Klee Brasserie

At Klee Brasserie in Chelsea, it's free BYO on Sundays and Mondays (corkage is otherwise $25), as long as each person orders two courses. "It's a way to enjoy good food and service and have the wine you want to drink without breaking the bank," says Aet Soe, Klee's wine director. "We figured it's a nice perk for customers." And it seems to be working. "We've been busy lately," she says, adding that people often end up ordering a second bottle from Klee's own list of European producers, which focuses heavily on hip Austrian wines.

Besides, Austrian-inspired cuisine is shown here to be light, original and contemporary, courtesy of owner/executive chef Daniel Angerer. He trained in top restaurants in Europe and New York before opening this modern Chelsea bistro in 2006, and in 2008, went on to defeat Bobby Flay on Iron Chef America. His reliance on fresh herbs and reductions lend rich, nuanced flavour to seasonal dishes like monkfish pumpkin-seed schnitzel, slow-roasted duckling with cracked wheat berries, and colourful mason jar vegetables.