Gus and Marty are in Williamsburg.
Illustration: Naomi Otsu

Welcome to Grub Street’s list of restaurant recommendations that aims to answer the ever-recurring question: Where should we go? These are the places our culinary team thinks everyone should visit, no matter the reason (a new chef, the arrival of an exciting dish, or maybe there’s an opening that’s passed too far under the radar). This month: Astoria’s new Seafood Market, a notable Greek restaurant in Williamsburg, and a Soho hotspot specializing in comfort with a sense of ceremony.

The Little Fisherman (Astoria)
Astoria is New York’s premier neighborhood for seafood restaurants, with its Greek taverns and famous pick-your-own fish markets. Enter Le Petit Pêcheur, a new Algerian alternative opened by the owners of Merguez et Frites (entry n°4 on this guide…). The new restaurant is a chic and cheerful space, with an ocean blue ceiling and music like the soundtrack of a summer evening on the Mediterranean. Ordering is a two-part process: the seafood is selected from the start; side dishes and drinks at the table. Get the Calamari Provençal, one of three “signature” styles: a plate of olives and smoky, lemon-rich calamari. Grilled red snapper arrives neatly charred on the grill, with a ribbon of basil, cilantro, lemon and roasted garlic sauce in the middle. Some sides (the lean, all-important lemon potatoes) are Greek while others are Algerian (the roasted red pepper dip called hammis). But what will really make you scream is hidden among the fish fillets: the bourek. Fried and golden, it is stuffed with two kinds of olives, tomatoes, peppers, parsley, a thin spread of super creamy Laughing Cow cheese and shrimp or black sea bass. —Chris Crowley

At Gus and Marty’s (Williamsburg)
If the north end of McCarren Park transports Brooklynites to the suburbs – a la Applebee’s at Bernie’sTHE fake honky tonk Ray’s — the southern end can now take you to Greece. Gus & Marty’s is the second restaurant from Egg Shop husband-and-wife team Sarah Schneider and Demetri Makoulis, with an understated design and menu focused squarely on crowd-pleasing. The Saganaki is perhaps sweeter than other versions you’ve had, while the crispy anchovy manages to be both timeless and totally trendy. My lamb gyro was juicy and served in a pita which, like many pitas in the city at the moment, is heavily sprinkled with za’atar. “Baklava Sundays” also tap into the zeitgeist – I loved this one at Gus & Marty as much as the similar event at Theodora. —Zach Schiffman

Cora (West Village)
I regret that Silver Apricot, Simone Tong’s charming Cornelia Street Chinese restaurant, no longer exists, but Cora is a happy successor. (Tong decamped; managing partner Emmeline Zhao stayed.) Casual where Apricot was leisurely chef, Cora seems in some ways a more natural fit for the tight, slightly spacey space: a few nibbles and a main course or two , with enough esoteric touches to remind you who’s still in charge. There’s seaweed in the cavatelli and goat’s kefir on the buttered radishes. But my favorite dishes are the ones that could have appeared on your table at home: sunflower pull-apart rolls, crunchy rainbow trout milanese. Would you have scared this trout with some smoked gribiche at home? Probably not. But that’s the difference between a home and a home. Cora lives there. —Matthieu Schneier

Hero (Shoho)
This guide will be released the first week of November and the world will look very different just a few days after its release. How will we all feel? Will we toast the end of this election with celebratory steaks and champagne, or self-medicate with comfort food and mind-numbing cocktails? Either way, Ariel Arce’s new spot in Soho will suit the vibe. The chef, Aaron Lirette, has a unique talent for rethinking familiar ideas with just the right amount of reinvention to keep things interesting: miniature pancakes that hide a mound of peek-a-boo crab, bread that’s essentially a sourdough brioche with sweetened black garlic butter, a skewer of sliced ​​beef tongue and béarnaise enriched with marrow. The main courses are all designed to be shared by two people, as dry-aged sea bass fillets with a chili-spiked Beurre Blanc sauce, dry-aged steak, and the grand presentation of chicken (now a must-have for any Manhattan restaurant). Wash it down with wine – there’s plenty – or cocktails, including a section of the menu devoted to banana-flavored drinks, an apt description of what most people are feeling these days, too. —Alan Sytsma

Kaew Jao Jorm (Bushwick)
One of the last to come to New York continued boom in excellent Thai restaurants is a few blocks from the Graham Avenue stop in Bushwick. Although Kaew Jao Jorm offers takeaway and delivery, the narrow restaurant that seats around 20 people has a particularly warm ambiance enhanced by floor-length curtains that create a sense of comfort in the industrial zone currently under construction. Order mackerel flakes tossed with plenty of minced lemongrass and hot red pepper, served on a bed of herbs and lettuce framed by the crispy head, or delicate flower-shaped chicken and peanut balls enclosed in a soft blue dough. Their pomelo salad is one of the best I’ve ever eaten, where fleshy sections of aromatic fruit are topped with shallots, mint and lime leaves, all drizzled with a dark, syrupy vinaigrette. (The intense sauce was replicated with a sticky tamarind glaze over duck and Chinese broccoli.) To accompany everything, there’s fluffy jasmine rice from an elaborate metal tureen, served by the spoon and a small extra, like they do in Thailand. , said my server. —Tammie Teclemariam