2. Carbone

Carbone is the year’s most polarizing restaurant. The chefs Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone, with their business partner, Jeff Zalaznick, imagined a stylized, exaggerated red-sauce joint recast in the fine-dining idiom, and it takes nerve to pull that off. Yes, the captains are pushy and talky, but good New Yorkers ought to know how to push and talk back. Yes, the prices are dizzying, but so are the portions, the quality of the ingredients and the sheer exuberance of the preparations. Carbone doesn’t use dust-flavored farmed shrimp for its scampi alla scampi; it uses remarkably sweet and delicate langoustines caught off the coast of Scotland. The lobster fra diavolo is the size of a sea monster and is head-spinningly rich with Cognac and shellfish reduction. At times it’s all too much, but too-muchness is at the heart of the Italian-American restaurants that Carbone celebrates. 181 Thompson Street (Bleecker Street), Greenwich Village, 212-254-3000.

3. Betony

Opened by several alumni of Eleven Madison Park, Betony offers similar pleasures without the extravagant commitment of time and money. Servers dress formally in black and white, but they’re not at all remote; they’re so in touch, so intent on figuring out what you want before you do, they’re almost telepathic. Like his old boss, Daniel Humm, Betony’s chef, Bryce Shuman, toys around with fun, everyday food, putting sophisticated spins on bar snacks like potato chips. The best of his cooking is both technically polished and soulful, a rare mixture. He makes a seared foie gras in ham-hock broth that’s both earthy and luxurious, and a short rib, slow-cooked in aged beef fat then grilled over intensely hot charcoal, that is supremely tender but still hits you in some primal spots. 41 West 57th Street, Midtown, 212-465-2400.

4. Uncle Boons

Opened in the middle of a trend toward restaurants exploring recipes from Thailand’s north and northeast, Uncle Boons skips all over the country and takes respectful liberties. The result could have been superficial, but it’s nuanced and smart. The chefs, Ann Redding and Matt Danzer, offer carefully considered breaks with Thai tradition. In their hands, shredded potato and melting beef cheek taste right at home in a musky, complex massaman curry, and sweetbreads are a natural fit for a rounded, rich bowl of mee krob that’s tart and fruity with tamarind. Chile freaks can find the heat they crave in a chicken-and-banana-blossom salad or an unusual warm laab of chopped lamb fried to a caramelized crunch in a wok. Like the cooking, the service has a degree of polish you wouldn’t necessarily expect of a place where the restroom has a monster-movie poster with the rousing slogan “Once again dinosaur shake the erath!” 7 Spring Street (Elizabeth Street), NoLIta, 646-370-6650.

5. Hanjan

For traditional Korean food, the place to go is the far eastern reaches of Flushing, Queens. But for delicious modern interpretations of the cuisine, nothing comes close to Hooni Kim’s two packed, casual pubs. As he did at Danji, Mr. Kim split Hanjan’s small-plates menu into traditional dishes and contemporary ones, but his flavors feel so true that you can’t always tell which is which. He turns pajeon, the flat and starchy Korean pancake, into a crunchy cloud of squid and scallion, and while the texture is completely different, the taste isn’t. Hanjan’s food is exciting; people wave their chopsticks around, urging their friends to try the grilled mackerel under a shiny sheath of soy glaze or the rice cakes slick with pork fat and chile paste. 36 West 26th Street, Midtown South, 212-206-7226.