This is the place where I ate my first burger just 2 hours after I arrived in 'tha hood' I loved the place immediately because of the supersweet employees. And the fact that they have al this vintage machines in the place: like an old COKE machine and a cigarette machine as well as a jukebox from the sixties. The fact that they serve ALL DAY LONG BREAKFAST really made me happy, probably because I lived in Berlin before I moved here and there people are endlessly chilling and having breakfast the whole day long anyway! On wednesdays Wally organizes film evenings with funny nineties classics and on thursday evening you can eat a 5 dollar burger menu. While eating your inexpensive burger think of Wall.E.

Chuko has the best vegetarian ramen I've ever had. It's kind of ruined me for other types of Ramen. Favorite neighborhood spot with good people running it.

Best cupcakes ever (aside from my wife's)

It starts when a friend implores you to eat downstairs at La Esquina, the subterranean brasserie branch of Derek Sanders's Mexican axis of Kenmare Street. The food’s cheaper and probably better at the walk-in-only cafe around the corner from the restaurant’s entrance—a door disguised by a taqueria counter and a sign that reads “Employees Only”—but there’s a certain category of New Yorker who thrives on having what others don’t. A reservationist will ask you if you’ve “dined with us before,” and in general, it takes knowing someone in the industry, smooth talking, or (velvet-rope flashback) looking good and confident at the door, to waltz in at prime time. The reward is dining in a Mexican dungeon as styled for a Vogue shoot, complete with metalwork, distressed stone walls, and water dripping on the back of your neck (though the owners can probably thank the air conditioner for the added atmospherics). Making up the grinning crowd at secluded booths and in private cells (?): a healthy mix of models, cougars, and maybe John Mayer picking his way through red snapper ceviche, cauliflower and avocado taquitos, grilled octopus tostados, or a plate of tuna tartare with a tamarind glaze. If the food sounds light, you’re right; it’s playing to the delicious crowd.  This is, what "The New Yorker" wrote about this fantastic place!

It’s the child of the Russ & Daughters deli NYC institution