Where to Eat in April: Stretch Pizza, Principe, OkDongsik, and More 

While many of us turned to baking sourdough or banana bread in the pandemic, former WD-50 chef Wylie Dufresne turned his attention to pizza. After operating Stretch as a pop-up for the past two years, it finally has a place to call home. Stretch’s pizzas are meant to be an evolution of your classic New York slice — the fruit of Dufresne’s efforts to perfect pizza doughmaking and cooking in the hopes of “expanding the umami zone.” The 12-inch pies do that brilliantly, and you should taste it for yourself. and don’t sleep on the other items on the menu, like the chickpea fries with roasted lemon aioli or the pizza points with three different sauces. And whatever you do, save room for the soft-serve.

It’s been a minute since chef Abram Bissell, a veteran of The Modern and The Nomad, was cooking for New Yorkers but now, after a stint in Anguilla, he’s back and he’s lined up an all-star team of chefs over at this new seafood-centric Italian American spot in Soho. At Principe, Bissell and company — including chef di farina Rebecca Isbell — are putting forth the kinds of dishes we all want to have these days: a fully stocked raw bar of crustacean delights; utterly refreshing salads; perfectly executed pastas; and classic mains with a twist (Castelvetrano-crusted fluke, anyone?), not to mention a bevy of desserts and gelati. What more could you ask for?

While it’s true that all things must eventually come to an end, in the case of this beloved pop-up for Korean soup, some things were meant to last. The extremely popular installation, meant to run only from November to April 1, is now a permanent Koreatown fixture, meaning you can warm yourself up with chef Ok Dongsik’s dwajei-gomtang (pork bone broth) served as gukbap (rice soup) all year round. (We’re personally strong proponents of consuming soup year-round.) With OkDongsik’s new permanent status, you can also expect to see some new menu items and specials; for instance, on April 23 and 30, they’ll be serving a beef gomtang. Specials will rotate monthly, giving you all the more reason to keep coming back.

Note: OkDongsik reopens for business on April 6. Going forward, it’s still recommended to book reservations; however, on Sundays it’ll be walk-ins only. 

There’s arguably never been a better time to find incredible bakeries here in New York, and yet another reason why is ALF Bakery, now open inside Chelsea Market (go to the lower level), from Arcade Bakery alum Amadou Ly. If you’ve missed Arcade’s exquisitely laminated baguettes, you’ll find them here, along with a treasure trove of viennoiserie, breads, pastries, and sandwiches. In addition to that laminated baguette, do look for Ly’s flan du boulanger, which borrows characteristics from Chinese egg tarts and Basque burnt cheesecake, pain au chocolat, and a ham-and-cheese Tunisian tuna sandwich.

Walk-ins only. Note: ALF Bakery officially opens on April 7.

Rejoice! The quintessential neighborhood bistro, Virginia’s, is back. Originally opened in 2015, Virginia’s shuttered in 2021, with the intention of eventually reopening, and now it finally has — and in much more spacious environs, too. It’s still in Alphabet City, but now you’ll find it inside the old Root & Bone space, and while the beloved burger is still there, there are plenty of new dishes from new executive chef Justin Lee (formerly of Fat Choy and Barbuto) to try, too. (Don’t know about you but we’ve got our eyes on the trout roe dip with potato chips, and the martini with blue-cheese-stuffed olives.)

Whimsical cakes and sweets take center stage at this double-decker dessert shop in Flushing that also houses a natural wine bar on its second floor in the evenings. The sweets are the creations of Anna Kim, a former Per Se pastry chef, who teamed up with friends BJ Kim, an artist and fashion designer, and restaurateur June Kwan. Yes, the desserts here beg for social media documentation, but they also have the added benefit of being delicious, too.

Walk-ins only. 

Prime brunch season is upon us now that it’s springtime — although, let’s be honest, has it ever not been brunch season in New York? — and one spot you should definitely keep in mind for an upcoming weekend brunch date this month, and this month only, is M. Wells, which is generally only open for dinner. On April 9th, 16th, and 23rd, the one-of-a-kind French Canadian bistro is offering a special Sugar Shack family-style brunch menu celebrating maple syrup in all its delicious forms. Expect to see dishes like a tortilla Québécoise, various pâtisseries, logger salads, cipaille (layered meat pies), bines au lard (baked beans), and ice cream, plus live music and games, too.

Note: Reservations for the Sugar Shack brunch must be booked here.

Italian food in New York can be rather ubiquitous — and for good reason — but the kind of Italian cooking you’ll find at Etrusca is something special. At this charming FiDi spot chef Elisa Da Prato is reinventing Tuscan traditions and making them all her own. Do save room for one (or both) of the main entrees — the fried quail or lamb chops — and do make sure you pair your meal with some wines from Da Prato’s cousin’s vineyard in Lucca, Italy.

Does New York really need yet another food hall? Popular sentiment might suggest otherwise, but this one, curated by The James Beard Foundation, is certainly one to watch with familiar names (Ras Plant Based, Bessou, Zaab Zaab, and Nom Wah among them) and new names from some established industry vets (Ammi from GupShup’s Jimmy Rizvi; and Due Madri by The Butcher Girls, Erika Nakamura and Jocelyn Guest).

Note: Market 57 opens on April 1. 

A low-key bistro with Michelin-recognized chops — that’s Meadowsweet. But it’s also so much more. This family-owned restaurant has been pioneering farm-to-table cuisine for nearly a decade on the same stretch of south Williamsburg, and was awarded a Michelin star from 2015 to 2021 in the process. It remains a place you’ll want to be a regular at, with a versatile menu that changes with the seasons. Pro tip: On Thursdays, they offer a $95 five-course tasting menu, but à la carte options remain available, too.

We’re personally of the mindset that whether it’s 20 degrees or 80 degrees outside, it’s always a good time for ice cream. And now that temperatures are edging upward ever so slightly, it’s prime time to incorporate ice cream back into your diet. One in particular that comes highly recommended is Two Rabbits Ice Cream from acclaimed chef Simpson Wong (Cafe Asean, Chomp Chomp, Wong) and his partner, Henry Wu, a practicing cardiologist. Together, they’ve created an ice cream that blends the best of both of their respective experiences: Wong’s masterful expertise with Malaysian and Southeast Asian culinary traditions, and Wu’s scientific knowledge of the benefits of plant-based Omega-3 fatty acids.

The flavors are unlike any others you’ll find in the city — Mala Cocoa (chocolate with sweet soy and Sichuan peppercorn), GoGoMa (goji berries, gojuchang, and clementine marmalade), and Pineapple Tart (pineapple jam and cloves reminiscent of Nyonya pineapple tarts from Malaysia) are just three of the six available — and now you can purchase pints of them at Pearl River Mart Foods, located inside Chelsea Market on the lower level. Time to stock up.