The Spotted Pig is one of the most influential restaurants of the last two decades. More importantly, it's an insanely fun place to spend an evening and the kitchen always knocks it out of the park. Read more.
Cosme is the chic Flatiron District restaurant from Enrique Olvera, one of Mexico's most famous chefs. Standouts include uni tostada, burrata with salsa verde, and the show-stopping carnitas for two. Read more.
Head to this excellent yakitori for masterfully grilled chicken parts and Japanese small plates. You can order a la carte, but Ryan Sutton recommends the omakase. Read more.
An omakase will set you back around $80—a bargain for New York City. Guests can also supplement their omakase meals with a small selection of a la carte sushi. Tanoshi has three seatings per night. Read more.
Here find one of the city’s best vegetarian menus, with the dosas, idlis, and utapams of Southern India as its bedrock. [Robert Sietsema] Read more.
Fu Run excels at cumin-encrusted lamb ribs, fat juicy dumplings, pork stews with sauerkraut, green bean sheet jelly, and anything made with bean-curd skin. [Robert Sietsema] Read more.
The tender, butter-drenched Butcher's Steak is the best $20 slab of meat in New York City, no question, but the pricier cuts at Joe Carroll's Williamsburg steakhouse are even better. Read more.
Ask for wine director Jorge Riera. He will pour you what you never knew you needed. And Always. Order. Dessert. Especially if that peanut butter creation is on the menu. Read more.
Expect perfect oysters, lovingly prepared off-cuts of meat, tangy homemade ferments, and seasonal vegetables. Natural wines, smart-but-not-smart-ass cocktails, and local suds keep everyone loose. Read more.
Semilla has a relentlessly inventive menu that explores every possible thing you can do with every possible part of the season’s veg, all in the pursuit of maximum flavor and zero waste. Read more.
With only 12 seats, this spot fills up fast. Grab a coffee at the barber shop-slash-café next door while you wait, or, weekends, check to see if local tea importer Kettl is doing a pop-up upstairs. Read more.
The food is substantial (and tasty) enough to make a meal of, but getting a couple of early evening cocktails and snacks before a later downtown dinner rez is really the move here. Read more.
Enjoy solid tapas in one of the nicest and most romantic outdoor patios with plush seating. Bonus: the outdoor area has a retractable roof in case in rains.
