One of the best things about the change of seasons is that NYC restaurant menus subtly shift from incorporating last season’s ingredients to featuring the bounty of the months to come. As I reflect back to this past summer, I remember how chock-full menus were of salads featuring summery ingredients: a particularly memorable peach-and-frisee concoction at Perry Street; a watermelon, ricotta salata, and arugula medley at 24 Prince. But with the coming of crisp air, shorter days, and turtlenecks comes a whole new wave of restaurant delights to look forward to.

This fall, I’m eager to see what restaurants will do with the winter squashes that featured so prominently last fall and winter. Moreover, this year I’m especially excited for mushrooms in all their glory. Recently, I’ve had some particularly delicious mushroom-centric plates—a sauteed mushroom and arugula salad at Riposo 46; a genius wok-stirred maitake mushroom masterpiece at Blue Ginger in Wellesley, Massachusetts—and I get the sense that mushrooms will be the next umami powerhouse to become ubiquitous on menus across town.

But the greatest thing about NYC as a restaurant town is that, ultimately, I haven’t a clue what fall will bring. Perhaps it will be savory uses of the dozens of varieties of apples grown nearby; perhaps it will be a resurgence of healthy leafy greens like kale and swiss chard. The possibilities are endless, and I’m looking forward to discovering how chefs around town interpret fall in New York.

How about you? What are you most looking forward to with the arrival of autumn?