We asked and you answered! We received many responses to our query for your favorite neighborhood restaurants. Our first winner is Dee Vitale Henle, who enjoys EN Japanese Brasserie. The winner receives a FREE one year subscription to WestView News. Please submit your local favorite to:
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GRAND PRIZE WINNER
Dee Vitale Henle Recommends
EN Japanese Brasserie
Hudson and Leroy Streets
As a long time resident of the West Village (almost 50 years), I have been fortunate enough to enjoy dining out at the many fine restaurants formerly and currently in the Village area. One that stands out for both me and my husband is EN Japanese Brasserie on Hudson and Leroy Sts. Of course, not everyone loves Japanese cuisine as much as we do. The food is beyond delicious, the service is extremely friendly and most accommodating, and its lovely vast interior provides a selection of comfortable tables at which to dine, including private rooms for special occasions. We prefer to sit in the dining area in front of the restaurant but many seem to enjoy the larger dining room where you feel a part of the dining public. The dishes we enjoy most are the Salmon Sashimi, Saikyo Miso Black Cod, EN Garlic Shiso Fried Rice, their steamed tofu, chilled bamboo shoots with miso vinaigrette, Truffle Mousse or Truffle Chawanmushi…(I could go on and on with favorites!). Their collection of sake is also excellent and the wait staff knowledgeable about all that is available. Everyone we’ve introduced to EN has now become a regular customer and is most grateful to us for the initial introduction. A wonderful selection of Jazz is always playing as Reika, the owner, loves this music and obviously knows it well. (She once had a fundraiser for the preservation of the John Coltrane house in Dix Hills, Huntington L.I.)
I could write more reviews of other great places to dine in the West Village—Beer Zaar, Coco Pazzo, Nix, all relatively new and excellent, but I will leave you here.
If you should ever have a column for “Where WAS a Good Place to Eat?” I would, sadly, have even more to write about.
EN JAPANESE BRASSERIE. Photo courtesy of EN Japanese Brasserie.
Runner-Up Barbara Chacour Recommends:
Elephant & Castle, Greenwich St just east of 7th Ave
I’m so glad this cozy, friendly place survived the closing of St. Vincent’s (my MD still comes there even though he is now at NYU Hospital). I go for lunch and dinner whenever I’m back in the neighborhood (I moved to Battery Park last year.) Everything is delicious and I like the the wine specials. Reasonably priced too. Friends say “I had forgotten about it.” I recommend they return.
Runner-Up Carol Yost Recommends:
Good Stuff Diner, 109 West 14th St
This fairly good-sized eatery, open 24/7, offers what I would consider a wide variety of standard American fare at moderate prices. Their meat portions are very large. I think the large salads, such as Oriental Ahi Tuna Salad, Steakhouse Salad and Field of Dreams, are especially good. When it’s not too busy, you can have a large booth all to yourself. On the other hand, large groups of 20 or so like to gather there, too.
Yes, they deliver. You can order online as well as by phone. Remarkable—and I think they’re worth the visit for this reason alone—are the three ceramic murals consisting of many highly glazed panels showing cutlery, plates, pictures of bygone scenes, photos of classic American celebrities, and so forth; some things, such as plastic forks, are the real McCoy permanently fastened to the panels. The murals are true works of art.
You may run into old friends you haven’t seen in years. If you’re there alone on a holiday, you might dress up for the occasion, because you never know whom you may meet.
