Falansai’s move to Greenpoint has only made it more appealing.
Illustration: Naomi Otsu
Welcome to Grub Street’s rundown of restaurant recommendations that aims to answer the endlessly recurring question: Where should we go? These are the spots that our food team thinks everyone should visit, for any reason (a new chef, the arrival of an exciting dish, or maybe there’s an opening that’s flown too far under the radar). This month: standout carnitas, limited-time-only gimbap, a Bushwick favorite moves neighborhoods, and more.
Cô Lac (East Village)
Chef Helen Nguyen, also known for Saigon Social on the Lower East Side, has dedicated her new spot to her mother. The restaurant was still in “very soft” opening when I stopped by, according to my server, but the kitchen was dialed in: A $55-per-person set menu includes a starter, a main, and a sampler of three bánh dumplings, like bánh bèo, steamed rice cakes laced with minced shrimp and crowned with crispy duck chicharrón and scallions. Dry-aged “canard Saigon” sits with a nest of chewy egg noodles, and Nguyen’s take on a Scotch egg involves minced shrimp. Cocktails will arrive, too, just as soon as Nguyen gets her liquor license. —Shay Cohen
Bar Rocco (Midtown)
Celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito has taken a break from his pivot to Instagram Reels and returned to New York once more with this homestyle Italian restaurant in the new Kimpton Era hotel at Rockefeller Center. It may be less romantic than its subterranean Italian neighbor, Jupiter, but the second-floor dining room offers a nice view of the Art Deco buildings nearby, and the restaurant takes advantage of its hotel setting with large tables and comfortable seats. Anyone who’s had DiSpirito’s food knows he can cook, and there are a few nice surprises on the straightforward menu, like arancini stuffed with squid-ink risotto and shrimp and a platter of steak frites with appealingly thick (and too rarely seen) wedge fries. —Zach Schiffman
All of Our Picks, Mapped
Falansai (Greenpoint)
Could there be 30 more restaurants like Falansai, please? I’d always heard good things about Eric Tran’s Bushwick Mexican Vietnamese mash-up spot, and its recent move to the sunny corner Greenpoint space that previously housed Pan Pan Vino has made it a little more accessible (to me, at least). Falansai (“fuh-lan-sigh,” FYI) has adopted Pan Pan Vino’s all day format, offering coffee and pastries in the morning and dinner service in the evening. That makes the menu more snacky, but I found that to be a feature, not a bug. Duck-neck “Vietnamese tamales” and stickily glazed Berkshire pork skewers disappeared quickly, as did cinnamon-y pho-spiced braised lamb, ready to be speared into tortillas for mini-tacos. It was one of the first warm, long days, when a grazing dinner felt like a welcome return to an almost-forgotten way of life, or maybe that was just the sort of misty reminiscence that comes to you when you combine an unusually good short wine list with happy hour and high temperatures. Anyway, if you need more, there’s a “Dac Biet” menu of four courses for a very reasonable $58. —Matthew Schneier
TBD Gimbap (West Village)
A short line can start to form on the sidewalk just before an employee flips over the small “open” sign, which is understandable. The Nami Nori team has turned its former Postcard bakery into a mostly takeout shop — though there are a handful of padded stools for sitting — for attractive rolls of gimbap. The “classic” is dappled with cubes of Spam, spicy tuna attracted the attention of people behind me on line, and the so-named “carrot inferno” instead carried a pleasing, delicate heat. Most of the rolls cost just about $12 and the short menu is rounded out with Korean sodas and hazelnut-cocoa bars for dessert. The group has said the operation is temporary, but we’ve been assured it will run at least through May. Then again, if that pre-opening line gets longer, the shop’s lifespan may, too. —Alan Sytsma
Beto’s Carnitas & Guisados (Lower East Side)
The carnitas are made daily in a low steel cauldron behind the counter, while beef shank gets cooked with smoky morita chiles until the whole thing is buttery soft. Order both as tacos: An employee will select some choice pieces from their warm baths and chop the meat to fit a street-size tortilla cooking simultaneously on a flattop grill in the corner. Beto’s seven guisados also include chicharrón in salsa verde, picadillo with peas and potatoes, and mushrooms, and can alternatively be had on tostadas or massive tortas. Gorditas, meanwhile, are made for the chicharrón prensado where the cracklings are spiked with guajillo chile sauce and stuffed in a split disc of fried masa that crisps on the outside and gives way to a fluffy interior, full of flavor from heirloom Masienda corn. It demands to be consumed right away, at one of the three high-top tables or a bar seat in the back. —Tammie Teclemariam
EAT LIKE THE EXPERTS.
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