There are restaurants that are a go-to when inspiration strikes. Like your no-frills fav Italian joint, or like when you casually pop into Polo Bar for drinks before dins (you are that special). But surprisingly, in NYC, there hasn’t been a great soba spot since the days of Soba Nipon. That is, until now. Enter Soba Ulala, your favorite authentic soba spot in Soho. We may even go as far as to say the best soba in NYC. Photo Credit:…

I heard that it takes on average 23 years for a New Yorker to make it Rao’s. For me, I’ve been a New Yorker for 25 years, so in this case, I am an underachiever. But that doesn’t matter; I made it to the legendary Rao’s in Harlem. The road to our reservation was by a stroke of good luck in winning a Super Bowl charity auction, along with the coveted reservation. It was a bonus that I was with…

A new London transplant has opened up in NYC’s Nomad. At one point, it had a 32,000-person waitlist for a reservation. To say that Ambassadors Clubhouse is one of the buzziest openings this year is a master of the obvious move. But beyond the maitre’d — is it worth the hype? This is the review of the new Ambassadors Clubhouse in NYC. Photo courtesy of Ambassadors Clubhouse. Atmosphere There’s an air of intrigue as you walk into Ambassadors Clubhouse, as…

A new restaurant has arrived in Midtown, and it’s brought down the average age by at least 15 years. And you know what? It’s a welcome surge of energy in an otherwise staid corporate office-heavy corridor. Double Knot NYC, a Philly transplant, has arrived in New York City, and it’s the restaurant we didn’t know that we needed in our life. Atmosphere Young. Young and cool. And young at heart. Not since the opening of Tao on the East Side…

If there’s a place that looks like the set of the movie Casino, it’s the new Golden Steer in New York City. It’s not just a theme restaurant though; the Golden Steer is a long-time Vegas steakhouse, which has just set down roots in the heart of Greenwich Village. So, essentially the Golden Steer is now in the city that never sleeps, with its roots in the other city that never lets you sleep. But now, the question is whether…

Some restaurants arrive and feel like they’ve been around forever. In the case of Opto NYC in the Flatiron, forever is about one year. But clearly, this year has been enough time for Opto NYC to get into its groove, and establish itself as an essential neighborhood restaurant. It’s not by luck, though, that Opto has drawn a loyal following. The owners are Executive Chef Alex Tubero (whose résumé spans Union Square Café and Amali) and Nicola Kotsoni of a…

Sometimes the restaurant gods shine down upon you when you arrive sans reservation, and you are still given a room at the inn. Or in this case, the maitre’d, Alexis, made room for us to dine at the new Or’esh — one of the most coveted tables in town. Yes, just when you thought there couldn’t be a harder reservation than Corner Store or The Eighty Six, Or’esh has arrived. Or’esh is the latest and arguably the legacy restaurant from…

It’s nice to see the West Village as relevant as ever, and the next generation of New Yorkers on the scene. St. Jardim is a new neighborhood staple, taking over the coveted former La Sardine space. This is a first look into the wine bar of the moment that is filled with an eclectic crew from the hood. Atmosphere St. Jardim has firmly established itself as a neighborhood staple. There are lines of people both checking in and trying to…

As they say, if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere. Casa Tua has done the latter, with locations from Miami to Paris. But now, it’s taken over the iconic space in The Surrey. While Cafe Boulud was beloved and fit right in with the Surrey’s old school Upper East Side locale, Casa Tua brings a new vibe. In fact, Casa Tua is part of a new of restaurants that makes the Upper East Side…

As if there weren’t already so many other harbingers of NYC officially re-entering the Golden Age of dining, the new Daniel Boulud steakhouse has arrived. La Tête d’Or has joined Chef Boulud’s empire, and it has all the modern opulent feels that you’d expect from Daniel Boulud. But how does Boulud’s French cuisine fare as a steakhouse? This is the La Tête d’Or first look. Atmosphere Right now, La Tête d’Or feels like it’s still in friends and family, and it’s…

Normally, a new Italian restaurant that isn’t unhinged or doesn’t have a supermodel backer isn’t that newsworthy in NYC. However, every once in a while, a place that has a je ne sais quoi arrives, and it’s the next big thing. Borgo isn’t a bull in a China shop type of arrival. Its superpower is all in the subtlety of the food and the fine details of the ingredients. This is the review of Borgo NYC, a new neighborhood Italian restaurant that…

If a super model and her Italian baby daddy opened up a pizza joint… Wait, that did happen. Crazy Pizza NYC is a second joint venture (if you count daughter Leni as the first) between Heidi Klum and her daughter’s father, Flavio Briatore. Located in the Soho neighborhood in the old Osteria Morini space, Crazy Pizza may not be what you think it is. So is Heidi Klum’s pizza place in NYC any good? This is a first look. Atmosphere…

What does a furniture store know about champagne and caviar? Apparently, a lot at the Champagne & Caviar Bar at RH Guesthouse. RH knows how to set a scene. You will have to try not to obsess over the chandeliers giving everyone influencer-level light. But then your attention will shift to the food, because caviar in cones, on potatoes or just a bump are on the way. This is a look at the RH caviar bar, and yes, they also…

File this one under sleeper hit. Yes, it’s in a shopping mall, but we promise — you’ll forget the locale as soon as the Peking duck and Lynch Bages start flowing. This is a restaurant that will sneak onto your standby list. Atmosphere Twin Tails is on the third floor of Columbus Circle, across the way from Bad Roman. Going through a shopping mall, in my opinion, isn’t an optimal opener. However, Columbus Circle has somehow defied odds and continued…

It’s refreshing when a restaurant generates buzz because of its merit. This October, Heroes restaurant in NYC opened up in an historic townhome on West Broadway in Soho. However, it doesn’t arrive alone. Heroes is joined by Pearl Box, a cocktail and caviar bar, which calls the second floor of the compound home. It seems though that the founders of Heroes like to do things in pairs. Heroes is by the same group of Tokyo Record Bar and Air’s Champagne…

There’s another reason that the Flatiron is the place to be. The Experimental Cocktail Club has reopened at the lower level of its sister wine bar, La Compagnie. Since it closed its doors at the original Chinatown location, Experimental’s parent company has achieved a bit of world domination. The group has hotels, restaurants, cocktail lounges and wine bars in at least 10 locations, and counting. Experimental has a foothold in spots from the OG in Paris, to London, Verbier, Venice…

We may have aged out of the nightclub scene, but it doesn’t mean that we don’t like to dabble in trendy spots every so often.  And for a while there, the Meatpacking District looked like it had lost its edginess in favor of brands like Apple and RH. However, with the presence of Mēdüzā Mediterrania, it’s like the days of Lotus and Abe & Arthur are back.  This is our take on Mēdüzā in the Meatpacking District. Atmosphere In a…

You can say that they’re moving on up. The team from Contra and Wildair are back with another venture, but this one is further Uptown. Tusk Bar and the adjacent Brass restaurant are located in The Evelyn Hotel in the Flatiron area. This is a first look review on whether to put Brass on your restaurant rotation. Atmosphere Location, location, location. Brass restaurant and its sister bar, Tusk Bar, took over the space that was formerly the Jonathan Benno restaurant…