Food & Drink

2013 on a platter!

Boffo barbecue, cult California burgers and tippling on the tip of Manhattan are on the menu for 2013!

Barbecue feasts

Get your Lipitor prescription filled, because meaty restaurants are, dare we say, smoking hot in 2013.

BrisketTown (359 Bedford Ave., Williamsburg; 718-701-8909), an offshoot of barbecue scholar Dan Delaney’s popular “Brisketlab” pop-ups that were held around the city last year, opened in November, and Delaney is already expanding hours — and offerings such as new breakfast tacos.

“It’s been really crazy. We’ve been selling out every night since we’ve been open,” he says of his simple, authentic menu of brisket and pork ribs, along with a few sides and pie for dessert.

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Brooklynites are also tearing into Fletcher’s (433 Third Ave., Gowanus; 347-763-2680), which also opened in November and specializes in what pitmaster and executive chef Matt Fisher calls “Brooklyn barbecue.”

Serving dishes such as Asian-style char-siu ribs, Fletcher’s combines the meat-market service style of Texas barbecue with the cooking techniques of Kansas City.

“That’s what makes it Brooklyn, it’s authentic barbecue but flavor-wise, it’s got a little bit of a twist to it,” says Fisher.

Elsewhere in Kings County, the long-anticipated Park Slope location (604 Union St.) of Harlem stalwart Dinosaur Bar-B-Que is set to open at long last in early May.

“It’ll be the same barbecue that we made our bones on, but we’re working on some new menu surprises unique to the Brooklyn store,” founder John Stage says. “We’ll have a new wine-on-tap program in addition to 20 beers, and there will be a private dining space for 40.”

In Manhattan, three-time world barbecue champion Myron Mixon is reportedly set to open a branch of his Pride and Joy BBQ in the old Lucky Cheng’s space (24 First Ave.) later this year. MIGHTY QUINN’S (103 Second Ave.; 212-677-3733), a Smorgasburg offshoot, opened a brick-and-mortar location in the East Village last month.

“Meats smoked at low temperatures over long periods of time produces a flavor that New Yorkers have always craved,” says Quinn’s co-founder Micha Magid. “I think we are all fortunate to see this category growing in our city.”

Our cholesterol levels might not be so lucky.

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Brooklyn invades Manhattan

Enjoying chef Cesar Ramirez’s 20-course prix-fixe at Brooklyn Fare, the borough’s only three-Michelin-starred restaurant, typically requires scoring a near-impossible reservation six weeks in advance and then trekking (for Manhattanites) to a downtown Brooklyn grocery store.

This spring, it won’t be such a hassle to enjoy Ramirez’s renowned fare. Brooklyn Fare Manhattan is set to open in Midtown (431-39 W. 37th St.) in the next few months.

The new location will be much larger — about 65 seats as opposed to 18 — and serve a fixed menu with just four to six courses. But some things will stay the same, including the location connected to a Brooklyn Fare grocery and a bare-bones interior.

“The kitchen feeling will always be there,” promises owner Moe Issa.

Brooklyn Fare is hardly the only establishment hopping across the East River. Lobster Joint, a beloved Greenpoint seafood shack, opened on the Lower East Side (201 E. Houston St.) in December. “It’s always been my dream to open up in the city,” says co-owner Tommy Chabrowski.

Meanwhile, quintessential Williamsburg watering hole

Barcade, known for its wealth of both vintage video games and craft brews, is set to open a West 24th Street location this summer, community board willing.

Co-owner Paul Kermizian says the Brooklyn-to-Manhattan expansions are a sign of the times — and the rise of the outer boroughs.

“Years ago . . . it was the other way around,” he notes. Now, “it’s just the way things are happening.”

Expanding empires

Sure, Nicoletta wasn’t a hit, but last year’s poorly reviewed pizza joint isn’t keeping chef Michael White (Marea, Ai Fiori) from continuing with his aggressive expansion. The pasta maestro has not one but two projects in the pipeline for spring.

First up is the Butterfly (225 West Broadway), a cocktail and supper club opening in March that will take its inspiration from mid-century America — with aged chopped steak with bone-marrow bordelaise and creamed spinach toast on the menu, and retro decor to match. Cocktails are front-and-center, with Eben Freeman (formerly of Tailor and WD-50) mixing up brandy Old-Fashioneds, grasshoppers and other libations.

The following month, White will debut Ristorante Morini on the Upper East Side (1167 Madison Ave.), a higher-end spinoff of downtown’s Osteria Morini. Expect a menu that plays homage to various regions of Italy, with dishes such as a veal chop with pancetta cream and gnocchi alla Sorrentina.

Meanwhile, with their successful Italian (Locanda Verde) and American (the Dutch) ventures buzzing, chef Andrew Carmellini and partners Luke Ostrom and Josh Pickard will open Lafayette in the old Chinatown Brasserie location (380 Lafayette St., lafayetteny.com) in NoHo later this winter.

Southern French fare such as Niçoise ravioli with pistou and chèvre and slow-cooked lamb with burnt orange and olives will be on the menu — but heavy sauces won’t.

Cult California burgers

For more than a year, New York’s hamburger lovers have been salivating over rumors that California’s cultish fast-casual burger chain Umami Burger is coming to town.

It’s finally happening. CEO Adam Fleischman says a Greenwich Village outpost (432 Sixth Ave.) will open midyear, with two to four more city locations to follow.

Fleischman, who was born in Queens and opened his first of 14 locations in Los Angeles in 2009 by putting $40,000 of expenses on a credit card, has gained a loyal following with his focus on umami or the “fifth flavor” — not salty, sweet, sour or bitter, but one rich in glutamates and found in foods like Parmesan cheese, mushrooms and cured meats.

“A lot of New York chefs have been in and have given us their seal of approval,” he says, noting that David Chang, Mario Batali, Anthony Bourdain and Danny Meyer have all visited his California locations.

But New York’s Umami Burger won’t be a carbon copy of its LA counterparts. There will be a signature NYC burger on the menu — Fleischman’s been experimenting with one stacked with thick-cut pastrami, house-made American cheese, kombu relish and mustard — alongside the classic Umami burger, which features shiitake mushrooms, caramelized onions, roasted tomato, Parmesan crisp and ketchup.

And, Umami isn’t the only Hollywood burger coming to town in 2013. The Beverly Hills-based chain Fatburger plans to open a Murray Hill location (507 Third Ave.) in the spring, and there are plans for 10 locations throughout the city.

From Japan with love

When Ivan Orkin opens Ivan Ramen (25 Clinton St.) on the Lower East Side this spring, it will be something of a homecoming.

Born on Long Island, the chef and self-professed “Japanophile” has spent the past couple decades in Tokyo, where he already has two noodle-shop locations. About a year ago, he moved his family to Westchester to set up shop stateside.

“My noodles tend to have a great sort of aroma — the texture has more of a bite than a lot of ramen noodles,” says Orkin, who plans to open with three different types of noodles: toasted rye; a straight, very thin rye noodle; and thick whole-wheat slurpers.

His menu will include the shio (salt) ramen for which he’s known and a number of bar snacks, including one he calls “the anti-bun pork sushi.” (Don’t tell David Chang!)

On the sweeter side, cultishly popular Japanese chocolate chain Royce opened its first US store in December in Midtown East (509 Madison Ave.; 646-590-0650) specializing in fastidiously packaged, Hokkaido-made truffles.

Bullish for cocktails

The Financial District hasn’t traditionally been the place for late-night libations, but that’s changing.

Late last month, restaurateur Abraham Merchant and mixologist Jeremy Strawn (Death & Co., the Mulberry Project) opened the Black Hound (301 South End Ave.; 212-945-0562), bringing barrel-aged cocktails, custom-shaped ice and wagyu beef sliders to Battery Park City.

“We were shocked we were open to 3:30 [a.m.] on Saturday,” notes Strawn, who says they’ve been way, way busier than expected — and well past happy hour.

Next week, it will be joined by THE Dead Rabbit (30 Water St.), a bilevel “drinking saloon” meant to conjure 19th-century Ireland. Expect fish and chips and Scotch eggs, along with an extensive selection of Irish whiskeys, historical cocktails and “pop-ins” — lightly hopped beer mixed with liqueur — to wash it down.

And late this year, mega-restaurateur Stephen Starr (Buddakan, Morimoto) will open a New York outpost of his upscale Mexican hot spot El Vez (259 Vesey St.). The Philadelphia location has an $18 guacamole with black truffle and huitlacoche, gold velvet banquets and a photo booth; the New York version will have a similar menu and feel — plus an additional 200 seats.