for corporate gatherings or wedding receptions.
And don’t forget that free, just-baked cookie when you check in.
The DoubleTree Metropolitan Hotel, 569 Lexington Ave., 212-752-7000. Rates: $250 and up.
If money is no object …
Even people who think once you’ve seen one fancy hotel, you’ve seen them all are impressed by The St. Regis. How could you not be? The place is stunning, from its Louis XVI furniture to its crystal chandeliers. The bathrooms are marble, the walls covered in silk, and even if you stop in just to ogle and drool, the staff will act as if you’re the queen of England. Love that.
Of course, if you want to do anything more long-term, like stay in this 1904 Beaux Arts building, it’s going to cost you. Be sure to stop by the King Cole Bar for a snifter and a stare at the Maxfield Parrish painting, and remember that Tiffany & Co. is just a hop-skip away.
The St. Regis, 2 E. 55th St., 800-325-3589. Rates: $710 and up.
If money is an object …
The new Hotel QT is a cutie, all right, and so are the Zen-sparse rooms, which barely fit you, a king-sized bed and your iPod. Still, college kids backpacking across the country stay here when they hit the Big Apple, and it’s comforting to know that flat-screen TVs are required in the new-world-order hostels these days.
The funky, open swimming pool is inviting, as is the fact that this hotel sits right on Times Square, and continental breakfast is included.
Hotel QT, 125 W. 45th St., 212-354-2323. Rates: $150 and up.
If getting a good night’s sleep is crucial …
The Benjamin is so serious about your rest that its “sleep concierge” guarantees it. If you don’t sleep as well as you do at home, you get a free night’s stay.
To ensure that this doesn’t happen, this Affinia Hospitality-owned Midtown hotel offers its own Benjamin bed specially designed for the hotel by Serta, Frette sheets and an 11-pillow menu, from the standard down model to an anti-snore version and the Swedish Memory pillow, which retails for $175, was designed by NASA and reacts to body temperature to contour to the head and neck.
In addition, the hotel’s windows have been double-glazed with argon gas between the panes to block out noise, and the bathroom scented with lavender to induce sleep. White- noise machines are available in all rooms. Nighty-night.
The Benjamin, 125 E. 50th St., 888-423-6526, thebenjamin.com Rates: $279 and up.
-Kyle Wagner
