Arvine

This West Village restaurant from a team of longtime pros hailing from Daniel, Bouley and Union Square Cafe serves up a wine list long on small producers alongside accessible yet elevated fare like caviar with yucca tater tots and wagyu smashburgers. 

The vibe: Straightforwardly cozy, with exposed-brick walls and long shared banquettes, its “modern American” interior makes it an easy pick for early date nights, after-work happy hours, or dinner with visiting family. 

The food: We can’t help but address the elephant in the room: Arvine’s gigantic garlic knot, which might actually be the elephant of garlic knots. It’s alluringly shiny, crisped on the outside and then drizzled with butter and herbs to be served with puttanesca. (For brunch, it becomes the base of Arvine’s take on a BEC with prosciutto, a fried egg and hot sauce.) It’s a good way to start your meal, since it’s indicative of the entire menu: a little fun, a little different, and extremely delicious. 

The drinks: The wine list, from sommelier Adrien Falcon, features skin-contact wines, an assortment of European deep cuts and plenty of easy-drinking, affordable-ish American bottles. 

Time Out tip: At just 90 minutes from 5–6:30, cocktails are $11 and two kinds of wine are $8 a glass, so you’ll have to move fast. If you prefer a more leisurely savings, bring your own bottle on Sunday nights; you’ll just have to pay a corkage fee.