Nothing too novel, but it hits just the right balance of sweet and bitter, vegetable-heavy and goat cheese-creamy. More

Even at 6:00pm on a recent evening, The Wren was packed nearly to capacity with under-30s on their second or third pint. It's already a drinking destination, to be sure. But would The Wren be a good place to grab a bite as well? We're already fans of the dressed-up bar food at Wilfie and Nell, the owners' previous bar-restaurant, so we had high hopes. What we found was a mix of solid bar food and a bit more, perhaps nothing worth traveling for, but more than good enough to line your belly after a few pints of ale—and gently priced, for the area. More

Given that it's a sit-down restaurant on Bowery and Houston, not an outer-borough sub shop, there's no reason to expect that Pulino's is going to serve up cheap overstuffed sandwiches. But their Italian Sub ($12) gets a lot of things right. More

Motorino's Mathieu Palombino has a knack for genre-hopping, having left fine dining to open one of our favorite pizzerias in New York. So it didn't seem that unlikely when Palombino decided to open a diner on the Bowery. More

Both pimento fans and cheesesteak purists might object to the naming of this sandwich (you might as well call it a po' boy, and get that camp riled up too!), but the Pimiento Cheesesteak ($10) at Peels is a pretty tasty thing. More

Saxon + Parole gets packed at night; the crowds come for cocktails and the juicy egg-topped burger. But when we arrived early on a Saturday morning to check out their new brunch, the room was calm and bright, with plenty of tables available. I predict that won't last long; there are lots of delicious morning bites here. More

I've eaten a fair few turkey-avocado sandwiches in my time (hey, it's my duty as a Californian), but never one as well-named as the Gobblecado ($10). Perfect, right? It's a sandwich of smoked turkey with creamy avocado and a chili mayo that does a great job of perking up those mild flavors. More

Sweet potato pies never really get the attention they deserve, often sitting in the shadows of pumpkin. So you'll have to thank Peels for bringing sweet potato pie front and center this fall. More

"I want to make the kind of food people crave," says chef Brad Farmerie, of Public, The Monday Room, and, his most recent, Saxon + Parole. The Bowery space, styled by acclaimed design firm AvroKO, used to house Farmerie's Southeast Asian-English Double Crown; that restaurant closed in August and, within three and a half weeks, was reborn as Saxon + Parole, almost unrecognizable as the same restaurant. More

At Pulino's, the Walnut and Fig Bar is accompanied by a Mixed Berry Smoothie—$8 for the set, making for a well-balanced breakfast or afternoon snack. More