Spring St Eatery Among Esquire's Best New Restaurants For 2019

SOHO, NY — In a city teeming with great places to eat, some newcomers are being recognized among the best in the country.

Esquire magazine's list of the 22 best new restaurants in America for 2019 includes one on Spring Street.

Esquire's food and drinks editor Jeff Gordinier crisscrossed the country for the past year searching for the best eats and the best drinks. According to Gordinier, Seven Reasons, a Latin restaurant in Washington, D.C., ranks as the very best.

But some little known eateries in NYC made the list.

Among them is Spring Street's Wayan, which came in at number 16.

What Gordinier said:

"Wayan is like a round of love texts that ping back and forth between Cédric Vongerichten (son of French-born global gastro-deity Jean-Georges) and his wife, Ochi, who grew up in Indonesia. She's the one you meet when you walk in and who can school you on the significance (both cultural and personal) of nasi goreng and corn fritters, lobster noodles and clams Jimbaran-style, which are so packed with flavor you might as well be biting into oceanic truffles. But you're not incorrect to detect a Vongerichtenish touch (bold flavor being something of a family heirloom) in the way the mango plays with the mint. It's fusion with a heart—and without any bitter colonialist aftertaste."

See Esquire's complete list.