The best new restaurants in NYC in July

Two years ago, Fredrik Berselius shocked the food scene by abruptly shuttering Aska, the neo-Nordic restaurant he operated out of Williamsburg’s Kinfolk Studios, which had garnered the young Swedish chef a Michelin star and much critical fanfare. After fallen-through lease negotiations and a long build-out, Berselius and his critical darling are back with this 24-seat revamp under the Williamsburg Bridge, set with a 30-seat cellar bar and 30-seat outdoor garden. Inside the dining room, Berselius serves a set menu (usually around 12 to 15 courses) with dishes like dry-aged beef with cured beef fat and black currant, grilled onion with Finnish caviar and cultured cream, and hay-smoked lamb with fermented sunchoke and baby’s breath.

There’s no house mill at this 52-seat Park Slope outfit, but there are plenty of grains. Chef-owner Jake Novick-Finder—who previously put in pastry work at Gramercy Tavern, Union Square Café  and Boston’s Ribelle—showcases the stuff throughout his seasonal menu: Spelt from Massachusetts’s Four Star Farms is rolled into a trio of garlic knots (black pepper, herb and everything-bagel–spiced); a panzanella salad of squid and sundried tomatoes sports triticale and focaccia folded with polenta; and a variety of flour strains are used for pizzas like pepperoni with honey, and fennel with dandelion greens and bacon. Farms are cited on the menu, and the restaurant takes its name from the chef’s mother’s farm in Rhinebeck, New York.

Bahr Rapaport and Alon Moskovitch, the unit behind Mediterranean small-plate spot Mezetto, have joined forces with Mountain Bird’s husband-and-wife team, Kenichi and Keiko Tajima, for this seafood-centric West Village bistro, set to debut July 27. Dressed with upscale beach clubs in mind—think walnut wood, white marble and custom-made benches—the 50-seat, navy-and-cream dining room features an ocean-focused menu of raw-bar plates, shellfish towers and classic riffs like a warm lobster roll with a tarragon béarnaise sauce and potato-gnocchi macaroni and cheese.

Housed in a 1,000-square-foot former auto-body shop—the leftover corrugated metal, still-graffitied walls and motorcycle hanging over the door are proof—this all-day, rain-or-shine outdoor marketplace features five food-vendor kiosks: acclaimed Italian-sandwich shop Alidoro; the Butcher’s Daughter, serving health-minded fare like breakfast burritos, rice bowls and fresh-pressed juice; Mexican canteen Pulqueria, offering tacos and piña coladas; nigiri operation Sushi on Jones; and Greenpoint favorite Champion Coffee, pouring hot and iced coffees, teas and specialty drinks.

The Japanese superlounge—which had locations in Tribeca and midtown before shuttering in 2014—is in similarly clubby company in lower Chelsea, also home to perennial playboy-favorites Tao and Buddakan. Taking over the former Cherry space at Dream Downtown, the 5,000-square-foot, 145-seat revamp comes courtesy of Beautique restaurateur Jon Bakhshi, who bought rights to the global chain last year. Bakhshi has tapped Top Chef alum Francis Tariga-Weshnak (Catch) to oversee a menu of modern-Japanese plates like sweet-potato ravioli with kombu foam; crab-pineapple rolls with yuzu mayo; and Tatsuta chicken with pickled eggplant.

New York is with multihypenates: barista-actors, dancer-activists and whatnot. Add chef-model to the mix: When he’s not appearing in Burberry and Dolce & Gabbana ads, Peru-born Franco Noriega is busy planning two New York restaurant concepts: a to-come 85-seat Peruvian-chicken restaurant in Williamsburg called Brasa, with a juice bar and chef’s table, and this 12-seat rotisserie-focused nook on the Lower East Side. Inside the neon-laden space—decorated with skateboard racks, a marble-accented tile counter and artworks from Juan Mont and Señor—organic, free-range birds are served in quarter and half portions as well as in sandwiches (with peach and arugula or pecan and avocado on a French baguette).