The Best Restaurant Openings in New York – October 2026

Daniel Humm and the team behind Eleven Madison Park have traded the tasting-menu format for more casual, à la carte cooking at HUMM. The restaurant occupies the sprawling West Village space that housed En Japanese Brasserie for two decades. At its center is a wood-fired oven, where executive chef Dmitri Magi roasts a whole chicken for a dish named after Humm’s mother and cooks sweet potatoes from Magic Farms, the group’s upstate agricultural project. The food may be more pared back than at the team’s other restaurants, but the dining room remains grand, with work by Rashid Johnson, Roni Horn, and Louise Bourgeois, plus a 1,200-square-foot ceiling fresco by Francesco Clemente.

Chef Vitor Mendes, a Brazilian American who most recently served as chef de cuisine at Theodora, is exploring the ingredients and cooking traditions of the Amazon rainforest at Iara. The menu highlights açaí, cassava, jambu, an Amazonian herb known for its tingling effect, and tucupi, a broth made from fermented cassava juice. Familiar Brazilian dishes such as pão de queijo appear alongside less expected preparations, including Rainforest Soup made with tucupi, cashews, and feijão-manteiguinha, a small, creamy bean.

After building a following for her laminated croissants and other pastries at The Musket Room and Raf’s, Camari Mick has opened a dual-concept space of her own in the West Village. By day, Calabash operates as an Afro-Caribbean bakery serving sticky buns, coconut canelés, Jamaican beef patty-inspired croissants, and a small lunch menu. On Friday and Saturday nights, it shifts into a five-course, $150 prix-fixe dinner showcasing Mick’s savory cooking.

The team behind Cuerno has opened another Mexican steakhouse in New York. Inspired by northern Mexico’s carne asada traditions, Norte centers on live-fire cooking, with steaks and spit-roasted meats served alongside aguachile and tostadas topped with raw seafood. At the Flatiron restaurant, a roving chicharrón cart and tableside guacamole bring some theater to the meal.

A 10,000-square-foot Japanese dining destination is taking shape on the ground floor of the Bank of America Tower in Midtown. Two of its three concepts opened this month. The namesake flagship is a contemporary Japanese restaurant led by culinary director Tadaaki Ishizaki and executive chef Shuji Furukawa, formerly of two-Michelin-starred Odo and Michelin-starred Restaurant Yuu, respectively. Kumiko Room, a 14-seat Edomae sushi counter, has also begun service. Kappo Sono is scheduled to relocate to the space on November 18, completing the project.

San Francisco bánh mì shop Bun Mee has opened its first location beyond the city, in Flatiron. The menu brings its Vietnamese sandwiches, pho, and noodle bowls to New York. Local operators John McClave and Nam Hoang, along with their son, Egan, and Hoang’s brother, Huy, plan to open two additional locations in the city.

Daniel Boulud has consolidated three Upper West Side concepts into one 10,000-square-foot brasserie across from Lincoln Center. Occupying the former Boulud Sud, Bar Boulud, and Épicerie Boulud spaces, Brasserie Boulud serves French classics such as coq au vin and steak frites. Diners can settle in for a plateau de fruits de mer or stop for chicken liver mousse and a glass of wine before a performance.

London chef Thomas Straker, best known online for his devotion to butter, has brought his namesake restaurant to New York. The SoHo dining room occupies the former Lucky Strike space and centers its menu on wood-fired cooking. Reservations have been nearly impossible to secure, with bouncers guarding the door nightly. The mussel flatbread, glossy with chile butter, has already become an Instagram fixture.

Chef Jaime Pesaque, whose Lima restaurant Mayta ranked No. 39 on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2025, and reggaeton star Daddy Yankee have opened Cholapink, a fast-casual Peruvian concept built around anticuchos. Guests choose from grilled meat skewers, a popular form of Peruvian street food, then add sides such as ceviche, salads, or Peruvian-Chinese fried rice with egg, vegetables, soy sauce, and crispy onions.