New Hudson Yards Restaurant One Of Esquire's Best For 2019

HUDSON YARDS, NY — Since opening earlier this year, Hudson Yards has been met with mixed reception. Some criticize the west side neighborhood as an overpriced playground for the rich, while others consider it the way of the future in New York City.

Esquire had great things to say about one of the new restaurants in Hudson Yards' sprawling retail and dining complex, naming the upscale Korean eatery Kawi one of five New York City restaurants that made the magazine's list of the 22 best new restaurants in America for 2019.

Kawi is operated by David Chang — the restaurateur famous in New York City for spots such as Momofuku Noodle Bar and Fuku. Esquire's food and drinks editor Jeff Gordinier describes the newcomer as the only one of Chang's restaurants to have "wholeheartedly bear-hugged his Korean heritage."

"By offering the Seoul-born fine-dining veteran Eunjo Park carte blanche in the kitchen, Chang is treating Manhattan to an unfiltered dose of fire and funk, which is all the more surprising when you realize that Kāwi is serving yesterday's stinky soybean stew (that's what it's called) and bowls of raw clams in the sterile, Stanley Kubrickian hallways of the Hudson Yards shopping mall," the review read.s

Gordinier crisscrossed the country for the past year searching for the best eats and the best drinks. According to Esquire, Seven Reasons, a Latin restaurant in Washington, D.C., ranks as the very best. Other New York City restaurants to make the list include Flatiron's Rezdôra at No. 7, Flatiron's Odo at No. 14, Nolita's Wayan at No. 16 and Red Hook Tavern at No. 19.

The magazine doesn't say how new a restaurant needs to be to qualify for contention.

Check out Esquire's complete list.