Home / Move / Eat / Go / Gather / Good stuff / Restaurants / Recipes / Retreats / Sleep / Hosting / Social spaces

Five new NYC openings
worth the trip.

October in New York means everyone opens something at once. These are the five we're actually going to, in the order we'd go.

By development.nexus@gmail.com

five spots, one weekend [ MAP: WILLIAMSBURG, CHELSEA, LOWER EAST SIDE, SOHO, NOMAD ]

JUMP TO
1. Naked Tomato
2. La Cabra
3. Iara
4. Straker's
5. Yume Ga Arukara

1 Naked Tomato

Williamsburg Tomato everything Opened Oct 14

Eyal Shani, the chef behind the whole roasted cauliflower you've definitely seen online, opened a restaurant about tomatoes on Williamsburg Wharf. He calls it "a love letter to the tomato." There's tomato pasta, a very large chicken schnitzel, and a mezcal-and-tomato cocktail called the Naked & Tomato. It's also the first of his restaurants with a kitchen counter. Go at sunset and sit near the water.

Perfect for · Sunset dinners · Date night 476 Kent Ave, Brooklyn

2 La Cabra

Chelsea Coffee & bakery

The Danish coffee shop opened inside Lantern House, right under the High Line. Espresso, filter coffee, sourdough and pastries. Order the cardamom bun. That's the whole review until we've been.

Perfect for · A High Line walk · Working breakfasts 515 W 18th St, Manhattan

3 Iara

Lower East Side Mexican Dinner only

Chef Elena Mendez, formerly of Cosme, is cooking Yucatan food from an unexpected ingredient list: octopus, pork, and the citrus you already know if you only order the habanero salsa. Plates are $18. It's the dish people are talking about.

Perfect for · Typical weeknight · Natural wine · No reservation, Manhattan

4 Straker's

Soho Long lunch Closed Sun

London chef Thomas Straker opened his first US restaurant, and it's all about the wood oven and the bread. The menu skews seafood: oysters, red shrimp, brown crab, and sourdough with pistachio and brown butter.

Perfect for · A long lunch · Seafood · No reservation, Soho

5 Yume Ga Arukara

NoMad Ramen Counter only

Ramen, and not only from an apprentice line, with a broth that takes 11 hours. Get the beef version, spicy if you're brave. Built for the NoMad crowd next door, the room is hungry now.

Perfect for · Date night · Late night · Counter seats, NoMad

By development.nexus@gmail.com · Updated October 29, 2026

Home / Eat / Restaurants