The 20 Best New NYC Restaurants of 2013

Neighborhood: East Village Address and phone: 157 2nd Ave (212-539-1900) Website: aldernyc.com When Wylie Dufresne announced he was opening his first new restaurant in 10 years, the general consensus was that it would be a Big F#*!ing Deal. The good news is not just that everyone's suspicions were correct, but that Alder might even be better than his original joint. Where wd~50 blows minds with science, Alder uses those techniques to win hearts with a more casual, thinking-caps-off menu. It’s easy to love a place that’s making pigs in a blanket (even if they are made with compressed hot dog buns and Chinese sausage); it’s even easier when you dive into the excellent drinks menu by wd~50 bar manager Kevin Denton, designed for drinkability without sacrificing Dufresne’s signature element of surprise. Even the truly conceptual dishes at Alder (rye pasta with shaved pastrami is the world’s most complicated deli sandwich) can be inhaled mindlessly and still be 100% enjoyable; whatever level you’re on when you come to it, Alder’s got you covered. Order this: Pigs in a blanket; fish and chips; purple pub cheese, with chips made of compressed Martin's potato rolls; root-beer pudding

Neighborhood: Greenwich Village Address and phone: 181 Thompson St (212-933-0707) Website: carbonenewyork.com Carbone was on the tip of everyone's tongue this year, and not always for good reasons. Critics were split on the blockbuster opening from Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi, with some finding the '50s-era red-sauce kitsch irresistible, and others accusing it of being the worst type of theme-park dining. The restaurant also became a new posterchild for the "how much money can we spend on dinner before we are literally taking away from the futures of our children?" debate. And yes: Carbone is crazy expensive ($54 veal parm is like a New York Post wet dream), and the staging of the place—from the Zac Posen-costumed waiters to the new-school mobster art—leaves little to the imagination. But let us not forget that almost all red sauce in New York, whether it's at Bamonte's or on Arthur Avenue, is pricey and a little gaudy. By cranking the caricature up to 11 and improving the old warhorse dishes considerably—baked clams that are bright rather than sodden, rigatoni alla vodka that's actually cooked al dente—Team Torrisi has successfully created one of New York's best places to eat when somebody else is footing the bill. If anyone at your table isn't grinning when the dessert cart rolls around, send them home early with a wet blanket.—Chris Schonberger Order this: Baked clams; Caesar alla ZZ; spicy rigatoni vodka; zuppa de pesce; creamed escarole; veal parmesan; whatever you want to take an Instagram photo of on the dessert cart

Neighborhood: Soho Address and phone: 47 E Houston St (212-219-7693) Website: estelanyc.com To say that Estela was the Yeezus of 2013 restaurant openings might be taking rap metaphors just a bit too far (and that's saying a lot for us). But one core principle that they do hold in common is this: Sometimes, it's good to get a little weird. Kanye did so by ejaculating on a Hamptons couch and performing with a diamond-studded Givenchy mask. At Estela, chef Ignacio Mattos—last seen cooking his "modern primitive" brand of cooking at Isa in Williamsburg—takes a more subtle approach to shaking things up, sneaking in weird ingredients and textures and ideas without ever losing the essential appeal of the food itself. >His beef tartare, a dish as common as bone marrow these days, is laced with fish sauce and crunchy sunchokes; ricotta dumplings, which sound equally as pedestrian on the menu, are topped with thin discs of mushrooms that infuse earthy bass notes into the fluffy pasta. There's a reason Estela has been resoundingly lauded by cognoscenti types who are chomping at the bit to find a chef doing something new. But the best part is, you don't need a Ph.D in food dorkery to enjoy this stuff. The scene is red-hot, the drinks are good, and Mattos strikes just the right balancing act between strange and appealing.—Chris Schonberger Order this: Burrata with salsa verde and charred bread; beef tartare with sunchoke; egg with butter beans, cured tuna, and harissa; ricotta dumplings with pecorino and mushrooms; steak with potato, leeks, taleggio, and anchovy

Neighborhood: Chelsea Address and phone: 75 Ninth Ave, in Chelsea Market (212-256-0343) Website: lostacos1.com If any of your friends are Los Angeles natives who constantly complain that there are no decent tacos in NYC, this place will shut them up quick-fast. When you walk up to the counter and spot a woman mixing masa and pressing tortillas in an iron press, and a man next to her slicing glorious marinated pork from a rotating spit, you immediately know you're in good hands. It makes sense that the three guys behind the operation hail from California and Tijuana, because the corn tortillas are thick, yet delicate and texturally complex. The adobada pork (what they call al pastor) is properly fatty, and the flavor is slightly spicy, smoky, and deep. Order an excellent “especial” deep-fried quesadilla if you must (actually, you must), but all we're saying is this place is called Los TACOS No. 1 for a reason.—Erin Mosbaugh Order this: Pork adobada tacos, carne asada tacos, fried "especial" quesadilla, horchata

Neighborhood: Harlem Address and phone: 210 W 118th St (212-866-1262) Website: thececilharlem.com Without any of the look-at-me fuss of forever-hyped Red Rooster, the Cecil has schooled Marcus Samuelsson twice over on how to be a Harlem restaurant, representing its neighborhood while also progressing the conversation about what African-American cuisine is and can be. There’s no down-home chicken and waffles here—instead, what you get is a tour of the world, with a focus on Asia and India, filtered through the flavors of the African diaspora. The menu can seem scattered, until you relax and accept that a single dish might include collard greens, the Northern African spice blend harissa, and Chinese sausage, and it'll all make sense on the plate. Trust the chef, and kick back in a sleek, comfortable room with low-slung banquettes and dark wood accents that’s five times larger than any you'll find farther downtown.—Regan Hofmann Order this: Deviled duck eggs; feizoada, the Brazilian everything-but-the-kitchen-sink bean-and-pork stew classed up with oxtail and merguez; roasted poussin yassa with coconut sticky rice; pecan sticky buns

Neighborhood: East Village Address and phone: 90 3rd Ave (212-390-8685) Website: handynasty.net On paper, a Friday night at Han Dynasty sounds like a typical East Village scene: tiny restaurant, packed to the gills, with a line of determined diners jostling for elbow room at the entrance. The difference is, this isn't the newest small plates, chef-driven restaurant—it's a no-nonsense Szechuan spot and the first New York outpost of Han Chiang's mini Philly empire. Turns out, that hour-and-a-half wait is totally worth it. Chiang doesn't bash you over the head with mouth-numbing spice but instead delicately weaves it into dishes built with expertly prepared ingredients. Chilled, surprisingly crisp cucumbers get a sweet, oily jolt of spice, while the dan dan noodles have whispers of heat amid the onslaught of meat. Other preparations are less restrained, like the dry fried pork, which is slivered, salted, and deep-fried four or five times before arriving on a bed of bell pepper and dried chiles. But that shouldn't be a concern—after all, you're here for the chile rush and, as the city hits Szechuan saturation, Han Dynasty delivers.—Elyse Inamine Order this: Spicy crispy cucumber; dan dan noodles; Dry Fry Style pork

Neighborhood: Long Island City, Queens Address and phone: 43-15 Crescent St (718-786-9060) Website: -- The M. Wells crew are the kings of DGAF cooking in New York City, a fact that often overshadows a much more important one: These guys know really what they're doing in the kitchen. By stripping away much of the over-the-top weirdness of their previous ventures (that bone-in burger aside), M. Wells Steakhouse delivers pure, gluttonous pleasure: massive steaks charred to a still-red-inside crisp over a wood-fired grill in the open kitchen; a cake cart that is wheeled over tableside to show off its multilayered delights; butter and cheese and bone marrow everywhere. While the restaurant looks and acts like a straight-up steakhouse—raw-bar starters, meats, long list of sides—Hugue Dufour and Co. have sneakily flipped the script by tucking traditional Eastern Canadian dishes into the menu and reworking staples (like the wedge salad) with just enough of their signature acid-trip genius to keep the fans happy.—Regan Hofmann Order this: French onion and bone marrow soup; solomon gundy (potato waffles topped with crème fraiche, pickled herring, and trout roe); chateaubriand for two; pommes aligot (potato puree blended with so much cheese you could bounce a quarter off them); foie-gras gnocchi

Neighborhood: West Village Address and phone: 23 Commerce St (212-924-2212) Website: sushinakazawa.com This list is not ranked, because comparing a down-home BBQ joint to a fine-dining temple has a distinct rocking chair feel to it. But we'll say this: If we had to crown the single best new restaurant of the year, Sushi Nakazawa would be the undisputed champ. The mythology reads like a food-dork wet dream: Daisuke Nakazawa, known to the world as the struggling apprentice from Jiro Dreams of Sushi, defected to Seattle to pursue his own solo sushi career, before finally being lured to New York by an enterprising restaurateur who had seen the film and tracked him down on Facebook. But the reality even better: What you get to witness by snagging a seat at the 10-person counter—now nearly impossible since the New York Times dropped its four-star review (sad face emoji)—is a chef who has managed to internalize the lessons of a master without losing his own point of view. So while the fundamentals are unimpeachable—lightly vinegared rice that falls apart in your mouth, immaculate ingredients, a sixth sense for known exactly when each type of fish is at its peak—there's personality infused into every bite, from triggerfish topped with its own liver, to Atlantic sockeye salmon smoked on the roof. Monastic sushi experiences are all well and good, but with the quality of the food not in question, it's refreshing (and contagious) to find a place where the guy behind the counter looks like he's having the time of his life.—Chris Schonberger Order this: Go for the 20-course omakase ( $150) and sit at the counter—it's the only way. The sake pairings, while not strictly necessary, are well-chosen and a steal at $40.

Neighborhood: Midtown West Address and phone: 41 W 57th St (212-465-2400) Website: betony-nyc.com When an evening begins with one of New York’s best pisco sours and foie-gras bonbons that resemble nut-encrusted chocolate truffles, hopes are high for the rest of the meal. At bi-level Betony, set in what was once the ill-fated caviar haunt Brasserie Pushkin, those dreams never get crushed. Bryce Shuman, former executive sous chef of Eleven Madison Park, turns out dishes that match essential appeal with refined technique—gnocchi bright with corn, short rib cooked sous-vide in dry-aged beef fat and charred on a Yakitori grill, and a brillian salad of melding mixed grains like barley and bulgur with lemon vinaigrette and labne. The affable Shuman often makes dining room cameos, but even in his absence there’s hospitable general manager Eamon Rockey (formerly of Aska and Atera), a sort of young Danny Meyer type who ensures guests never have to ask for anything—except a nightcap of homemade Irish cream that puts Baileys to shame.—Alia Akkam Order this: Foie-gras bonbons with cashew and black pepper; grain salad with labne and sprouts; grilled short rib romaine and sweetbreads

Neighborhood: Hell’s Kitchen Address and phone: 600 11th Ave, in Gotham Market West (212-582-7942) Website: ivanramen.com The flavors of the smoked whitefish donburi at Ivan Ramen Slurp Shop might catch you off-guard. The dish, which features rice topped with whitefish, salty orbs of salmon roe, sweet soy dashi, cucumber, and scallion, is both unmistakably Jewish in its flavors, and unmistakably Japanese in its presentation and preparation. But that is, at its heart, what Ivan Ramen is all about. Chef and owner Ivan Orkin, a Jew from Long Island, became an obsessive Japanophile in his youth. He proceeded to open two highly respected ramen shops in Tokyo, then launched his first stateside operation this year in Gotham Market West, a fantastic new food-nerd market in Hell’s Kitchen. His shio (salt-flavored) ramen is a far cry from the muddied served at so many ramen shops in NYC. The broth is pure, allowing the nuances of the soup shine through. The pork chashu is milky and tender, and the rye noodles—made especially for Orkin at Sun Noodle in New Jersey—strike the perfect combination of chew and give. With Orkin opening a stand-alone shop in the LES any day now, 2014 could be the year of Ivan Ramen.—Erin Mosbaugh Order this: Classic shio ramen; smoked whitefish donburi; roasted garlic mazemen; curry rice with the addition of an egg

Neighborhood: Nolita Address and phone: 7 Spring St (646-370-6650) Website: uncleboons.com Of all of the pedigreed Southeast Asian restaurants that have gained a foothold in NYC in recent year, none have straddled the divide between credible Thai cooking and the way people in New York like to eat in 2013 as seamlessly as Uncle Boons. That is to say, the place is cool in that casual yet refined way that the hottest downtown restaurants are—there's no forced hole-in-the-all aesthetic here, nor any attempt to make the dining room feel like a ramshackle tent in a Chiang Mai market. Instead, you'll find stellar craft-beer taps behind the bar (when was the last time you saw that at a Thai restaurant?), and exposed brick walls lined with funky, mismatched decorations. The result of all this is a more of a rarity than it should be—basically, the type of place where you can impress a scenester without having to submit yourself to New Nordic small plates or massaged kale salads. The kitchen shows its heart in its food, which includes many dishes that Ann Redding—who runs the place with her husband, and fellow Per Se alum, Matt Danzer—grew up with in the Ubon province of Thailand. Highlights include khao soi kaa kai—a coconut milk-based chicken curry brightened with mustard greens and crunchy egg noodles—and almost anything coming off the charcoal grill (especially baby octopus and head-on shrimp).—Chris Schonberger Order this: Khao soi kaa kai, grilled Issan pork and rice sour sausage, grilled baby octopus, muu tod

Neighborhood: Chinatown Address and phone: 22 Orchard St (212-219-8785) Website: fungtu.com We're going to come right out and say it: No restaurant has done as much to move Chinese cooking forward this year as Fung Tu has done in the month it's been open. It's neither a) Pretending to discover a new region of China, b) Adopting the usual tropes of Asian-fusion joints, or c) Putting on the over-the-top luxury show of high-priced Chinatown joints—there's not a lobster in sight here, and we're okay with it. The restaurant uses Chinese flavors and ingredients in artful, surprising combinations that feel contemporary even when they look old-school, like in the stir-fried bean sprouts with squid. Other dishes are beautiful in the au courant lots-of-white-space, geometric-dabs-of-sauce style, like the row of thinly sliced deep red beets speckled with bright green chive and century-egg purée. And in case you weren't impressed enough already, all the food is matched with a smart, small list of primarily Old World wines in a way you didn't know was possible (somebody give sommelier Jason Wagner a Nobel Prize).—Regan Hofmann Order this: Smoked, fried, duck-stuffed dates; roasted beets with century egg; smoked chicken and cilantro salad with masa scallion pancake; stir-fried soybean sprouts with squid and bacon

Neighborhood: Greenpoint, Brooklyn Address and phone: 615 Manhattan Ave (718-389-6034) Website: luksusnyc.com Slide back the white doors at the back of Greenpoint beer bar Törst and you'll find 20 people. Eighteen are ripping into warm, crusty bread and cutting into tender slabs of squab; the other two are Daniel Burns and his sous-chef, quietly cooking everything to order in a kitchen the size of a Manhattan closet. Working precisely and purposefully here at Luksus, Burns crafts one hell of a tasting menu (with exceptional beer pairings, naturally). One night he scatters thin rye shards over lightly seasoned rock shrimp, a tasty nod to the classic Scandinavian smørrebrød; another, he pours a French press brimming with peppery, warming squash broth over shavings of squash and raw chestnuts. Much like the space itself, there's no waste or anything extraneous. It's just Burns, his food, and his digs—and that's just how we like it.—Elyse Inamine Order this: Tasting menu is $95 per person with optional beer parings for $45 per person (the non-alcoholic pairings are $25 per person)

Neighborhood: Red Hook, Brooklyn Address and phone: 454 Van Brunt St (347-294-4644) Website: hometownbarbque.com NYC's BBQ game has been on the come up over the past couple years with the emergence of serious meat palaces like Mighty Quinn's, BrisketTown, and Fort Reno. While Mighty Quinn's continues to live up to its mid-year form with excellent brisket and that ridiculously primal beef rib, no one delivers the whole package as well as Hometown. Barbecue is food that requires some elbow room, and this massive, American flag-draped Red Hook space sets the scene for the type of rollicking Texas roadhouse vibe that's so hard to bottle. Go on a Friday or Saturday night to catch live country-blue bands on stage while you prepare to do battle with a platter full of glistening meats. The moist brisket and on-the-bone short rib both take their inspiration from the Lone Star State—pitmaster Bill Durney studied under Wayne Mueller of the legendary Louie Mueller Barbecue in Taylor, TX, and he's clearly picked up some tricks. But Durney's a Brooklyn boy at heart, and he smartly refracts the BBQ tradition through the lens of the borough's diverse food culture, filling out the menu with less expected items like lamb-belly bánh mì and smoked jerk chicken. Bring a crew to try it all, but don't miss the awesome baby-back ribs, which are firm and smoky down to the bone.—Chris Schonberger Order this: Brisket (moist), baby-back ribs, Texas-style short rib, cornbread, whiskey sour pickles, creamy mac and cheese

Neighborhood: TriBeCa Address and phone: 157 Duane St (212-587-1089) Website: kheyo.com Dinner at this Marc Forgione restaurant starts not with bread and butter, but rather a complimentary basket of fragrant sticky rice, which you should eat with your hands and dip in the accompanying chili-garlic sauce and smoked eggplant paste. At this point, your mouth will already be pleasantly on fire and you will be primed to tackle chef Soulayphet Schwader’s Laotian-inspired menu. Start with the grilled quail, sticky with a gingery glaze and served on a skewer like a man burned at the stake. Get the papaya salad, too, because Schwader’s version is particularly fresh and bright, along with an order of crunchy coconut rice balls with kaffir lime-laced sausage, drizzled with honey sambal while still hot from the fryer. At this point, it would be unwise to abstain from the delicate whole-grilled bass, served with fresh herbs, palm sugar vinaigrette, and peanut sauce. You will be stuffed, sure—but whatever you do, do not leave without extracting the delicate meat from the fish’s cheeks.—Erin Mosbaugh Order this: Crunchy coconut rice, smashed green papaya salad, bamboo grilled ginger quail, pork curry noodles, whole grilled black bass

Neighborhood: Prospect Heights Address and phone: 295 Flatbush Ave (718-230-0427) Website: marcosbrooklyn.com This year, Brooklyn sweethearts Andrew Feinberg and Francine Stephens moved their pizzeria, Franny's, down Flatbush Avenue and opened Italian trattoria Marco's in its place. While Franny’s is still adored by pretty much everyone in the neighborhood—and the rest of the city, for that matter—Marco’s feels like the ingredient-focused pizzeria’s older, more mature sibling. Chef Danny Amend, who spent six years at Franny’s and previously worked at Per Se, helms the kitchen. It is there that he cooks wood-grilled lamb chops unlike any you’ve tasted before—charred, juicy, and rustic. Plump Maine oysters are similarly cooked in the wood-fired oven, only this time just for a second, so that they pick up a whisper of smoke. And then there is the pasta, which is right up there with anything Michael White is serving across the river. The tagliatelle, tossed with strands of prosciutto, will make any destination diners very angry they aren’t residents of Prospect Heights.—Erin Mosbaugh Order this: Wood-grilled oysters, spiedino alla Romana, tagliatelle with prosciutto, chestnut agnolotti, wood-grilled lamb chops

Neighborhood: Flatiron Address and phone: 35 E 18th (212-475-5829) Website: abchome.com/abc-cocina The Latin offshoot of Jean-Georges Vongerichten's famed ABC Kitchen is a reminder of why JGV has made a career out of convincing diners that fusion doesn't have to be a bad word. Chef Dan Kluger and company unleash their fine-dining training on familiar Latin dishes such as guacamole and queso fundido, somehow managing to make you feel as if you're tasting them for the first time. Take the tacos: Maiitake mushroom and kale in a tortilla might make you think about going back into the kitchen to give the cooks a slap, until you taste it and recognize its deeply savory powers. Just as impressive are the fish tacos—light and perfectly fried—and the fatty pork balanced by strips of apple. What Kluger does best is create unexpected pairings, like crunchy shrimp with banana and almond, or raw shaved fluke with puffed rice, and find ways to use in-season ingredients at their peak. The only drawback to this hyperseasonal approach? Diners have to wait until summer for the crack-like take on Mexican street corn, worth snorting if possible, to reappear on the menu.—Khushbu Shah Order this: Mushroom and kale tacos; shrimp "agua diablo"; raw shaved fluke; queso fundido; pork tacos with apple and cashews; warm vanilla fritters with Mexican chocolate; basil-jalapeño margarita

Neighborhood: Hell's Kitchen Address and phone: 480 Ninth Ave (212-564-1822)  Website: larbubol.com Ninth Avenue has always had a stash of serviceable Thai restaurants, but it's finally found its crown jewel in Larb Udol, which keeps pace with NYC's evolving palate for properly fiery, funky Isan cuisine (see also: Uncle Boons, Pok Pok NY, Somtum, Der). There's no sticky-sweet pad thai and oily red curries here; instead, Ratchanee Sumpatboon tackles real-deal specialties found in Northeastern Thailand along the Laotian border. Namesake dishes tend to be a good bet, and the larb menu comes through with several successful takes on the crispy, spicy ground meat salad, including one with shredded catfish and another with fatty pork. The other star of Isan cooking—som tum, a fiery green papaya salad—also shows up in around half a dozen variations. All of them are excellent, particularly the funky and briny poo plaza, dosed with a heaping pile of pickled fish and salt-preserved crab. Be sure to grab a friend (for a legitimate excuse to order half the menu) and request plenty of the tender sticky rice to mop up every last bite.—Khushbu Shah Order this: Yum moo krob; pla dook (catfish) larb; moo krob (pork) larb; som tum ooo plara (preserved crab and pickled fish green papaya salad); som tum kort muar (pork sausage and pickled cabbage green papaya salad); tom zabb

Neighborhood: Ridgewood, Brooklyn Address and phone: 46-63 Metropolitan Ave (718-386-4282) Website: bunkervietnamese.com Chef with top-shelf experience? Check. Skipping out on haute cuisine in favor of cooking street food? Check. A location that raises a few Manhattanite eyebrows? Trifecta! In 2013, those ideas are hardly groundbreaking. The food world has cycled through several hot-for-a-minute regional flavors and, at times, suffered from overly intellectualized ideas of "elevating" simple dishes. But at Bun-Ker, a DIY Vietnamese restaurant in a neighborhood (Ridgewood, Queens) that food nerds have yet to colonize, Jimmy Tu (formerly of Eleven Madison Park) manages to capture the zeitgeist—ingredient-driven cooking, hipster-chic decor, random locale—without even trying to. Tu, who mans the kitchen with his brother, Jacky, shadowed street carts in his parents native Vietnam before opening Bun-Ker. He hired buddy Roy Zapanta to manage the inviting, familial space—if you want water or utensils, you can fetch them yourself, and there's a washer and dryer in the bathroom. The result is a haphazard vibe you'd except from guys who skate together. And it's awesome. The bánh xè is exceptional, so share it to quell the hunger of your journey (30 minutes from Union Square), then follow with an order suon noung xa, one of the city's best pork dishes.—Nick Schonberger Order this: Saigon special banh mi; suon noung xa; bánh xè; pho ga; crab spring rolls

Neighborhood: East Village Address and phone: 198 Avenue A (646-682-9529) Website: empirebiscuit.com This winter, Empire Biscuit wasted no time in claiming its place amongst New York's lineup of kick-ass single-item restaurants—in fact, demand was so crazy on day one that it was forced to close to regroup. Now, the 24-hour biscuit emporium has hit its stride, providing a beacon of hope for anyone suffering 4am drunchies and craving a warm, flaky biscuit sandwiching a Scotch egg. New Orleans native Karl Wilder is the mastermind behind the menu, loaded with seasonal and house-made jams, butters, and spreads (think oxtail-and-brown sugar jam, and "french toast" butter) alongside the essential Southern breakfast classic: biscuits with gravy. Southern-style fare like this has become a cliche of NYC's hipsterish dining scene, but Empire Biscuit brings something undeniable to the table with its cheekily named and consistently delicious biscuit sandwiches like "The Fancy Pants," made with foie-gras butter and preserved lemon-cabbage jam. Hate on that if you must, but it'll be your loss.—Khushbu Shah Order this: Scotch egg biscuit sandwich; spiced fried chicken biscuit sandwich; banana ceam pie sandwich; the Fancy Pants; Empire Cola