Holywater

On our list of the best special-occasion restaurants in New York.

Below street level at the corner of Reade Street and West Broadway, Holywater fills its walls with maritime bric-a-brac: found signs, ship photographs, and a lacquered faux-hammerhead shark mounted near the bar. Brothers Alex and Miles Pincus, who grew up in New Orleans and had already built a career turning old boats into restaurants, opened it in 2022 as their first bar on dry land. The kitchen leans into that background with crawfish etouffee and a gumbo alongside East Coast oysters, seafood towers, and a hanger steak with frites. The dining room takes reservations through Tock, while the bar up front seats walk-ins only.