NYC Restaurant News May 8 2025! New Openings and Special Dishes!

Another week, and another roundup of some incredible new restaurants and dishes in NYC! Here are the best ones that I found!

12 Chairs Shuk

12 Chairs is launching a new outpost at all NYC Smorgasburg locations! Some old favs along with some new items, you can find their arayes (my favorite), hummus falafel pita sandwich, challah schnitzel sandwich, and a hummus and falafel plate!

Oyamel

Chef Jose Andres is bringing his Washington DC restaurant Oyamel to NYC in Hudson Yards! The menu is full of incredible Mexican dishes like street tacos on their corn masa tortillas, callo de hacha y pulpo, corn masa empanadas, and more!

Virgil's Real BBQ

For National BBQ Month, Virgil’s Real BBQ is going to have 4 different specials with their NYC location going head to head with their Vegas location!

May 5 is there Tex-Mex Throwdown with NYC serving a taco trio: brisket, chipotle chicken, and pulled pork vs Vegas’ ribs asado.

May 12 is Wing Wars with NYC serving Vietnamese fish sauce wings, sichuan wings, and Korean gochujang wings vs Vegas’ jerk wings.

May 19 is Pick Your Protein with NYC serving a smoked turkey leg, and Vegas serving lamb ribs.

May 26 is Brisket Battle with NYC having a cold Chinese brisket roll, and Vegas serving brisket with jalapeno and cheese skillet cornbread.

Soda Club

Soda Club, the 3x Michelin Bib Gourmand recognized wine bar has moved locations and added dishes! They are now on 95 Ave A, and you can find a menu full of Sicilian inspiration with things like cappelletti with morel mushrooms, stuffed pappardelle, roman inspired pizzas called Pinsas, and more!

Credit: Amy Elisabeth Spasoff

Hudson VU

Hudson VU is the new rooftop lounge that will have panoramic views of the city with two bars and a menu with things like charred corn ribs, uni and caviar toast, chicken liver plate, and a hanger steak with housemade kimchi!

Farzi

Farzi is the new Indian restaurant opening in Tribeca in May! Their menu features a mix of traditional and contemporary Indian dishes like their signature dal chawai arancini.

A Pop-Up Called Pancakes

All month long at S&P Lunch you can find A Pop-Up Called Pancakes every Friday-Sunday from 7pm to midnight! The luncheonette will transform into a cocktail bar with 9 unique cocktails along with some S&P favorites like latke sliders, and of course pancakes!

FifthSip

FifthSip is a new Vietnamese coffee bar opening at 229 Mott st this month! They have all kinds of delicious coffee drinks like a Hanoi egg, salted cream, toasted sesame, and ube dream!