Spunky octogenarian "grand-mére" Marguerite Bruno is still in the kitchen on weekends, and her influence shows in the resolutely old-fashioned, hearty French fare. Entrées are served out of silver chafing dishes by career waitstaff and the decor tends toward ornate woodwork and eccentric murals of N... More >>

This new Hell"s Kitchen Korean restaurant helmed by Hooni Kim, formerly of Masa and Daniel, is a 36-seat jewel box that maximizes every inch of space. Cleverly hidden in drawers under the tables, you"ll find two menus-one featuring traditional dishes like poached sablefish and a delicious... More >>

Katsuhama 55 is the younger sibling of old-timer Katsuhama, located on East 47th Street. The new place is bigger, and occupies the second floor of the premises, offering dramatic street views. The core of the menu remains breaded and fried pork cutlets, but all sorts of Japanese pub grub has... More >>

Michael White's temple to Italian seafood is full of pleasures. It's also full of incredibly rich people. To experience Marea on something approaching the cheap, go for one of the pastas, which are the both the best, and most affordable dishes they offer. They're all hand-made, and each piece... More >>

Each year we see a number of restaurateurs reaching across ethnic lines. Elegant and wildly expensive Abboccato is a project of the Greek restaurateurs who own haute midtown fish spots Molyvos and the splendid Oceana. Now they take on Italian, highlighting rarely seen regional specialties. The... More >>

Flat like a flying saucer, studded with extra sesame seeds for added crunch, and cooked long enough to not be mushy in the middle, Azuri Café's falafel are generally regarded as the best in town, and somebody or other offers me this tip about once a month. Though the falafel themselves are f... More >>

This Indian café is pricey, but it's got some appealing and unusual items on the menu to compensate. We like the mustard-based fish curry from the Malabar Coast, fragrant and tart, thickened with yogurt and flavored with cardamom and cilantro. The vegetarian tandoori combo-red and green peppers, c... More >>

A cattle call to Bobby Flay fans, this hulking brasserie offers French cooking with American touches (clam chowder, pot pie, hot brown), and the stray squirt of chile oil recalls his origins at the East Village's Miracle Grill (now closed). But in trying to please everyone with its plateaus de... More >>

Chef Waldy Malouf was a pioneer of the open hearth wood-burning oven; in fact, most of the food is done in it at this picturesque spot. Seating is on several levels, and a new bar menu allows you to eat here more cheaply than before. But even on the regular menu, there are cheaper options, such... More >>

Presided over by Thomas Keller, this facsimile boulangerie in the Time Warner Center may be the closest most of us come to eating at the French Laundry. The baked goods are impeccable, including croissants, pans au chocolat, round crusty country loaves, and pastries that run from the... More >>

Originally, this space concealed behind a curtain adjacent to the main desk of the Parker Meridien Hotel--the effect marred only by a garish neon sign--wanted to exist without a name, but Burger Joint soon stuck. Like an Off-Off-Off-Broadway show, the crew struggles at the grill behind the... More >>

Late-night cabbies pop into this tiny Punjabi Sikh spot for the chai, the pakoras, and the better-than-usual steam table offerings, including Punjabi staples like rogan josh and saag. One of the best items on the menu is an invention called the Desi Deli spicy chicken sandwich. A fried cutlet... More >>

Heartland distinguishes itself with a creative take on bar food, and a hit-and-miss selection of homemade beers (I liked the sprightly Red Rooster Ale). In general, the appetizers are a better value than the entrées, with the pu pu platter-five hefty plates stacked in a wrought-iron s... More >>

The name sounds like a bodily fluid, and this theater district restaurant is as quiet and elegant as a funeral parlor, but the Italian food is fantastic. The menu is divided into traditional fare and newfangled chef inventions, and there is something for everyone. Timid diners may prefer the... More >>

Istanbul Cafe is a warm, comfortable Turkish restaurant and bakery. In the afternoons, tables of men linger over glasses of sweet mint tea and a dessert or two. Although lamb and beef are cooked every which way here--in kabobs, as kofte, stuffed into manti dumplings--the substantial salads and... More >>

The Upper West Side once hosted a thriving Haitian community known as Bois Verna, and this is one of the few vestiges that remains. It's now favored mainly by cab drivers, who dig into dishes like lambi, a savory conch stew flavored with garlic and onions, and "legumes," chunks of beef in a... More >>

Thanks to Japanese expats, New York is blessed with many small cheap restaurants serving obscure specialties. Oden is a winter street food of dumplings-many inscrutable to Westerners-in a kelp broth. Another specialty of this serene establishment is menchanko, an infinitely expandable soup of... More >>

Inside the MOMA, Danny Meyer's The Modern has two levels of eating. There is the Bar Room, where diners are given a menu with sections "One," "Two," and "Three." But don't assume that means "small," "medium," and "large." In fact, one and two are both appetizers, and three is a "half entrée." A b... More >>

The feijoada really rocks at this tiny Brazilian cafe: loaded with pork ribs, corned beef, and slices of garlicky Portuguese longaniza in a thick potage of black beans. Spoon on the toasty farofa! Even better is shrimp Bahia style, which reflects the African heritage of Brazilian cooking, and... More >>

Don"t expect miracles-expect jumbo portions of truck-stop fare, and hangover-busting eggs and home fries. At any other brunch spot, eggs Benedict is a somewhat dainty dish. Here, industrial-sized English muffins are covered in Canadian bacon, topped with poached eggs, and swim in an ocean of... More >>

This elegant successor to Uncle Tang's specializes in Shanghai and Soo Chow, food of the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia. From the regular menu come drunken chicken, with a fumy flavor from the rice-wine marinade, and pork with preserved vegetables-thick slices of fresh bacon and tufts of... More >>

This serviceable Thai is one of a dozen on Ninth and Tenth Avenues in Hell's Kitchen. Why pick it instead of somewhere else? The dining room is narrow and tastefully decorated, one of the most relaxing places we've eaten lately. Though the menu strays into fusion territory, it's the Siamese... More >>

Named after a plant (also known as moonflower) used by the Aztecs to prepare poultices and induce hallucinations, Toloache is Mexican restaurant with a wood-burning oven at its heart, from which fly a very good quesadilla featuring fresh huitaloche, queso fundido (Mexican fondue), and suckling... More >>

Sit at the counter and you're practically in the three chefs' laps. One wields a kitchen torch to brown pork belly, one tends to the boiling ramen, and one deals with the toppings. A giant glass vat of brick-red oil sits on the counter, garlic, onion, and dried shrimp and scallops floating in... More >>

Go for solid French bistro classics, made with plenty of butter and no pretension. Calf's liver is smothered in silken caramelized onions,drinkable house wine come in generous carafes, and paté is coarse and hearty. If the mashed potatoes are leaden, the people-watching more than makes up for it. ... More >>