Talde

This corner spot glows welcomingly, with big picture windows displaying a young crowd having a good time. The bar and booth-lined dining room are ornamented with mahogany moldings, mantel pieces and the sort of Asian artifacts your parents would bring back from trips to foreign lands. A good introduction to chef Dale Talde's Asian-American menu is perilla leaf with toasted shrimp, coconut, bacon-tamarind caramel and peanuts. Other recommended dishes include banana leaf–roasted market fish and Korean fried chicken with spicy kimchee yogurt, grapes and mint.