Scarpetta
There are chefs, and then there are chefs...and then there’s Scott Conant, the beloved Italian-cuisine star whose exit from Alto and L’Impero last year left devotees with withdrawal symptoms. He’s now back with a needed fix: Scarpetta, his new down-home Meatpacking District Italian spot—the name alludes to food so savory, you’ll wanna mop every last drop with a piece of bread (or scarpetta—“little shoe”). “I sat down with a bottle of red wine and listened to a lot of Bob Dylan,” he cracks about mulling over the menu during his hiatus. What Dylan hath wrought: a streamlined selection of appetizers (polenta with truffled mushrooms), pasta (tagliatelle with braised lamb-shank ragu) and mains (black cod with caramelized fennel), all bearing the chef’s trademark soulfulness. “When I think back to my grandmother making cavatelli, there was a certain honesty and correctness to that,” he says about his Italian grandmother’s cooking, a key influence. “It’s the spirit from those memories that I try to impact into my dishes. It’s what has shaped my vision of what Italian food should be.” (355 W. 14th St. between Hudson St. and Eighth Ave., 212-691-0555)

Jonathan’s Steakhouse
West Side gentleman’s club HeadQuarters New York knows a thing or two about putting quality meat on display, and they’ve now spun their old in-house bistro into a full-fledged steak house. Luscious cuts of dry-aged, um, strip steak jiggle it up with grass-fed veal chop and seafood like Nova Scotia oysters and Tunisian calamari. Serious velvet-on-velvet action—in eye-popping red, red, red, from banquettes to walls—sets the stage for you to enjoy all manner of tableside service. Because, of course, you’re there for the food. Uh-huh, keep telling yourself that. (552 W. 38th St., between 10th and 11th Aves., 212-967-4646)

Cabrito
Josh DeChellis’ doomed temple to fried foods, BarFry, may have gotten fried, but in its place comes all things braised, roasted and seared thanks to this colorfully tiled Mexican spot helmed by former Fatty Crab chef David Schuttenberg. “It’s food that I’m familiar with my whole life,” says the Arizona native, whose wife and mother-in-law are both Mexican and whose menu felt like “the food I was seeing at home.” That includes cemitas (traditional sandwiches like pollo milanesa), red-chili beef rib (his homage to Fatty Crab’s famous short ribs) and the restaurant’s namesake dish (slow-roasted goat with citrus-tequila salsa). Schuttenberg even worked closely with his mother-in-law to develop the restaurant’s homemade chorizo and green-chili sauce. Haute Mexican it ain’t, but “I felt like there was a gap that needed to be bridged—a hole-in-the-wall-type of place that you want to travel to and hang out at all night,” the chef says, referring to a recent wave of upscale Mexican joints. “I just wanted to take this space and turn it into the bridge of that gap.” (50 Carmine St. at Bedford St., 212-929-5050)

Hallo Berlin Express
Self-proclaimed as “one of New York’s wurst restaurants,” this satellite takeout location of its popular 10th Avenue mothership serves up bad puns and 10 types of sausages, from knockwurst to kielbasa. The no-frills sliver of a spot—counter, chairs, blah plain-Jane walls, thank you very much—chucks the froufrou for what you’re really there for: schnitzels, spaetzle and goulash, with most items clocking in under $7. (744 Ninth Ave. between 50th and 51st Sts., 212-333-2372)


Also notable:

Marc Meyer and Vicki Freeman have torpedoed Provence’s dainty French-ness and will reopen the space on May 21 as the seasonal American spot Hundred Acres. (38 MacDougal St. at King St., 212-475-7500)

Thin-crust Neapolitan brick-oven pizzas are the main draw at South Brooklyn Pizza, in Carroll Gardens. (451 Court St. at Fourth Place, 718-852-6018)

Organic goodies, teas and coffee galore at Park Slope’s Organic Heights. (460 Bergen St. between Flatbush and Fifth Aves., 718-622-4303)

More Park Slope news: Lookout Hill Smokehouse rides the ‘cue wave with ribs and other smoked treats. Open for dinner, with brunch to come soon. (230 Fifth Ave. at President St., 718-399-2161)


Recently closed:

The Baggot Inn (Greenwich Village)
Gribouille (Williamsburg)
Giggles (Midtown)
Catch 22 (Williamsburg)


Photo: Sam Horine