While many New Yorkers spent Memorial Day weekend out of town, New York restaurant operators began executing plans to attract diners during the traditionally slow summer months.

CLAMS GALORE H.Q. (90 Thompson St., between Spring and Prince streets, 212-966-2755) is offering a special “clambake” on Mondays. The $37.50, three-course meal includes choice of New England clam chowder or mixed green salad. That is followed by a 1.5-pound steamed lobster along with clams, mussels, chorizo, and corn on the cob. Dessert is Key lime pie or chocolate pudding with caramelized bananas.

BY THE SEA Yesterday the Sea Grill at Rockefeller Center opened its outdoor seating section at rink-level, called Sea Side (19 W. 49th St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues, 212-332-7610). Small plates ($7-$17), sushi, and desserts are the focus of the Sea Side menu, which, if it rains, will be served inside at what has been dubbed the “puddle bar.”

BURGER BONANZA Zip Burger (300 E. 52nd St., between First and Second a venues, 212-308-1308) opened over the weekend. Burgers, starting at $4.50, are made to order, so you can order them medium-rare if you want to. Or you can have a turkey, salmon, or veggie burger. You can have it on a soft white bun, a whole-wheat bun, in an English muffin, or wrapped in lettuce. Top it with ketchup, a selection of mustards, or house-made mayonnaise. Add bacon, raw red or grilled Vidalia onions, your choice of cheese, pickles, and other goodies. Fries, served in a paper bag, are $3.50. Zip Burger also serves milkshakes.

SUNNY SIDE Around the corner from Zip Burger, Cafe Soleil (1016 Second Ave., between 52nd and 53rd streets, 212-758-1351) also just opened. The younger, slightly more downtown sister of Bouterin Restaurant on East 59th Street is intended to be a chic but casual French-style cafe. It features a raw bar as well as the food of chef Igor Segota. Items on the spring-summer menu include gulf shrimp and sugar pea risotto with rosemary ($12), sea bass in crispy zucchini envelope with Provencale sauce ($23), and chicken casserole with porcini mushrooms, fava beans, and spring potatoes ($22).

GRAND GOURMET Tomorrow in Grand Central Terminal at Vanderbilt Hall (89 E. 42nd St., near Vanderbilt Avenue, 212-490-6650), is the annual Grand Gourmet fund-raiser. For $75 (if you buy your tickets in advance by calling Ticket Web at 866-468-7619 or by visiting www.ticketweb.com), you can sample goodies from about 35 restaurants, including Bice, Blue Fin, the Campbell Apartment, the Capital Grille, Django, Icon, Oscar’s, Patroon, Peacock Alley, and Riingo. The event is from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Proceeds go to the Grand Central Neighborhood Social Services Corporation, a provider of services to the homeless.

THE PARK If you prefer your fund raisers under a tent, go to the band shell in Central Park (at 72nd Street) on June 7 for the 11th annual Taste of Summer. There, too, some 35 restaurants are participating in this tasting event, including Circo, Fred’s at Barney’s, Lever House, Orsay, Sushi Samba, Thalassa, Tocqueville, Vento, and Zocalo. Tickets start at $350 if you buy them in advance, $400 if you do not. Proceeds go to the Central Park Conservancy. Buy tickets by calling Jill Pall at 212-310-6691, or visit www.centralparknyc.org.

CHINA BY WAY OF PARIS After some delay and a long soft opening, Chinatown Brasserie (380 Lafayette St. at Great Jones St., 212-533-7000) is scheduled to open officially tomorrow. The restaurant features what restaurant consultant Ed Schoenfeld describes as the Chinese food New Yorkers are accustomed to, but better, as well as dim sum.

The restaurant’s dim sum chef, Joe Ng, hails from Hong Kong but has been in America for a while, most recently in Bensonhurst at World Tong. The rest of the food is being cooked up by ethnic Chinese, Laos-born, Thailand-raised, and France trained Tyson Wong Ophaso. Mr. Ophaso most recently was the executive chef at Lotus, but he cut his teeth washing dishes in Paris and working his way up the cooking ranks from there at restaurants that included Le Cirque, Lutece, and La Cote Basque. He has been exploring his Chinese roots in preparing for the new menu.

The restaurant is owned by John McDonald and Joshua Pickard, who also own Lever House, Lure, and Merc Bar.

Mr. Thorn is food editor of Na tion’s Restaurant News. He can be reached at bthorn@nrn.com.