12 NYC Restaurant Openings to Get Excited About in 2022
From spots by out-of-town restaurateurs to new eateries that will have you frequenting Midtown.
Between vowing to take on New Year’s resolutions and dreaming about what the future may hold, we’re all looking ahead to 2022 (and who can blame us after the roller coaster that was last year?). While the future is still a bit uncertain due to the Omicron variant impacting NYC, it’s the perfect time to support your current favorite spots around the city through takeout, indoor, and outdoor dining, and plot visits to all the highly anticipated new restaurant openings on the horizon for the new year.
In 2022, out-of-towners from Philadelphia to Naples, Italy, will be arriving in NYC to establish their own outposts, and local restaurateurs are expected to expand their reach as well—with many of them flocking to Midtown. With top-tier new restaurants popping up all around the city, 2022 is looking like a busy year when it comes to dining out. Here are all of the openings we’re excited about.
Bar Cicchetti
Address: 113 W. 24th Street, Chelsea
Opening date: Mid January
Known for his appearance on Top Chef and popular restaurants in Los Angeles and Chicago, chef Fabio Viviani is opening his first NYC restaurant this year. Bar Cicchetti will be located inside the newly unveiled Motto by Hilton hotel and will offer Italian fare from various regions of the country including Mediterranean lobster ravioli, ricotta gnocchi with oxtail sugo, crudo, and more.
Mena
Address: 28 Cortlandt Alley, Tribeca
Opening date: January
After acclaimed years at restaurants like Gotham Bar & Grill and Chumley’s, chef Victoria Blamey will open her debut solo spot this year. Blamey is digging into her South American roots with Mena, a restaurant she named after her great aunt.
Address: 97 Wythe Avenue, Williamsburg
Opening date: Late January
Laser Wolf, an Israeli grill house known as one of Philly’s best restaurants, will debut on the rooftop of The Hoxton Hotel in late January. The restaurant will be chef Michael Solomonov and Steve Cook’s first sit-down spot in NYC, and the duo is partnering with Boka Restaurant Group to bring it to life. Nearly everything on the restaurant’s menu is prepared on a roaring charcoal grill and favorites include dips with fresh pita, grilled skewers, and larger format dishes like a whole branzino or a baharat-rubbed chicken.
Oiji Mi
Address: Flatiron District
Opening date: Late January
The team behind Oiji, the inventive contemporary Korean restaurant in the East Village, is opening another upscale Korean restaurant this year. At Oiji Mi, chef and owner Brian Kim and managing partner Max Soh will continue to offer traditional Korean flavors prepared in new ways with dishes like pan-seared dover sole with gochugaru soy brown butter and cucumber kimchi oysters with granny smith pearls.
Mel’s, Al Coro, and Discolo
Address: 85 Tenth Avenue, Chelsea
Opening date: February and late 2022
Melissa Rodriguez, the former executive chef at the lauded (and now closed) Italian restaurant, Del Posto, is teaming up with Jeff Katz and James Kent, the managing partners of Crown Shy, SAGA, and Overstory, to open three new concepts this year. A sourdough pizza joint called Mel’s will be the first to debut in February and will offer a slate of pies alongside antipasti, salads, and other dishes prepared over a wood-fired grill. Following the opening of Mel’s, Rodriguez and the team are also planning to launch a cocktail bar called Discolo and a fine-dining Italian spot called Al Coro later this year in the soaring dining room that was once the home of Del Posto.
Address: 46 Bowery, Chinatown
Opening date: February
After nearly two decades of honing his skills in Japan and serving as executive chef at Michelin-starred Yakitori Torishin and the popular summerlong Chikarashi Isso pop-up, Atsushi “ATS” Kono is opening his namesake restaurant this year. Tucked away in Bowery’s Canal Arcade, KONO will feature a 14-seat chef’s counter and dining room space for larger groups where the acclaimed chef will offer guests a Kappo-style yakitori omakase that will change with the seasons.
Address: 25 W. Houston Street, SoHo
Opening date: January/February
Chef Justin Bazdarich, the owner of popular Mexican spots, Oxomoco and Xilonen, will expand his repertoire later this month with Bar Tulix. The new SoHo restaurant, which Bazdarich is opening with restaurateur John McDonald of Mercer Street Hospitality, will explore coastal Mexican fare with a seafood-focused menu including crudo, seafood tostadas, whole fish coated in masa batter, and more.
Nena
Address: 63 Carmine Street, West Village
Opening date: February
Jajaja, a popular vegan Mexican chain that can be found throughout the city, will be opening a speakeasy-style cocktail menu beneath its West Village location next year. Nena will serve fermented juice cocktails complete with Mexican spirits like tequila and mezcal and the space will be decked out with a disco ball, colorful tones, and a fun atmosphere to match the restaurant upstairs.
Address: 67 W 49th Street, Rockefeller Center
Opening date: February
After a popular summer pop-up, this legendary bar and restaurant will officially reopen to the public this year. The 100-year-old space was once known as Hurley’s, an iconic watering hotel for TV-industry types, and could count late-night stars like Johnny Carson and David Letterman (who was even known to broadcast from the third floor on occasion) as regulars. Now the team behind spots like The Smile, Grand Army, Ray’s, and more is reviving the restaurant to offer three stories of eating and drinking in a historic space.
Patti Ann’s
Address: 570 Vanderbilt Ave, Prospect Heights
Opening date: February
Hot off the debut of all-day cafe and bakery Evi’s Bäckerei, Greg Baxtrom is adding more restaurants to his portfolio in 2022. The chef and owner of neighborhood favorites like Olmsted and Maison Yaki is planning a family-friendly restaurant called Patti Ann’s. The space, located right next door to Evi’s Bäckerei, is being built by his father and will include design elements inspired by a traditional classroom as an homage to his mother who is a retired teacher.
Address: 2 Bank Street, West Village
Opening date: Early Spring
L’antica Pizzeria da Michele has been slinging pies in Naples for more than 150 years. And early this year, the born and bred Neapolitan pies will land in the West Village. The 6,000-square-foot location will be the restaurant’s second US outpost and will offer a selection of pizza, pasta, charcuterie, and more from chef Michele Rubini.
New openings at Rockefeller Center
Address: Rockefeller Center
Opening date: Spring/Summer
Several new restaurants from some of the biggest names in NYC will be opening around Rockefeller Center this year. In addition to Pebble Bar’s debut in February, the team behind Frenchette will be taking over the former Brasserie Ruhlmann space and turning it into another French restaurant in the early spring. In the summer, husband-and-wife team Junghyun “JP” and Ellia Park of Atomix will open an upscale Korean restaurant, and Clare de Boer, Jess Shadbolt, and Annie Shi of SoHo’s King will launch their sophomore project. And in addition to Patti Ann’s, chef Greg Baxtrom will expand into Manhattan with a new all-day restaurant that stays true to his seasonal cooking style on the rink level of Rockefeller Center coming this summer.