This Sichuan-style restaurant is the Manhattan branch of an establishment that began in Flushing. It's in the former Grand Sichuan St Marks space, accessed by climbing an outdoor staircase to the 2nd floor. They redid the decor to make it much fancier, but the main difference is the food, which is much more refined. Some of it is quite spicy and some of it is not, but either way, the flavors are very well balanced and the ingredients are high-quality. Good service, too. The restaurant is quite small and very popular, so either go for a weekday lunch — better yet, at odd hours (e.g. 3-4PM), or if you go for dinner, come on the later side or show up, give your name and then go somewhere else while you wait for as long as 90 minutes.
11:30AM–10:30PM·Expect to pay about $45 for two people and have leftovers. As an individual, expect to pay $30 and have at least 3 meals' worth. Portions are very large
This restaurant specializes in yakitori - Japanese-style grilled items on skewers. They sell other food items, but in general, it is best to stick to yakitori and similar items, and definitely do not get things like ramen there, because the further away it is from being grilled, the worse it is likely to be. Most of their yakitori is dependably good, and it's definitely a great value. They also sell pretty good sake for about $8 for a large carafe, and the servers are knowledgeable about the sakes. Because the restaurant is cheap and open late, it gets all kinds of freaky, drunk customers, and the aisles and seating are definitely at close quarters. Just consider it an experience and enjoy.
Sun-Wed 6PM-2AM; Thu-Sat 6PM-4 AM·Yakitori: $1.50-2.50 per portion, $13.50 per set (10 skewers)
The oldest continuously existing free lending library in New York, it was designed in 1884 as a "Freie Bibliothek u. Lesehalle" (free library and reading hall) when this neighborhood was part of Kleindeutschland (Little Germany) and now serves as a branch of the New York Public Library. Another part of this lovely red brick building, constructed as a "Deutsches Dispensary," features reliefs of heroes of German culture such as Goethe but stopped functioning as a clinic several years ago.
Mon Wed 10AM-6PM, Tue Thu 10AM-8PM, Fri Sat 10AM-5PM
Half-century-old Ukrainian diner now has a snazzier decor and hipper clientele but still offers traditional Eastern European fare like pierogi, blintzes, and stuffed cabbage.
24 hours