Restaurants to try

Bravo: This small restaurant quickly became a top favorite for locals. Order the Cheese pizza and a Caesar salad to share. Yum! -Alex Eusebio, Top Chef

MTV: Eat at this place - ninjas serve you your food - it's wild. - Vinny, Jersey Shore

Serious Eats: Pernil with a Twist: Chunks of roast pork—the kind you want to pick out and relish separately. Among the onion slivers and jalapeno-green sauce, there are homely fried lumps of sweet plantain. Mehr erfahren.

Showtime Network: Best dumplings in the city. -Claire, The Real L Word

Showtime Network: Original cafe Habana nolita. Always crowded but worth the wait. My picks: skirt steak, corn. -Francine, The Real L Word

Time Out New York: Try the crispy Chinese watercress salad. The star green in this salad is lightly battered and deep-fried to gently temper its bitterness. It’s one of our #100best dishes and drinks of 2011. Mehr erfahren.

Time Out New York: Not to be missed: French fries dipped in salted caramel, a.k.a. the stuff stoner dreams are made of.

Real Cheap Eats: Try the Mac and Cheese Empanada ($1.25). "Elbow pasta is mixed with a cheesy sauce that, depending on who you are, will channel either your inner child or inner stoner." Mehr erfahren.