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Autumn Preview: New York Dining

While New Yorkers escaped the city heat this summer, Gotham’s star chefs were toiling away, perfecting new dishes and meeting with architects in construction sites, prepping to expand their foodie empires with a bevy of new restaurants to open this Fall.

We compiled our favorite new spots as well as some highly anticipated gems, from rising newcomers, innovative trendsetters and veritable celebri-chefs. From TriBeCa to the Upper East Side, these are sure to have the hottest tables in the city:

We checked in with the toques behind our favorite new spots and heard about which dishes we can look forward to and what foodie fads are (or should) be on their way out.

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Chef Felipe Donnelly

Cómodo

What do you love to cook in the Fall?

I love all kinds of squash and pumpkins; I make a spaghetti squash risotto and stuffed and baked pumpkins.

What current food fads do you foresee sticking around for a while?

The evolution of “farm-to-table” will be around for a while. Consumers are getting smart about what they eat, and I see restaurants switching quickly from Sysco to Green Market quickly.

What’s your favorite NYC place for coffee? Place for drinks?

Porto Rico Importing Co. (201 Bleecker St.; 800-453-5908) is delicious and the smell of that store makes me crazy (in a good way). I also love Stumptown Coffee (www.stumptowncoffee.com).

My wife Tamy and I love Weather Up (159 Duane St.; 212-766-3202), which serves some really delicious and innovative drinks. We also love the bar at Minetta Tavern (113 MacDougal St.; 212-475-3850).

Whose cooking in New York inspires you?

New York City as a whole inspires me; the list is long. I love Fat Radish (17 Orchard St.; 212-300-4053), Northern Spy (511 E. 12th St.; 212-228-5100) and Mas (Farmhouse) (39 Downing St.; 212-255-1790).

Read Indagare’s review of Cómodo

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Chef Harold Dieterle

The Marrow

What do you love to cook in the Fall?

Slow cooked meats and braises, and big pots of red sauce.

What current food fads do you foresee sticking around for a while? Which do you wish would retire?

Casual dining and “comfort foods” are still big right now, but I hope that new concepts emerge that focus on more niche items and cuisines.

Whose cooking in New York inspires you?

I was always inspired by Jimmy Bradley at The Harrison (355 Greenwich St.; 212-274-9310). My friend John Fraser at Dovetail (103 W. 77th St.; 212-362-3800) is a really amazing chef, and he deserves some love too.

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Chef Hooni Kim

Hanjan

What do you love to cook in the Fall?

Mushrooms, especially grilled matsutakes.

What current food fads do you foresee sticking around for a while? Which do you hope to see retire?

Small plates; I think New Yorkers would always rather try more flavors than have bigger portions and fewer courses. I hope savory cocktails retire. That’s what food is for.

What’s your favorite NYC breakfast restaurant?

Prune (54 E. 1st St.; 212-677-6221), Clinton St. Baking Co. (4 Clinton St.; 646-602-6263), Norma’s (119 W. 56th St.; 212-708-7460). I love Blue Bottle (160 Berry St., Brooklyn; 718-534-5488) for coffee and drinks at Dram (177 South 4th St., Brooklyn; 718-486-3726) in Williamsburg.

Whose cooking in New York inspires you?

Everyone from Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller to our corner halal cart owner Ismail (who makes the best lamb over rice with grilled pita). I don’t think it matters what you cook as long as you do it with pride and passion. It’s inspiring.

What will be your signature dish at Hanjan?

Braised pig’s feet with fermented shrimp sauce.

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Chef Michael White

Ristorante Morini & The Butterfly

What do you love to cook in the Fall?

When it’s time to put the watermelon away, I think of heartier flavors and more substantial food: polenta with ragus, short ribs with bone marrow sugo and root vegetables.

What’s your favorite NYC breakfast restaurant?

I’m pretty confident that at Ai Fiori* (400 Fifth Ave.; 212-613-8660) we do one of the best breakfasts in town: homemade pastry baskets with cranberry and sage scones; fresh baked brioche; olive oil cake and also the lobster eggs benedict.

What do you foresee being your signature dish at Ristorante Morini?

Definitely something simple like a Gnocchi alla Sorrentino, or perhaps a paccheri with wild boar ragu and taleggio fonduta.

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Gabe Stuhlman & Michael Toscano

Perla

What do you love to cook in the Fall?

MT: I really love white truffles. When they start arriving from Italy in October and November, it’s an exciting time.

What current food fads do you foresee sticking around for a while? Which do you wish would retire?

MT: I genuinely hope everyone’s love for fish sandwiches keeps going strong.

GS: Frankly I am tired of is the obsession over burgers and meatballs. I would welcome people relaxing about this.

What’s your favorite NYC breakfast restaurant? Place for coffee? Place for drinks?

GS: My favorite breakfast restaurant—and this is most certainly biased—is definitely Joseph Leonard (170 Waverly Pl.; 646-429-8383). I could eat the scrambled eggs and avocado toasts all day long.

My top pick for coffee is East village spot Abraco (86 E. 7th St.; 212-388-9731), hands down. It’s not a competition, nobody does it better.

For drinks, I love anywhere that makes a great Old Fashioned or Manhattan. This involves a quality glass, great ice, and a good ratio of rye, vermouth, and bitters. The bar also shouldn’t be too crowded. Brian Bartels, my brother-in-arms and the GM/Partner at Fedora has created two of my favorite cocktails: the Black Squirrel Old Fashioned with house-made pecan bitters and other is Simon’s Sazerac (named after my newborn son), with house-made Twizzler bitters.

Whose cooking in New York inspires you?

MT: I have admired Del Posto’s (85 10th Ave.; 212-497-8090) Mark Ladner for his intelligent and methodical approach to Italian cuisine.

What is your signature dish as Perla?

MT: The veal tongue with Tokyo turnips, celery and tonnato sauce. Also the Chicken alla Diavola with charred scallions & oyster mushrooms.

GS: Orecchiette with broccoli rabe pesto and sweet Italian sausage, the Rib Eye for two with borlotti beans and aceto balsamico, and the Roast chicken for two.

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Joe Campanale & Gabe Thompson

What do you love to cook in the Fall?

GT: I love cooking with sage and brown butter in the fall. I become much more heavy handed with the “hard” herbs like rosemary and sage. We use more roasted meat stocks and red wine in our braises (in the spring and summer we cook with more white wine). The whole menu becomes much more Thanksgiving-themed in flavors. Much more homey and warm.

What current food and drinks fads do you foresee sticking around for a while? Which do you wish would retire?

JC: The movement towards people drinking more balanced, lower-alcohol wines that pair well with food is here to stay.

GT: If there is a fad that I like it’s a returning to real cooking; creating food the way we have been doing it for years as opposed to putting everything in a vacuum sealer and cooking it with an immersion circulatory. I’d also like to see an end to club owners opening crappy restaurants.

What’s your favorite NYC breakfast restaurant? Place for coffee? Place for drinks?

JC: I love Maialino’s breakfast its streaming daylight and views of Gramercy Park. Café Grumpy (224 W. 20th St.; 212-255-5511) and Prodigy (33 Carmine St.; 212-414-4142) are my favorite coffee spots. Also I’ve been doing a radio show in Brooklyn and stop on the way in to Swallow (49 Bogart St.). Best drinks are at Little Branch (20 7th Ave. S.; 212-929-4360), Amor y Amargo (443 E. 6th St.; 212-614-6817) and Daddy-O (44 Bedford St.; 212-414-8884).

GT: I love the Breslin (16 W. 29th St.; 212-679-1939) breakfast.

Whose cooking in New York inspires you?

JC: The most incredible food I’ve had is Cesar Ramirez at Brooklyn Fare (200 Schermoerhorn St., Brooklyn; 718-243-0050) and I try to go there once a year. I love the food at Diner (85 Broadway, Brooklyn; 718-486-3077). And I was recently blown away by a great meal at Colicchio And Sons (85 10th Ave.; 212-400-6699).

GT: April Bloomfield, Mark Ladner, Anita Lo, Harold Dieterle

What do you foresee being your signature dish and drink?

JC: Polenta alla Spianatora (polenta spread on a board). The signature drink will be the dirty spicy martini, a gin martini with spicy B&G pickled pepper juice and celery bitters.

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