The World Trade Center can add a superlative to its crown: NYCs best new dining hub

Surprise! The city’s newest scene for feasting and socializing isn’t in Greenwich Village or on the Brooklyn waterfront, but—gasp—the World Trade Center.The Big Apple’s most emotionally charged 16 acres have clicked as a festive eating destination after a slow start.Forget the mediocre fast-casual spots in the Oculus mall—three thriving, sit-down restaurants give the place some badly needed culinary creds.No one forgets the nearly 3,000 victims of 9/11 who are commemorated in the Memorial pools and museum that draw a combined 14 million annual visitors.

But a quarter-century later, New Yorkers can celebrate the World Trade Center’s stirring rebirth.Some 40,000 people work in great new office towers, soon to be joined by a new skyscraper for Amex.Metropolis, from Red Rooster chef/owner Marcus Samuelsson, is the brightest star in an eating constellation that also boasts the sprawling Eataly and the newest outpost of popular Brazilian steakhouse Fogo de Chao.(There’s also the relatively small One Dine at the top of One World Trade Center, but you can’t go without also paying at least $34 per person for an Observatory ticket.)Since it launched inside the Perelman Performing Arts Center at the foot of One World Trade Center two years ago, Metropolis, colorfully designed by David Rockwell, has matured into a destination for sparkling American food.Up to 200 customers at a time come for lunch or dinner beneath undulating wood ribbons across the dining room ceiling, on an open outdoor terrace, and in a second-floor outdoor lobby that the restaurant shares with the arts center.The lobby serves as a platform for DJs and free live performances programmed by the Perelman Center.

They bring a growing sense of fun to the complex, which many New Yorkers once regarded as too sacred a ground to allow partying.The festive energy thrills Samuelsson, whose connection to the World Trade Center dates back to occasional events he ran at the fabled Windows on the World....