SHO Shaun Hergatt.   (Photo: Hannah Whitaker/New York Magazine)

Aldea
31 W. 17th St., nr. Fifth Ave.; 212-675-7223
After toiling anonymously at places like Wallsé and Tocqueville, journeyman chef George Mendes steps into the spotlight with an Iberian-accented menu.

A Voce Columbus
Time Warner Center, 10 Columbus Cir., at Broadway and 59th St.; 212-823-2523
Like Mario Batali, Michael White, and the other masters of this comfort-obsessed rustico era, chef Missy Robbins has a knack for taking simple Italian basics and elevating them to a different plane.

The Breslin Bar and Dining Room
20 W. 29th St., nr. Broadway; 212-679-1939
April Bloomfield’s ruinously delicious pub fare, with butcher-paper-covered wood tables and plenty of bar seats for dining.

Fatty ’Cue
91 S. 6th St., nr. Berry St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn; 718-599-3090
Zak Pelaccio of Fatty Crab meets former Hill Country pitmaster Robbie Richter on delicious, smoky, Asian-flavor-inflected terms.

SHO Shaun Hergatt
40 Broad St., at Exchange Pl.; 212-809-3993
The eponymous chef is a Ritz-Carlton veteran, offering a French-accented menu that also draws on Asian ingredients and is influenced by his native Australia.