Restaurants in Manhattan

The menu at KuKu Canteen modifies traditional, made-to-order Korean and Japanese cuisine with contemporary tweaks and healthy touches. Skilled chefs steam pork and vegetable dumplings, and spoons warm in a piping-hot stew of kimchi and ramen. Rice bowls insulate tender morsels of tofu or chicken, and mixed-green salads hold savory meats in an embrace of light soy and citrus-ginger dressings. In addition to availing of dine-in, delivery, and carry-out options, patrons can nab premade kimbop rolls or salads from the to-go refrigerator for fast-paced meals more convenient than picnicking on the racetrack during the Indianapolis 500.

Moonlight cascades through the massive central skylight at Van Diemens Café & Bar, and casts an opalescent sheen across patrons chattering over Australian-inspired dishes. High ceilings draw eyes up to a second-floor loft, where glasses laden with draft brews and selections from the bar's extensive cocktail menu and wine list leave dewy rings on tables. Crimson booths and long bars offer ample room to cheer, pump fists, and darn a mascot's oversize novelty socks during basketball and football games aired on Van Diemens' TV screens.

Studded with old-fashioned marquis bulbs, an unassuming sign beckons bar hoppers to Off the Rails' newly renovated interior graced with vivid graffiti, wall-spanning chalkboards, and rustic wood décor. Lambent light and convivial conversation spill out from elegant french windows at the Upper East Side watering hole, where 20 on-tap beers from the likes of Harpoon and Goose Island flow beneath shelves of premium liquors and trick wine bottles filled with spring-loaded corks. Homemade meatballs and barbecue-chicken sliders headline a menu of upscale pub grub with vegetarian options, as well as bottomless brunch fare including brioche french toast and daily pasta specials.

The grill gurus at Burger Creations top certified Angus patties with traditional and innovative ingredients, and envelop them in toasted brioche or whole-wheat buns. Creative burgers capture the culinary aura of their namesake regions with options such as the guacamole-slathered Santa Fe and the Sake—two miniature miso-ginger patties crowned with japanese coleslaw and a crunchy gyoza skin. Smaller beef and chicken sliders can be traded with friends or stacked to serve as stands for ground-beef busts of Hamburglar.

Crepes on Columbus fills its namesake dish—thin, made-to-order pancakes—with sweet and savory ingredients, imbuing each bite with Franco-Spanish flavors. The quaint café’s crepes adapt to any appetite, brimming with rich infusions such as nutella and strawberries or roasted chicken and ratatouille, and serve as emergency head coverings during freak downpours of jams and preserves. The friendly wait staff serves both breakfast and dinner all day, comingling omelets, juicy cuts of meat, and seafood on tabletops, sided with desserts and smoothies.

During warmer months, an open front bar lets sun-steeped zephyrs roam across Mercury Bar East's 15 plasma televisions and plates laden with American fare. In the glow of multihued lights, patrons perch on stools at one of two bars, nibbling on pizzas, burgers, and wraps. Tabletop beer dispensers and 20 varieties of bottled and draft brews from Samuel Adams, Magic Hat, and others busy left hands prone to interfering in games of rock, paper, scissors.