Soho Restaurants by Restaurant Girl

Q & A with Back Forty’s Peter Hoffman

Cuisine: American | Featured in Chef Q&A

When Peter Hoffman opened his seminal, farm-to-table restaurant Savoy in 1990, terms like “local,” “seasonal,” and “sustainable” had yet to become part of the dining lexicon. Now, you’d be hard pressed to find a Manhattan chef that doesn’t make regular runs to the Union Square Greenmarket, or a Brooklyn eatery that fails to cite the origins of its Heritage pork, free-range eggs, and artisanal wedges of farmstead cheese. And although Hoffman shuttered Savoy in 2011, he remains resolute in his mission to eliminate out of season, overly processed ingredients from his restaurant menus.

French Culinary Institute

Cuisine: French | Featured in Best Of

You do know you don’t have to go to a restaurant on Valentine’s Day, right? You could take a cooking class together. ...

Milk & Honey

Cuisine: Bar | Featured in Best Of, Fall Foods

A pioneer on the cocktail scene, Milk & Honey singlehandedly made old cocktails new and exciting again. If you’re a cocktail...

Balthazar

Cuisine: French, Seafood | Featured in Best Of

Balthazar is one of New York’s great French restaurants. People come here for the scene and to eat classic French dishes, like Steak Au Poivre, French Onion Soup, and Apple Tarte Tatin. So where else would you go for a classic French-style Steak Tartare than to Keith McNally’s Paris bistro-inspired masterpiece?

Rouge et Blanc

Cuisine: French, Vietnamese | Featured in Best Of

If you haven’t been to Rouge et Blanc, the Ceviche is a perfect excuse… to start anyway. But there’s a lot to adore about this French-Vietnamese sleeper in Soho. The small plates menu make it ideal for a date or a light dinner where you can share and sample the scope of the menu, which includes Vietnamese Sausage and Hanoi Chicken.

La Esquina

Cuisine: Mexican | Featured in Best Of

This trendy, deli-front restaurant is one part taqueria, one part brasserie, and another part café. With three different restaurants in one, you’ll be able to get your ceviche fix even if you can’t secure a table in the cafe below. La Esquina’s taqueria, open from 8 a.m. to 2 am., features a modest lunch counter and does mostly to-go and delivery orders, but you can get ceviche pretty much anytime you’re craving it.

Blue Ribbon

Cuisine: Seafood | Featured in RG's Favorites

How many restaurants offer Matzoh ball soup, grilled sardines and fried chicken? Not to mention that they pull it off effortlessly. Prepare to wait at the Bromberg Brothers perenially popular, no reservations flagship eatery in Soho, where you can sample the raw bar or head straight for paella, tofu ravioli or pigeon. My favorites are the raw scallop served in the shell, steamed artichoke and the smoked trout, but you can’t really go wrong here no matter what you’re craving. If you still have room for dessert, the banana split’s the move.