For poets, autumn may be a season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, but for restaurant critics it is time to get cracking. Reading those long lists of new places to eat in New York and around the country, I stare hopelessly at my calendar, trying to figure out if there might be a way to squeeze an extra two or three nights into each week.

There’s not. I’ve tried.

So when people ask me what I’d like to see in the fall crop of openings, I don’t say, “More restaurants.” But I do find myself hoping for different restaurants, or restaurants run differently, by a wider and more diverse range of operators.

A few years ago I would look at these lists and, if a good number of projects were backed by big restaurant groups with a strong track record, I’d take it as a sign that an interesting season was in the wings. Now I’m less sure. What I see more and more is the way power accrues to chefs who are already powerful, while independent restaurants struggle to get going.