MICHELIN Guide Inspectors spend all year on the road uncovering the best restaurants to recommend—and their discoveries are too good to keep secret. Whet your appetite with a sneak peek of the 2024 MICHELIN Guide New York selection featuring eight new additions spread across New York City.
If New York is known for anything, it's the diversity. And with a list of almost 400 restaurants spread across the city, it's easy to see why. And with June's latest additions, that list is getting even bigger.
For those that want to celebrate summer in style, stop by Tolo and Coqodaq (the same team behind One MICHELIN Star Cote), where fluffy souffle pancakes and literal buckets of Korean fried chicken along with caviar await. Oh, and before we forget, the chicken is gluten-free.
Head over to Tolo and Kanyakumari for their finely tuned menu of Chinese dishes and South Indian seafood dishes. Either way, expect dishes that are packed with flavor and spices.
For more on the latest additions and everything our Inspectors liked, keep reading below. Bon appetit!
Café Carmellini
Cuisine: Contemporary
Andrew Carmellini's return to fine dining is housed in the Fifth Avenue Hotel, a former Gilded Age gem now recast as an elegant NoMad stomping ground. The dining room bears a sumptuous throwback ambience with wood plank flooring, curved sapphire-blue velvet booths and caramel leather seating. The open kitchen turns out dishes that whiff of the Mediterranean, as in the crab mille-feuille, a neatly arranged tower of delicate wafers and sweet crabmeat in a golden-yellow Meyer lemon sauce. Scallops Cardoz is a heartwarming composition dedicated to the late Chef Floyd Cardoz and features beautifully seared bivalves with a turmeric-tinted and warmly spiced coconut milk sauce. The squab en croûte pairs rich and rosy breast meat and seared foie gras in a thin layer of pastry.
Coqodaq
Cuisine: Korean
It's very hard to snag a table at this hot spot. (Pro tip: join the line out front if you can't get a reservation.) The rigamarole is worth it, as the ambience at this Korean fried chicken spot is just plain fun. There are other items on the compact menu, but you're here for the chicken. Available as a "bucket" that includes chicken consommé to start, followed by two waves of different types of gluten-free fried chicken with house-made sauces, along with cold perilla seed noodles. Finally, yogurt soft serve completes the meal. Stick to the bucket for a reasonable bill, but splurge, add caviar and extras and it climbs quickly. Cocktails play into the theme, but champagne is the star, with a nice range of offerings by the glass, as well as full and half bottles for every budget.
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.
Four Twenty Five
Cuisine: Contemporary
Jonathan Benno and Jean-Georges Vongerichten are behind this elegant restaurant named for the address of the sleek building it's located within. Flooded with natural light, it's stunning yet understated. The menu pulls influences from all over, hopscotching across Italy and France to Asia. Dishes, like the foie gras plated with blood orange compote and served alongside warm, spiced madeleines, have a grand flair while featuring earnest cooking. Even a plate of asparagus is elevated, thanks to creamy avocado slices and a punchy vinaigrette. The meal concludes with a teardrop-shaped chocolate tart that delivers on every level with black cardamom crémeux, tonka whipped ganache, and buckwheat caramel sided by marzipan ice cream.
Foxface Natural
Cuisine: Creative
Squid from Point Judith cut into thin noodles, set in a green aguachile and topped with crispy pork ears? Tartare but made from the loin of a kangaroo and accompanied with coriander-carrot puree and Sardinian flatbread? There are few rules at this easygoing East Village standout, which has no trouble taking risks. The eclectic menu sources local, watches the seasons carefully, and does what it pleases. Case in point: A recent dessert featuring a smooth white asparagus gelato with shards of pink peppercorn meringue and grilled strawberries. Aim to sit at the long bar that anchors the narrow room. It’s where you’ll meet a genuinely friendly host of servers and maybe even one of the owners. Wines are thoughtfully curated and comfortably priced.
Kanyakumari
Cuisine: Indian
Compact but contemporary with a buzzy vibe, this restaurant is named for the city at the southernmost tip of India, and appropriately, spotlights the regional fare of south India with a focus on seafood. The cooking is as bold as you’d expect, with a depth of flavor. This kitchen puts their spin on the tried-and-true. Case in point? Mussels Koliwada. It's a dish traditionally made with fish, but here, mussels coated in a spiced, red-tinted rice flour batter are fried, then served alongside a chili dipping sauce. If the server recommends the slow-cooked Black Gold beef, order it. It's impossibly tender beef short rib dressed with Madras onion rings, crispy curry leaves, and tiny green chilies. A nuanced fish curry is complemented by the ghee rice.
Tolo
Cuisine: Chinese
Chef Ron Yan is making a splash with one of the most exciting restaurants in Chinatown in recent memory. Just across from Seward Park, find a finely tuned menu that spotlights a range of familiar Chinese dishes, all prepared with style and refinement. Think tender beef shank buried under a refreshing herb salad or perfect fried cubes of tofu dusted in salt and pepper. One can’t-miss entrée is branzino fried until golden brown and served in a fantastic sweet and sour sauce. A unique feature here is the wine program—it's serious business with a long, thoughtful list and Zalto glasses to boot. With so much to order, your small table fills up quickly, and the small dining room gets busy in a hurry. It’s all part of the charm.
Vert Frais
Cuisine: Japanese
This sunny, white-walled café in Long Island City does not look like a serious restaurant. It looks like the kind of place where you’d grab a coffee with friends or pull out your laptop at a communal table. But with the backing of Kanoyama’s long-standing chef, the kitchen is not to be underestimated. The classic shio ramen is a must, the broth fragrant and deep with smoky, charred slices of cha-shu and crunchy bamboo shoots. Thin slivers of sushi-grade salmon laced over a mound of warm rice with scallions and topped with poppy ikura are also a source of easy comfort. Dessert is all but bound to set social media feeds on fire: Fluffy, tall, jiggly souffle pancakes that are light as air, none too sweet, and impossible not to finish in a few big bites.
Hero image: Evan Sung / Café Carmellini
