Need a new dinner idea? Start with palata and chicken curry in Astoria, crab curry in Carroll Gardens, or a pizza-and-martini situation in Brooklyn Heights.
These ten NYC restaurants and pop-ups make a pretty good fall eating list. There are new openings, a familiar Queens favorite in a new home, and a frybread pop-up to keep an eye on. Here’s what to order, where to go, and which prices are actually useful when you’re making plans.
Queens, 38-01 31st Avenue
Burmese Bites in Astoria
The order: Chicken curry with palata; fermented tea-leaf salad
The Astoria restaurant gives Myo Lin Thway’s Burmese Bites a new home after its Queens Night Market and Queens Center Mall chapters. If you’ve only had it as a quick food-court stop, there’s now a reason to make dinner out of it.
Start with chicken curry and palata, the flaky flatbread you’ll want for the sauce. Add fermented tea-leaf salad to give the table something crunchy and sharp alongside it. Those are the two dishes to build the order around.
The restaurant’s opening menu is on Instagram, but check the latest posts for service updates before heading over.
Brooklyn, 550 Court Street
Malvan in Carroll Gardens
The order: Crab curry; sabudana wadi
Chef Eric McCarthy’s Malvan takes its name from the coastal town in western India. Coconut, seafood and the cooking of Maharashtra’s Konkan coast give you a much better idea of dinner here than the broad label “Indian restaurant.”
The order to keep in mind is crab curry, followed closely by sabudana wadi: tapioca patties with green coconut chutney. The curry brings toasted coconut, tamarind and kokum into the picture. Get rice, too. There’s sauce to deal with.
A recent diner report put the curry at $35 and the wadi at $12. Treat those as a planning reference and check the current dinner menu below.
Manhattan, 79 MacDougal Street
Somssi in Greenwich Village
The order: Ox tongue; potato three ways; mushrooms with curried rice
Somssi is Ahris Kim’s debut concept with NA:EUN Hospitality, the group behind Atoboy, Atomix and NARO. The name means craft or skill in Korean. The menu moves between Asian and European influences, with dishes built for sharing.
There’s grilled ox tongue with romesco and wasabi ($37), mushrooms with curried rice and a fried egg ($23), and “Potato, potato, potato, and caviar” ($32). Honestly, the last name does a lot of the selling.
Those three plates come to $92 before drinks, tax and tip. That’s a useful starting point for choosing your order; how much you spend on a full dinner depends on what else you add. The menu can change daily.
Manhattan, 215 East 4th Street
20 Blocks in the East Village
The order: Turkey Town; Corn Star
20 Blocks keeps the sandwich list short and gives the sandwiches names you’ll remember. Turkey Town pairs turkey with fried green tomato and Cajun mayo. Corn Star goes with charred corn, cowboy candy and Havarti on milk bread.
The corn sandwich is the one that gets me curious. Sweet corn, cheese and candied jalapeño make a fairly strong argument for stepping outside the usual lunch order.
Opening coverage listed Turkey Town at $18 and Corn Star at $14. The selection rotates, so check the shop’s site and Instagram before committing to a particular sandwich. You’ll find it on East 4th Street in Alphabet City. Easy enough to turn lunch into a walk around the neighborhood.
Brooklyn, Pop-up locations vary
Lakota Frybread Co. in Bushwick
The order: Frybread with honey, powdered sugar or jelly
Lakota Frybread Co. has popped up at Maria Hernandez Park, serving frybread with toppings such as honey, powdered sugar and jelly. It’s an easy thing to build a park afternoon around, once there’s a confirmed date.
Founder Raini Skye Field’s story makes this one worth following beyond the food. Field has described learning the family recipe from an aunt while visiting their mother’s reservation in South Dakota. The business also takes part in community and cultural events.
Follow the account for the next pop-up date, location and price before making the trip. The next Maria Hernandez Park event hasn’t been announced.
Manhattan, 2026 Second Avenue
Bistrot 3 Toros in East Harlem
The order: Steak frites; duck confit; French onion soup
Bistrot 3 Toros describes itself as a meeting of Paris and Puebla. You can see that on the menu: French onion soup and duck confit sit alongside sopes, tostadas and mussels with chorizo and jalapeño.
The current online menu lists steak frites at $34, duck confit at $28 and French onion soup at $15. The steak comes with red-wine-and-thyme sauce and caramelized shallots; the duck gets crispy potatoes, frisée and mustard sauce.
This is the straightforward sit-down dinner on the list. Pick a main, consider the soup, and leave yourself enough time to eat slowly. The $34 steak is a menu price, with no special booking or promotional window listed.
Manhattan, Golden Mall, 47 Broadway
Golden Bull handmade noodles in FiDi
The order: Handmade noodles; beef noodle soup
Golden Bull is the noodle stop inside Golden Mall’s Financial District location. Put 47 Broadway into your plans: Golden Mall also has a Flushing location, and it’s easy to mix up posts from the two.
The reason to go is a bowl of handmade noodles, with beef noodle soup as the starting order. It also gives you a food-court option for the group that can never agree on one restaurant.
Golden Mall is currently advertising 10 to 20% off at participating vendors after 5 p.m. The discount varies by vendor, and Golden Bull’s participation isn’t specified. Ask at the stall before counting it toward your bill. The account below belongs to the mall.
Brooklyn, 816 58th Street
Canto Blu in Sunset Park
The order: Fried shrimp rice rolls; har gow; egg tarts
Canto Blu does dim sum, Cantonese seafood and large banquet meals in Sunset Park. Its own posts show wedding celebrations and community gatherings alongside the food. Bring a few people and you’ll have more room to order around.
Start with fried shrimp rice rolls and har gow, then consider egg tarts if you want something sweet. The diner discussion is more enthusiastic about the savory dim sum than the pastries, so I’d give the rice rolls first dibs on the table.
The restaurant has also posted newer sweets, including osmanthus coconut jelly and a taro pineapple bun. Have a look at what’s available that day before locking in dessert.
Manhattan, 202 West 14th Street
Dahla on West 14th Street
The order: Pad cha duck; scallop crudo; ask about the wing special
Dahla gives you modern Thai cooking, a floral cocktail program and a reason to book dinner on West 14th Street. Pad cha duck and scallop crudo are the dishes to look for. The chicken wings were mentioned as a special, so ask what’s on that night.
There’s also a newer way to order: Dahla announced a four-course prix fixe at $95 per person, with an optional $55 wine pairing, alongside its à la carte menu. It begins with miang, then offers choices across the next courses and finishes with a seasonal dessert.
If you’re going for the duck, check the à la carte menu first. The prix fixe has its own choices. Add drinks, tax and tip when you’re figuring out the evening’s budget.
Brooklyn, 129 Atlantic Avenue
Frenzie in Brooklyn Heights
The order: Spicy vodka pizza; tiramisu
Frenzie is a pizza-and-wine stop on Atlantic Avenue, with New York-style pies on housemade sourdough. The spicy vodka pie is $26 and comes with mozzarella, Parmesan, shallot, garlic and ’nduja. That last ingredient is pork, worth knowing if “vodka pizza” had you assuming vegetarian.
Tiramisu is $14. Pizza, a drink and dessert make a pretty easy plan here.
For the actual deal, go after 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday: the late-night menu lists a classic pie and two martinis for $50, a classic pie and two daiquiris for $45, or a classic pie and a pitcher of Narragansett for $40. Pepperoni is $4 extra. The spicy vodka pie is on the dinner menu; the combos use the classic cheese pie.
If you want something specific, try these
If you want pizza in Brooklyn, try Frenzie. Get the spicy vodka pie, or go after 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday for a classic pie and two martinis for $50.
If you want Thai food in Manhattan, try Dahla for pad cha duck and scallop crudo on West 14th Street.
If you want Indian food in Brooklyn, try Malvan. Build dinner around the coastal Maharashtrian crab curry and sabudana wadi.
If you want dim sum in NYC, try Canto Blu in Sunset Park. Start with fried shrimp rice rolls and har gow.
If you want a sandwich in the East Village, try 20 Blocks. Look for Turkey Town or the Corn Star, with charred corn, cowboy candy and Havarti.
If you want steak in East Harlem, try Bistrot 3 Toros. Its steak frites is listed at $34, with French onion soup available to start.
If you want noodles in FiDi, try Golden Bull inside Golden Mall at 47 Broadway. Beef noodle soup is the order to start with.
If you want dessert in Bushwick, watch for Lakota Frybread Co. and its frybread with honey, powdered sugar or jelly. Check for a confirmed pop-up date and location before heading out.
If you want dinner in Greenwich Village, try Somssi. Share the ox tongue, mushrooms with curried rice, and potato three ways with caviar.
If you want chicken curry in Queens, try Burmese Bites in Astoria. Get palata for the sauce and a tea-leaf salad for the table.
Menu prices and offers can change. Listed prices are before tax and tip unless the restaurant says otherwise.
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