Headliner

Ardyn

This intimate new Greenwich Village spot takes its name from the Shakespearean forest, and it stands to reason that greens, grays and natural wood would play a major role in its décor. Less obvious but certainly of the moment is a menu featuring small-batch ingredients, sometimes from the nearby Greenmarket, in dishes like pickled beets with goat cheese and watercress, white asparagus with Ibérico ham, risotto with morels and arugula, Sasso chicken with asparagus and endives, and crème brûlée with dulce de leche. Larger-format dishes, like duck, fish and a slab of Wagyu rib-eye, are also served. Tasting menus for $85 will soon be served at a six-seat counter facing the open kitchen. The chefs and owners, Ryan Lory, 30, and Adam Bordonaro, 35, both worked at Fig & Olive and for Charlie Palmer Group and have been cooking together since 2014. They’re first-time restaurateurs who also built the restaurant themselves. Here, they’re in good company, opening on a block that is increasingly lined with worthwhile places to eat. (Opens Friday)

33 West Eighth Street (Fifth Avenue), 646-490-8772, ardynnyc.com.

Opening

Au Cheval

The highly anticipated New York outpost of the Chicago burger magnet has opened. It’s tucked into Cortlandt Alley in TriBeCa. The owner, Brendan Sodikoff, also brought his Chicago prime-rib restaurant to New York, as 4 Charles in the West Village. Au Cheval’s signature cheeseburger is a couple of griddled patties that come laden with American cheese, pickles and a mustard sauce. True to the restaurant’s name, a French term that refers to having a fried egg on top, an egg is also available, as is bacon. Diner-style comfort foods include chopped chicken livers, matzo ball soup, honey-fried chicken and fries with Mornay sauce and that egg. The setting is more tavern than diner, and reservations are not accepted.

33 Cortlandt Alley (Walker Street), no phone, auchevaldiner.com.

Leyla

Tastes of the Mediterranean, and especially Turkey, are to be served at this Upper West Side newcomer from Huseyin Ozer, who owns Bodrum NYC farther uptown, and Berna Erbilgin Gundogdu. They bill it as being brasserie-style. It has a bar, a dining room and a garden, all enlivened with Turkish touches like ikat textiles. The chef, Met Kaba, makes use of a ceramic oven for flatbreads, including lahmajun topped with minced meat. Other dishes, in portions meant for sharing, include sun-dried eggplant stuffed with pilaf, quinoa hummus salad, zucchini fritters, eriste pasta with lamb in a brown butter-yogurt sauce, and a freekeh risotto with vegetables. (Wednesday)

108 West 74th Street (Columbus Avenue), 347-334-7939, leylanyc.com.

Smor

The name means butter in Danish, and it’s also short for Denmark’s smorrebrod open-face sandwiches. Two young Danish natives, Sebastian Perez and Sebastian Bangsgaard, have opened this compact but bright and airy spot for Nordic fare. Both will be in the kitchen, though Mr. Perez’s background is business, not cooking. Mr. Bangsgaard is a trained chef. Among the smorrebrod are curried herring with egg, chicken salad with bacon and pickled shallots, and roasted potatoes with tarragon aioli. Grain bowls, smoked fish dishes, toasts and Danish pancakes are also on the menu.

441 East 12th Street (First Avenue), 646-478-8391, smornyc.com.