Bryan Kim
Editorial Lead, NYC
Bryan joined The Infatuation in 2016. By his own estimate, he’s been to more NYC restaurants than everyone but the health inspector.
NYCGuide
NYC’s Best New Restaurants Of 2024
All the spots we can’t stop talking about.
photo credit: Kate Previte
A giant hot dog landed in Times Square this year. Three top pizza shops opened sequels within a one-mile radius in downtown Manhattan. We tracked over 600 new restaurant openings and visited around 250 of them, many multiple times. Five prominently featured dry-aged fish, six were bars that also sold books, and at least seven ought to be reported for the irresponsible use of caviar. Around 75 of them made it to our Hit List. A few landed on our guide to NYC's 25 top-rated restaurants.
Whittling down this list of our favorites involved pitching to colleagues, revisiting several spots, endless debating, and finally, settling on a dozen that we know we'll return to again and again. Each brings something exciting to New York: whether marinated raw crab from Korea or pasta from Campania, a shrimp cocktail so snappy it practically bites back, or a dining room so hospitable you never want to leave.
What Our Ratings Mean
Learn more
NONE
1-5
6s
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9s
No rating: This is a restaurant we want to re-visit before rating, or it’s a coffee shop, bar, or dessert shop. We only rate spots where you can eat a full meal.
THE SPOTS
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In a sea of new seafood restaurants, this elegant wine bar stands out.
THE MOMENT WE KNEW WE LOVED IT
The Ice Box Plus arrived, sparkling and glistening like a tray of jewels retrieved from a shipwreck.
A PERFECT ORDER FOR A SPONTANEOUS NIGHT OUT
A bottle of white, shrimp cocktail, the regular Ice Box, pull-apart sesame brioche with butter, stuffed squid, and an ice cream sandwich.
GO IF YOU LIKE…
Chilled wine, white marble, and extremely snappy shrimp.
$$$$
Giant vats of melting pork parts are the main event at this taqueria specializing in carnitas.
THE MOMENT WE KNEW WE LOVED IT
Deciding that the last bite of a trompa taco was more important than saving our pants from dripping pork fat.
A PERFECT ORDER FOR A SUNDAY HANGOVER BRUNCH
One surtida taco, one trompa, one cuero, and one lengua.
GO IF YOU LIKE…
Pork. And textural variety in every mouthful.
$$$$
A French bistro revival where picking just three courses feels almost impossible.
THE MOMENT WE KNEW WE LOVED IT
Two bottles of wine and four hours in, our server looked as sad as we did when the host told her he really needed the table back.
A PERFECT ORDER FOR A SPECIAL OCCASION DOUBLE DATE
The tête de veau ravigote, oeuf en gelée, frogs legs persillade, and the pommes souflées, which are fancy chips with caviar. Make sure the duck magret is one of your mains, and the île flottante is among your desserts.
GO IF YOU LIKE…
Decadent French food and the idea of smoking indoors.
$$$$
The pan-Indian food strikes a balance between comfort and pizzazz at this big-budget, celebrity-chef spot.
THE MOMENT WE KNEW WE LOVED IT
When the Daal Bungalow, listed at the bottom of the menu alongside steamed basmati rice, established itself as a garlicky highlight, heavy on the butter.
A PERFECT ORDER TO RESTORE YOUR FAITH IN FLASHY DOWNTOWN SPOTS
Daal Bungalow, anarkali chicken, paneer chandni, Rajasthani pulled lamb, chicken biryani.
GO IF YOU LIKE…
Overstated opulence and butter-infused food that barely has to try to grab your attention.
$$$$
A labor of love, where the food is so good someone might spontaneously jump up to bang out a tune at the piano.
THE MOMENT WE KNEW WE LOVED IT
When our fork cut a fluffy, satisfying swath through the fruit-topped masa pancake.
A PERFECT ORDER FOR WEEKDAY BRUNCH
Fried tortilla con huevo, a crisp ensalada “César,” and a masa pancake. On Wednesdays, add the kalacreme, a dulce de leche donut.
GO IF YOU LIKE…
Little restaurants with big personalities.
$$$$
More than a bar and less than a full-fledged restaurant, Eel Bar is where you should go for a long and winding snack parade.
THE MOMENT WE KNEW WE LOVED IT
When even the dessert was drenched in olive oil.
A PERFECT ORDER FOR A THURSDAY NIGHT SOIRÉE
The Filthy Martini, gildas, potato salad, fried mussels (two orders), black rice if they have it, and rainbow trout pil pil. Maybe a burger and a bottle of wine if you’re feeling frisky. And the tarta san marcos for dessert.
GO IF YOU LIKE
Aioli. Or Cervo’s, Hart’s, and The Fly—they’re all from the same team.
$$$$
At this lively Korean restaurant, raw, soy-marinated crab—with a sweetness like ocean candy—is the star.
THE MOMENT WE KNEW WE LOVED IT
When we secured our paper bibs printed with crabs clutching beer and soju in their claws.
A PERFECT ORDER FOR WHEN THE GROUP GETS OUT OF THE GROUP CHAT
The $129 Gunsan Platter with two premium Gunsan crabs flown in from Korea, red and white shrimp, and abalone, plus rice and seaweed wraps. If your crew can eat, add the abalone congee to warm you up, or the chewy jokbal and memil noodles.
GO IF YOU LIKE…
Wearing plastic gloves that deter you from touching your phone, gold chopsticks, and stylishly mismatched ceramic sake cups.
$$$$
An all-day secret garden of a cafe, with a dedicated forager on contract.
THE MOMENT WE KNEW WE LOVED IT
When a bowl of lightly seared spring peas, squeaky fresh cheese, and lovage restored our faith in small plate restaurants.
A PERFECT ORDER FOR LUNCH AFTER THE BROOKLYN MUSEUM
The menu changes seasonally, but order any vegetables that sound good, every bread product available, and at least one beautifully prepared meat. Then come back for the breakfast sandwich.
GO IF YOU LIKE…
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This place is perfect at all hours of the day.
$$$$
A Campania-themed restaurant with pastas so unique and elaborate that a trip to Italy becomes unnecessary.
THE MOMENT WE KNEW WE LOVED IT
When we took a bite of chilled spaghetti, followed by a sip of rosé the color of a Ferrari, and irrationally felt like we understood a region of Italy the size of Connecticut.
A PERFECT ORDER FOR DATE NIGHT WHEN YOU’D RATHER BE IN POSITANO
A crudo pizzette baked in an oven hauled in from Naples, followed by the chilled spaghetti with uni and raw red prawn, the candele in a slow-cooked ragu, and the pasta mista with a grab bag of random shapes.
GO IF YOU LIKE…
Taking a full tour of a menu with small-ish portions of obsessively engineered pastas you won’t find elsewhere.
$$$$
This food court stall is all about celebrating crab roe, a Shanghainese speciality.
THE MOMENT WE KNEW WE LOVED IT
Our first sip of the lovely, floral complimentary jujube tea.
A PERFECT ORDER TO CURE A CRABBY MOOD
Bring someone you love—or just someone who loves crab roe—to split the silky crab roe over noodles and the soft pork meatballs filled with salty roe.
GO IF YOU LIKE…
Eating an amazing meal off a plastic tray in a busy food court.
$$$$
Somewhere between a diner and your grandparents’ house, Kisa has unlimited banchan and a crowd that’s down for soju.
THE MOMENT WE KNEW WE LOVED IT
When our server brought our check along with quarters for the coffee vending machine, marking the first time we’ve received free money at a restaurant.
A PERFECT ORDER FOR YOUR $32 SET MEAL
The beef bulgogi. Wait, the pork. Yes, the gochujang-marinated pork speckled with char.
GO IF YOU LIKE…
’90s nostalgia and unpretentious Korean food priced to sell.
$$$$
The new kid in Chinatown has cinematic flair and some bright ideas, like guanciale in lobster sticky rice.
THE MOMENT WE KNEW WE LOVED IT
Our server instructed us to spread lap cheong jam inside the biscuit-like olive yaotiew. We did as we were told, again and again.
A PERFECT ORDER FOR CHINATOWN CIRCA 2024
Olive yaotiew, baby bok choy dragon salad, salt & pepper cuttlefish, lobster sticky rice, chili crab noodles.
GO IF YOU LIKE…
Novel Cantonese-inspired dishes that taste like they’ve been around since the beginning of time.
POWERED BY
Suggested Reading
Does caviar belong on mozzarella sticks, and other questions we asked ourselves this year.
We checked out these new restaurants—and loved them.
About Us
Molly Fitzpatrick
Senior Staff Writer, NYC
Molly is a writer and reporter from New Jersey who now lives in Queens. She is clinically incapable of shutting up about either place.
Willa Moore
Staff Writer, NYC
Willa was raised in Brooklyn and now lives in Brooklyn, which means her favorite bagel place hasn't changed since birth.
Will Hartman
Staff Writer, NYC
Will is passionate about bagels and being disappointed by The Mets. He has been writing for The Infatuation since 2023.
Sonal Shah
Senior Editor, NYC
A journalist since 2005, Sonal spent many years in India before returning to New York. She still prefers kebabs to hot dogs.