Fresh seafood, cocktails, and wine, always with great music and unpretentious vibes. Everything is good here and we often order oysters, shrimp cocktail, and the fries.

Brazilian home cooking in an intimate, charming spot. Highly recommend the caipirinha cocktail with lime, the Chef’s Special fish entree with capers and lemon sauce, collard greens, and yuca sticks, and the beef strogonoff.

A modern, cleanly designed restaurant with incredible pizzas, pastas, vegetables, and an extensive wine list. The ‘Cappelletti Dolci’ pasta with brown butter, smoked sweet potato & hazelnuts may be the best pasta I’ve ever had (yup, I said it!). Get a pizza to share and the crudo appetizer.

Elevated Mexican food with excellent tacos, mezcal & tequila cocktails in a rustic-chic space with an outdoor patio. Get the al pastor tacos, the queso chorizo, and the margarita de toronja picante (spicy margarita)!

I’m torn between Ippudo Ramen and Ivan Ramen as my favorite ramen spot, but Ippudo wins my heart because the vibe inside both at the counter for 2, or for large groups at a table is pretty cool. The pork buns and lychee martini are nice accompaniments.

Memorably delicious sushi in a lively and modern-feeling joint with lots of wooden “bamboo-like” walls and booths. The green yuzu kosho and citrus ponzu appetizer and the spicy tuna handroll are standouts, but from there get whatever specials and rolls are calling your name.

If you’re in the mood for a classic Italian hero in NYC, this is your spot. They also are a butcher shop with prime cuts of meats as well as cheeses, oils, bread, and more.

This is a cocktail bar and restaurant that is what I imagine Miami in the 70’s to have felt like, with palm tree wallpaper and leather booths. I LOVE this cheeseburger and their cocktails are done really well. The fries and salt and pepper broccoli (order broccoli at a bar? sounds odd, I know, but try it and you’ll see) are great sides. There’s a speakeasy bar downstairs called Slowly Shirley that offers an entirely different vibe (when open).

Italian gastroteca serving small plates & apéritifs in a rustic, dim-lit, cozy space, opened by the same chefs from Buvette and I Sodi (also great). We always get some combination of vegetables, seafood, pasta, and wine or a Negroni. It’s walk-in only and the wait is always long, which is the only downside.

This Paris-based bakery has a small shop in West Village. Pastry chefs are baking merengues and pastries in the window all day, which originally lured me in! The mini merengues with chocolate shavings and the warm chocolate brioche bread are really something.