The 48-hour view: The middle of May is quieter than last week’s debut blitz, but a handful of high-watt openings are still rolling out across Manhattan and Brooklyn — and one of the most-watched Vietnamese rooms in the city just took a bigger step toward its full launch. Here’s what actually changed since yesterday’s roundup.
Quick Bites
- Manhattan: Bar Chimera (three bars in one) and Cote 550 continue their soft-launch run; Kidilum, Bar Bête, Dean’s, S&P Lunch, Mắm, Confidant, and Balera all sit on the current Hit List.
- Brooklyn: Spring patios are the story — Williamsburg and Greenpoint rooms are reopening sidewalk seating ahead of the long weekend.
- Closings: No verified permanent closures in the last 48 hours via primary press. We’ll keep watching Eater NY’s tracker.
Manhattan: Openings to Know
Mắm (Lower East Side) keeps getting louder in the Hit List conversation for its bún đậu mắm tôm — grilled pork intestines, housemade blood sausage, sticky rice sausage, tofu, herbs, and rice vermicelli dragged through pungent fermented shrimp paste. There’s a vegan version too. If you haven’t booked, this is the week.
Dean’s, from the King team, is the British seafood follow-up to King in Soho. Expect Guinness, coastal British cooking, fish pie, roasted Scottish langoustines, and potted shrimp on hot buttered crumpets. It sits right next door to its sister restaurant.
Kidilum continues its run as one of the most talked-about Indian openings of the spring, with dishes like Iracchi Pathiri — beef pepper fry, fried rice cakes, and a thin layer of aspic. Reservations are tightening.
Bar Chimera and Cote 550 both officially opened April 18 and are now firmly past their soft-launch jitters. Bar Chimera is the more interesting concept of the two — a three-in-one bar with a dedicated wine room, a martini room, and a whiskey room, each run by its own specialist. Cote’s Midtown follow-up to its Flatiron flagship is now seating consistently inside a historic Midtown building.
Brooklyn & Beyond
The Brooklyn story this week isn’t a new room — it’s the patio re-openings. Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and Park Slope sidewalks are filling back in for spring service ahead of the weekend.
In the West Village, the Margot/Montague Diner team is still moving toward the launch of Cleo, a Paris-London-Montreal rotisserie spot with fries, salads, natural wine, and a tight cocktail program. No firm open date yet, but the buildout is visible from the sidewalk.
In Chinatown, Phê remains in extended soft-opening mode. It could be fully operational by the end of May, but the team hasn’t locked a public date.
Closings & Health Department
No verified permanent closures landed in primary food press in the past 48 hours. The Department of Health’s most recent sweep was quiet — a continuation of the slower week noted yesterday. We’ll flag any sanitary shutdowns in tomorrow’s update once posted to the city’s inspection lookup.
What to Watch This Weekend
Three things on the radar for the next 72 hours: whether Phê posts a hard open date, whether Cleo announces a soft-launch night, and whether the patio expansions hold once Sunday’s rain forecast clears. If you want sit-down food this weekend, book Mắm or Dean’s now.
For more context on what’s been opening through May, see our May 14 roundup and the weekly restaurant roundup.
