At Hoexters, a brasserie that opened in November on East 82nd Street near Third Avenue, you don’t feel like you’re on the Upper East Side. It’s loud in the best way, in both volume and color. People are packed into connecting rooms covered in wild wallpapers: flamingos and tigers when you walk in, then red plaid alongside exposed brick, and, finally, golden stars and moons lit up by a custom Murano-glass chandelier.

Laura, Bobby, and Alexandra Shapiro at Hoexters.

No matter where you’re sitting, Hoexters—pronounced “Hexters”—is the kind of restaurant that becomes exactly what you need when you need it, whether you’re there for a quick martini or a celebratory steak dinner. “If you want it to be fancy, it’s fancy, and you order a prime rib and an expensive bottle of wine,” the restaurant’s owner, Alexandra Shapiro, says. “If you want to have a beer and a shrimp cocktail, you can do that also.”