Somehow the humble meatball has become a breakout star of one of the best food cities in the world, and there's some satisfaction in that. Meatballs just ooze comfort (although really, all ground, bound and formed food items do). On the Upper West Side, several restaurants are doing these soulful spheres justice. More
Chances are high that if you're in any semblance of a relationship (real or imaginary), the days ahead are going to be filled with some combination of hand-holding, adoring stares, and breathless whispers. A guy or gal is bound to get hungry after so much endless romance, and one of the sexiest ways to refuel is fondue—or the Swiss art of shared cheese-dipping—and its many cultural counterparts. With a reputation for late nights and a number of different cuisines represented in the 'hood, the East Village offers a convincing argument for getting cheesy with the apple of your eye. More
A mix of hospital workers, students, the well-to-do and remnants of the area's immigrant past, Yorkville is far more diverse than the howling hoots and hollers of its local meatheads would imply. There are Irish pubs, British pubs, German beer bars, hookah bars and Hungarian pastry shops-cum-restaurants. Despite all this, the Upper East Side is still fancy-pants burger territory—at least until a certain hour. After other restaurants have donned their wagyu nightcaps and snuffed their truffled candles, the funkier burgers around town let their hair down. More
Hyper-specialized Japanese restaurants in New York are nothing new (see: Otafuku, Oms/b) but Hachember, which opened last May in the space that previously housed Patate Fellow, Fat Hippo and (most famously) 71 Clinton Fresh Food, may just be the city's first otsumami bar where "women and gay men can eat and drink in harmony." More
That more New Yorkers don't know the name Harrison Mosher, executive chef of Alta in the West Village, is a crying shame, though you wouldn't guess there was a dearth of press trying to push your way through the long, crowded bar and foyer on your way to the main dining area. More
National holidays are a great time for culturual self-reflection, and after a long weekend filled with the noble civic duty of eating as much as my body could reasonably handle without risking diabetes, I realized something: this is America (gosh darnit!), and vegans should be just as entitled to ruin their bodies with junk food as their animal-eating kinsfolk (Freegans can shove it). Williamsburg's Foodswings helps make that dream a seitan-filled reality. More
April Bloomfield and Ken Friedman just axed The John Dory Oyster Bar's midnight-2am oyster happy hour in favor of a possible new late-night menu at The Breslin, provided management can figure out a way to offer twilight dining without detracting from the restaurant's popular breakfast service. Even with such a loss, The Dory's bar snacks offer a taste of the kitchen's bold flavors at a reduced price and in portions perfect for hazy, postprandial grazing.
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As restaurant neighborhoods go, the East Village is the equivalent of a Honduran tilapia farm: packed to the gills and in danger of polluting the ecosystem (in this case, with middling restaurants). But Pata Negra, sandwiched into a narrow space on 12th Street between the takeout and proper restaurant locations of mac-and-cheese stalwart S'MAC, has proven itself as a sleeper in the tradition of Spain's best tapas bars, and the area is better for it. Wallets and waistlines, not so much. More
[Photos: Zachary Feldman] Open Late... Open Until: 1:00 am, Sun-Wed; 2:00 am, Thu; 3:00 am, Fri-Sat Drinking Until: close, 7 days Food Until: close, 7 days The best Keith McNally restaurants captivate the neighborhoods in which they reside, and... More
By definition, the Japanese izakaya is a place meant for drinking, home cooking, and—most importantly— late nights. Izakaya Ten, on a stretch of 10th Avenue known for its vibrant art gallery scene, does the legacy proud with cramped confines, intimate lighting, and menus as boundless as the amount of shochu and sake its patrons imbibe. Seafood takes center stage, to no surprise, and a number of Japanese cooking techniques are at play: yakitori (grilling), mushimono (steaming), and pitch-perfect deep frying among them. In a neighborhood saturated with ambiguous "Mediterranean" outfits, the restaurant is a welcome distraction, and has been five years running. More
