This East 60th Street bistro was founded in 1937, and is—after a five-year revamp from the Frenchette people—way more fun than that makes it sound. This place always had the trappings of a special, two-bottle night out: low ceilings, quirky paintings (a sleeping calf, the previous owner’s yacht), and a booth that was once frequented by Orson Welles. Now, it also has the food. Le Veau d’Or is the first place we’d recommend for an extra-special, extra splashy date night.

The inside of this place quite literally sparkles like a disco ball, with golden Nolita light hitting its bamboo-weaved walls and bakery case of cakes and pastries. Most importantly, every section on Thai Diner’s menu has undeniable “f*ck yeah″ energy. Order the disco fries smothered with massaman curry, the cabbage rolls stuffed with turkey and jasmine rice, and the sai oua breakfast roti whose blend of textures would win Project Runway.

Our initial review of Via Carota, for example, was pretty lukewarm. But that was back in 2015, a confusing time when bone broth was the beverage du jour and electric hoverboards were catching on fire. With its perfect mix of casual, buzzy atmosphere and impressive, unfussy food, this West Village restaurant has grown on us immensely over the years. Just be sure to arrive before 6pm. Via Carota is essentially walk-in only, with limited reservations, and we aren’t the only ones who love it here.

Sitting on a low plastic stool, or perched on a bench at Mắm, it’s easy to form a close relationship with all the flavors and textures on your plate. Like the seating, the Vietnamese food here is uncompromising—from the tofu that’s made fresh every day to the perfectly springy blood sausage. Minty, citrusy herbs tangle with silky poached eggs, chicken feet, and snails stuffed with pork. Little bowls of different dipping sauces tie individual ingredients together in bite after spectacular bite.

You could make the argument that old-school fine dining is boring and antiquated. And that would be a pretty compelling argument, if it weren’t for Le Bernardin. This Midtown institution, which has been open for over 30 years now, is a well-oiled machine that’s been fine-tuned to perfection. Geoduck chawanmushi with uni and soft-crunchy sea beans in pork dashi, langoustine and buttery leeks in uni sauce americaine—you book a reservation at Le Bernardin primarily to get your hands on these.

Penny entered the small plates scene fully formed, but don’t call just it another wine bar (though they do have exactly 1,000 bottles on their full list). The seafood at this East Village restaurant is exceptional—from the moment we tasted the sweet, red Argentine shrimp in their signature Ice Box, we were on board. The menu is short, but full of delightful surprises, like plump oysters hiding under a cap of puff pastry, or an ice cream sandwich that actually looks like miniature sandwich.

From the people behind Carbone and The Grill, this Nolita restaurant is a big-budget production with precariously high ceilings, crushed velvet booths, and servers dressed for a wedding in Southampton. It’s the sort of place where you’d expect food to be an afterthought, but every section of the Italian-ish menu is filled with highlights. Start with the fennel salad that’s infinitely more exciting than it sounds, and follow that up with the prawn raviolini and rotisserie lamb.

This walk-in-only Koreatown restaurant is going to wow you, but not with caviar, wagyu, or crisp white tablecloths. There’s none of that here. Only Korean classics piled unpretentiously onto plates that are ferried from an open kitchen by servers in matching polos. Open since 1997, Cho Dang Gol is the best at what it does: homestyle food you reminisce about the moment you hit the outside world.

We could insist you visit Cocina Consuelo solely for their lunch-time masa pancake—a thick, honey-drenched disc that’s almost corn pudding—or for the perfectly spiced birria, served in marrow-filled bones at dinner. But the exceptional menu isn’t what makes this seven-table Hamilton Heights restaurant truly special. Anything could happen here: you might hear a strumming guitarist who also whistles, or a random diner banging out a few classics on the warbly piano.

The Fujianese, cash-only Shu Jiao Fu Zhou has a gravitational pull that attracts tourists, locals, and anyone looking for an experience so pure it feels like a pilgrimage. At the revered Chinatown spot, the floors are industrial sheet metal, the tables are communal, and the pork dumplings with chewy, vivid chives are smooth as silk and bursting with flavor. Get six for $3 or 12 for $4.50, and add some soup with wispy, delicate wontons or a plate of the elegantly plain and creamy peanut noodles.

Smithereens calls itself a New England-inspired seafood restaurant, and true to theme, you’ll find a lobster roll, a cocktail called the Ben Affleck, and Narragansett Lagers here. The dainty, thoughtful, fish-forward plates change frequently, but their three regulars should always be on your table: a honey butter-slathered buckwheat pancake draped over a mound of smoked bluefish, that sauced-to-order lobster roll, and a dish called simply “Beans.”

At this tiny Cambodian spot in Crown Heights, Tierra Whack and A$AP Rocky bounce loudly off the walls, the fish mint comes from the chef’s aunt’s backyard, and your server might be a friend who’s just helping out for tonight. It might seem like the couple running this place is figuring things out as they go—but never when it comes to the food.

There’s always a line inside Trinciti (and sometimes outside too), crowded with people who come to the South Ozone Park spot regularly. They're here for doubles laden with bouncy shrimp and soft, thick channa, or an overstuffed bake and shark sandwich, or infant-sized goat roti, with a heap of goat curry that will stain your fingertips yellow for at least three days. Expect to exit in about 20 minutes—currant roll in one hand, and a five-pound bag of NYC's best Trinidadian food in the other.

Ha’s Snack Bar on the Lower East Side is so small, and so crowded, that you could easily topple someone's pinot gris as you pass through the billowing front curtain. The number of diners crammed inside, eagerly knocking elbows, is a testament to the punchy flavors coming out of Ha’s tiny kitchen at the back. Virtually everything is electrified with fish sauce, like sizzling snails in tamarind butter, or a kumquat-crowned black pudding tartlet.

People like to say that certain restaurants feel like someone’s living room. But unless those people are talking about Shaw-naé's House—a six-table soul food destination on Staten Island—we don’t really believe them. Inside the ground floor of a clapboard house in Stapleton Heights, people from all over the city sit on couches next to a faux fireplace, waiting for some of the city’s best collard greens, served by a woman who will win you over before you even try her oxtails.

Like a '90s nightclub plopped into the middle of Lincoln Center, Tatiana glows blue and chain-link gold, blasts Lauryn Hill and Biggie, and serves the most exciting food we've tasted at a fancy restaurant, ever. We're especially fond of the absurdly tender short rib pastrami suya, served with caraway coco bread, inviting you to build sliders. Tatiana is one of the hardest reservations in town, but for a restaurant that feels like a paradigm shift in New York fine dining, it’s well worth it.

Those who don’t eat pork, avert your eyes. Every edible surface at this East Village taqueria is covered in a thin slick of pork lard—and that’s exactly why we love it. From the same team as Taqueria Ramirez (which we also love), this counter-service spot serves every part of the pig, from trompa to rabo. The surtida taco, which includes all the cuts combined on a freshly griddled corn tortilla, is mandatory.

This restaurant serves South Indian regional specialties typically made in rural home settings, and they do so in a narrow space with quintessential West Village charm. Highlights include a crispy uttappam filled with seasonal root vegetables, crunchy Mangalorean cauliflower, and a masala-potato-filled gunpowder dosa that tastes like cheese even though there’s none present. No meal at Semma would be quite right, however, without a few of the meaty dishes that are harder to find in NYC.

L’Industrie’s owner, a native of Tuscany, subjects his dough to a three-day cold fermentation, resulting in a crust that’s airy, crisp, thin as a saltine, and stiff enough to support dots of ricotta and strips of bacon. Whether you visit the original Williamsburg or West Village location—which has a bit more indoor seating— there’s going to be a line, but it’ll move fast. Place your order at the counter, then watch as they finish your hot slice with olive oil, parm, and torn leaves of basil.

The food at Bridges asks something of you, and it’s also shockingly delicious. You’ll think about what you’re eating, and you’ll notice all of the buttery and seasonal, luxurious little details. But more than anything, Bridges is a restaurant with sex appeal. Tables are spaced out like this isn’t downtown Manhattan. While waiting for the bathroom you’ll notice a floor-to-ceiling red private dining room lit for David Lynch. It’s a restaurant with style.

At Red Hook Tavern, everybody orders the burger. It’s one of the best in town. But there are other things at this saloon-like spot, which fills up every evening with dates, birthdays, and people who never question their beef consumption, that are just as worth planning a weekend meal around. But this place (from the same people as Hometown Bar-B-Que) really knows its meat. So if you do happen to be here for a birthday, go ahead and order a 45-day dry-aged bone-in New York Strip for the table.

Lines are the worst, and no matter how good that sandwich, donut, or croissant spin-off is, we’ll hardly ever tell you to wait in one. Lechonera La Piraña is the exception. Inside this South Bronx trailer propped up on cinderblocks, a single chef hacks at the city’s finest roast pork with an arm-length machete. The skin shatters like peanut brittle, and the fat coats your lips. To get your own takeout container full of the stuff, you’re going to have to wait—at least an hour, and probably more.

Cervo’s is an extremely reliable restaurant. But not in a boring way. In a sexy way. At this Spanish seafood restaurant on the Lower East Side (from the same team as Hart's, The Fly and Eel Bar), you can eat a plate of clams swimming in garlicky white wine, and know that they taste this excellent every single night. So reliable. So sexy. As long as you reserve a week in advance, or snag a walk-in table on the earlier side, you can eat those garlicky bivalves whenever you want.

A single bite of the salteña and you know there’s sorcery going on behind this walk-up window in Sunnyside. Bolivian Llama Party’s signature dish is what might happen if an empanada and a soup dumpling listened to a Marvin Gaye album together: a steaming hot, tender, egg-yellow pastry brimming with rich chicken or beef stew. But the rest of the menu is full of sleeper hits. The diablada broster, dusted with purple locoto chile powder, is one of our favorite spicy chicken sandwiches.

New York City is rich in old-school Italian sandwich shops, and Defonte’s is the nearly century-old template. But it’s not just about the overstuffed sandwiches—like the Prosciutto Special—at this cash-only Italian institution. It’s also about standing in line next to someone who drives in from Jersey weekly to feast on the Nicky’s Special, and getting just a little sass from the person behind the counter when you walk in “late” at 3:15pm, even though they close at 4.