New York Restaurants April 2025: Where To Go—Or Not

Forbes

01-04-2025

Pitt's
Edible enlightenment from our eatery experts and colleagues Monie Begley, Richard Nalley and Randall Lane, as well as brothers Bob, Kip and Tim.
The View
A new wonder has been reborn in Times Square: the 360-degree rotating restaurant and lounge on the 47th and 48th floors of the Marriott Marquis. The aerial views are spectacular, adding to an evening spent sipping special cocktails and eating delicious American fare. Iconic restaurateur Danny Meyer was enlisted to create just the right setting and kitchen for this 200-seat experience. East Coast oysters presented with a tangy mignonette sauce and the plump jumbo lump blue crab cake on a bed of remoulade are delectable, as is the classic iceberg salad topped with creamy blue cheese dressing, a quail egg and lardons. Main courses include a rosy and substantial prime rib, four other steak and chop offerings, black bass en papillote, lobster spaghetti, roasted chicken and a charbroiled burger. Don't miss out on the sky-high chocolate layer cake drizzled in a caramel sauce.
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Upon arriving on the 20th floor, you are directed to a living room-like setting with a bar at the end. Though billed as 'luxe,' the menu is disappointing. The market crudité consists of masses of hummus and chickpeas, a few carrots and radish slices. Chicken of the Sea tuna on toast is better than the crispy yellow- fin tuna tartare with avocado mousse. The smash burger is a good, but not great, burger. The caviar deviled eggs took nearly 30 minutes to arrive. As for desserts, the New York cheesecake is dry and crumbly, and the chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich is a symphony of solid caloric sogginess.
Pitt's
A lively new addition to the burgeoning Red Hook foodie dining scene. The decor in this small corner storefront is a semi-campy take on Gilded Age dining. The Franco/Southern menu is brief but eclectic and studded with gems. Start with the pork-fat fried peanuts or the veal sweetbreads over yellow eye beans. Move on to the lamb rump frites with mustard butter and salad du jour or the heritage pork chop over cardamom-braised chard. Crown the experience with the foam-light pancake soufflé.
Time and Tide
This sleek relative newcomer is housed in a long, narrow space with chairs and banquettes that bring to mind a sushi bar. Extravagant and tasty is the caviar with potato chips, but not as tasty as the lemon butter crab tagliatelle. For entrées try the halibut pithivier, a confection of fish wrapped in mushroom duxelles and classic puff pastry, or the seared swordfish in brown butter and thyme. The grilled strip steak with a soy glaze and onion rings is equally delicious. For dessert you can't go wrong with the panna cotta, tarte tatin or chocolate mousse.
The space is airy, the acoustics great, the service professional and the fare equal to that at its parent townhouse at 6 Bond Street. The $48-per-person prix-fixe luncheon menu is a steal. The vegetable tempura is crispy and fresh; the maitake mushroom soup with porcini oil and crispy potato is ideal on a blustery day. The classic BondST sushi disappears quickly, and the braised short ribs with puréed potatoes and celeriac doesn't need a knife. The mochi here deserves a capital 'M,' and the Japanese whiskey bread pudding with a toffee glaze and vanilla ice cream is divine.
Brass
A stage-set-perfect romantic-throwback brasserie with lots of 'brass,' polished paneling, mosaic-tile floor, Léger-like paintings and formally clad, white-aproned waitstaff. The food and service are both hit-or-miss, but prices are uniformly stiff. A highlight is the golden Amish chicken roulade for two ($135), composed of medallions stuffed with herbs rolled inside perfectly crisped chicken skin (though with a stingy squirt of the wonderful celeriac-potato purée). Less successful is the bland and not-quite-hearty pot-au-feu ($63), with a list of classic ingredients that promise much more. This is an impressive destination for a date or business dinner, with the added attraction of the soaring, low-lit Tusk Bar. Just don't expect to be wafted to Montparnasse.
Four twenty five
A new favorite restaurant in the city, this Jean-Georges outpost is wonderfully reminiscent of the Pool Room at the old Four Seasons: paneled walls, high ceilings, retro furniture and floor-to-ceiling windows covered in tight mesh-like sheers evoke its serene atmosphere. To be able to have a conversation while enjoying fabulous food is an absolute delight. The amuse-bouche has one craving what's to come. The octopus and squid à la plancha with kohlrabi slaw is rivaled only by the peekytoe crab salad with tempura-like onion rings, gem lettuce and Russian dressing. The chocolate almond caramel custard and the apple confit are both sublime.