YAKITORI MASTER

While omakase sushi proliferates the city, high-end yakitori is much harder to find. Yakitori legend Yoshiteru Ikegawa’s Michelin-starred New York restaurant serves nearly an identical menu to his Tokyo original, with 13 courses of skewered chicken and vegetables. Prepare to eat every part of the chicken, including the heart and gizzard, delicately grilled over rare kishu binchotan white charcoal and accompanied by charred and pickled vegetables. Daikon shaved like fluffy snow serves as a palate cleanser between bites. The minimalist NoHo spot has just 16 seats and reservations are hard to come by, but worth the effort to try a truly unique cuisine executed at the highest level. 292 Elizabeth Street, torien-nyc.com

TRÉS GRAND

A sprawling 16,000-square-foot restaurant would be large by any standard, but in the Big Apple, it’s practically a palace. Grand Brasserie, Grand Central’s latest dining haunt, opened in September, offering seats for a staggering 400 patrons under the iconic train station’s soaring ceilings. The Parisian brasserie experience is fronted by executive chef Guillaume Thivet, whose menu highlights French classics like foie gras mousse with thick brioche toast, steak frites, and salade Lyonnaise with frisée, lardons, and poached egg. There’s an expansive brunch selection, too, spanning everything from housemade tartine to hearty steak and eggs, plus a 400-bottle wine list with 40 available by the glass. 89 E 42nd Street, Vanderbilt Hall, grandbrasserie.com

SUSHI AND SUDS

Chicago brewery Moody Tongue’s first restaurant in Chicago garnered two Michelin stars for its unique beer pairings with a fine dining tasting menu. Their new West Village sushi restaurant is pushing boundaries even further, pairing brewmaster Jared Rouben’s beers with sushi, including exclusive beers like a shaved black truffle rice lager and pressed Asian pear saison that’s served in a flute with a taste reminiscent of champagne. Executive sushi chef Hiromi Iwakiri serves small plates, maki, and nigiri, including vegan nigiri, with curated pours of beer, for a dining experience unlike anything in the country. The concept is unconventional but exceptionally delicious, and six-packs of your favorite beers are available to take home as well. 150 W 10th Street, moodytongue.com/moody-tongue-sushi

GIFT OF GLOW

Man, studio portrait and skincare with beauty, cosmetics and wellness by studio backdrop with natural glow. Model, self care and healthy aesthetic for cosmetic self love, body care and radiant facial

Aesthetic nurse practitioner Chris Bustamante is best known for his male enhancement cosmetic procedures but offers a full range of injectable services and facial services at Lushful Aesthetics in Midtown East. For the holiday season, the GlowBrite Laser Facial is the perfect treatment before a big event, effective in treating active acne, minimizing hyperpigmentation, smoothing fine lines, and shrinking pores for a brighter, radiant complexion with zero downtime. Bustamante combines the non-ablative laser with a cold blast CryoFacial to optimize results, so there’s no inflammation and results are instant. 18 E 41st Street, 14th Floor, Suite 1404, lushfulaesthetics.com

SELF-CARE SANCTUARY

London’s NEOM Wellbeing just opened their first U.S. storefront in the West Village, a 481-square-foot wellbeing sanctuary to escape the city, bringing New Yorkers an immersive well-being experience, with a product portfolio that is powered by 100% natural fragrances. Enjoy complimentary hand and arm massages, in-store demonstrations, and samples of the brand’s well-being hero products and new launches, which all fall across one of four pillars: better sleep, less stress, more energy, and mood boost. Customers can discover which well-being pillar is most aligned to their own wellness needs with bath and body products, home fragrance, and electric diffusers. 395 Bleecker Street, us.neomwellbeing.com