[Photo: Kathy YL Chan]

Watermelon juice is my single favorite fruit drink in the summer—refreshing, clean, and actually healthy. We've Sugar Rush'ed places where you can find them in the city, including Num Pang and Bouley Studio. But the Watermelon Juice ($4) offered at the recently opened Lafayette Espresso Bar and Marketplace in Soho has a twist: basil. The resulting drink is shades darker in color, with fresh basil leaves blended right into the fresh juice, lending fragrant, almost peppery elements. A very good thing indeed.

Lafayette Espresso Bar and Marketplace

189 Lafayette Street, New York NY 10013 (map)
212-226-8812