7 New Restaurants in New York City to Try Now
Restaurateurs are back in the swing of things with exciting new restaurant openings across Manhattan
Written by Natasha Wolff
Zou Zou’s
Zou Zou’s is a lively and modern Eastern Mediterranean restaurant from chef Madeline Sperling, who spent years working at iconic New York City restaurants like Gramercy Tavern and The NoMad. She’s joined in the kitchen by Juliana Latif, whose family is from Lebanon and Jordan, and together their menu celebrates the cuisine and flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean region. “Chef Sperling and I had a ton of conversations about the food she’s most passionate about, and her background and we immediately knew it was a great fit,” says Michael Stillman, president and founder of Quality Branded Restaurant Group. “Working with chefs Sperling and Latif has been really inspirational for me as a restaurateur—they have such strong perspectives, while also cooking incredible food. It’s fun to watch their menu come to life.” Designed by AvroKO, the 75-seat space will feature an open kitchen centered around a wood-fired hearth (“it’s hard not to love warm breads coming out of the wood fired oven, is there anything better than that?” asks Stillman), dark woods, off-white plasters, vibrant blue and green tiles and arched doorways. Stillman’s favorite dishes include the fattoush salad, made with shredded cabbage, plums and spiced pecans and duck borek, a flaky puff pastry stuffed with duck and topped with an orange glaze and pistachios—it’s our showstopper.”
