Restaurants in Inwood

At Rain Thai Restaurant, Thai-tinged chefs enlighten palates with a range of traditional thai flavors beneath the bright sunlight of expansive storefront windows. The restaurant’s specialty grilled pork chop simmers in garlic pepper amid mixed vegetables and sticky rice, and a range of exotic duck, seafood, and noodle dishes plays zesty complement. An intimate dining area cushions diners in scarlet booths beneath glowing wall sconces as they savor each dish, and a selection of imported Thai beers offers sippers diversion from familiar domestic brews and everyday love potions.

Owner and chef Tony Lam mingles with customers in the dining room and with flavors in the kitchen to craft a lively atmosphere fueled by creative Vietnamese fare at an eatery specializing in bun, or rice noodles. Open until midnight on weekdays and 2 a.m. on weekends, chefs prepare the eponymous bun with meat and spices, simmering them in clear pho broth or french-braiding them into edible wigs. Bamboo and verdant plants sprout from arrangements throughout the venue, and vibrant oil paintings hang from the walls above smooth wooden booths.

At La Vie Restaurant & Lounge, light from moroccan lamps takes on bright colors and effuses across clouds of sweet hookah smoke between DJs and belly dancers. Patrons carrying plates laden with skewers and pizzas that blend French and Moroccan culinary traditions zigzag between canopied and candlelit booths strewn with crimson and gold throw pillows. Plush red benches and stools, sprawling underneath mirrors set in gilded frames, grant ample views of a hardwood dance floor and a chance for ground-floor investment in new dance moves. Live bands play music until as late as 4 a.m., with themed evenings focusing on specific genres. Glasses overflowing with fruit-infused cocktails chase off lingering spices and clink together in gleeful toasts between walls with textural accents of stone and beaten copper.

Sushi Mambo's exterior, with its wooden panels and Japanese-style sloping eaves, evokes the rustic charm of an Edo-era highway inn or the comfortable elegance of a samurai's man cave. Guests dine on artfully arranged maki lined with yellowtail, salmon, and eel or savor the tastes of miso ramen soup or bowls of chicken udon. Specialty rolls combine the complimentary flavors and textures of crunchy tempura chicken, creamy avocado, and spicy sauces, and sashimi plates arrange delicate slices of salmon or tender tuna onto colorful plates of greens, lemons, and carved carrot flowers.

The light strumming of flamenco guitar accompanies pitchers of sangria and sizzling plates of paella at Euzkadi, a 2010 _Michelin Guide_–recommended restaurant. Diffuse lighting illuminates the platters of seafood paella with chorizo for two as it is carried into the dining area, as well as small plates of tapas such as Spanish olives and salmon a la plancha, seared with a fennel-tomato confit. Glasses of red riojas, sparkling cavas, and after-dinner ports float in from behind the full bar or hop off the sturdy wood beams that hold the bottles out at a 90-degree angle. The restaurant’s exposed bricks and soft lighting, further darkened with thick, velvet drapes, lead up to a ceiling of primitive drawings of hunters, buffalo, and motocross races designed to mimic the cave drawings in the Basque region of northern Spain.

From its picturesque rooftop beer garden with a city-skyline view to its giant projection screen broadcasting soccer matches and its Simpsons trivia night, Berry Park entertains patrons drinking German draft beers and devouring the menu’s upscale comfort cuisine. Indoor picnic tables bear duck-fat fries and veggie burgers blending herbivore-friendly items such as butternut squash and gluten-free quinoa, and tables in the beer garden shelter plates of shepherd’s pie with their blue Hofbrau München umbrellas. Brunch stretches itself across three hours every Saturday and Sunday, and the kitchen is open late on weekends to accommodate night owls and early birds with jet lag.