Press

This espresso and wine bar also serves up good food, especially for late night types who want something fancier than simple diner fare. Basics like chicken sandwiches are dressed up with arugula and watercress. An extensive wine and beer list means those celebrating into the early hours can keep on drinking. Patrons also appreciate the club-like interior, with ruby red walls and gold etchings, floor-to-ceiling beads in every window, and bold black and white checked floors.

This beautiful bar has become a staple for young, hip East Villagers. The French-Indochine decor and funky music creates the vibe of a bar, with the intimacy of a lounge. Designer martinis and tasty light food are a perfect combination for hot dates or just hanging out. Open late. Private parties available.

Villagers slouch into this Alice in Wonderland fantasia for muffins, coffee cake, a full coffee menu and multiple cigarettes. The bright red pressed tin ceiling is hung with chandeliers, and Chinese wallpaper and big black-and-white squared floors create a fanciful effect. Lunchers and late-night diners pick at sandwiches, goat cheese salads, and platters of fresh fruit and imported cheeses, matching them with a rotating list of seven wines by the glass.

This nearly perfect median of a bar/café/restaurant is a nice representation of how the East Village has modernized (gentrified is so negative). Simone is owned and operated by the same people who run the Yaffa Café around the corner, and they know how to provide a wondrously sultry atmosphere. And here you can even eat that atmosphere—just take a look at all of the delectable menu items from appetizers to sandwiches to desserts, coffees, wines, and luscious cosmopolitans. The music—all well chosen—is usually turned low enough so you can carry on a conversation without too much effort. In a neighborhood full of fantastic places for dinner and drinks, Simone is among the frontrunners.