Star chefs are moving to Brooklyn, and the city’s Indian food scene keeps growing.
Fall is always the extreme season for New York restaurant and bar openings. But 2025 is shaping up to have more high-profile debuts than usual. (Look no further than Eighty Six, the Corner Store team’s latest project in the former Chumley’s space in the West Village and the arrival of grill guru Francis Mallman at La Boca at the new Faena New York.)
If there’s a theme, it’s brand extensions. The biggest, literally, comes empire builder Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who’s mashing up his three Flatiron concepts-ABC Kitchen, ABC Cocina, and ABCV-into a spacious restaurant and retail space, ABC Kitchens in Dumbo. In the East Village, the team behind New York’s acclaimed Flatiron kaiseki counter Odo will debut a seasonal rice-focused concept that shows off the staple ingredient in myriad preparations. Meanwhile, the popular Thai noodle spot Soothr is expanding beyond the East Village, with a second location in Long Island City. It’s also introducing a Thai barbecue concept, Unglo, to the Upper West Side.
In other expansion news, Ambassadors Clubhouse, an offshoot of the ambitious Indian London, will debut in NoMad in October. (It’s part of New York’s ever expanding Indian food scene, which recently saw Houston’s Musaafer opening in Tribeca.)
ADVERTISEMENT
But one of the most hotly anticipated openings is a comeback: Babbo, the pioneering Greenwich Village Italian restaurant is set to relaunch in early fall. It features a collaboration between prolific restaurateur Stephen Starr and one of the restaurant’s original chefs, Mark Ladner.
The city’s drinks scene is getting even livelier: PDT’s Jeff Bell is launching Kees, a classic cocktail bar in the West Village below the recently opened LA taqueria Tacos 1986.
The list of noteworthy fall openings could easily number a few dozens. Instead we’ve distilled it down to 14. Keep reading to see which made the cut.
– – –
Unglo, Upper West Side, and Soothr, Long Island City, Queens
New York is awash in Asian-styled barbecue, and now the crew behind the Thai noodle favorite Soothr has teamed up with chef Nate Limwong to bring the heat uptown. Unglo’s specialty is moo krata, a Thai mashup of barbecue and hot pot. Guests grill meats, seafood and vegetables on a circular grill and could also dip the ingredients into a surrounding moat of broth and finally into a garlicky sweet-savory-spicy master sauce. Cocktails are named after butcher cuts, like the New York strip martini riff made with vodka, gin and Calvados. The 28-table restaurant-broken up into three dining areas-channels a 1980s Miami Vice-style scene with terracotta tiles, psychedelic multicolored backlit glass blocks and a blue neon hallway leading to a rear dining room.
A few weeks later, the Soothr team will debut their expansion into Long Island City. One feature of the 4,000-square-foot, 120-seat space is a 28-seat tea bar, Sato, named for Thailand’s, sake-like traditional rice wine. During the day the place will have a retro coffee shop vibe with matcha and Asian teas such as oolong alongside kopitiam (Malaysian coffee shop) snackslike steamed bao and flaky egg tarts. By night, Sato becomes a neon-lit cocktail lounge. The restaurant boasts a series of dining areas including a space evocative of a Hong Kong diner with posters of 1980s Asian pop stars. Chef Chidensee Watthanawongwat’s noodle-centric menu will expand to include Yaowarat-style dishes-Cantonese-influenced Thai plates such as five-spice roasted duck and Dungeness crab curry.
Projected openings: Unglo, Sept. 5; Soothr, Sept. 24
– – –
Koju, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
Hiro Nishida helped put haute omakase on the New York City map almost 20 years ago at Sushi Azabu. Now he’s teamed up with another Japanese food expert-former Sushi Zo Hanare chef Kevin Garrison-and LDV Hospitality to open an accessibly priced 14-seat counter inside the Ace Hotel Brooklyn. Garrison’s $145, 12-course omakase will begin with three small plates such as snow crab crowned with Hokkaido uni, followed by nine pieces of nigiri, from striped bonito to smoked and aged king salmon finished with sturgeon caviar. Guests can add a triple tuna roll ($38) layered with akami, chutoro, and otoro. The beverage list highlights sake, Japanese whisky, and a prosecco-ume sake spritz. The design blends midcentury modern touches-vintage white Wegner chairs; a white-oak–topped stone counter-with bamboo-paneled ceilings.
Projected opening: Sept. 5
– – –
Muku, Tribeca
The compact Greenwich Street counter space next to L’Abeille-formerly home to Sushi Ichimura-will become the 10-seat, kaiseki-inspired Muku, led by Ichimura’s talented second-in-command, Manabu Asanuma. In the dark-wood-paneleddining room, the chef will offer a 10-course, $295 omakase featuring peak season ingredients served raw, grilled, simmered, steamed, and fried. Expect intricate plates such as foie gras chawanmushi, or egg custard, with gingko nut sauce, and sansho-pepper-accented chicken with maitake mushroom rice and fresh water eel. The beverage program from Ichimura-which highlights small producer sakes and a vast selection of Champagne, Burgundy and Bordeaux wines-will still be in play, along with new cocktails such as a sansho-and-vodka-based elixir.
Projected opening: Sept. 10
– – –
ABC Kitchens, Dumbo, Brooklyn
Vongerichten’s Brooklyn debut is a spacious 4,500 square foot project right on the Dumbo waterfront. ABC Kitchens-a synthesis of ABC Kitchen, ABC Cocina, and ABCV-will seat 325 guests indoors and out. The menu blends best-selling dishes from each dining room with options such as heirloom tomato and avocado tartine with olive tapenade and lemon-zest-accented arroz con pollo. The beverage program will lean into ABCV’s wellness-supporting drinks both with and without booze, served from a 36-seat bar made from pink lava stone and rose quartzite.
Like the Manhattan locations, which are headquartered in ABC Carpets, the space will feature a shopping area with vintage glassware and flatware. A glass-walled greenhouse will morph from a flower salon by day into a private dining room by night.
Projected opening: Mid-September
– – –
Barbuto, Dumbo, Brooklyn
Jonathan Waxman-a California-Italian cooking pioneer and roast chicken expert-is expanding his iconic West Village brand to 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge. It’s the chef’s first Brooklyn restaurant and his second project with the contemporary eco-friendly 1 Hotel group (the 10-year old Jams at 1 Hotel Central Park was his first). Food, served all day, will showcase Waxman’s signature dishes, such as gnocchi sautéed in butter and oil with seasonal vegetables. New plates like a seafood tower and mustard sauce-laced yellowfin tuna carpaccio with mustard greens will nod to the Brooklyn waterside setting. The team had retooled the bright, sun-drenched dining room, formerly Osprey, adding an eight-seat chef’s counter and opening up the dining room to offer views of the Brooklyn Bridge.
Waxman and his team will also open a casual, Italian-style beer garden, Barbuto Garden, with communal seating and counter service. Expect 16 rotating beers on tap, plus more bottles and cans that highlight Brooklyn brewers as well as assorted brew-friendly snacks.
Projected opening: Mid-September
– – –
Sushidokoro Mekumi, Hudson Square
This fall, New Yorkers will have access to one of Japan’s most coveted sushi counters when chef Takayoshi Yamaguchi opens a second location of his two-Michelin-starred Kanazawa restaurant. At the eight-seat hinoki counter at 70 Charlton St., his longtime apprentice Hajime Kumabe will serve a roughly 16-course omakase (pricing is TBD). Yamaguchi’s obsession is fatty seafood: He closes Kanazawa in the summer, when fish are leanest, and studies fish’s fatty acid content. His starters include abalone dressed with a sauce of its own liver, and nigiri with rice of varying temperatures. For dessert, guests have seasonal options such as strawberry daifuku (a mochi-like treat) or a nutty hojicha dacquoise. To sip alongside these offerings, there’s sake, umeshu, or plum wine, beer, and European wines.
Projected Opening: Mid-September
– – –
Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca, Greenwich Village
September marks the return of Babbo, the seminal downtown Italian restaurant that was opened in 1998 by now disgraced chef Mario Batali and business partner Joe Bastianich. Earlier this year, prolific restaurateur Starr bought the restaurant (along with its Italian sibling Lupa Osteria Romana) from Bastianich and reinstalled esteemed chef Ladner, who played a pivotal kitchen role in Babbo’s original opening team. He’s spent the summer renovating the place. The menu will lean into antipasti and crudo-and include a 100-layer lasagna, according to the New York Times. Whether Babbo’s extensive Italian wine cellar was part of the sale is yet to be confirmed.
Projected opening: Early October
– – –
Ambassadors Clubhouse, NoMad
The first US project from London-based JKS Restaurants lands on Broadway at 31st Street, with a design inspired by India’s grand mansions. The 175-seat space spans almost 8,000 square feet and embraces a maximalist aesthetic, featuring detailed fading stencil and paint work, colorful fabrics, and intricately patterned carpets. The kitchen will highlight Punjabi cooking, including UK signature dishes like slow-cooked clay pot lamb curry and tandoor-cooked butter chicken chops. At the bar: drinks stocked with Indian ingredients.
Projected opening: October
– – –
Vato, Park Slope, Brooklyn
Fidel Caballero, the guy behind the modern Mexican hit restaurant Corima on the Lower East Side, is yet another chef headed to Brooklyn. During the day, the 65-seat indoor/outdoor tortillería, bakery, and neighborhood restaurant will serve single-origin Oaxacan coffee and Mexican pastries such as an anise-and-piloncillo danish, and Chihuahua-style (slender) burritos with fillings like brisket burnt ends with eggs and cheese. It will also sell packs of house-made sourdough flour tortillas. At night, the space transitions into a full-service neighborhood spot with a northern Mexican and Basque-inspired menu including chile-marinated shrimp in shrimp-head sauce. The team is planning a global, small production natural wine list and will later debut a Mexican-leaning cocktail program.
Projected opening: Early October
– – –
Odo East Village, East Village
Hiroki Odo, the chef behind Flatiron’s acclaimed two-Michelin-starred kaiseki restaurant Odo, is expanding downtown with a snug 800-square-foot project on East 5th Street. He calls it a “kaiseki izakaya”-a more laid-back à la carte interpretation of seasonal Japanese dining. The intimate 22-seat dining room-split between tables and a 12-seat counter-has a view into the open kitchen. The gluten-free menu honors rice in myriad forms: wagyu marinated in a blend of rice koji and white miso then grilled, or a daily-changing iron pot rice served multiple ways-straight from the pot, steeped with green tea, or crisped into grilled onigiri. The beverage list leans into rice as well, featuring rice shochu, rice beer, and a thoughtful sake selection, including a playful sake sangria.
Projected opening: Late November
– – –
Allegretto, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Chef Christopher Cippolline and partner John Winterman are turning a space alongside their European bistro Francie into a compact pizza and small plates spot. Cippolline’s menu will feature crisp Neapolitan-style pies, like one topped with anchovies, crunchy black olives, and Sorrento lemon zest alongside plates such as garlicky fried bucatini with hazelnuts and peperoncino. Most of the seating will be on an all-weather rear patio. Inside, in the exposed-brick space with a hand-painted fresco, will be a few booths and a 10-seat bar. The opening beverage program will, naturally, be designed around Italian drinks-including Southern Italian wines on tap plus classic cocktails like a spritz.
Projected opening: Late November
– – –
BARS
Kees, West Village
Over the summer, popular LA taqueria Tacos 1986 touched down on Cornelia Street, along with agave bar Mixteca, helmed by PDT co-owner Bell and bartender Victor Lopez. Now, Bell plus Apres Cru Hospitality-partners in all three concepts-will launch the venue’s second bar in the building’s lower level. The 55-seat spot, anchored by a handsome hunter-green stone bar, channels post-Prohibition New York glamour with plush drapery, vintage armchairs and banquettes upholstered in green velvet. Bell’s menu will offer categories such as Martini, spritz, and highball, and each section will offer a classic iteration, a seasonal take, and a low-alcohol option. An accompanying snack menu is in the works.
Projected opening: Early October
– – –
Stars, East Village
If the destination East Village restaurants Claud and Penny highlight chef Josh Pinsky’s ingredient-driven cooking, backed by partner Chase Sinzer’s thoughtful wine list, then Stars flips the script. Here, wine takes center stage, and food plays a supporting role. The intimate, 500-square- foot space on East 12th Street will have 12 indoor seats and a 1,000-plus bottle list representing styles from around the world and more by-the-glass options including sake, sherry, and premium Coravin pours. Pinsky doesn’t have a full kitchen here, and the snacks selection is still in the works; he’s considering dishes like shrimp toast and a rotating selection of cheeses.
Projected opening: Late fall