8 New Restaurants You Need To Visit Right Now

Nicole Franzen / Sauvage

Summer sixteen is in full swing (see: heat dome) and even though that can make dining al fresco more trouble than it’s worth, so many great restaurants have opened over the last several weeks that it’s just impossible to stay home. So put on your most breathable summer fabrics and pay a visit to these incredible new spots, especially before the seasonal menus switch to fall.

Evan Sung / Olmsted

Olmsted: Greg Baxtrom puts a big emphasis on local ingredients (a habit learned from his days at Blue HIll, no doubt) on his menu at Olmsted, the conscientious and affordable Prospect Heights restaurant with a chef’s counter, seating for 50, and a dine-in garden in the back. Pete Wells reviewed the restaurant recently and gave it two stars, which predictably sent calls for reservations through the roof, but so it goes. What to get: the watermelon sushi, scallops, and guinea hen with ramps and morels.

Atoboy: Junghyun Park takes banchan — the multitude of small dishes served in Korean cuisine alongside rice — and turns it into a refined tasting menu experience (three dishes per guest for $36). Chef Park was previously in the kitchen at the two Michelin-starred Jungsik. Not to be confused with Attaboy in the LES, a speakeasy in the Milk & Honey family.

Paowalla

Paowalla: Floyd Cardoz, formerly of the acclaimed Danny Meyer restaurant Tabla, has finally opened his own place in New York City in the form of Paowalla, a seasonal restaurant that highlights the chef’s Indian heritage. The menu features small plates like chicken liver masala and roasted green chickpea chat, and large plates like pork ribs vindaloo and baby shrimp and squid with savian biryani and squid ink.

Autre Kyo Ya

Autre Kyo Ya: From the same team behind the impossible-to-get-into, Michelin-starred Kyo Ya, Autre Kyo Ya is a French-Japanese spinoff that’s more accessible and affordable. The chefs, Shuji Furukawa and Takashi Igarashi, previously worked at Kyo Ya, and chef Shuji learned his French techniques at culinary school in Japan, while Takashi honed his Japanese culinary techniques at Kajitsu, the Michelin-starred vegan restaurant that serves shojin cuisine, based on ancient Buddhist principles.

MIMI: The chef at this bold Greenwich Village bistro is Liz Johnson, a 25-year-old with a talent for infusing classic French cooking with creative modern touches. Her training includes stints at Noma, Toro, and Grace, and the kitchen staff is just three people: Johnson, her fiancé, and one other cook. The menu can change daily, depending on what’s available and what Johnson is in the mood to cook, which is a very good thing.

Corry Arnold / Le Coucou

Le Coucou: Chicago-born chef Daniel Rose began his cooking career in Lyon, first training at the Institut Paul Bocuse, and then moving on to Paris, where he opened two restaurants. Le Coucou, a Stephen Starr restaurant, is Rose’s first stateside project, and his menu is as elegantly French as it gets. Never have the words “hors d’oeuvres” had so much meaning.

Nicole Franzen / Sauvage

Sauvage: From the same team that brought you oyster haven Maison Premiere, Sauvage in Greenpoint is a seafood-driven French joint that relishes in food that tastes earthy and wild. On the menu: lobster with blood sauce, leek terrine, and pig head confit (for two).

Seabird: The beachy vibe at Seabird, from Kenichi and Keiko Tajima of Mountain Bird, is ideal for summer, and you’ll feel like a spoiled rich kid on vacation with your jet-setting parents as you tuck into the lobster roll Thermidor, crispy fish sandwich, and the decadent piles of shellfish.