NYC’s Most Anticipated Restaurant Openings of Spring 2024

Right as it seems like the dreary days of winter may never end, a wave of new restaurants rolls out, reminding us that spring, a busy New York opening season, is right around the bend. In the coming months, there is lots to look forward to. In Chinatown, the team behind Potluck Club is expanding with an upscale restaurant; the owners of C as in Charlie are opening a few blocks north, on the Lower East Side. The partners behind Michelin-starred Sushi Noz are trying their hand at French cooking, and a pop-up from Los Angeles is taking over a famous Greenwich Village storefront. As always, New York’s first location of Din Tai Fung can’t seem to open soon enough.

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A wildly popular wine bar rolls out an upstairs sibling

When Claud first opened in 2022, it easily could’ve been just another wine bar restaurant from Momofuku alums. But Joshua Pinsky and Chase Sinzer wowed diners with their unfussy spins on classic dishes and some especially delicious chicken liver agnolotti. This March, the team is leveling up, literally, with Penny, an upstairs seafood bar (raw and cooked items) with a wine list that emphasizes Champagne. 90 E. 10th Street, near Third Avenue, East Village

This fast food shop is setting up in a Bushwick gas station

When Ali Zaman opened Little Flower Cafe in Astoria in 2022, he knew he had big shoes to fill as the son of the owners of Sami’s Kabab House in the neighborhood. He honors that legacy and makes a community of his own in Queens. And, this April, he’s going to try it again in Brooklyn with Blue Hour — a halal takeout counter set-up inside a Bushwick gas station that he co-owns with Mohamed Ghiasi and Devlin Claro. 1525 Myrtle Avenue, at Grove Street, Bushwick

C as in Charlie is G as in growing

In April, the owners of the Noho restaurant C as in Charlie are trying something new. Instead of remixing Korean and American foods — Seouls’burg steak, ox bone carbonara — at Kisa, they’re going to serve traditional Korean foods, like bulgogi and bibimbap. The meats will be served as sets on cafeteria trays with rice, soup, and banchan. The retro space has vintage television sets, wall-mounted fans, and a coin-slot coffee machine that the owners imported from Korea. The restaurant will be run by C as in Charlie owners David JoonWoo Yun and Steve JaeWoo Choi, plus Yongmin “YK” Kim, a third partner, and Young “Simon” Lee, who used to cook at the Michelin-starred restaurant Jua. 205 Allen Street, at East Houston Street, Lower East Side

Contra is becoming a bar

Saying Contra closed after a decade on the Lower East Side is both correct and not. While the tasting menu restaurant is done, owners Fabián von Hauske-Valtierra and Jeremiah Stone, are relaunching it as a bar this spring in the same storefront under the name Bar Contra. They’ve paired up with Dave Arnold, once behind the cocktail bars Booker & Dax and Existing Conditions, where he was known for his mad scientist mixology. This season, the Wildair duo are also working on opening Matilda, a new restaurant inside the Henson, a new Catskills hotel, and Brass, a brasserie in Nomad’s Evelyn Hotel. 138 Orchard Street, near Rivington Street, Lower East Side

Tomas Jivanda/Eater

Din Tai Fung is coming for Midtown

The most anticipated opening of not just 2024, but also 2022 and 2023, is probably the New York location of Din Tai Fung. The Michelin-starred Taiwanese restaurant, known for its long lines and undeterred fans, announced two years ago that it had signed a 15-year lease on a massive space beneath Midtown’s Paramount Plaza. The chain has over 170 restaurants worldwide, including in California, Oregon, and Nevada, but this will be its first location on the East Coast. 1633 Broadway, between West 51st and 50th streets, Midtown

Adam Friedlander/Eater NY

Two taquerias to open from celebrated chefs

Sometimes the stars align. It happened recently with pizza, when two of the city’s greatest slice shops opened a block from one another. This spring, it’s happening again with tacos. Taquerias from several celebrated chefs are headed to north Brooklyn — where one of the city’s top taco spots, Taqueria Ramirez, is already located. In April, Enrique Olvera, the owner of the Mexican restaurants Cosme and Atla, is opening a taqueria in Williamsburg, across from the Joe’s Pizza. The focus is grilled meats — al pastor, rib-eye — on nixtamalized tortillas. Further north, in Greenpoint, Aldama partners Chris Reyes and Gerardo Alcaraz, are still working on Taqueria El Chato, coming this May. Their specialty is a short menu of tacos and quesadillas with meats like tripe, tongue, and chargrilled pork. 219 Bedford Avenue, near North Fourth Street, Williamsburg; 620 Manhattan Avenue, near Nassau Avenue, Greenpoint

A restaurant to debut from the next-gen of Chinatown

When it opened in 2022, Lower Manhattan’s Potluck Club became one of several new restaurants remixing Cantonese classics for the next generation. Now the team has a new, more upscale spot in the works with Phoenix Palace, which co-owner Cory Ng has described as the kind of place where Cantonese tapas and Chinese charcuterie might commingle with natural wine. 85 Bowery, near Hester Street, Chinatown

A Vietnamese American pop-up goes permanent

Lauren Tran started her Vietnamese American bakery pop-ups when she was furloughed from the pastry department at Gramercy Tavern during the pandemic. Her online pastry Bánh by Lauren drops quickly became some of the most sought-after in the city. This spring, Tran and her husband Garland Wong inch closer to opening a bakery of their own in Chinatown. 42 Market Street, at Madison Street, Chinatown

A Union Square Hospitality alum steps out on her own

Jenni Guizio, the former wine director for Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality, is stepping out on her own to open Zimmi’s in May. The new West Village restaurant with a wine bar will have a regional French theme, with a menu conceptualized by Maxime Pradié, a former chef at Lodi in Rockefeller Center and Flora Bar. 72 Bedford Street, near Commerce Street, West Village

An iconic New York restaurant moves elsewhere

After 16 years, chef Marc Forgione is moving his Reade Street restaurant, Restaurant Marc Forgione, to Tribeca in the spring, the former home of the late David Bouley’s Brushstroke and Danube. It’s a follow-up to his 2022 opening of Trattoria One Fifth, which took over the famous One Fifth Avenue building, the former home of Otto, and before that, the iconic One Fifth restaurant. Serving seasonal dishes and New American classics, the new spot will be called Forgione. 30 Hudson Street, near Duane Street, Tribeca

The first Top Chef winner is back to open a restaurant

Harold Dieterle, the winner of the first season of Top Chef on Bravo, behind the late Perilla and Kin Shop, is teaming up with restaurateur Alexandra Shapiro of Flex Mussels and Hoexters on the Upper East Side, and chef Steven Lopin, to open Il Totano in April. The airy, bright Southern Italian restaurant looks to the ocean for inspiration. Look for a menu of crudo, antipasti, main courses, and vegetable sides, with an emphasis on dry-aged fish. Dishes include kona kampachi with black chickpeas and passionfruit “colatura;” branzino with Sicilian green beans, olives, and tuna collar sauce; and bluefin tonatto vitello, braised veal cheeks, butter beans and peperonata. 154 W. 13th Street, near Seventh Avenue, Union Square

The owners of Sushi Noz are going French

In May, brothers Joshua and David Foulquier, who opened the two Michelin-starred Sushi Noz with chef Nozomu Abe in 2018, will open Chez Fifi, an intimate French restaurant. The restaurant will have 40 seats spread across two stories of an Upper East Side townhouse with a dining room that channels old-school Paris with vintage chandeliers, high ceilings, and a fireplace, according to a spokesperson. Chef Zach Zeidman will steer a concise, classic menu presented as a feast to be enjoyed by the entire table. 140 E. 74th Street, near Lexington Avenue, Upper East Side

A Harlem supper club stays put

Supper club Cocina Consuelo was born during the pandemic, from Eleven Madison Park alum Karina Garcia and her husband Lalo Rodriguez, who worked at Cosme. The duo found success with their recurring dinner series, eventually leading to pop-ups beyond their home and a stand at Smorgasburg. Now, Garcia and Rodriguez are preparing to open their first spot this spring, a Mexican cafe by day, and a restaurant by night, near where Garcia grew up in Harlem. 130 Hamilton Place, at West 143rd Street, Harlem

Studio Tre

A famous space gets a new tenant

A 75-seat restaurant that started as a Los Angeles pop-up is on track to open this summer in the space that was home to Giorgione for 20 years. Kiko comes from a husband-wife team. Lina Goujjane, who is a manager at Michelin-starred Sushi Noz, will spearhead the opening of Chez Fifi from the group before opening her restaurant; her family started One If By Land, Two If By Sea, and sold the restaurant several years ago. She’s joined by Alex Chang, a chef who worked at Animal in Los Angeles and Pujol in Mexico City. Look for a New American menu with Asian influences, inspired by Chang’s Chinese heritage and his father’s upbringing in Japan. 307 Spring Street, at Greenwich Street, Greenwich Village