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The end of the year is traditionally a time for turning back and reflecting, but it’s also a chance to look forward to what will be (and if you’re up for it, throwing in some resolutions for good measure.) In the spirit of restaurants past and those in our future, I’ve compiled two restaurant lists: one that gazes at the rear view mirror of what’s been, and one that stares ahead into the great wide open of what’s to come.

THE BEST NEW (NYC) RESTAURANTS OF 2007
Best New Italian: Centro Vinoteca, 74 Seventh Avenue South, at Barrow Street, 212-367-8040
This stunning contemporary Italian restaurant from Chef Anne Burrell (she was Mario Batali’s sous-chef on Iron Chef) makes the idea of eating at the same restaurant every night quite appealing. Her menu offers a roster of bite-sized cichetti like Parmesan-battered wedges of cauliflower in agliata, juicy little meatballs infused with rosemary, roasted mushrooms caps loaded up with minced pancetta and pork, a smooth as butter chicken liver pate crowned with caramelized onions, and deviled eggs with the slightest hint of truffle. Pastas range from housemade pici with sausage ragu to a single raviolo with a secret yolk center in a pool of brown butter and sage. Pork chops are brined and crusted in fennel and steak is charred and smoky and sliced into thin strips and served over potato and fontina cake and swiss chard. This is food you can sink your teeth into. What’s also nice is that the setting is as far from the ubiquitous Tuscan farmhouse treatment as you’ll find. Rather, it’s a black-and-white modernist duplex that feels cool, sexy, and wildly inviting.

Best New Seasonal American: Market Table, 54 Carmine St, at Bedford; 212-255-2100
I’ve written about Market Table on this blog before because it’s one of my favorite newcomers. Located in a lofty, windowed corner space in the West Village, it’s owned by chef Mike Price along with partners Joey Campanaro and Gabriel Stulman (Little Owl). The menu includes one of the greatest variations on eggplant parm known to the 21st Century (pine nuts, arugula, and sweet pulpy tomato sauce take it the next level), as well as an off-the-charts pan-roasted crispy skinned chicken with sweet potatoes and hazelnut butter, a bowl of marshmallow-sized gnocchi dunked in a nutty and tangy Parmesan broth stocked with swirling ribbons of escarole and luscious hunks of melting short ribs, and a seafood pan roast that would make a New England fisherman proud.

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