El Rey Luncheonette

Nicholas Morgenstern (Goat Town, the General Greene) serves dishes inspired by the California coast at this Lower East Side eatery, having transformed the former El Rey café-bar into a modern lunch counter. In the 15-seat space—featuring communal tables, globe lambs and a multiwood bar—find Vietnamese iced coffee on tap and pastries like plum-and-ginger Danishes and parsnip-and-cajeta toast for breakfast. Dinner dishes include duck-confit hand pies, winter falafel with minted cauliflower, and cashew grits with braised pork. For beverages, aguas frescas (like cucumber limeade with juniper seltzer) are made in-house, and beers such as Westbrook White Thai witbier and Evil Twin's Ryan and the Beaster Bunny saison are on draft.