No bookings required: The coolest place to eat in New York

It’s no secret that New York City’s Lower East Side (LES) is the grittiest, coolest sibling of all the Manhattan neighbourhoods.

Where the West Village has its prewar facades and luxe-bohemian boutiques, and the Upper East Side has doormen and multimillion-dollar apartments, LES is all ancient tenement buildings with rusty fire escapes covered in graffiti.

Walk down any street there at midnight and you’ll pass restaurants that spill out into newly installed, post-COVID street seating zones, with the painfully stylish set chowing down well into early morning.

Dimes Square natural wine bar, Le Dive.Credit: Teddy Wolff

On a recent week-long trip to New York, I caught up with a friend for dinner. A longtime NYC resident, she gave me three options.

“There’s Kiki’s, which will definitely have a queue because everyone is onto it now,” she explained. “Or we can try Cervo’s. But let’s meet at Le Dive first.”

Feeling intimidated as all hell, I agree that we should have a wine or two and then make plans.

All of these venues were in a tiny block referred to locally as Dimes Square. A so-called micro-neighbourhood, Dimes Square sits between the Lower East Side and Chinatown and is named after one of its first popular restaurants, Dimes.

Neighbourhood namesake: Dimes restaurant.

The health-focused casual eatery has since become one of many hip places to drink and dine in the area, which includes a closed-off section of Ludlow and Canal streets, allowing venues to maximise their tiny indoor spaces with spacious outdoor seating in the warmer months.

Unlike Australia’s most talked-about restaurants, you don’t book a table at Dimes Square’s establishments. This is a good thing – it’s impossible to get a table at most of New York’s much-hyped spots without scheduling your visit months in advance. The freedom to decide on a dinner spot on the night – do you feel like fall-off-the-bone Greek-style lamb, salty-sweet pizza, or vegan Mexican? – is refreshing in a city of high demand.

Tables spill out onto the road outside Le Dive.Credit: Alamy Stock Photo

When I turn up to Le Dive, the sprawling outdoor seating is packed. Not even remotely a dive bar, it’s chic in a we-didn’t-try way. The outdoor chairs are those fragile-looking, foldable kind dispersed around small metal tables littered across the road. My friend had procured one of the dinky tables and was halfway through a glass of pet nat when I arrived. She had brought another friend with her, and no sooner had I sat down than he began making plans to put our name down elsewhere.

The no-reservations aspect of Dimes Square’s restaurants is good, but it’s chaotic good. In true Millennial and Gen Z style, we were already discussing the next stage of our night before even settling into what was happening at that moment. You’re drinking at one place and sending someone on a scouting mission to determine the next. It’s not so much that everyone is having faux-fun – there are just so many good places close by that it’s difficult to commit.

I arrived at 7.30pm, the prime time for sunset. Another drawcard of Dimes Square? The surprisingly breathtaking sunsets. The street is gradually bathed in golden yellow, then deep orange as the sun sinks right between the miles of buildings along Canal. You can tell the tourists from the locals by those who stand up to take Instagram snaps when the light really hits.

Chic in a we-didn’t-try way: Le Dive.Credit: Teddy Wolff

Scouting mission over, we decided on Kiki’s but had to put our names down. The wait was at least 40 minutes, so I followed my friend into Forgetmenot, an actual dive bar complete with flaky paint, curling rock posters and a very eclectic crowd. A woman seated near us cradled her pet rabbit, which she had brought into the bar on a lead. I had a pickle martini (awful), and the others sipped watermelon margaritas (delicious and fresh).

We finally made it to Kiki’s around 9.30pm. Housed inside an old Chinese paper shop and retaining some of the old signage, it’s as authentic a Greek taverna as I’ve found outside Greece itself. The food is cheap by NYC standards, wine is available by the carafe, and they do a mean lamb chop. We ordered far too much food and still, the bill came in at under $45 ($US30) per head – with a tip.

Cervo’s bar offers a Spanish-Portuguese menu and natural wine.

If I’d had the time, I would have spent at least two more nights drinking and dining in Dimes Square. Cervo’s, my friend’s other bar suggestion, was across the road from Le Dive, and I spotted patrons enjoying glasses of orange wine with their Spanish-Portuguese-inspired seafood dishes. Nearby, vegan tacos at Jajaja were calling my name.

If I were ending my night at Dimes Square, my final stop would be Scarr’s Pizza. Known for queues at all hours, their famous Hotboi slice – juicy pepperoni, a generous helping of jalapenos and finished with drizzles of Mike’s Extra Hot Honey – would be the sticky, delicious antidote to a wine-fuelled evening.

The details

Eat + drink

Le Dive, 37 Canal St, New York City. See ledivenyc.com
Forgetmenot, 138 Division St, New York City. Phone: [phone]
Kiki’s, 130 Division St, New York City. Phone: [phone]
Scarr’s Pizza, 35 Orchard St, New York City. Phone: [phone]. See scarrspizza.com
Cervo’s, 43 Canal St, New York City. Phone: [phone]. See cervosnyc.com
Jajaja, 162 E Broadway, New York City. Phone: [phone]. See jajajamexicana.com