Tom’s Restaurant is famous for appearing in Seinfeld—and if you’re old enough, the Suzanne Vega song from the ’80s—but there’s more to this classic Morningside Heights diner than its cameos. Since the 1940s, it’s been a quiet corner retreat for Columbia students and neighborhood folks, with high-backed red vinyl booths and $7 mimosas (or house wine). The affordable diner food is solid, and there are usually some exciting-sounding weekly specials. It’s a perfect place to sit at the counter with a book, get distracted by SVU on the TV above you, and drink endless coffee refills poured by a waitress with a tiny butterfly tattoo on her neck.