Tapas goes dim sum
Huertas
107 First Ave.; 212-228-4490
Bar snacking is more fun at this East Village Spanish spot, where waiters bring round trays of small nibbles, or pintxos. Grab a white anchovy with pickled pepper and olive or an English pea toast; servers tally your total on a card on the table, as they do at dim sum restaurants. Wash it down with the housemade white summer vermouth, served simply on the rocks, as in Spain.
“It’s almost too light and refreshing,” says executive chef and owner Jonah Miller, 27. “You could drink it forever.”
Miller was inspired by traditional Spanish tapas bars, where small bites sit out for patrons to grab at will, tweaking the concept for the Big Apple. “It would never really work in New York to just have people pulling food from the bar,” he concedes. Heartier appetites can order off a bar menu of “raciones,” including excellent tins of seafood ($10), or sit down in the dining room for the four-course menú del día ($52).
High cuisine with downtown cool
Contra
138 Orchard St.; 212-466-4633
Forget tasting menus with three-digit price tags and reservations that require the skills of a computer hacker. At Contra, chefs Jeremiah Stone, 29, and Fabian von Hauske, 24, serve a fixed five-course menu for $55 — even to those who haven’t made reservations. The menu changes daily, and the subtle cuisine has echoes of New Nordic — von Hauske is an alum of Denmark’s Noma, seaweed might make an appearance — but isn’t afraid to veer elsewhere. The narrow dining room seats 44 and has a casually cool vibe; bottles of water sit on tables, and the friendly bartender does double duty as a dining room server. Still, von Hauske says he and Stone are looking to open a wine bar to showcase their food in an even more relaxed environment. “It would be nice, something more casual, just small plates,” he says.
Serious cocktails with a sense of humor
Nitecap
120 Rivington St., downstairs; 212-466-3361
This new Lower East Side bar below Schapiro’s serves well-crafted cocktails without the once-novel, now-tired speakeasy trappings. There’s no secret phone number, unmarked entrance or vest-clad “mixologist” policing the place for uncouth vodka orders. Instead, there’s a tattooed dude checking IDs at the door, a dive-bar soundtrack of Hall & Oates and Michael Jackson, and a menu littered with Rodney Dangerfield quotes and jokey drinking games. The cocktails, however, are as serious — and as well-balanced and delicious — as they are at more pretentious spots. “Drinking, at the end of the day, should be fun,” says co-founder Natasha David.