Evan Handler

Ladies, you obviously just got all excited because this is a person you recognize as Charlotte’s husband from Sex & The City, and very few things make you happier in life than Sex & The City, even though that show has ruined you for all romantic relationships and given you a debilitating obsession with shoes and brunch. As for the gentlemen among us, you hopefully know Evan Handler because he plays Charlie Runkle in Californication, one of our all time favorite television shows. Whatever the case may be, after today, we want you to know Evan as more than both of those things. He’s also a successful author, a journalist and a screenwriter, and even though he currently resides in LA, he’s a New Yorker at heart with damn good taste in eating. Check out Evan’s excellent “Perfect For” picks, complete with prelude. Also make sure to to keep up with Evan’s new website and Twitter for all of the latest happenings, and catch Californication every Sunday at 10:30pm on Showtime. We’ll let Evan take it from here.

“I haven’t lived in New York for ten years. Eating there now means I’m either on vacation, or on someone else’s dime (and staying in a neighborhood of someone else’s choosing). So, in terms of the neighborhoody, hole-in-the-wall joints I used to love, I’m relatively disabled. Instead, I’ll concentrate on the spots I try most to hit each visit. Yes, I’m a little embarrassed about the fact that a number of these places could fall into the “Dinner with the Parents” category. Then again, I’m probably old enough to be the father of a lot of readers (who knows, maybe I am the father of a few of them).”

Evan’s “Perfect For” Picks

Adventurous Eating, but not really

Kin Shop (469 Avenue of the Americas) – “To contradict everything I just said, I discovered and love Kin Shop. It’s the kind of place I most love, meaning deeply flavorful, highly skilled, Thai influenced cooking, in an informal, unpretentious setting. If you used to love the sadly departed Rain on the UWS (where I had my wedding rehearsal dinner in 2003), you should love Kin Shop even more. I had one four-day stay in New York last year, and had dinner at Kin Shop twice.”

Dinner with the Parents, or not

Ouest (2315 Broadway) – “To stay with the wedding theme, I got married on a rainy Sunday afternoon eight years ago at Tom Valenti’s Ouest. At the time, it was still a relatively new destination restaurant that had invigorated the fairly grim food scene on the Upper West Side. Tom’s cooking concentrates on uber rich, ultra rendered flavors, served in swanky-but-informal style in one of the clubbiest rooms in town. Every time I go since the wedding, I wonder why all the strangers are at my party.”

Authentic Ethnic Eats, if Italians are considered ethnic

Lupa (170 Thompson St.) – “I married a native of Bologna, who at the time had been in the US for only two years. We’re always on the lookout for Italian food that feels (something, anything!) like Italy. Lupa is anything but new or innovative (and everything but the pastas can be wildly inconsistent), but if you want flavors, textures, and cooking that’s closest to an actual Italian trattoria, go get yourself a plate of their pasta. (it’s not a category, but it’s a great place for An Incapacitating Lunch.)”

Dining Solo; First/Early in the Game Dates

Gramercy Tavern (42 E 20th St.) – “A few years back I discovered the joy of high-end solo dining. I look for a comfortable bar, half-glass tasting pours of good wines, and food that makes me feel like I’m committing an ethical crime by eating it alone. Gramercy Tavern’s Tavern Room is the nec plus ultra of this realm, as well as the most comfortable impress-a-date place I know. I don’t care what happens behind the curtains in the main dining room for $125 a plate. But I will sit anywhere in the beautiful, a la carte, no reservations Tavern Room – by myself, or with others – any chance I get.”

Celebrity Sightings/Classic NYC Establishment

Babbo (110 Waverly Place) – “Even more difficult to navigate than any of the places so far is Babbo. It’s practically a cliché to rave about it, and something beyond a cliché to talk about the difficulty of getting in. I’ll break the mold somewhat by saying I think the food can be uneven. I have experienced disappointment. But I have also rarely experienced such delight. There is sometimes a warm seasonal vegetable salad that makes you feel loved by the universe. And plates of seriously considered pastas that are cooked as they ought to be.”

Bonus

BLT Steak (106 E 57th St.) & PJ Clarke’s (915 3rd Ave., 55th St.) – “I’ve become an occasional resident of someplace called “midtown East” (the result of being housed at the amazing, wood-floored, 1 br w/kitchen AKA residence hotel). 56th and 1st is not a neighborhood I would have even visited otherwise. But my semi-regular stays have led me to become a semi-regular at PJ Clarke’s and BLT Steak – both of which offer deep, meaty, if utterly opposing, satisfactions. I go to PJ’s to drink beer, watch sports, and be surrounded by suited men who are all significantly taller than I am (I like how the women they’ve been hitting on suddenly start paying attention to little old me). I go to BLT when I feel like eating a “free” popover and salumi plate before I eat the steak and fries I’ve ordered. Oh, America.”

Double Bonus

Osteria Mozza (6602 Melrose Ave. / Los Angeles, CA 90038) – “So, what’s even better than everything I’ve mentioned? Osteria Mozza, at Highland and Melrose on the outskirts of Hollywood. Combine Nancy Silverton, Mario Batali, Joe Bastianich, Matt Molina, David Rosoff, and stir. What you get is the most satisfying restaurant I know. East or West. It can take ninety minutes on a weeknight to drive the fifteen miles from my home in Santa Monica. Still, we go.”

Evan’s Twitter People

Tweets I follow? Hardly any.

@lancearmstrong – Lance Armstrong. He never shuts up. There’s no room for anyone else.

@mtaibbi – Matt Taibbi. He helped me out when I played Lloyd Blankfein in HBO’s “Too Big to Fail,” and he speaks truth to power. He never tweets, though, so it leaves plenty of room for Lance.