Our annual Best New Restaurants issue is on stands, and D’s accompanying Best New Restaurants dinner, which will be held at Café Momentum on Wednesday, is booked with folks eager to try a bite.
So, the list is made, the crème has risen to the top—and now it’s your turn to dine, if you have not already, in the 10 best new restaurants the city has to offer. The dinner is sold out, but the restaurants are all open. We put the feature online today. The trends this year:
French—Mais, oui!
We waited a long time for Michelin-starred chef Bruno Davaillon to open his own brasserie; now we’ve got Bullion, the Restaurant of the Year, glimmering in gold. Stephan Courseau opened Up on Knox, where servers in blue-and-white striped shirts set down pommes frites. And The French Room … well, need we go farther than its wheeled cheese cart?
Italian
Chef Julian Barsotti penned a love letter to upscale, old-school, red-sauce Italian in Fachini; and J Chastain shaves truffles over handmade pasta at the Fellini-esque The Charles.
Charcuterie
Our cured-meat game improved astronomically this year when David Uygur and Misti Norris spread out in their new digs, lavishing microbial love on salumi that leave you salivating (and are the star of the show) at Macellaio and Petra and the Beast. The latter of which fell on Esquire’s 10 best new restaurants in the country, as well.
Zest
Zaytinya, Fine China, and Billy Can Can each brings its own zest, with Mediterrean mezze, contemporary Chinese, and a fictional saloon.
Glam
This year was awash in Christofle silver and chandeliers, gilt-edged plates and fine crystal. Whether they bore duck a l’orange or deviled eggs or held Burgundy’s best or a feisty new-world pet nat, these were the hallmarks of a year when restaurateurs went out of their way to be opulent.
This Wednesday, attendees at the dinner at Café Momentum will be eating short-rib pot au feu with foie gras cream from Bruno Davaillon, among other bites. Sign up next year. But for now, there’s a world of dining waiting for you. Go forth and see what we gained this year—in glam, deep-craft artisanry, and pizzazz.
