Epistrophy

Music fiends might know Epistrophy as the first classic, modern jazz composition (from 1942), by Thelonious Monk and Kenny Clarke. Other cool cats know it as a bohemian café in NoLIta. Ostensibly Italian, it feels more like Paris's Left Bank. A chic and animated coffeehouse, living room and wine-centric bistro all in one, its makeshift kitchen turns out decent salads, panini and pasta. Rustic wood tables are roughly sanded and a sofa by the window invites sprawling. If you're travelling solo, there's a rack of art and fashion magazines to peruse as well as shelves stocked with esoteric books.

This intimate Italian wine bar in NoLIta has a list full of Italian wines by the glass and bottle, but its $16 carafes of house wine are perfectly drinkable. Matched with an $11 antipasti board, overflowing with mortadella, salami, prosciutto, cheese, grapes, melon, and anchovy toasts, means dinner for two for under $30.