As a huge fan of ramen and tsukemen (i.e., dipping noodles), I enjoy trying to find all the good tsukemen. I’ve been to a few places already both in Los Angeles and in New York City, but the thing that really caught my eye here was that his restaurant says it is the “original tsukemen since 1951” whatever that means. The original location actually started out in the bay area in Northern California, and it has some notoriety that west coast people have raved about. They opened an outlet here in NYC fairly recently, so I thought I’d stop in and give it a try on a brisk, cold Wednesday evening.

Chef Daniel Humm is a Swiss chef who is most well known for the restaurant Eleven Madison Park. I had visited this restaurant in the mid 2010s, when it served proteins such as duck, clams, and fish on their tasting menus. In 2021, the restaurant converted from an omnivore tasting into a plant-based restaurant, a first of its kind to also receive 3 Michelin Stars for it as well. This was extremely controversial because they were charging high prices for a sole plant-based meal. In October 2025, the restaurant pivoted from a plant-based only menu and offered seafood and animal protein choices for a few of its courses. This shift encouraged me to try this restaurant again to see how it’s evolved. We were able to make a reservation for 2 for 5:30 PM on a Monday evening without any issues in advance.

Four Twenty Five is a contemporary, elevated restaurant from Chef Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. This restaurant was open on Christmas Day, and it was on our list for a while. They offered a tasting menu which mostly resembled items off their normal menu. The day prior, I was very easily able to book reservations without any issues for 2 at 4 PM. We arrived about 15 minutes early, and they had us wait in the bar area while they prepared our table.

Tatiana is a very popular restaurant, located in the Lincoln Center, from Chef Kwame Onwuachi. Born and raised in New York City, Chef Kwame opened this as his first NYC restaurant, and it immediately got a lot of public attention. He has appeared on many cooking shows, and the James Beard Foundation named him as the 2019 Rising Star Chef of the Year. Since Tatiana’s opening, reservations have been difficult to come by, and many people resort to waiting in lines hours before the opening. My partner had been here before and wanted to show me this restaurant’s flavors. They waited in line ahead for an hour (~4 PM) before opening in 25 degree(F) weather.

Nuyores is a new Peruvian restaurant located in the former spot of Flex Mussels in the West Village and Chelsea boundaries. The restaurant’s cuisine was inspired by the rich flavors of Peru and offers Chilean wines. I stumbled onto this higher-end restaurant looking for something new to try, and I knew my partner loves Peruvian cuisine. We’ve had mostly misses in NYC because they compare NYC Peruvian food to a classic Los Angeles establishment, Mario’s. We made a reservation for 5:30 PM on a Friday evening easily a few days in advance.

Coqodaq is the second restaurant from owners of Cote Korean steakhouse. This restaurant like Cote is difficult and annoying to snag reservations for a reasonable time. I checked out their Thanksgiving menu, and it seemed close enough to their regular menu. I ended up making a reservation for 1:30 PM on a Thursday fairly easily a few days prior.

This restaurant also was featured in an episode of “Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars”, and it was interesting to learn about the attention they provided to something as straight forward as Korean fried chicken.

Lord’s was on my list for many years, and I could never get my partner to be even remotely interested in British food. Although we went to The Clocktower, they weren’t a fan of that type of food. Fortunately, they capitulated for a restaurant near my office, and picked this one without me saying anything. We were able to make a reservation for 2 for 5:45 PM on a Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving.

Santi is a fine-dining Italian restaurant starring Chef Michael White. What was most noticeable for me was that he co-opened Marea, which ended up getting multiple accolades, including a coveted 2 Michelin Star. This restaurant is located very close to the 5th Ave and 53rd subway, and reservations were quite easy to get a few days in advance. The outside seemed different in that it felt like it was a side entrance into a place on the side a building.

Balthazar is one of the many Keith McNally restaurants in the city. Some of his other restaurants include Pastis, Minetta Tavern, and Cherche Midi. This restaurant has been on our list for quite a while. The menu looks very basic, so we never really had the urge to make a reservation. For this Friday evening, we were able to surprisingly walk-in with 3 people at around 5:30 PM. The restaurant was crowded but not as packed with lines or a crowd as it typically has.

We were in the Central Park area towards 100th on the upper east side, and we were looking for some food around the area. We stumbled onto Bar Goyana, which wasn’t that far from where we were. Coincidentally this restaurant is also very close to Chu Ros Thai, which is a pretty decent Thai place in this Harlem area. We were able to walk into this quaint restaurant without any reservations on an early Saturday afternoon. The restaurant seems to be part Brazilian, part Belgium, and part Italian.