With every passing day, we're getting closer and closer to the end of 2015. It was a crazy year, New York City. The Pope came, rainbow bagels were baked, and pizza rat stormed the city.
Sadly, the year 2015 also meant we lost some beloved restaurants. Market Diner, Hogs & Heifers, and Deluxe on Broadway were all forced to close their doors.
Of course, these setbacks couldn't keep NYC's dynamite restaurant scene from forging ahead.
Even though we lost some great restaurants, the year 2015 brought with it the innovation of plenty of new, exciting, and delicious restaurants.
These restaurants only serve to add flavor, vigor, and variety to our already thriving restaurant scene.
Read on to learn which incredible, delectable new restaurants opened their doors to the NYC public in 2015.
1. Fuku (163 1st Avenue)
foodiebuddha Chicken sandwich, as eaten by @adammhyman (digital print 2015) :: Believe the hype, get in line early, this is simplicity at it's best #fuku #fukunyc #davidchang #friedchicken #sandwich #foodiebuddha
David Chang strung together a crew of friend chicken sandwich experts and opened this fried chicken outlet on First Avenue in June of 2015.
Fuku definitely made a splash, earning as spot as one the most delicious chicken sandwiches in all of the city, a list whose competition grew exponentially fiercer this year.
2015 also brought with it Fuku's delivery service Caviar.
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It's one of the best things that's hit this city since crosswalks (only, no one ignores these sandwiches). Caviar will deliver a limited menu from Fuku on Mondays to Fridays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Among their delivery menu options are their Spicy Fried Chicken Sandwich, Fuku Fingers, 163 Salad, French fries, and Fuku's Confetti Cookie.
We've been delighting in this fabulous service since it started in October.
2. Black Seed Bagels (170 Elizabeth Street)
phatgirlzzz all i want for xmas is you 🎄🌟😱 #eeeeeats #bagel #everythingbagels #blackseedbagels #newforkcity #ilyfoodgram #nycfat #howiholiday #foodandwine #foodpornshare #brunch #phatgirlzzz
Everyone in NYC loves bagels, right? We know that was just about the most obvious question we could have asked.
So, of course, another bagel restaurant on the scene is desirable. Especially when the bagels are hand rolled and wood fired. We know, it tastes just as incredible as it sounds.
The restaurant was concocted by Noah Bernamoff and Matt Kliegman, united by a love of traditional bagel making and artisanal ingredients. They merged the best of their Montreal and NYC styles, creating a truly original, entirely tasty bagel.
Black Seed's bagels are hand rolled, and boiled in honey water. Then, they're cooked in a wood-fired oven to achieve a specific crispness, density, and tastiness.
Black Seed also serves signature sandwiches, like their ricotta, apple, and honey, or their smoked trout, hard boiled egg, arugula and dijon mustard. Needless to say, we were stoked about Black Seed Bagel's arrival on the NYC restaurant scene in September.
3. UrbanSpace Vanderbilt (230 Park Avenue)
nydiningguide They call this The Big Tex at Roberta's. It is not immediately clear why. #nydiningguide #robertas #pizza
The food market game in NYC is phenomenal, and was even further catapulted to greatness when UrbanSpace Vanderbilt opened on September 17th, 2015.
UrbanSpace Vanderbilt came about because everyone loved Madison Square Eats and Broadway Bites way too much for them to be impermanent.
It's a 12,000-square-foot space, and it houses vendors like La Palapa Tacos, Red Hook Lobster Pound, Ovenly, Maiden Lane, Dough, and Delaney Chicken.
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We're all about the fried chicken from Delaney Chicken, and we just can't get enough of the tacos at Takumi Taco.
The main event for many, of course, is the delicious pizza at Roberta's Pizza. The line there usually stretches around the corner, but you should wait in it at least once. It's worth it.
4. Rosie's (29 East 2nd Street)
This upscale Mexican restaurant hit the corner of 2nd Avenue and 2nd Street in June.
It was founded by NYC restaurant veterans Marc Meyer, Vicki Freeman, Chris Paraskevaides, and Anna-Marie McCullagh.
Meyer, a longtime admirer of Mexico and its cuisine, used that admiration as inspiration for bringing Rosie's straightforward, traditional Mexican to NYC.
When you go, make sure you you get your hands on the Al Pastor Tacos, which are nearly perfect and topped with pineapple, the queso fundido, and the succulent, tasty lamb and pork tacos. Tossing it all back with their watermelon margarita definitely doesn't hurt, either.
Rosie's made a fabulous addition to the NYC restaurant scene in 2015.
,5. Chick-fil-A
Yeah, Chick-fil-A opened this year in NYC, and it was pretty great. The beloved restaurant is on 37th Street and 6th Avenue, and it's officially Chick-fil-A's largest outpost. We should know. We eat lunch there weekly.
It opened in October, and it did so with a splash, obviously. When Chick-fil-A opened in October, they handed out a year's supply of chicken sandwiches to their first 100 customers. Well, they entered their first 300 customers in a lottery, and chose the lucky 100 from the first 300.
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The winning customers were required to sleep over, but Chick-fil-A provided the sleeping gear for the 12-hour event.
The decadence of Chick-fil-A's opening should say a thing or two about the quality of the chicken. Namely, it's really great. We know there are a ton of Chick-fil-A haters in the city, but we are not among them.
6. Salvation Burger (250 East 51st Street)
evansantiago The best burger I've eaten in my life #TheGhostfaceKiller • @lb_burgerbar and its right in the heart of Jersey City. Just in case you think my taste buds are bias, here's a few fun facts: @lb_burgerbar has been ranked best burgers in NJ and sits amongst 7 others as best in the country. #tasteandsee #salvationburger #leftbankburgerbar
We're guessing April Bloomfield and Ken Friedman named their new burger shop Salvation Burger for the exact reason its name suggests: the burgers save lives.
It not open just yet, but when they started slinging out delicious burgers, crafted from locally sourced meat, ground-in house, and cooked on a wood-fired grill.
Maybe the best part about the whole deal is that the burgers are served on house-made potato buns. Or, actually, we're wrong. The best part about Salvation Burger, the part we're really most excited about, is definitely the boozy milkshakes.
7. Quality Eats (19 Greenwich Avenue)
noleftovers_ Steak me home tonight 🍳 STEAK & EGGS (Fried Eggs, Bavette Steak, Caramelized onions) @quality_eats #americasbestbreakfasts #noleftovers
Quality Eats opened in November, and they brought something very welcome to NYC's food scene: affordable, delicious steak.
Now, we understand the word affordable is a relative term. Here, it means you won't be shelling out hundreds. Quality Eat's steaks are priced from $19 to $29 which means we can actually indulge on one without spilling our whole wallet on the table afterward.
They serve all the steakhouse classics, but they've all got a special Quality Eats kick. Their steak tartare includes bone marrow butter, the slab bacon includes peanut butter, and their roasted beet tabbouleh is absolutely exploding with flavor.
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They prepare their steaks to perfection, and their dessert is an experience in itself. Do yourself a favor and try the Gingerbread Man. It comes with apple butter ice cream, cinnamon molasses cake, and it's topped with gingerbread people.
All-in-all, you should try Quality Eats. It might be one of the best meals you've ever had in the city.
Check Out 7 Wildest Food Innovations of 2015 in NYC.
[Feature Image Courtesy Instagram]