Welcome to Grub Street’s rundown of restaurant recommendations that aims to answer the endlessly recurring question: Where should we go? These are the spots that our food team thinks everyone should visit, for any reason (a new chef, the arrival of an exciting dish, or maybe there’s an opening that’s flown too far under the radar). This month: another tavern, a Provençal favorite returns, a West Village favorite gets a full revamp, and more.
Claudette (Greenwich Village)
After a two-year absence, Claudette is back in its old home. The space itself feels restrained and unfussy: The walls are warm and neutral and lined with oversize mirrors through which to watch the well-dressed crowd, and chef Igor Almeida Cabral has dialed into a purely Provençal mode. Martinis can come with two very French accompaniments: rosemary fougasse and a loosie cigarette. The food matches the season. Moules gratinées, lamb caillettes, and herb-y, tomatoey zucchini flowers that my table compared to pizza rolls were all winners. Dessert was fruit galette à la mode that similarly evolves to match whatever is growing; during my visit, the kitchen was transitioning from peach to apricot. —Shay Cohen
Capitaine (West Village)
What was Libertine is now Capitaine, a “seafood tavern” from the same partners that combines two of the city’s buzziest dining obsessions: comfort food and seafood. The menu feels primed to tackle current trends like a checklist: An $11 mini-martini satisfies one end of the spectrum, while a $150 caviar service resides on the other. Raw-bar dishes include spicy sea-scallop crudo topped with crunchy pistachios. A lobster roll, topped with hollandaise and served on a very skinny roll, seems to be the thesis of the menu, but most tables around me had also ventured onto land for Wagyu burgers. Captaine Salad feels like the best distillation of the new theme: a baby-gem salad loaded with boquerones and “ranchovy,” a fishy twist on the classic dressing. —Zach Schiffman
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Tacos Domingo (East Village)
Tacos Domingo is a Mexico City import that recently touched down in the East Village, on the cheap-eats intersection of St. Marks Place and First Avenue. It’s got the bright, cafeteria-style layout of CDMX’s many taco joints, and a bright, sunny sun logo to proclaim its good intentions. The menu is compact, and the tacos are the point. There are two options: a carne asada of New York strip and a bean and cheese. (A pirata — pirate — essentially combines both.) The surprise winner, as early reviews have already attested, is the bean and cheese. Don’t make the mistake of considering this a vegetarian option. Tacos Domingo’s very good flour tortillas (a little doughy, pasty, crackly with heat spots, almost the texture of a kati roll) are made with lard, and more goes into the beans. They’re cooked down to a ruddy, burnt-orange paste, built on a long-cooked chile adobo and enough pork fat to be a suave spread that tastes like lard with beans added rather than the reverse. With griddled cheese, and for $4.50, it’s a winner. The neighborhood seems to have signed on already: I couldn’t help but notice some NYU-looking hot girls with bare midriffs and expensive handbags putting away more than I could. —Matthew Schneier
Grimm Tavern (Prospect Heights)
The living wall, garden setup, and even some of the serviceware remain from the former tenant — Olmsted — but the energy is decidedly more casual at this new spot from Joe and Lauren Grimm, who also run their acclaimed namesake brewery. Fittingly, the food is in the service of the beer: a Big Mac–like dry-aged burger, fries cooked in beef fat, roast chicken, and onion dip with homemade chips all seem destined to become menu standards. (Croquettes filled with bratwurst and served over a puddle of beer cheese might be the most midwestern thing I’ve ever eaten.) A sense of style and ambition lift the restaurant into the realm of other elevated pub rooms including Dean’s, Lonnies, and Trudie’s Tavern. Every neighborhood needs one, and the prices here are gentle enough to encourage repeat business. —Alan Sytsma
Motoishi (Koreatown)
Tongue is the move at this Korean yakiniku chain, whose first Stateside location opened a month ago. When it arrived at the table, I was slightly intimidated at the three raw, half-inch cross sections but trusted the process as the meat was seared and cut into manageable cubes over the grill alongside vegetables and mochi. Though I am cynical toward the Wagyufication of every restaurant, here it was a revelation as the interwoven fat serves to tenderize the firm and flavorful meat of this famously tough muscle. Sprinkled with coarse salt and a squirt of lemon, this was the most delicious steak I’ve had lately. The menu is rounded out with other cuts of A5 Wagyu and marinated short ribs, like a wasabi-mounted tare whose pungency goes sweet when it hits the grill. Plenty is served on the side for fresh heat, alongside kimchee, burdock salad, daikon radish ribbons, and cucumbers in sesame dressing. —Tammie Teclemariam
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