Cantonese-American, Bib Gourmand · $$
Round the corner on Chrystie Street, a Cantonese-American dining room built on memories of growing up in Chinatown and dressed as a Hong Kong cinema, with film posters and a marquee over the kitchen counter. It holds a Bib Gourmand. The order is the salt and pepper chicken with scallion biscuits, pickled jalapeño and chili-plum jam at $28, with the XO fried rice, also $28, and the Berkshire pork and chive potstickers at $15. Dinner only, Wednesday to Sunday from 5.30pm, last seating at 9pm. Book ahead; a few bar seats are kept for walk-ins.
Reserve ahead133 Chrystie Street
Thai-American diner, Bib Gourmand · $$
Ann Redding and Matt Danzer's diner behind a corrugated metal and wood front on Mott Street, with rattan screens, woven bamboo and a counter with wooden stools, and a Bib Gourmand. Breakfast runs until 4pm, which makes it the obvious alternative to the hotel buffet: the Thai Diner egg sandwich, with sai oua herbal sausage, cheese and Thai basil wrapped in roti, is $15, and the Thai tea elephant ear French toast $17. Later, order the laab with fried chicken, at $26, or the khao soi, also $26. Open from 8.30am on weekdays and 10am at weekends, until 10.30pm or 11.30pm; tables can be booked.
Reserve ahead186 Mott Street
Cocktail bar
The bar of Sam Ross and Michael McIlroy, who between them created two modern classics: Ross's smoky-sweet Penicillin and McIlroy's Greenpoint, a Manhattan laced with Chartreuse. Ask for either, or ask the bartender for something built around what you like to drink. It is open every day from 5pm to 3am, for parties of six or fewer, and nobody gets in without a physical, government-issued ID. A few tables can be booked; everything else is first come, first served, and the way in, by the bar's own instruction, is to knock.
Walk in134 Eldridge Street
New York slice counter · $
The original shop, opened in 2012 on Prince Street between Mott and Elizabeth, and now the first of a chain that runs from Miami to Toronto. The order is a square: the Spicy Spring, a thick, crisp Sicilian slice with fra diavolo sauce, fresh mozzarella, pecorino romano and pepperoni, sold by the slice or as a whole pie. It is a slice shop, built for a quick stop on the walk back, and it keeps late hours: 10am to 3am on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, to midnight on Wednesday and to 5am from Thursday to Saturday.
Walk in27 Prince Street
Italian pastry café, since 1892 · $
Antonio Ferrara opened this café on Grand Street in 1892 for opera lovers, and his family still owns it five generations later. It is credited with coining the phrase Holy Cannoli, which tells you the order: a cannoli and an espresso, or a sfogliatella, a lobster tail or a slice of tiramisù. The café opens at 9am every day and closes at 10pm from Sunday to Thursday and 11pm on Friday and Saturday, with table service ending half an hour before, and brunch from 9am to 3pm. A box of pastries keeps overnight in the fridge in your room.
Walk in195 Grand Street
Vegetable tasting menu, one MICHELIN star · $$$$
Amanda Cohen's restaurant cooks nothing but vegetables and holds a MICHELIN star, along with a Green Star, the guide's mark for sustainable cooking. Dinner is a single five-course tasting menu that changes with the seasons, at $118 a head, with a $55 wine pairing or a $45 alcohol-free one. Both prices include service, because the restaurant pays its staff a living wage and takes no tips, so only tax is added. Every dish can be made vegan; gluten-free diners cannot be catered for. Tuesday to Saturday, 5.30pm to 10.30pm. Booking takes a card, and cancelling inside 24 hours costs $50 a person.
Book well ahead: tables go weeks out86 Allen Street
Italian-American, one MICHELIN star · $$$$
A grand Italian-American dining room under vaulted ceilings in the landmark Puck Building on Mulberry Street, with waiters in dinner jackets, pressed linen and a MICHELIN star. The menu runs from Tortellini Pomodoro at $32 and Agnolotti Angelino at $40 to Dover sole Francese at $72, with an affogato at $22 to finish. Dinner is Monday to Saturday from 5pm to 11pm, lunch Wednesday to Saturday from 11.30am to 2pm. Dining-room tables open 30 days ahead for parties of up to six; the bar counter takes walk-ins, first come, first served. Dress for it: athletic wear is turned away, and children under three are not admitted.
Book well ahead: tables go weeks out275 Mulberry Street
Appetizing shop, since 1914 · $$
The original shop, on the same stretch of Houston Street since 1914 and run by four generations of the Russ family. Appetizing is the New York Jewish trade in smoked and cured fish, cream cheese and the breads to carry them, and here you take a number at the door and wait to be called to the counter. Order the classic bagel and lox, Gaspe nova with the cream cheese of your choice, at $17, or the Super Heebster, whitefish and baked salmon salad with horseradish dill cream cheese and wasabi flying fish roe, at $19. Open every day from 8am to 4pm, for taking away.
Walk in179 East Houston Street
The hotel's breakfast is a hot and cold buffet in canteenM, every day from 6am to 11am, with pastries and unlimited barista coffee. It is not part of the room rate: you add it to the booking or pay on the morning. For coffee alone, Mozzo Coffee opens at 7am on weekdays and 8am at weekends, and canteenM has food at any hour. The best outside option is Thai Diner, three minutes away, from 8.30am on weekdays and 10am at weekends with breakfast until 4pm. For bagels and smoked fish at a table, Russ & Daughters Cafe is six minutes away at 127 Orchard Street, from 8.30am every day, with last seating at 2.30pm from Monday to Thursday and 3.30pm from Friday to Sunday.
