Best New Restaurants 2012: No. 10 Mideastro

The loungey Yorkville room hums with well-to-do regulars enjoying the back-slapping hospitality of owner Leon Goldstein. Chef Benny Cohen, a Moroccan Jew who grew up in Israel, draws on all sides of the Mediterranean to produce the city’s most accomplished Middle Eastern food. His smoky baladi eggplant, a Turkish classic, is served in a roasting pan with bright cherry tomatoes, wild oregano and Israeli feta. His fig kataiv, a Macedonian super-baklava with fresh figs and mascarpone nestled in a tangle of pastry threads, is topped tableside with a deadly sweet cardamom syrup. Dishes are delivered by white-gloved waiters, and every bottle of wine is decanted at the table—a lovely formality too often forgone in our age of casual dining. There are kitschy touches—gigantic menus that light up on opening, for example—but when your mouth is full of food this good, it’s hard to complain. 27 Yorkville Ave., 416-477-2427. See our listing for more information »

Above: Black Truffle Wagyu Tenderloin Carpaccio (Images: Raina and Wilson)