Nobody ever drove past a strip mall and thought, “That’s where I’ll have the best breakfast of my life,” and yet here we are.

This week we’re excited for the opening of two French brasseries in two different hotels, as well as an anticipated gelato “lab,” and a new destination sushi restaurant in Brooklyn.

La Marqueta, under the Metro-North Railroad train tracks in East Harlem, is one of the city’s most historic marketplaces. The hub for Latin American and Caribbean culture will now also be the site of ...