Back Open in New York: Frenchette, Van Da, Gramercy Tavern, and More

Two veteran chefs, both longtime friends and Keith McNally empire alums, are behind this beautiful, gilded bistro. Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr’s food speaks for itself: They stick to their French guns but add a playful, modern spin that you won’t be able to get enough of. Duck frites, anyone?

Pro tip: Vietnamese stunner Ha’s Đậc Biệt is popping-up at Frenchette on Sundays and Mondays from 4 to 8 p.m. 
 
Dining Status: Open for indoor and outdoor dining. Order here for pickup and delivery. 

When Enrique Olvera of Mexico City’s Pujol came to New York, the expectations were high. But Cosme delivered. And delivered some more. What the kitchen does with a simple tostada is nothing short of breathless. You can taste it in the single-origin corn tortillas, all freshly hand-pressed in the kitchen downstairs. This is food made with an abundance of love and care.

Dining Status: Reservations are live — open for indoor dining starting April 28. 

This sleek space has been where Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group hosts a lineup of acclaimed chefs-in-residency who will take over the space. And it’s back on April 30. This time, acclaimed chef David Kinch (Manresa) arrives, bringing with him his innovative takes on California coastal cuisine: sea bream sushi, roasted aged duck, and salted butter ice cream included.

Dining Status: Accepting reservations now for both indoor and outdoor dining.

As one of New York’s — and the nation’s — quintessential restaurants, Gramercy Tavern remains restaurateur Danny Meyer’s crown jewel, a proper dining landmark that brings together Meyer’s unparalleled sense of hospitality with chef Michael Anthony’s outstanding seasonal cuisine. 
 
Dining Status: Open for indoor and outdoor dining. Book here for a special chef’s tasting to celebrate the reopening of Gramercy’s dining room (indoors only). 

A brasserie for the modern age, Francie is the glitzy labor of love of two industry vets. Housed in an old bank at Broadway and Bedford, it reimagines the usual bistro suspects. You’re going to want to try the duck rillettes, and the soufflé cakes with yuzu and seaweed butter.

Dining Status: Open for indoor dining. Order here for pickup.

As Aidan O’Neal and Jake Leiber’s first restaurant, Chez Ma Tante has always exceeded neighborhood expectations. Classically Greenpoint, the restaurant is a master class in everyday fare, dishing out deceptively simple plates that taste incredibly special — look no further than the pork shoulder with lentils and the buttery pancakes, a cult favorite. 
 
Dining Status: Open for indoor and outdoor dining.  

We’d trust those guys behind Chez Ma Tante with anything — but especially a brasserie. Thus enter (or rather re-enter) Le Crocodile, Brooklyn’s answer to the mighty French genre, where Leiber and O’Neal plunge into the likes of oeufs mayonnaise and steak au poivre, with a deep gin-and-tonic program for good measure. 
 
Dining Status: Open for indoor and outdoor dining.

This female-led enterprise ventures into Vietnamese specialties less explored, with enough panache to earn kudos all around. There’s the royal cuisine of Huê and the street food of Hanôi, and if you’re to become a regular, you should definitely know this: Van Đa translates to “warrior woman.” 
 
Dining Status: Open for indoor and outdoor dining. Call 917-994-4781 for pickup and order here for delivery. 

Danny Meyer’s Blue Smoke does barbecue in a way that’s rooted in the traditions of the South but raised in New York City. Named after the curl of smoke that rises from the pit, it’s helmed by chef Bret Lunsford, who digs deep into his Southern heritage for the on-point menu, where the Alabama white wings are required eating. 
 
Dining Status: Open for indoor dining. Order here for pickup and delivery.

Because the tasting menu at this luminous Prospect Heights restaurant might be one of the best kept secrets in town. Welcome to Oxalis, where Mirazur alum Nico Russell puts peak-season produce in the spotlight for a mind-boggling, multi-course, carte blanche menu. 
 
Dining Status: Open for indoor and outdoor dining. The carte blanche tasting menu is offered indoors and the à la carte menu is served only outdoors. Order here for pickup and delivery. 

While it no longer inhabits its original E. 16th Street space, Union Square Cafe is still Danny Meyer’s first and oh-so-reputable restaurant, a champion of the nearby greenmarket since the 1980’s, a pioneer of contemporary American cuisine, and a destination for warm hospitality and chef Lena Ciardullo’s creative cooking. 
 
Dining Status: Open for indoor and outdoor dining. Order here for pickup and delivery

Le Bernardin is, quite simply, an impeccable fine–dining experience. Eric Ripert is a maestro with his skillful approach to seafood preparations, and when you add outstanding service and a posh wine list curated by master sommelier Aldo Sohm, you’ve got a restaurant with three very well-deserved Michelin stars. 
 
Dining Status: Open for indoor dining. 
 

Because Aldo Sohm is not only the superstar sommelier at Le Bernardin, he also has his own wine bar, which celebrates things vinous in all their glory. Pro tip: Drop by for the special 9 p.m. pour, where you’ll get to try Sohm’s pick of the day. 
 
Dining Status: Open for indoor dining and outdoor dining. 

When something as simple as anchovies and butter is a revelation, you know you’ve found somewhere special. Such is the case at La Vara, where wife-and-husband team and tapas-makers extraordinaires Alex Raij and Eder Montero explore Spain’s Moorish and Jewish heritage, crafting some of Cobble Hill’s most riveting small plates. Bonus: The Spanish-minded wine list is a trove worth investigating. 

Dining Status: Open for indoor and outdoor dining. Order here for pickup and delivery.

Sippers of natural wine, right this way. Kindred comes from the minds behind wine destination Ruffian, and here they’re pouring bottles with a more Adriatic bent. Specifically, wines that cover the old trade route of the former Venetian republic, from coastal Italy to Crete, matched with handmade pastas and drinking snacks to boot.

Dining Status: Open for outdoor dining.

Quirky food and drinks come with a serious side of sustainability at this sunlit all-day gem. Cocktail maven Claire Sprouse is behind Hunky Dory, which has emerged as a proper Crown Heights community space, thanks to a stellar lineup of pop-ups, fundraisers, and a breakfast sandwich everyone can get behind. Eating responsibly has never felt this good.

Dining Status: Open for outdoor dining. Order here for pickup and delivery.

Nonna-inspired food at its best. For the trattoria counterpart to his eponymous high-end flagship, Jonathan Benno pulls from Rome and his earliest food memories. The result? Saucy, rustic plates served up against an Art Déco backdrop, or the edible story of a childhood spent in Italy.

Dining Status: Open for indoor and outdoor dining.

Because Marta’s perfectly charred, thin pizzas are as good as the ones you’d get in Rome. You can thank the open-fire grill and two wood-burning ovens for those, as well as a flurry of other roasted delights — the double-cut pork chop is a favorite for a reason. Pro tip: bottled Negronis.
 
Dining Status: Open for indoor and outdoor dining. Order here for pickup and delivery. 

Because more bars should have Southern drinking food. And here’s Porchlight, a bar with one foot in New York, and the other simultaneously in the drinking dens of Charleston, New Orleans, and Memphis, where excellent drinks are served with po’ boys or hush puppies, and a side of Danny Meyer hospitality.

Dining Status: Open for indoor dining. Stay tuned on indoor dining, pickup, and delivery here.