I'm Donut? In Times Square is the first international location of a popular Japanese bakery chain—and their moist and fluffy brioche donuts made with kabocha squash are unlike any others we've tried. They've got the the airiness of a cruller, the chew of a mochi donut, and the crisp edges of a freshly fried funnel cake. The plump, soft specimens are immediately likable, and the store immediately has a line outside. Expect a long wait (it can take hours to order at the Tokyo locations), and prioritize the airy original donut, the earthy matcha cream, and maybe the PB&J donut for a more nostalgic treat.

Those gorgeous, swirly laminated pastries at Birdee—churro croissants, strawberry cheesecake danishes—tend to sell out early. But at this all-day cafe on the Williamsburg waterfront, it’s worth sticking around after 12 for their Italian dip lunch sandwich too: a delicious cross between a French dip and an Italian beef, with soft shredded meat, basil mayo, provolone, and a crisp giardiniera on a blistered bun. In the revamped Domino factory, the space leans a little corporate, but it’s a pleasant place to get some work done—we’ll be back for the sweet stuff and the breakfast sandwiches.

After 10 years of popping up in spots like nearby Fifth Hammer, Traze has a new brick-and-mortar in Long Island City. They’re best known for their falafel pizza and other square grandma-style pies, but you should also come by before 11am to try one of their very good breakfast slices. The vegan Scorpion Sfincione is no-joke spicy and a great choice for vegans, or for anybody. But we’ve been daydreaming about the Elvis slice ever since we tried the remarkably well-balanced Frankenstein’s monster of mozzarella, bananas, bacon, peanuts, and a maple peanut butter drizzle.

This Moroccan spot in Astoria is from the chef behind Dar Yemma, a restaurant in the same neighborhood that closed last year—and we’re so happy to have her tagines back in Queens. This casual, Marrakech-themed storefront makes a lot of extraordinarily comforting food, but among our favorite dishes so far are the chicken bastilla and the jahwara: delicate sheets of fried dough layered with custard. Get there early before Dar Lbahja’s couscous (only available Friday through Sunday) inevitably sells out.

Counter Service somehow transcends its personality-less name, its corporate-block location on 14th Street, and the fact that it used to be a robot kitchen that’s still backed by the founder of Chipotle. Their sandwiches are just that incredible. The mushroom patty melt on rye is a convincing argument for how little we need beef, while broccoli rabe in the Cortese livens up some fatty roast pork. And the Green Goddess club hits all the light-but-satisfying notes of a great chicken caesar wrap. There’s no seating, so take your sandwiches home, or to Union Square.

Call it the Semma effect. You can get a good sampling of coastal South Indian food in Manhattan now, at places like Kanyakumari and Lungi. But for the peak drinking snacks found at toddy shops in the state of Kerala specifically, Chatti comes closest with its “touchings” menu: two dozen tapas-style dishes neatly pictured on placemats for the uninitiated. Get the Malabar mutton with crisp fried curry leaves, some peppercorn-laden beef sauteed with coconut and shallots, and Calicut mussels for a snacky-drinky dinner in the large club-like restaurant. There’s no actual palm toddy, and the Midtown restaurant is far from a backwater shack, but a sambhar vodka concoction goes great with the food.

Compared to Jackson Heights, Long Island City doesn’t have a lot of Tibetan and Himalayan food. But even if you only counted this 12-table spot, it’d still be an impressive scene. At Darjeeling Kitchen & Café, a single auntie cooks a variety of plump momos, meat pies filled with glistening beef and onions, and a traditional Sherpa soup with fluffy, non-traditional fufu dumplings. Everything’s worth seeking out, and also happens to be halal.

The crab roe specialist Xie Bao, one of our Best New Restaurants of 2024, has branched out into Hell’s Kitchen. We can confirm that the crab roe noodles are just as comforting at this sit-down storefront as they are at the Flushing food stall, but we’re especially excited about Xie Bao’s expanded Manhattan offerings. There’s pan-fried yellow croaker with shatteringly crispy skin, and an entire menu of seafood boils that we need to go back for. Midtown office workers should keep this place in mind as a good option for lunch—they have specials from $13.95 on weekdays.

At Confidant, Industry City’s first fine-dining restaurant, the yellowtail tuna prosciutto has exactly the dry, tacky texture of cured pork that’s spent quality time on a shelf in Parma. It's the best example of "seacuterie" we've had in a while. Also delicious: sunchokes in a creamy sabayon, and personal bread loaves with sweet butter that's extruded like angel hair. There's clearly some highly technical cooking going on behind the counter at this warehouse-like spot from two Roberta’s alums, but it all boils down to exceptionally enjoyable food on the plate. Just try that dreamy prawn pot pie.

Columbus Circle has a great new Thai option. If the only thing you eat at BKK New York is the goong karee, you won't be disappointed—but you’d miss out on half the fun. Fusion-y dishes like wagyu krapow, which is mixed tableside in a stone pot à la bibimbap, and a hot dog that sings with Thai herbs and makrut lime zest are what make BKK stand out. Add in some tasty (if sweet) $18 cocktails, and this place should be on your list for a catch-up with friends or coworkers, or a casual date night.

Kabawa, sister restaurant of Bar Kabawa, keeps a few key elements of traditional fine dining—a $145 three-course prix fixe, inventive food, extensive wine list—and dumps the rest. The Caribbean-inspired restaurant in the former East Village home of Momofuku Ko is fun and noisy, and it occasionally smells like goat (the cooked version). All 20-odd seats are arranged at a counter around an open kitchen, where cooks in tie-dye fiddle with caviar and pans of yellow rice. Choose the crisped-up slab of goat as your main, and try the flan embedded with sprinkles if you’re in a birthday sort of mood.

For whatever reason, Union Square is Manhattan's premier neighborhood for Vietnamese food right now. We love La Đồng, which opened a few months ago, and Bánh Anh Em is just as exciting. (The same team has an UWS spot.) Unless you’re the kind of person who doesn’t want to be delighted by bánh mì with patê and a tuft of pork floss on shattering homemade bread. Bánh Anh Em is still in soft opening mode, so keep an eye on their Instagram for details about hours.

It took nearly six years, but there’s now a second location of Win Son Bakery. It's in the East Village, and has a menu almost identical to that of its Williamsburg sibling. In a bright white space with concrete floors, they’re doing messy double smashburgers, laminated bolo bao, and fried chicken served alongside a mountain of heavily spiced fries. But the star is still the scallion pancake BEC.

Even if you only ordered khinkali and khachapuri at Laliko, you’d have a great time. The West Village restaurant has chefs dedicated exclusively to making those cheesy breads and dumplings, and they fully deliver. But there’s so much else to explore, including Georgian sausage, stew, and crispy-skinned chicken over sticky, polenta-like elarji. You’ll find lots of Georgian wine as well, in addition to a few varieties of the high-proof Georgian spirit chacha. Sit at the bar, and you might get a free sample.

Good news for people who love great donuts: Kora, the beloved Filipino bakery pop-up, has opened a Sunnyside storefront. Besides the light and airy fried brioche the bakery is best known for, they also offer cookies and laminated pastries. Everything is excellent—especially the apple tamarind fritter. Expect a menu inspired not just by ube and calamansi, but also by spam, ensaymada, and beyond.

Two long-awaited projects from the Golden Diner team are finally live in Midtown. Golden HOF is an updated take on a Korean pub (see below), and NY Kimchi is a subterranean steakhouse where the caesar arrives dressed in ssamjang. Think Gallaghers plus Cho Dang Gol, with a touch of Cote. If you want to get KBBQ here, great. There are plenty of tables with grills on top, and the galbi comes drenched in a nice, sweet marinade. Just keep in mind, the Korean-inspired crudo, textbook kimchi jjigae, and kimchi martinis are the real headliners.

At Joomak, otoro comes camouflaged as a cheeseburger, and a quenelle of ice cream turns out to be a Harry Potter-inspired butterbeer. Putting novelty and luxury on an equal footing, the $280 eight-course meal is couldn't be mistaken for a tasting menu anywhere else. Joomak’s location—inside a West Village hotel all the way over on the West Side Highway—is less than ideal, but for a spendy special occasion that never feels boring, trek on over.

At Il Gigante in Ridgewood, you can get a glass of wine and a big plate of homemade pasta for under $35. Hello, budget-conscious date night. This trattoria is also cuter than it needs to be, with a bike on the wall, jazz on the speakers, and servers chatting with each other in Italian. The pasta is excellent; we especially like the squiggly gramigna in a creamy vodka sauce with chunks of sausage, as well as beef meatballs in a bright marinara, and a slab of tiramisu that vanishes faster than expected, even after all that pasta.

First, they put their own spin on pancakes and the BEC. Now, the Golden Diner team is revamping the Korean pub with carbonara-style rice cakes and gochujang-glazed wings as crunchy as Cheetos. Golden HOF is immediately one of the top options in Midtown for a fun night out that involves snacks, cocktails, and very little natural light. With its concrete floors and sturdy ceiling beams, the place feels like a warehouse dressed as a cocktail bar, and it has a lineup of reinterpreted drinks like a kimchi martini and a Jeju-inspired margarita with just a hint of mandarin.

Radio Bakery’s Prospect Heights location is finally open, and there’s a line around the block to prove it. We showed up at 7:34am, ordered at 9:12am, and regret to inform you that the wait is worth it. The second outpost of one of NYC’s best bakeries has a plenty of hits from the original—like their exceptionally engineered plain croissant, and the rhubarb and custard seasonal croissant—plus a few twists: the earl grey in the beloved morning bun has been swapped for matcha and green sprinkles. Come prepared for a wait, and don’t forget to get the sesame scallion twist.

The newest wine bar in Dimes Square is also the most interesting. From the chef who used to run Banchan by Sunny, Sunn’s is a snug spot with a wine list curated by Parcelle and a DIY-looking kitchen cranking out Korean-inspired small plates. If you’re a fan of tteokbokki and/or red-sauce Italian, you need to try the stracciatella-smothered rice cakes. And don’t forget to order all the banchan specials.

From the team behind beloved former pop-up Ha’s Đặc Biệt, this Vietnamese wine bar on the Lower East Side is so small that you risk toppling somebody’s pinot gris when you walk through the billowing curtain at the entrance, or squeeze past the bar counter. But though the open kitchen might be tiny, that’s no reflection on the magnitude of flavors in the food here. The chalkboard menu changes, but on recent visits we loved the snails—which arrive sizzling with a warm, crusty hunk of baguette, their earthiness harmonized with the sweet tang of tamarind butter—and the perfectly cooked branzino, skin crackling with peppercorns and other crushed spices.