The Resy Guide to Celebrating Lunar New Year in New York 

Set inside a beautiful space lined with ink-stained murals (courtesy of artist Qiu Anxiong), Atlas Kitchen is an Upper West Side gem that plays with the regional cuisines of Hunan and beyond. Must-order dishes include the seafood egg custard and spicy pig feet, but do order with your eyes — there’s a reason why the hanging sliced pork belly is on every table. For New Year’s, do consider pre-ordering a whole steamed bass or lobster (prepared with garlic and scallion or with salted egg yolk).

Head to Blue Blossom for a long menu of classic dishes, including six varieties of xiaolongbao, peppercorn beef tongue, and their signature show-stopping salted baked chicken. It’s ideal for a large group, too — they take reservations for parties up to 11.

Dining at Café China makes you feel like you’re starring in your own Wong Kar-wai film, and the beautiful vintage setting is equally matched by the exquisite cuisine where Sichuan classics shine. This new location is even grander in size, but the food and drink are just as excellent as you might remember, making it an ideal stop for any new year celebration.

One of our favorite scenes in Chinatown always has a wide slate of offerings for Lunar New Year. In previous years, they’ve had ceremonial lion dancers and traditional banquet dishes that are sure to more than satisfy. Pro tip: Head downstairs to Opera House (formerly Peachy’s) after your meal for some truly excellent cocktails in an equally beautiful setting.

If you’d like to bookend your celebrations with a celebratory beverage, do consider stopping here and ordering yourself one of the city’s most creative cocktails (we’re partial to the Japanese Cold Noodle). While you’re there, why not pair it with one of DCP’s juicy Taiwanese-style fried chicken sandwiches, too? Chickens are thought to bring you good luck and prosperity. There’s also Free Range at Double Chicken Please (the front room), where you’ll find a whole menu based on Plinko, which you can actually play.

P.S. Here are some tips on how to get in. 

At this outpost of one of China’s most beloved restaurants, Hangzhou cuisine gets the spotlight, and from Feb. 13 to 22, they’re offering a special new year menu with family-style dishes. They recommend it for parties of up to four ($328 total), and it includes dishes like pork, shrimp, and caviar Prosperity Dumplings, a golden persimmon mousse, and a specialty Lucky Cowboy cocktail, made with tangerine sherbet, pomegranate, lime, and shochu.

It’s one of our favorite spots for an all-day menu of Asian American updates to diner classics. Think dishes like a chicken katsu club, vegan grilled cheese and kimchi tomato soup, and of course, those famously decadent honey-butter pancakes. Think of it as a deliciously cozy way to celebrate the new year.

Another OG for Cantonese cuisine in Chinatown that’s been open since 1968, Hop Kee is another can’t-miss spot that you should definitely consider for a Lunar New Year feast (or any feast any day of the year). If you go, don’t sleep on the signature Cantonese-style crabs with black bean sauce (a dish created by owner Peter Lee’s father years ago), the snails, anything that’s salt-and-pepper, the pan-fried flounder, and the spring chicken.

Walk-ins only. 

Chinatown’s palatial fine dining destination that introduced cold sesame noodles to New York in the late ’60’s is a must, all year round, not only for those famous noodles but also for their Beijing duck, snow pea sprouts dumplings, and steamed whole fish with ginger and scallion.

The family-owned restaurant that’s become New York’s ultimate melting pot for the past 50 years is still one of the best places in the city to ring in the Lunar New Year. Stop by for their famous dim sum, or indulge in a proper banquet-style feast; you can’t go wrong.

Call (212) 964-5256 to make a reservation. 

Celebrate a little early, on Feb.12, with dinner at Justine’s co-hosted by the costume and fashion designer Han Feng, whose work you can also see in The Met’s Madama Butterfly. On the 17th, enjoy both their regular menu plus a Lunar New Year menu filled with specials.

Celebrate Seollal, or Korean New Year, at Kisa on Feb. 16 and 17. In addition to their usual choices and various banchan for dinner, Kisa’s seasonal soup will be replaced with tteokguk for the holiday. You’ll also get a special after-dinner drink, sujeonggwa, a cinnamon and ginger punch. It helps with digestion, which you’ll likely need after being unable to stop yourself from finishing everything on your table.

Another old-school Chinatown spot known for its wonton soup, Mee Sum Café is the perfect place to order yourself some dumplings, barbecue pork, and comforting bowls of hot congee. Don’t overlook the Toisan-style sticky rice, wrapped in lotus leaves.

Walk-ins only.  

This purveyor of Korean Chinese food, from the same team behind New Wonjo, has something for everyone seeking to celebrate the new year, from Peking duck and truffle siu mai to shrimp fried rice. Whatever you do, don’t sleep on the jajangmyeon — a quintessential Korean Chinese dish of noodles drenched in a savory black bean sauce that also represents longevity — a must for any new year’s celebration.

You’d do well to celebrate the New Year with practiced professionals – and nobody does it quite like Peking Duck House. They’ve been in the roasted, lacquered duck game since 1978, serving up a prime example of their namesake dish, carved tableside with a flourish. It’s a ceremony ideal for a holiday like this one.

A superb Chinese restaurant powered by a Din Tai Fung vet (that’s Taiwan’s soup dumpling empire for you) and an award-winning sommelier make Pinch Chinese one of the best spots in the city for xialongbao and so much more. Do order their excellent soup dumplings and spring rolls for wealth, and the whole wind sand chicken (it’s really something else).

Santi, from storied chef Michael White (formerly of Marea and Ai Fiori), is running two specials in honor of the new year. Don’t miss the sweet-and-sour, dry-aged Long Island duck with Cara Cara orange and candied walnuts. And for the pasta course, go all in on the pappardelle with prosciutto pesto, Montauk red prawns, and mollica, which takes inspiration from XO sauce and longevity noodles. Did we mention that everyone gets a housemade mooncake to take home, too?

Wo Hop is an unapologetic bastion of Chinese American cuisine, a beacon to the late-night crowd, and a culinary landmark in its own right. This newer extension of the OG basement-level location (Wo Hop Next Door is located on the ground level of a no-nonsense enclave at 15 Mott Street) is still as old-school Cantonese as you can get. Don’t sleep on the salt-and-pepper flounder or the garlic squid.

Walk-ins only. 

This beloved BYOB spot is ideal for celebrating with a crew, whether you decide to feast on the house specialties like the iconic New York No. 1 wonton soup or the famous garlic aromatic crispy chicken, or if you decide to splurge on the whole suckling pig or king crab (both require pre-ordering).

Call (212) 477-1112 to make a reservation.  

This elegant spot from the same team behind August Gatherings specializes in modern Cantonese cuisine, fusing global techniques and ingredients in ways that are both surprising and yet make complete sense once you take that first bite. The menu deftly combines classic French and Chinese cooking techniques with Cantonese, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese ingredients and flavors, making for dishes that are as clever as they are elegant. Some of our favorite dishes include the Wensi tofu soup, snow pea leaves with chanterelle, and the salt-baked chicken. And whatever you do, don’t overlook the famed fusilli with wild octopus and bone marrow, or the fried rice with roasted eel. For the new year, they’ve got two specials: braised black moss and dried oysters in abalone sauce, and braised pork knuckle with black truffle and mushrooms.

The colorful dim sum at Yong Chuan will look gorgeous on your feed (and feel gorgeous to your stomach). Think crystal shrimp, crawfish, and soup dumpling varieties alongside lesser-seen dishes like mala prawns, crispy swan-shaped pastries stuffed with either grilled eel or durian, and Ningbo-style crabs. Pro tip: Head to their cocktail bar, Async, for a satisfying nightcap after your feast.