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Gage & Tollner is beautiful. Twirl through its revolving door and you’ll enter into a gilded dining room that seems like it goes on forever. On your left, heavy wood is topped with lilting marble to form a stylish, throwback bar. Straight ahead, circular tables look like figurines poised to glide across the glassine surface of an animatronic music box. And cushy crimson velveteen booths line either side of its 134-seat space. It’s lush and plush and suffused with golden hues. Located in a building that has lived many lives, including as an accessories shop, an Arby’s and a previous iteration of Gage & Tollner that was at one point famously helmed by chef Edna Lewis), it was recently revived by longtime Brooklyn hospitality fixtures chef Sohui Kim, Ben Schneider and St. John Frizell this spring. They were able to restore the space to its former majesty thanks in part to a 1975 interior landmark designation that ensured the preservation of original design details like brass chandeliers and cherry wood trimmings. Mirrors also abound throughout, including a wall of ‘em on the far back wall that creates that forever-effect. Visit Gage & Tollner any number of times, and you’ll probably hear some equivalent of this: G&T’s original owner posited that “guests would eventually tire of looking at artwork, but they would never tire of looking at themselves,” on every trip. It’s a cute anecdote, and it’s even cuter to imagine a time when guests would have looked at art or themselves,...

Everything about the William Vale comes back to the views. They’re spectacular and practically unavoidable no matter where you are. When you step off the elevator on any floor, you’re met by a wall of solid glass and the sprawling expanse of Brooklyn. After walking down a short hallway to your room, you can relax on a private balcony overlooking the tiny, ant-like New Yorkers below (yes, every single room in the hotel has a balcony.) Furthermore, the hotel’s current main attraction, a rooftop bar called Westlight on the 22nd floor, offers a perspective on the New York skyline so staggering that it might make you do a double take. Just in case you somehow fail to appreciate it, the bar offers complimentary bright-yellow observation viewers. Of course, in order to achieve those envious views, the sleek, modern structure was built so high that it sometimes resembles an alien ship hovering over hipster Williamsburg. But judging by the Frette linens and Le Labo products in every room, these visitors come in peace. Other perks that come with staying at the hotel are an elevated 15,000 square-foot green space (AKA Vale Park) that you can explore, a 60-foot outdoor pool (the longest in New York) and the hotel’s flagship restaurant Leuca, a Southern Italian restaurant. The hotel is perfectly located for taking advantage of the best North Brooklyn has to offer. Brooklyn Brewery is just across the street, the boutiques and restaurants of Bedford Avenue are a short walk away and...

Chef Stefano Secchi came up at triple-Michelin starred Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy, prior to opening his own sensational spot in Manhattan in 2019. Rezdôra is now the best Italian restaurant in New York City, leading a list of venerable institutions. Its terrific regional pasta tasting is still $98, and favorites like anolini di parma, tagliolini al ragu and the famed grandma walking through forest in Emilia (Cappelletti verdi with roasted, sautéed leeks and black mushroom purée) are available à la carte, as well. 

Hard-to-get restaurant reservations are, for better and worse, back, and Francie is one of a few of New York City’s best new restaurants with a dine-if-you-can caveat. In this case, however, there are a few blue bright spots in the sea of reservation platform red, especially if you’re willing to dine at the bar a little early or a little late. You could also employ one hack we remember somewhat fondly as “planning ahead,” and constantly check availability to book a table around next month or so. Being that this is a special occasion destination in theory and in practice, you may want to do your dining math in advance, anyway.  Once you're in, everything at Francie, which opened at the tail end of 2020, is beautiful. Caviar shines beside soufflé cakes, the market salad looks like a painting of itself, and the dry-aged crown of duck is presented for perusal on a bed of botanicals before it’s sliced and served, because, well, how could they not?   The earth-toned space is sweet, too with a long, low-profile banquette lining one side and a few spacious crescent-shaped booths on the other, each large enough to accommodate you and a half-dozen or so friends for grown-up birthday fȇtes, expense account dinners, and general convivial conspiring.  Cocktails include spritzes and tipples like the old fashioned, sidecar, and cosmopolitan. Beer and wine are also available.  Francie is located at 134 Broadway in Williamsburg, and is open from Tuesday–Saturday from 5:30pm–11pm.

If you and your significant other enjoy knocking boots with a writhing mass of sexy strangers, look no further than this club in Queens. And if you want more information on boots, here’s a fun fact: The actual first name of the Roman emperor commonly called Caligula was Gaius—caligula means "little boots" in Latin, and Caligula picked up this nickname (which he hated) when he accompanied his dad, Germanicus, during his military campaigns in Germany.

Mercer Labs, Museum of Art and Technology is a unique new immersive museum created by Roy Nachum, the artist behind Rihanna’s famous 2016 “Anti” album cover, and his business partner Michael Cayre, a real estate developer.  The 36,000-square-foot space opened in early 2024 at 21 Dey Street, inside the bank building that used to be part of the now-nextdoor Century 21. There are a total of 15 different rooms to explore, each one attacking all the senses upon entrance. Some outstanding installations include the one that the staff refers to as "The Dragon," where a total of 500,000 individual LED lights hung on strings adorn a room and are lit up to created 3D videos, including one of a galloping horse, that will catch your attention. Towards the end of the walkthrough is what can only be described as a cave of beautiful pink flowers (plastic ones), where there will soon be a bar as well. This is perhaps the most Instagrammable space within the museum as a whole, one that will likely come to represent the destination on social media once it officially opens. An installation of a robot will also delight. Dubbed Kuka Robot, the machine is found behind a glass in the middle of a bed of sand. The robot makes sand castles, sketches and more while visitors look on wondering how it's all possible. Taking a tour of the new Mercer Labs is something you might want to consider doing with kids. Not only are the visual elements striking and entertaining but certain rooms are specifically...

A Central Casting, New York City classic if there ever was one, Gramercy Tavern has maintained its status even after minor tweaks and changes over its nearly three decades in Manhattan. The tavern up front, bordered by a long bar on the left, serves à la carte items like duck liver mousse, grilled striped bass and a burger with duck fat potato chips. The somewhat dated but darling back dining room, with white tablecloths more effortless than anywhere else above 14th Street, offers five courses for $168 with plates like pork tortellini, pan-seared halibut and roasted duck.   

The buzziest restaurants in New York City are not always the best. Expectations inflated by press, hashtags, and exclusivity burst like birthday balloons in the power lines when that Next Best Thing turns out to be just fine. Tatiana by Kwame Onwuachi, which opened in November at Lincoln Center, is the rare New York City hotspot that actually exceeds its tremendous surrounding hype.  Tatiana follows Bronx-raised Onwuachi’s early career years in some of NYC’s most esteemed restaurants, his Top Chef season, a pair of D.C. operations, book publications and accolades like the James Beard Foundation’s rising star chef of the year award in 2019. His first local destination, with Afro-Caribbean-influenced menus in a soaring, uncommonly inviting space, is a triumph.  The sweeping venue is distinguished, chicly industrial and makes you feel like you’ve arrived, especially after what was probably a long and/or circuitous route to finally landing a table. Huge windows suffuse the polished dining room with natural light filtered by delicate metallic curtains. Large cumulus cloud fixtures hover toward the ceiling. The armchairs opposite a banquette with its back to Lincoln Center’s plaza are, uniquely, as comfortable as the cushy bench they face; nicely sized, substantially anchored and designed for ease. The custom pieces are a relief, and a demonstration of a detailed commitment to hospitality, particularly in light of the recent threatening trend of truly awkward seats, including...

Brooklyn’s pizza legacies are legion—from Grimaldi’s in Dumbo to Ditmas Park’s fabled Di Fara. To this noble lineup add Lucali. The artisanal intent at the candlelit pizzeria is visible in the flour-dashed marble counter where the dough is punched and stretched, and in the brick oven from which it later emerges crisp and blistered. There are just two items on Lucali’s menu: pies and calzones, adorned with milky, elastic mozzarella and simple toppings like chewy rounds of pepperoni or slivers of artichoke. There’s no wine list, but the unobtrusive staff will happily extract a cork from your own bottle—Grimaldi’s could learn a thing or two.