![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7d9b442ab3a4c158915ae523f896f57512-NO1132-nymag32-FINAL.rsquare.w700.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Welcome to Grub Street\u2019s 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\u2019s an opening that\u2019s flown too far under the radar). This month: another tavern, a Proven\u00e7al favorite returns, a West Village favorite gets a full revamp, and more.<\/p>\n
Claudette<\/a> (Greenwich Village) Capitaine<\/a> (West Village) All of Our Picks, Mapped<\/p>\n See the Map<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Tacos Domingo<\/a> (East Village) Grimm Tavern<\/a> (Prospect Heights) Motoishi<\/a> (Koreatown) EAT LIKE THE EXPERTS.<\/p>\n Sign up for the Grub Street newsletter.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n
After a two-year absence, Claudette is back in its old home. The space itself feels restrained and unfussy: The walls are warm and neutral and lined with oversize mirrors through which to watch the well-dressed crowd, and chef Igor Almeida Cabral has dialed into a purely Proven\u00e7al mode. Martinis can come with two very French accompaniments: rosemary fougasse and a loosie cigarette. The food matches the season. Moules gratin\u00e9es, lamb caillettes, and herb-y, tomatoey zucchini flowers that my table compared to pizza rolls were all winners. Dessert was fruit galette \u00e0 la mode that similarly evolves to match whatever is growing; during my visit, the kitchen was transitioning from peach to apricot. \u2014Shay Cohen<\/p>\n
What was Libertine<\/a> is now Capitaine, a \u201cseafood tavern\u201d from the same partners that combines two of the city\u2019s buzziest dining obsessions: comfort food and seafood. The menu feels primed to tackle current trends like a checklist: An $11 mini-martini satisfies one end of the spectrum, while a $150 caviar service resides on the other. Raw-bar dishes include spicy sea-scallop crudo topped with crunchy pistachios. A lobster roll, topped with hollandaise and served on a very skinny roll, seems to be the thesis of the menu, but most tables around me had also ventured onto land for Wagyu burgers. Captaine Salad feels like the best distillation of the new theme: a baby-gem salad loaded with boquerones and \u201cranchovy,\u201d a fishy twist on the classic dressing. \u2014Zach Schiffman\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n ![\"package-table-of-contents-photo\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/2f0160b97fb6e7e93845de34e21a34f5d0-wheretoeatquad.2x.rvertical.w330.jpg\")
\n <\/a><\/p>\n
Tacos Domingo is a Mexico City import that recently touched down in the East Village, on the cheap-eats intersection of St. Marks Place and First Avenue. It\u2019s got the bright, cafeteria-style layout of CDMX\u2019s many taco joints, and a bright, sunny sun logo to proclaim its good intentions. The menu is compact, and the tacos are the point. There are two options: a carne asada of New York strip and a bean and cheese. (A pirata \u2014 pirate \u2014 essentially combines both.) The surprise winner, as early reviews have already attested, is the bean and cheese. Don\u2019t make the mistake of considering this a vegetarian option. Tacos Domingo\u2019s very good flour tortillas (a little doughy, pasty, crackly with heat spots, almost the texture of a kati roll) are made with lard, and more goes into the beans. They\u2019re cooked down to a ruddy, burnt-orange paste, built on a long-cooked chile adobo and enough pork fat to be a suave spread that tastes like lard with beans added rather than the reverse. With griddled cheese, and for $4.50, it\u2019s a winner. The neighborhood seems to have signed on already: I couldn\u2019t help but notice some NYU-looking hot girls with bare midriffs and expensive handbags putting away more than I could. \u2014Matthew Schneier<\/p>\n
The living wall, garden setup, and even some of the serviceware remain from the former tenant \u2014 Olmsted<\/a> \u2014 but the energy is decidedly more casual at this new spot from Joe and Lauren Grimm, who also run their acclaimed namesake brewery<\/a>. Fittingly, the food is in the service of the beer: a Big Mac\u2013like dry-aged burger, fries cooked in beef fat, roast chicken, and onion dip with homemade chips all seem destined to become menu standards. (Croquettes filled with bratwurst and served over a puddle of beer cheese might be the most midwestern thing I\u2019ve ever eaten.) A sense of style and ambition lift the restaurant into the realm of other elevated pub rooms including Dean\u2019s<\/a>, Lonnies<\/a>, and Trudie\u2019s Tavern<\/a>. Every neighborhood needs one, and the prices here are gentle enough to encourage repeat business.\u00a0\u2014Alan Sytsma\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tongue is the move at this Korean yakiniku chain, whose first Stateside location opened a month ago. When it arrived at the table, I was slightly intimidated at the three raw, half-inch cross sections but trusted the process as the meat was seared and cut into manageable cubes over the grill alongside vegetables and mochi. Though I am cynical toward the Wagyufication<\/a> of every restaurant, here it was a revelation as the interwoven fat serves to tenderize the firm and flavorful meat of this famously tough muscle. Sprinkled with coarse salt and a squirt of lemon, this was the most delicious steak I\u2019ve had lately. The menu is rounded out with other cuts of A5 Wagyu and marinated short ribs, like a wasabi-mounted tare whose pungency goes sweet when it hits the grill. Plenty is served on the side for fresh heat, alongside kimchee, burdock salad, daikon radish ribbons, and cucumbers in sesame dressing.\u00a0\u2014Tammie Teclemariam<\/p>\n