The Hottest Restaurants in Manhattan Right Now, May 2016

Eater editors get asked one question more than any other: Where should I eat right now? NYC dining obsessives want to know what's new, what's hot, and what the Torrisi Boys and Girls are up to these days. So here you have it, a guide to the hottest restaurants in Manhattan this month. For our list of the most essential restaurants (both old and new) check out the Eater 38.

[Note: Heatmap restaurants are listed geographically.]

Added in May: Momosan Sake & Ramen, Agern, Amada, Speedy Romeo LES

Added in April: Covina, Impero Caffè, Le Coq Rico, Perla Cafe

Added in March: Pasquale Jones, Nix, Cafe Altro Paradiso, Mr. Donahue's, Russ & Daughters UES, Indian Accent, Freud

Added February 2016: La Sirena, Salvation Burger, 00 + Co, Lucky Bee, Vandal, The Pennsy, Nakamura

Added January 2016: Nishi, High Street on Hudson, Le Turtle, Kosaska, Sushi Zo, Biang!, Crave Fishbar

Added December 2015: Lowlife, Combina, Quality Eats, La Chine

Added November 2015: Pizza Beach, Kat & Theo, Timna, Tacombi Bleecker, Mountain Bird

Added October 2015: Fuku+, L'Amico, Yunnan BBQ, UrbanSpace Vanderbilt, Avant Garden

Added September 2015: Sadelle's, Jams, Vaucluse

Added August 2015: Bruno Pizza, La Pecora Bianca, Dovetail

Chef Jose Garces recently opened an outpost of his now decade-old Philadelphia game-changer Amada in Battery Park City. The menu has many of the hits from the Philly original such as empanadas with manchego, artichoke escabeche, croqutetas de jamon, and a selection of paellas. But the menu also includes new dishes like a large format suckling pig and a lamb tartare. The restaurant features a large central dining room and two bars, plus a chef's counter.

The LES outpost of Justin Bazdarich’s pizzeria serves a menu of St. Louis-style pizza and American comfort food that's virtually identical to the one at his original Clinton Hill restaurant. The pies are issued both from a wood-burning oven and a massive J&R wood grill. Many of these pizzas blend Neapolitan influence with Midwestern sensibilities. The menu also includes a hefty dry aged rib steak for two ($98) and a cheeseburger ($17), both of which are grilled over wood. The dessert menu includes a s’mores inspired-dish made with a red hot branding iron — if you ask nicely, they’ll let you watch it being made.

The Lucky Bee is the new farm-to-table Southeast Asian cafe from restaurateur Rupert Noffs and former Fat Radish sous chef Matty Bennett. The menu includes coconut-braised short ribs, grilled whole shrimp, salt & pepper wings, and green curry with vegetables. The dining room has a kooky vibe, with 60s-style lamps, hanging ferns, and pink & black stripes all over the place.

Anne Redding and Matt Danzer, the chef/restaurateurs behind Uncle Boons, recently debuted this quirky American lunch counter in Nolita. The menu has rotisserie chicken, roast beef, chicken fried pork cheeks, and Swedish American meatballs, plus sides like onion strings, pepperoni bread, and egg drop soup. This is a tiny space with a lot of character.

At this casual Italian restaurant from the Charlie Bird crew, chefs Ryan Hardy and Tim Caspare are using two wood-fired Stefano Ferrara ovens to make pizzas, roasted vegetable dishes, steaks, fish, and game birds. In addition to all those pizzas and roasted meats, their menu also include pastas and fritti. Robert Bohr and Grant Reynolds are serving wines from Italy and Burgundy. The early word indicates that this is a very fun restaurant. Order the pork shank and the clam pizza.

For their follow-up to Estela, Thomas Carter and Ignacio Mattos opened a Spring Street Italian restaurant that's easy on the eyes. The menu at Cafe Altro Paradiso has beef carpaccio, a chicory salad, fritto misto, grilled swordfish, seared octopus, and five types of fresh pasta. Carter's wine list has a lot of Italian options, plus Champagne and bottles from Burgundy and the Rhône. Mattos and his crew are making the pastas and sausages in-house.

A this new Greenwich Village restaurant, Vienna-born chef Eduard Frauneder is serving market-driven riffs on Austrian classics. The menu includes dark rye spätzle, braised pork neck with bacon, albacore tuna crudo with pumpkin seeds, and an elaborate burger topped with crispy fennel and farmhouse cheddar. Freud also offers the same wiener schnitzel that Frauneder serves at his other restaurant, Edi & the Wolf.

Keizo Seki, the chef behind two of LA's most acclaimed sushi establishments, recently opened a new restaurant on West 3rd Street in the heart of the Village. The NYC outpost of Sushi Zo only serves one tasting menu that costs around $160. This is the place that all the sushi connoisseurs are talking about right now.

The new iteration of Perla is a cozy cafe with a menu that’s a bit lighter than the previous one. Options include sweet pea agnolotti, asparagus with stracciatella, fettuccine all’amatriciana, and chicken with fennel and oranges. Small plates run $8 to $14, and the pastas and mains are priced from $18 to $32. Before moving Perla from Minetta Lane to the corner of West 4th and West 10th streets, proprietor Gabe Stulman told Eater: “I am a firm believer that there are few pieces of real estate that have more heart and soul and charm and warmth than a West Village corner.” Perla Cafe is open for dinner seven days a week, and brunch is also available on the weekends from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Nix is the new casual vegetarian restaurant from chef John Fraser and former Conde Nast editorial director James Truman. The Dovetail chef is working with a wok and a tandoor oven here. The menu includes shitake mushrooms "cacio e pepe," house-made naan with dips, fry bread with loaded-baked potato garnishes, cauliflower tempura, and clay oven-baked beets.

La Sirena is the massive new Italian restaurant in the Maritime Hotel from Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich. The space features two dining rooms connected by a huge marble bar. Babbo veteran Josh Laurano is helming the kitchen, and Le Bernardin alum/ICE creative director Michael Laiskonis is heading up the pastry department. Luca Vesnaver, formerly of Babbo, is running the floor, and Del Posto's Jeff Katz is overseeing the whole shebang. Get the braciole, the crudo, and the artichoke & sunchoke dish. La Sirena is now open for breakfast, lunch, brunch, and dinner.

In March, French chef Antoine Westermann opened a version of his hit Parisian poultry-focused bistro in the Flatiron District. The menu has terrines, salads, egg dishes, and six varieties of roasted fowl. The space has a large dining room in the back with an open kitchen, and a bar in the front where a separate menu of small plates is served. A three-course lunch is available daily for $38.

O Ya’s Tim and Nancy Cushman shift gears with the opening of this casual Mediterranean-influenced American restaurant in the Park South Hotel. Tim’s menu includes a number of wood-fired pizzas and grilled meat and fish dishes, as well as handmade pastas and seasonal vegetable plates. Covina has a bar up front, a main dining room, and an open kitchen with a few seats at the counter. So far, diners dig the cheeseburger and the fry bread.

Momosan Ramen and Sake is Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto's first ramen-focused restaurant. The name is derived from one of his nicknames in the kitchen. At this new restaurant, the celebrity chef is serving tonkotsu and chicken ramen with traditional toppings like pork chashu, garlic oil, and toasted nori. The bar has an impressive collection of sake. The lines have been lengthy since day one — our own Robert Sietsema had no luck at all scoring a table on opening night.

Agern is the new restaurant from Noma co-founder Claus Meyer and chef Gunnar Gíslason. It is located within Grand Central Station, right next to the Nordic food court that Meyer is slated to open in the coming weeks. The focus is primarily on Nordic cooking using local American ingredients. There are two tasting menus available — the vegetarian "Field and Forest" ($120) and the meat and fish heavy "Land and Sea" ($145) — as well as a la carte options. Both tasting menus span seven courses, along with a selection of amuse-bouches. A la carte options include parsnip with black garlic and dead nettle ($32); cod with fennel and nasturtium ($38); and a duck breast with rutabaga, arctic thyme, and honey ($58). (Prices are inclusive of service.)

April Bloomfiled and Ken Friedman — the chef and restaurateur behind The Spotted Pig, The Breslin, and The John Dory — recently opened this casual bar & grill in Midtown East's Pod 51 hotel. Bloomfield is serving burgers made with grass-fed beef that's butchered in-house. The menu also includes house-smoked hot dogs, a veggie burger, a crispy fish sandwich, salads, jalapeño fritters, fries, pies, and fancy shakes. The hefty Salvation Burger, with hen of the woods mushrooms and blue cheese,, is $25. The double-stacked Classic with special sauce is $17. Read Ryan Sutton's full review here.

Earlier this year, the team behind 102-year-old Lower East Side institution Russ & Daughters opened this new cafe inside the Jewish Museum on the Upper East Side. The all-kosher menu — a first for the team — includes hits from the original appetizing shop plus its cafe spinoff. Expect smoked fish platters, knishes, bagels, soups, salads, and egg creams. The Russ & Daughters crew is making all of its bagels and breads now.