Have an anniversary or a partner’s birthday coming up in the next couple months? You should know about Le Veau d’Or. The Upper East Side bistro first opened in 1937, closed in 2019, and is now back, this time under Frenchette's expert management. This place feels more antique than your coolest aunt’s attic, and the $125 prix-fixe menu is as classically French as they come.

R.Slice, the new slice shop from the Roberta’s people, opened in Bushwick in April, and it’s already moving up in the world, with a second location that slots right into your Midtown lunch rotation. (There’s a second Roberta’s upstairs, too.) The crackly cheese slice is as good as they get, but lunchtime will be more exciting if you get the Fire & Ice. Topped with a mixture of stracciatella, chili oil, and basil, it’s a little spicy, a little tingly, and a lot of fun to say.

After much anticipation, the Taiwanese soup dumpling empire has taken Manhattan. Its largest worldwide location yet serves up xiao long bao in Midtown West, where you can watch chefs fold wrappers into 18 precise pleats inside a glass-walled kitchen. It’s dumpling dinner theater, and while the pork soup dumplings don't blow all of our top picks out of the water, they're solid and consistent.

In 2022, when Papaya King closed, we thought we’d lost an icon—an institution, where New Yorkers from all walks of life scarfed snappy dogs with sauerkraut, relish, and homemade mustard, ever since it opened in 1932. The Upper East Side business is back in a new spot on 86th Street, and while the cookie-cutter storefront misses some of the charm of the original, the perfectly griddled hot dogs are just as snappy as before.

Look around you. The city is full of Cervo’s lovers who appreciate a summer evening, sitting outside at the Lower East Side seafood spot with a plate of fried shrimp heads. Eel Bar—also on the LES—is a new spot from the same team, and its tavern-like booths, neon pink and blue touches, and olive oil-soaked gildas will surely amass a fan following of their own. Come for the trout-roe studded potato salad and martinis in funky glassware that you may briefly consider stealing.

A vegan and a meat-eater enter a plant-based Ethiopian restaurant. A couple of hours later, they both leave satisfied—and with the newfound knowledge that vegan nacho cheese is far superior to the real (fake) stuff. Such miracles can happen at the second location of Ras Plant Based in Greenwich Village. The menu here is essentially the same as their original spot in Crown Heights, except for the injera nachos, which you must order, because that’s where that melty vegan cheese comes into play.

The people behind Razdôra are, once again, serving little portions of incredible pasta, this time in a two-floor space with a majestic skylight and a pizza oven sourced from Campania. Massara is a new Southern Italian spot in Flatiron, and it’s home to a contender for dish of the summer: chilled spaghetti with uni, tomato sauce, and raw red prawn. Pair that pasta with a Neapolitan pizzette, a glass of aglianico rosé, and, budget permitting, a $40 langoustine cooked on a wood-fired grill.

It’s the year of the restaurant sequel (see Massara, San Sabino, Penny), and Carnitas Ramirez has us feeling as elated as we did after watching Dune: Part Two. The small East Village spot from Taqueria Ramirez specializes in carnitas, and they're worth the line you’ll have to wait in. The whole pig is cooked snout-to-tail in big steel vats just behind the counter, and you can pick which parts you want on each $5 taco.

Many have tried to recreate that most iconic—and dare we say, revolutionary—of handheld foods: Taco Bell’s Crunchwrap Supreme. (Super Burrito’s Dankwrap comes to mind.) Blue Hour, a takeout window inside a Bushwick gas station, truly nails it. Their “Cwunch Wap Supweme” is compact, contained, and has a tostada inside that stays crispy, even after your walk home. You’ll also feel less like a human trash bag after eating it, thanks to high quality—and 100% halal—ingredients.

A burrito is only as good as its tortilla—is a new life motto we made up. Try the burritos at Son Del North and you’ll see what we mean. This fast casual burrito counter on the Lower East Side flies in their tortillas from Sonora, which is famous for chewy, flaky tortillas with a high fat content. This spot is also adamantly anti-rice, filling up instead with mayocoba beans, big chunks of avocado, cheese, and your protein of choice.