New York. The city that never sleeps, the melting pot of America. Regardless of what you call it, one thing is true—New York is home to some of the most diverse (and delicious) restaurants in the world. And the over 400 MICHELIN Guide restaurants in its selection is proof of that.
This year's selection saw the inclusion of thirteen new Stars (1 Three Star, 3 Two Stars, 8 One Stars, and 1 Green Star), with heavy hitters like newly promoted Three Star Jungsik New York (formerly Two Stars) and Green Star One White Street leading the way.
At Jungsik, guests can expect polished and creative dishes like crisped octopus with gochujang aioli and dry-aged Arctic char in a pool of kimchi and red curry sauce.
New Green Star One White Street, on the other hand, sources seasonal produce from their partner farm in the Hudson Valley, where sustainable farming techniques and reinvesting in the community have created a supportive ecosystem.
So, whether it's progressive sustainable techniques or eating underground in New York's subway system, here is everything you need to know about this year's newest culinary stars.
Bon appétit!
New Three Stars
Jungsik New York
Cuisine: Korean
Cool and polished, this dining room bears that perfectly downtown nexus of low-key yet elegant; with its dark and light color scheme and intimate proportions. Chef/owner Mr. Yim Jung Sik and Executive Chef Daeik Kim's Korean meal starts like many do, with an array of banchan; however, the presentation here is unlike any other; and it's just that creativity that makes dining here so distinctive. From there, the tasting menu unfolds to reveals delights such as slivers of raw striped jack with white kimchi and chilled fish bone broth; gorgeously crisped octopus with gochujang aioli; and dry-aged Arctic char in a pool of kimchi and red curry sauce. This is cooking that is highly original, impeccably executed, and enormously satisfying; a meal that makes you involuntarily nod to yourself while you’re eating.
New Two Stars
César
Cuisine: Contemporary
César Ramirez is one of the few chefs who, night after night, has the difficult task of meeting his own singular standards of high-wire precision. His new downtown restaurant brings a sleek, minimal look to a century-old address. As might be expected, world-class seafood plays a large role in his tasting menu which features such delights as a morsel of blackthroat seaperch from Chiba, crudo of fluke from Jeju Island, and langoustine from Norway dressed with caviar and smoked trout. A masterful hand with sauces and a sense for harmonious, exacting combinations demonstrate both creativity and maturity. An eager service team oversees the spacious room where counter and table seating alike offer a prime vantage point for watching this kinetic kitchen.
Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare
Cuisine: Contemporary
This famed address hidden in the back corner of a Hell’s Kitchen grocery store has entered a new era under Chefs Max Natmessnig and Marco Prins. The room is a box of luxury and sparkles as bright as ever under the spotlights, with most guests seated at a glossy walnut counter that wraps around a brigade of cooks who have nowhere to hide. The team works quickly, sending out a volley of delicate tarts and bites that showcase skill and refinement. Highlights have included sea scallop in a lush brown butter sauce, turbot with firefly squid and herb-oil swirled buttermilk, and buri tartare with smoky creme fraiche and finger lime. All the while, an excellent service team keeps close watch from all corners of the room.
Sushi Sho
Cuisine: Sushi
In the shadow of the New York Public Library, Chef Keiji Nakazawa exemplifies mastery of the highest order. An omakase like no other, the progression ebbs and flows with a dazzling variety of fish, shellfish, vegetables, and more—all aged, fermented, and pickled for weeks, months, and sometimes years. Rice is treated with reverence; seasoned to suit and complement the range of fish. The setting is its own marvel and features a spacious, eight-seat Hinoki counter flanked by towering ice boxes fronted with carved wood doors, while all around, the kitchen and service teams work in perfect tandem. In total, the pace, breadth, and persistence of excellence that unfolds here will impress even the most experienced sushi enthusiasts.
New One Stars
Bar Miller
Cuisine: Sushi
From the team behind Rosella, this diminutive spot with a sprinkling of seats steers clear of the familiar minimalist design, favoring bold colors and eye-catching details (note the custom pottery displayed behind the counter).
These confident chefs deliver an omakase that is a showpiece of sustainable sourcing, much of it local—even the rice is sourced from New York state. Their personality is evident in dishes such as daikon vichyssoise with wakame butter-braised greens and gently poached salmon. Dry-aged fluke topped with apple ice in a sweet soy sauce holds its own, while the duo of uni and the mellow, dry-aged mackerel with yuzu kosho are two standouts from the nigiri course. Desserts, like the amazake and the corn gelato with caviar, round out the singular experience.
Café Boulud
Cuisine: French
A new and improved Café Boulud has been beautifully reborn on the storied corner of 63rd street and Park Avenue with Executive Chef Romain Paumier at the helm. The setting is appropriately posh and exudes Art Deco vibes.
Enjoy this unique prix fixe menu which highlights four inspirations: classic French cuisine; "La Saison;" vegetarian farmers' market dishes; and "Le Voyage," offering an international focus. Choose one style of menu or handpick for a multicourse meal that is on-point with sharp execution and a soigné presentation. The array of impressive cooking here includes the likes of the signature black sea bass wrapped in crispy potatoes and sauced with a red wine reduction; seared scallops with Champagne beurre blanc; or lobster ravioli dressed with a vivid lobster bisque as well as preserved lemon curd.
Corima
Cuisine: Mexican
On the edge of Chinatown, Chef Fidel Caballero is not holding anything back. Whether you sit at the kitchen counter for the ambitious tasting menu or order à la carte in the boisterous dining room, the cooking is a singularly original and bold celebration of Mexican cuisine. If anything, there must be an order of sourdough tortillas somewhere on the table. Made with Sonoran wheat and chicken fat, these delicate, perfectly griddled discs served with recado negro butter will lock in a return visit. Better yet, this won’t be the only course worth returning for. The likes of lobster nicuatole, black cod with salsa Veracruzana, and sweetbreads with bitter almond foam make for lasting impressions. From the bar, find Mexican spirits and natural wines.
La Bastide by Andrea Calstier
Cuisine: French
Head to this modern farmhouse in Westchester where a soothing design perfectly complements sweeping views of the pastoral landscape. Husband and wife duo Chef Andrea Calstier and General Manager Elena Oliver are at ease in their intimate dining room, a space fit with only a few tables and perfectly calibrated for the tasting to come. The menu draws on their upbringing in the south of France. A simple-sounding salad is so much more with grilled gem lettuce paired with poached celtuce, cured egg yolk, and an olive oil sabayon. Squab with rosemary and fig leaf is as accomplished as grilled black sea bass with artichokes and razor clams. Dessert is a particular strength, and the combination of chocolate with goat cheese is a thrilling finale.
Joo Ok
Cuisine: Korean
This Seoul transplant has an unusual entrance—via freight elevator up 16 floors—but the elegant space is instantly inviting. Echoing a traditional Korean home, guests are welcomed with savory crackers and drinks before being escorted to the dining room, where a minimalist design is juxtaposed with views of the Manhattan skyline. Joo Ok delivers a Korean tasting menu that is rooted in tradition but presented through a modern lens. Dishes are stunning, as in the jat jeup chae - tender lobster and Korean pear tucked inside salted cucumber slices. Makgeolli bread topped with freshwater eel is a dramatic single bite, but their signature deul gi reum with diced geoduck, spotted shrimp, and a whole quail egg in house-pressed perilla seed oil is equally memorable.
Nōksu
Cuisine: Contemporary
Eating underground in the subway system may not sound appealing, but that hasn't stopped Chef Dae Kim. In the heart of Koreatown at Herald Square behind a code-locked door, find a black marble counter that stretches the length of the room. Every chef is armed with tweezers to manage and primp gorgeous dishes that are largely contemporary in their design. Seafood is a serious focus with the likes of crab, fluke, clams, and mackerel. The restaurant’s signature is obvious once you spot the squab dry aging in a fridge. Against the backdrop of 80s hits playing overhead, a chef holds the bird up and repeatedly ladles hot oil over it in the style of Peking duck. It’s a defining reminder that in New York City, anything can happen anywhere.
Shota Omakase
Cuisine: Japanese
Far from the subway stop on a quiet street in Williamsburg, find this welcoming omakase counter hidden away near Domino Park. Chef Cheng Lin sets the tone as a friendly, relaxed guide for the night’s proceedings. And whereas some chefs practically take vows of silence with regards to sourcing and technique, he is quick to share where in Japan the fish is from, why he uses Inochi-no Ichi rice, and what it took to find his special aged soys and vinegars. His intentionality delivers in the form of excellent, seasonal product and a fine-tuned parade of nigiri, for which the rice is refreshed repeatedly. Prepared dishes like binchotan-seared sawara with citrus sauce, shiso, and nori or even a restorative cup of dashi with mushrooms also show distinction.
YingTao
Cuisine: Chinese
Owner Bolun Yao's beloved grandmother serves as both the namesake and culinary inspiration for this stylish Hell's Kitchen hideaway, an unassumingly ambitious project that aims to reinterpret Chinese cuisine through the lens of Western fine dining. Chef Jakub Baster lends his experienced hand to the effort, composing elegant dishes that blend a wide array of Chinese flavors and ingredients with elements of French technique and a contemporary style. The results are simultaneously inventive and familiar. Flavors tend toward subtlety, with careful attention paid to textures, as in a silky soy milk custard matched with celery root, and savory, mildly spiced doubanjiang, or rich crab noodles with egg yolk and smoked tobiko. To finish, a reimagining of nian gao (sweet rice cake) is sure to delight.
New Green Star
One White Street
Cuisine: Contemporary
Gorgeous marble, superb tile work and modern light fixtures decorate the intimate and attractive wood-clad space.This 19th-century townhouse, once the downtown hangout for John Lennon and Yoko Ono, has been transformed into a destination of culinary excellence, thanks to Chef Austin Johnson. The lower level operates more like a wine bar with crowds aplenty, while the higher floors offer the same seasonal tasting menu, starring products sourced from their upstate farm. Bold and clever flavors come easily to this kitchen team, as seen in cheddar gougères garnished with caviar and lemon zest, followed by a melting square of braised lamb with black garlic purée and charred Chinese celery.
Three Stars
Eleven Madison Park
Cuisine: Vegan
Le Bernardin
Cuisine: Seafood
Masa
Cuisine: Japanese
Per Se
Cuisine: Contemporary
Two Stars
Aquavit
Cuisine: Scandinavian
Aska
Cuisine: Scandinavian
Atera
Cuisine: Contemporary
Atomix
Cuisine: Korean
Blue Hill at Stone Barns
Cuisine: American
Gabriel Kreuther
Cuisine: Contemporary
Jean-Georges
Cuisine: Contemporary
The Modern
Cuisine: Contemporary
odo
Cuisine: Japanese
Saga
Cuisine: Contemporary
Sushi Noz
Cuisine: Japanese
One Stars
63 Clinton
Cuisine: Contemporary
bōm
Cuisine: Korean
Casa Mono
Cuisine: Spanish
Clover Hill
Cuisine: Contemporary
Cote
Cuisine: Korean
Crown Shy
Cuisine: Contemporary
Daniel
Cuisine: French
Dirt Candy
Cuisine: Vegetarian
Essential by Christophe
Cuisine: French Contemporary
Estela
Cuisine: Contemporary
Family Meal at Blue Hill
Cuisine: American
Francie
Cuisine: Contemporary
Frevo
Cuisine: Contemporary
Gramercy Tavern
Cuisine: Contemporary
Icca
Cuisine: Japanese
Jeju Noodle Bar
Cuisine: Korean
Joji
Cuisine: Japanese
Jua
Cuisine: Korean
Kochi
Cuisine: Korean
Kosaka
Cuisine: Japanese
L’Abeille
Cuisine: French
Le Coucou
Cuisine: French
Le Pavillon
Cuisine: Contemporary
Mari
Cuisine: Korean
Meju
Cuisine: Korean
Noda
Cuisine: Japanese
Noz 17
Cuisine: Sushi
Cuisine: Korean
One White Street
Cuisine: Contemporary
Oxomoco
Cuisine: Mexican
Red Paper Clip
Cuisine: Contemporary
Restaurant Yuu
Cuisine: French Contemporary
Rezdôra
Cuisine: Italian
Semma
Cuisine: Indian
Shion 69 Leonard Street
Cuisine: Japanese
Shmoné
Cuisine: Israeli
Sushi Amane
Cuisine: Japanese
Sushi Ichimura
Cuisine: Japanese
Sushi Nakazawa
Cuisine: Japanese
Tempura Matsui
Cuisine: Japanese
The Four Horsemen
Cuisine: American
The Musket Room
Cuisine: Contemporary
Torien
Cuisine: Japanese
Torrisi
Cuisine: Contemporary
Tsukimi
Cuisine: Japanese
Tuome
Cuisine: Fusion
Yoshino
Cuisine: Japanese
Green Stars
Blue Hill at Stone Barns
Cuisine: American
Family Meal at Blue Hill
Cuisine: American
Dirt Candy
Cuisine: Vegetarian
Hero image: Dan Ahn / Jungsik
