Table Stakes

February: The five restaurants you need to know

By The Editors
February 24, 2015 9:00 am

To keep tabs on every New York restaurant and bar opening is folly. But to keep tabs on the most worthy? Yeoman’s work, and we’re proud to do it. Thus we present Table Stakes, a monthly rundown of the five (or so) must-know spots that have swung wide their doors in the past thirty (or so). Bon appétit.


Booze and cold weather. A little fire in the belly when the mercury’s low. A combination any man worth his snifter can get behind.

This chilly month, said man got several new venues to do just that, as drinkin’ dens took top billing.

The UES got a house of classic Americana cocktails with a menu developed by hooch historian David Wondrich and none other than your correspondent’s favorite memory-lapse-inducer: Pam Wiznitzer of The Dead Rabbit.

NYC restaurant kingpin Danny Meyer took time out from his Shake Shack IPO to open his first standalone bar with Southern-inspired libations and a Booker and Dax vet behind the pine.

The ladies behind hit Hell’s Kitchen wine bar Ardesia took their show on the road to Williamsburg with a cozy joint dishing out liquid grapes alongside fresh oysters and fromage à gogo.

Hell, even the white tablecloth’d Italian joint around the corner from Lincoln Center went ahead with an entire wall of temp-controlled vino. Impressive.

So dine on, and drink well. Real well, in this case.

Enjoy the guide.

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