Executive Chef David Shofner is presenting on a globally inspired menu and Drew Coyle and Ali Coyle are handling cocktails and wine. A fanciful rabbit fricassee and the Hare’s Looking at You vodka-carrot juice cocktail play into an old Irish legend about a rabbit and hare differing in terms of a hare having a soul but a rabbit not having one. Confused? Just ask James Joyce!

Chef Hiroo Nagahara’s newly opened Bao Hiroo bills itself as “a place where shapeshifters and hot buns are everywhere…a place to get weird.…” According to the website (animated with an adorably rascally cartoon raccoon), each bao is “crafted with homemade dough and a pinch of mischief.” The raccoon art is drawn by Eric Broers, one of the rotating featured artists at Bao Hiroo.

Nagahara’s signature soft and pillowy bao (made with his mom’s recipe) include beef brisket and char siu lamb. And those delighting in the sweeter side will want to note Bao Hiroo’s “Oreoo” cookie bao (an ode to Nagahara’s favorite cookie) filled with Guittard chocolate and Tahitian vanilla, topped with a pinch of sea salt.

Designed by Yuna Megre of the award-winning hospitality design company Megre Interiors, Le Grand is lush with greenery and wood paneling, creating an indoor-outdoor feel for the 3,906-square-foot combination of restaurant, bar and patio seating. This entryway shows off the more than 1,000 bottles of both Old World and New World wines waiting to be uncorked.

Helmed by chef/brother duo Alex (executive chef) and Chris (chef de cuisine) Manos, the menu at Le Grand begins with an extensive starter section with shareable a la carte dips and Greek oregano pita bread with nori butter crème fraiche and fleur de sel. Then there’s seafood and meat dishes like branzino ceviche and Aspen Ridge ribeye cap made with sunchoke, espresso and passionfruit.

Opening this summer in Chicago’s West Loop area, Dirty Root is an all-day, fast-casual restaurant focused on customizable bowls featuring whole, nutrient-dense, seasonal ingredients.

Co-founded by Matt Dobleman, a former finance lawyer, and Connor Lacy, a former accountant/consultant, Dirty Root’s culinary side will be led by Justin Milius as culinary director, an alum of The Purple Pig, Balena, Frasca and Plumpjack. The idea of :better for you: food will be dropped into a grab-and-go setting with a “choose your own adventure” menu of house-made bases, veggie-centric sides and a variety of proteins and sauces.

Is Greenpoint the new dining destination neighborhood in Brooklyn? It’s hard to be sure, but MADRE is stepping up to the plate with a cross-cultural menu, hand-crafted cocktails and an impressive wine and craft beer list.

Executive Chef Bryan Noury opened MADRE with a menu that’s aiming to please neighborhood foodies with items like Hamachi crudo with nasturtiums and green apple, jamon croquettes and branzino with grapes and fennel.

A luxury condo building at 53^rd Street and Lexington Avenue is the Midtown Manhattan home of Le Jardinier, a modern, vegetable-driven restaurant helmed by Michelin-starred chef Alain Verzeroli, a protégé of Joel Robuchon. The restaurant is “focused on modern cuisine utilizing the highest quality of vegetables, seasonal ingredients and herbs,” Verzeroli said. His menu is rooted in classical French technique and influenced by his many years of cooking at different Robuchon locations from Vegas to Tokyo.

Refined veggie dishes, sustainable meat dishes and precision plates with a little of both will include French white asparagus with blood orange and buckwheat puff; baby carrots, snap peas, spring onion and Maine scallops; Persian cucumber, Montauk fluke crudo and crispy black rice and bavette au jus with turnip, horseradish and broccolini.