Best New Restaurants In NYC, Gem
We found 5 brand-new spots for you to try, including 19-year-old Flynn McGarry's restaurant
Gem
Flynn McGarry, who started his culinary career at age 11 with a pop-up in his parents house in the San Fernando Valley, is at the helm of this restaurant opening in the Lower East side. There are two spaces: the living room, which is open during the day as a cafe and coffee shop, and the dining room, which will host an 18 person dinner party most nights. There will be dishes like caviar tarts with caramelized sour cream and potatoes braised in yogurt and served with a mussel stock sauce and fried potato skins.
Rita
Mary Ellen Amato, who previously ran the kitchen at sandwich destination Court Street Grocers and put in time at now-closed Saltie, is behind this Spanish-inflected all day cafe. Located in Red Hook, the space is open during the day and serving salads featuring escarole and radish with sourdough crumbs and an anchovy vinaigrette. They also have a goat cheese and egg breakfast sandwich as well as a porridge made with grits, sweet potato, and chili-garlic mojo. Expect wines and small plates to join the lineup in the evenings once a liquor license goes through.
Basta
New York City's kosher restaurant scene typically doesn't draw attention from those who don't keep kosher. That's soon about to change as Raz Shabtai, who was previously at Nur, is offering up Middle Eastern kosher dishes in his new Murray Hill spot. The all-kosher menu features items like chraime, fish cooked in a piquant tomato sauce with chickpeas and fingerling potatoes, and a spinach and feta dish named after Jerusalem's famed market Machane Yehuda.
Clay Pot
Fan jiao, which literally translates to "crispy rice," is what everyone in the East Village is lining up for at this new St. Mark's spot. For now, Clay Pot's menu is simple, focusing on clay bowls filled with fire-cooked rice flavored with ginger, scallions and soy, which you can then top with a protein like baby shrimp, pork belly or Chinese sausage.
General Deb's
Kevin and Debbie Adey, the husband-and-wife team behind Michelin-star pasta restaurant Faro, are switching it up with Sichuan classics at their new spot in Bushwick. The two are translating their pasta and tortellini talents into noodles dishes like niu rou mian (Taiwanese beef noodle soup), pork wontons in chile oil and an anise-infused cow's-head broth.