Illustration: Holly Wales
Various grades of trophy Wagyu still fly into town from Japan or Texas or Montana for those who demand it, but in 2024, many new dry-agers are reserved for fish, as at Time and Tide (48 E. 26th St., at Park Ave. S.), a “steakhouse that only serves seafood” where a centerpiece offering is a $125 tuna collar, enormous fin still attached (and even the “bread” course is an oversize Goldfish-looking cracker). Raw bars and fish houses are big too: The genre is French-ish at Penny (90 E. 10th St., nr. Third Ave.), New England–ish at both Smithereens (414 E. 9th St., nr. First Ave.) and The Otter (The Manner hotel, 58 Thompson St.), Italian-ish at San Sabino, Cajun-ish at Strange Delight (63 Lafayette Ave., nr. Fulton St., Fort Greene), and any other ish you might wish at plenty of other spots around the city. As a trend, seafood has a lot going for it. For ambitious cooks, it offers variety that meat does not (maybe Penny will get periwinkles — tiny sea snails — to catch on), and the relative lightness means diners can leave dinner feeling at least somewhat virtuous. Do we yearn for the days when every new spot in town offered its version of a signature chef burger? It’s hard to miss them too much when you’re wrapping a warm sourdough tortilla around a hunk of hamachi collar at Corima (3 Allen St., nr. Division St.).
