Bobo Restaurant

Bobo is the elder sibling of Carlos Suarez's Casa Nela group, that includes the Village hits, Rosemary's and Claudette. The place is easy to miss as the entrance is downstairs, but walking in off the busy corner at W10th and 7th Ave, guests are transported to a chic French country home, with a sizable bar area, a parlor level dining room and a gorgeous year-round garden.

The restaurant serves dinner and weekend brunch, offering classic French country cooking lightened for their West Village neighbors - plump tomato farcie, enlivened with a pork shoulder stuffing, fregola sarda risotto with chantrelles, and bistro stand-by's like oysters and steak tartare with shoestring frites.

The bar program is strong - this is where a number of the city's best bartenders have worked - and currently Aaron Thorp (Le Coucou) is running the drinks program that includes a vermouth piscine.