The Smith
Nope, you’re not seeing double: Following the recent opening of Smith’s, Danny Abrams’ swank railroad-style joint in Greenwich Village, comes The Smith, a industrial-style American brasserie in the East Village. “I think [Danny] is really going after me,” cracks The Smith co-owner Jeffrey Lefcourt, who’s known Abrams for years—the two once considered a restaurant partnership and recently joked on the phone about the Smith double-take. “I have a seafood restaurant on the Upper West Side, [Neptune Room], and five blocks away he opened Mermaid Inn,” he laughs. “I must be doing something right—I think he’s a great restaurateur.” The Smith delivers casual, affordable American fare like pork chops with apples and chipotle onions, and salmon with Brussels sprouts and bacon. (Prices hover at around $17, and there’s a $12 burger-and-beer special on Sunday nights.) But there are also a few global twists, like vegetable bibimbap and lamb schnitzel—it’s all in keeping with the restaurant’s Gotham-centric vision. “When we say ‘American brasserie,’ it is to us what a brasserie is to New Yorkers,” Lefcourt says. “There’s a European influence, an Asian influence. This is what New York is all about.” 55 Third Ave. between 10th and 11th Sts., 212-420-9800

Le Lupanar
Architect Kieter Chan has designed multimillion dollar homes for Pritzkers and Kennedys, but if there’s one project he’s always wanted to complete, it’s this French-provincial restaurant, which was spearheaded by his late father but was put on hold three years ago when his father passed away from cancer. “I wanted it to embody what my dad wanted,” the architect and owner says, “a spot a that people can associate good things with.” The restaurant’s kooky-rustic vibe (black chandelier from Murano, patterned walls) and upscale menu from chef Ian Brahmstedt (braised lamb shoulder, duck confit salad) has earned quick comparisons to another chic Lower East Side newbie, Allen & Delancey. But there’s no doubt that its name—French slang for “brothel” and meant to evoke “rich food and absinthe and drugs,” as Chan says—is uniquely its own. 103 Essex St. between Delancey and Rivington Sts., 212-260-2036

Cooper’s Tavern
When your hulking 12-ounce Pat LaFrieda burger comes plunged with a knife and the fries are served with a fork—which the chef refers to as “our toothpick”—it’s probably a tip: Toto, we ain’t in burger-slider territory no more. That’s the hearty battlecry at this modern American “tavern” at the newly refurbished New Yorker Hotel, whose meaterrific menu from chef Julian Clauss-Ehlers (Monkey Bar) hopes to jolt the barren culinary nether-zone around Madison Square Garden. “It fills that need that is missing there,” he tells us, “a space that is comfortable but where the food is something you wouldn’t expect in this neighborhood.” The chef levies perfunctory carnivorous offerings (there are four types of steaks) with top-tier ingredients like Berkshire pork chops and those LaFrieda burgers, as well a few global touches: Clauss-Ehlers, who is British and once cooked at the now-defunct North African spot Zitoune, marries his culinary influences in dishes like fish-and-chips seasoned in sharmula, a classic Moroccan fish marinade, and served with vinegar. “It’s a sidways step from the classic steak house feel,” he says. “This is a lot fresher, a lot lighter.” 481 Eighth Ave. at 35th St., 212-268-8460

Park Avenue Winter
Faster than you can say “Check, please,” the seasonal restaurant that was Park Avenue Autumn has now done a quickie presto-change-o and morphs into Park Avenue Winter. True to its edict to evolve with the seasons, the Winter model sports the requisite menu and décor switcheroos. Gone are the copper tones and flavor accents of pumpkins and roasted apricots. In their place: everything white white white, and food that celebrates the holiday’s great feasts with a “Gatherings” menu—Maine lobsters, rack of lamb—meant for sharing. 100 E. 63rd St. at Park Ave., 212-644-1900

Gottino
This Italian wine bar in the West Village may be the nth wine bar to open downtown this year, but it’s got a whopping trump card of its own: Investor Jody Williams, the highly regarded Morandi chef, who has also put together a selection of Italian bites that range from meats (beef carpaccio with black truffles) to veggies (Brussels sprout salad) to accompany the Italian wines on hand. The odd, eclectic decor—Yankees pics share wall space with taxidermy—may be a bit of a head-scratcher, but the quaint outdoor patio, with its potted plants and wooden latticework, certainly isn’t. 52 Greenwich Ave. between Charles and Perry Sts., 212-633-2590

Yolato
Because there’s such an obvious—obvious—shortage of fro-yo joints in the city, Yolato is easing the pain by stomping Midtown with a new location (its fourth) right off Grand Central, just in case you happen to crave toffee-topped Yoggi in between train rides. This is the first new opening after Yolato merged with sandwich biggie Lenny’s, which means—judging by the number of Lenny’s around town—that Yolato might be giving Duane Reade a run for its ubiquity. 125 Park Ave. between 41st and 42nd Sts., 212-922-1169