ODRE

The Best New Restaurants in New York City

"At the East Village’s elegant pre fixe restaurant Odre, you’re going to be eating a three-course meal of Korean food made from local, seasonal ingredients with subtle and endearing twists. In the cold open (by this I mean, the first course, which is served cold), you might start with the refreshing (yes, you read that right) sesame chicken in mustard sauce, or the hwe platter with scallop, conch, and yellowtail in a bath of chojang. Next comes the warm appetizer—choose between the mung bean fritter with kimchi, mushroom, and pecorino cheese and the snow crab mandoo, or dumpling. The main event is ever changing, with such offerings at present as steamed monkfish and beef shank. You wouldn’t be able to get a bad bite in edgewise here, so don’t labor over your order too hard, and the limited menu’s brevity makes it all the easier to take a risk and try something new on at least one course. It’ll run you $42, plus an additional $12 for whatever dessert they’ve got that day if you’re keen (mine, a watermelon ice, was absolutely worth it) while drinks can also be ordered a la carte. —Charlie Hobbs, associate editor" - CNT Editors