Quality Branded’s (Zou Zou’s, Quality Italian) latest kicked off a glorious new era of maximalist dining with its opening in February, and the city hasn’t looked back since. A giant, oozing raviolo crowning a filet mignon, garlicky babka, and other viral dishes have made this an especially tough reservation to score.

The half-pound, $29 hot dog at Mischa earned indisputable bragging rights for dish of the summer. If that wasn’t reason enough to grab a reservation, The New York Times critic Pete Wells piled on the praise with a two-star review calling Mischa “one of the year’s most inventive restaurants.” That’s no shocker, given Empellón legend Alex Stupak is steering the restaurant, which opened in April. Here’s a surprise, though: Mischa isn’t doing the Mexican food Stupak built his career on.

NYC has no shortage of standout Italian restaurants, but Carlotto has been doing the most with its massive, one-of-a-kind amari collection since it opened in April. The food is on point, too, because chef Andy Kitko of sibling restaurant Oceans leads the kitchen here as well. While the popular seafood restaurant has hints of Italy sprinkled in, Carlotto goes all in on regional Italian cooking.

When Angie Mar of Les Trois Chevaux fame opens a restaurant, New Yorkers notice. That was definitely the case for the famous chef’s Le B., a September opening that’s an ode to the food she grew up eating in the ’80s and ’90s. That means nostalgic dishes like roast duck smoked in jasmine tea and Chinese chicken salad with bitter greens and mandarin, all served in a velvety, dimly lit space that whispers luxury.

Dominick Lee dreamed of making modern Creole food on a big stage, and there’s no splashier platform than New York. Since Alligator’s Pear’s July opening, diners can’t seem to get enough of the grilled alligator sausage, creamy artichoke-stuffed beignets, and New Orleans-inspired cocktails, to name just a few exciting items on the menu. Plus, the restaurant’s location is a huge boon for the Penn Station crowd, which usually has to make do with fast-casual spots.

Omakase is a bonafide New York tradition at this point, but Top Chef star Frances Tariga managed to bring something new to this town. Her Filipino-accented omakase is an intimate, 16-course party of show-stopping small bites like shrimp tartare with caviar, smoked Spanish mackerel with wasabi, and fatty tuna tacos with gold dust. If you really want to do it up, book one of the later seatings for karaoke night at the stylish NoMad restaurant following the meal.

Live out your Mad Men fantasies at The Press Club Grill, singled out by Town & Country as one of the hottest restaurants of the year. Prolific chef Franklin Becker leans hard into ’50s and ’60s dishes at the restaurant, which is part of the revamped Martinique hotel. The space is decked for the era, too, with curvy banquettes and checkerboard floors. Choose from a reimagined Waldorf salad, oysters Rockefeller, chicken schnitzel with Kyiv sauce, and other time-honored classics.

When sushi joints in NYC were limited to super casual or extremely high-end destinations, Blue Ribbon Sushi changed the game in 1994 with its accessible offerings—and sushi wizard Toshi Ueki at the helm. So it’s only natural that brothers and Blue Ribbon founders Eric and Bruce Bromberg paid tribute to the late Ueki when they opened this tiny, 12-seat spot in February.

New Yorkers love a good pop-up-turned-permanent story—and that’s exactly the path followed by caterer and Iranian chef Nasrin Rejali, who opened this love letter to Persian homestyle cooking in July. Nasrin’s Kitchen sits on the second floor of a nondescript Midtown building and is easy to miss.

Marcus Samuelsson may be known to most Americans as a huge Food Network star, but here in NYC, his cooking is what stands out. Overseeing the fine Nordic dining at Aquavit and then opening Harlem legend Red Rooster gave him top NYC chef status. Now, Samuelsson, alongside executive chef Ed Tinoco, is capturing the spirit of NYC at his newest opening Metropolis.