infatuation in your inbox

Restaurants Perfect For People Watching

our suggestions

  1. La Esquina Cafe
    7.9

    La Esquina Cafe & Taqueria

    114 Kenmare St., Nolita, NY 10012

    This moment has been a long time coming. All three La Esquinas (cafe, taqueria and brasserie) have been in our heavy rotation since the days when the bridge and tunnel crowd rocked Von Dutch instead of Ed Hardy. It’s about time we got around to actually writing about them. This review is specifically for the [...]

    read more…
  2. The Lion
    7.9

    The Lion

    62 W. 9th St., Greenwich Village, NY 10011

    When it comes to this website, there are a few things that we believe in strongly – indisputable truths of the Immaculate Infatuation universe. Most of these tenets pertain to things that we believe will prevent you from Wasting Your Time and Money. The first and most important of those absolutes: any restaurant that employs [...]

    read more…
  3. Hudson Clearwater
    7.9

    Hudson Clearwater

    447 Hudson St., West Village, NY 10014

    Hudson Clearwater is keeping it discreet. The restaurant is doing it’s best to become a secret neighborhood spot with a following among only those who can find it. The address is listed as 447 Hudson Street, but when you approach the front of that building, you will find no marked entrance. You have to walk [...]

    read more…
  4. Barrio Chino
    7.8

    Barrio Chino

    253 Broome St., Lower East Side, NY 10002

    A little expensive and extremely cramped, but Barrio Chino is worth the wait.

    read more…
  5. Dassara
    7.8

    Dassara

    271 Smith Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231

    The bar in this city when it comes to ramen has been set very high. We’ve got more quality noodle joints here in New York than pretty much anywhere other than Tokyo. OK, maybe that’s giving ourselves too much credit, but we have a hard time believing that you can find better bowls than Totto [...]

    read more…
  6. Minetta Tavern
    7.7

    Minetta Tavern

    113 MacDougal St., Greenwich Village, NY 10012

    So much hype. We like Minetta Tavern, but come on…everyone needs to chill out. Plus, we don’t approve of restaurants with bouncers.

    read more…
  7. Los Feliz
    7.6

    Los Feliz

    109 Ludlow St., Lower East Side, NY 10002

    La Esquina for the common folk, where the vibe and the drinks are the stars but with stellar food to boot. This cozy taqueria upstairs opens up into a raucous fiesta downstairs.

    read more…
  8. Tacombi
    7.6

    Tacombi @ Fonda Nolita

    267 Elizabeth St., Nolita, NY 10012

    Tacombi is the name for the converted VW bus that serves the tacos. Fonda Nolita is the name for the space (we think). Put the two together and you have an interesting interpretation of what street food looks like on a really expensive street. We don’t usually pay much attention to online chatter, but even [...]

    read more…
  9. Rosemary's
    7.6

    Rosemary’s

    18 Greenwich Ave, West Village, NY 10011

    I think we can all agree that this whole urban farmhouse thing is getting a bit played out. While the rooftop garden movement is all cute and cuddly, it rarely results in a restaurant with more to show for itself than “we grow our own vegetables and herbs on the roof.” After bad experiences in [...]

    read more…
  10. L'Apicio
    7.6

    L’Apicio

    13 East First Street, East Village, NY 10003

    When Epicurean Management, the team behind Infatuation favorites L’Artusi and dell’anima, open a new restaurant, we feel the need to get there both immediately and often. Their last restaurant, Ellabess, didn’t do so well and already closed. Probably because they went without an apostrophe. Good to see they’re learning from past mistakes. L’Apicio has been [...]

    read more…
[next]
[prev]