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and a wall of windows looking out onto 7th Avenue remains popular. A recently revamped menu focuses on Italian classics with flair, like a bitter green salad of local mutsu apples, endive, radicchio, frisee, walnuts, and Gorgonzola dressing, and a grilled pizzette with mozzarella, fennel sausage, and arugula. Several dishes use local supplier DiPalo’s cheeses, including a ricotta cavatelli with a red wine–braised short rib sauce. Main courses lean toward the substantial, like a grilled Angus rib eye with balsamic braised cipollini mushrooms. And in true Italian form, the kitchen stays open until midnight. | 74 7th Ave. S, at Barrow St., Greenwich Village | 10011-6606 | 212/367–7470 | www.centrovinoteca.com | AE, MC, V | Subway: 1 to Christopher St./Sheridan Sq.; A, B, C, D, E, F, M to W. 4th St.–Washington Sq.

Five Points.

$$ | AMERICAN | This cheerful restaurant is a refreshing oasis, with a rushing stream of water running through a hollowed-out log for the entire length of the dining room. Chef-owner Marc Meyer’s menus are seasonal and market-driven. Expect plump chilled oysters, exemplary Caesar salad, and splendid house-made pasta, followed by the likes of pan-seared day-boat halibut with cucumber gazpacho and chopped tomato salsa; and grilled baby lamb chops with rosemary potatoes, mint-yogurt sauce, and black-olive-stuffed tomato. Weekend brunch is one of the very best in the city, and prices are quite friendly. New to the menu: lunch, meaning Five Points is open all day long. | 31 Great Jones St., between Lafayette St. and Bowery, Greenwich Village | 10012-1178 | 212/253–5700 | www.fivepointsrestaurant.com | Reservations essential | AE, MC, V | Subway: 6 to Bleecker St.; B, D, F, M to Broadway–Lafayette St.

Gotham Bar & Grill.

$$$$ | AMERICAN | A culinary landmark, Gotham Bar & Grill is every bit as thrilling as it was when it opened in 1984. Celebrated chef Alfred Portale, who made the blueprint for “architectural food,” that is, towers of stacked ingredients, builds on a foundation of simple, clean flavors. People come for Portale’s transcendent preparations: no rack of lamb is tenderer, no seafood salad sweeter. A stellar 20,000-bottle cellar provides the perfect accompaniments—at a price. There’s also a fantastic three-course $31 prix-fixe lunch from noon to 2:30 weekdays. | 12 E. 12th St., between 5th Ave. and University Pl., Greenwich Village | 10003-4428 | 212/620–4020 | www.gothambarandgrill.com | AE, D, DC, MC, V | No lunch weekends | Subway: L, N, Q, R, 4, 5, 6 to 14th St./Union Sq.

Gray’s Papaya.

¢ | HOT DOG | It’s a stand-up, takeout dive. And, yes, limos do sometimes stop here for the legendary hot dogs. More often than not, though, it’s neighbors or commuters who know how good the slim, traditional, juicy all-beef dogs are. | 402 6th Ave., at W. 8th St., Greenwich Village | 10011-8416 | 212/260–3532 | Reservations not accepted | No credit cards | Subway: A, B, C, D, E, F, V to W. 4th St. | 539 8th Ave., at 37th St., Midtown West | 10018-4302 | 212/904–1588 | Reservations not accepted | No credit cards | Subway: A, C, E to 34th St./Penn Station | 2090 Broadway, at 72nd St., Upper West Side | 10023-2802 | 212/799–0243 | Reservations not accepted | No credit cards | Subway: 1, 2, 3 to 72nd St.

Lupa.

$$ | ITALIAN | Even the most hard-to-please connoisseurs have a soft spot for Lupa, Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich’s “downscale” Roman trattoria. Rough-hewn wood, great Italian wines, and simple preparations with top-quality ingredients define the restaurant. People come repeatedly for dishes such as ricotta gnocchi with sweet-sausage ragout, house-made salumi, and sardines with golden raisins and pine nuts. The front of the restaurant is seated on a first-come, first-served basis; reservations are taken for the back. | 170 Thompson St., between Bleecker and W. Houston Sts., Greenwich Village | 10012-2575 | 212/982–5089 | www.luparestaurant.com | AE, MC, V | Subway: A, B, C, D, E, F, M to W. 4th St.

Mary’s Fish Camp.

$$ | SEAFOOD | The neighborhood’s second New England fish house (the result of