It may not surprise you that Greenwich Village was once an actual village. In the 18th and early 19th century it was a countryside farming community, as well as a refuge for wealthy city folks fleeing epidemics of diseases like smallpox and cholera.
In subsequent eras it became an early Black settlement, shipping port with warehouses and docks, and a location for prisons and rural churches. As the 20th century dawned, it turned into a mecca for poets, painters and bohemians, culminating in the Village of Emma Goldman, James Baldwin, Dylan Thomas and Bob Dylan.
The area west of Seventh Avenue subsequently became known as the West Village. With its meandering lanes, 19th-century townhouses, and quaint shops and restaurants, it remains a favorite destination for tourists and New Yorkers alike, a place known for fine food and bar hopping. Here are 10 great restaurants in the neighborhood, for a range of budgets.
Under $20
A Salt & Battery
If you want real English fish and chips, this is your spot. The room is dominated by vats of boiling oil and ringed with some less-than-comfortable seating. No matter, there’s a choice of perfectly cooked fish filets (starting at around $10) and other seafood, including shrimp. Other British offerings include battered sausages, brown gravy, malt vinegar and smooshy peas. 112 Greenwich Ave.
Café Panino Mucho Giusto
On sunny days the furniture spreads out on the sidewalk at this neighborhood hangout, which dispenses teas and coffee beverages to customers who like to linger, and concocts salads and panini sandwiches (from $8 to around $15) — simple fare that somehow manages to be memorably delicious. With wines, too, Panino Giusto, as it’s called for short, has a communal wooden table favored by local authors. 551 Hudson St.
Corner Bistro
Don’t let the name fool you: Corner Bistro revels in its antique atmosphere, and takes its name from the days when any neighborhood bar might be called a bistro. The beer is cold, the booths worn and comfortable, the floor covered with sawdust — and somehow Corner Bistro ended up making one of the most celebrated burgers in town, in a tiny closet beside the bar. A burger and a beer will run you around $20. The fries are good, too, but aside from that, a toasted cheese and a BLT, not much else is on the menu. Open till the wee hours. 331 West Fourth St.
Malatesta Trattoria
Malatesta — which means “bad headed,” originally the name of a 15th-century Italian nobleman — is a long-running casual restaurant with merciful prices that concentrates on the food of Emilia-Romagna and opens up its sides in sunny weather, making it a great place to watch the crowd heading for the Hudson River Park. Regional Italian food includes pasta with a perfect bolognese, and piadina, oven-roasted flatbreads filled with cheese or prosciutto. Piadinas are $10 or $10.50; pastas are $16 to $18.50. 649 Washington St.
Under $40
Cowgirl
This restaurant was once affiliated with Fort Worth’s Cowgirl Hall of Fame, and the playful décor still reflects it. Cowgirl is a great family spot, and the dining room is often filled with parents and kids from the nearby schools. Like the décor, the menu says Texas, and includes chicken fried steaks ($23), freshly made corn dogs ($6), catfish dinners ($21), cheese enchiladas ($17) and a black-eyed pea dip ($8) not to be missed. 519 Hudson St.
L’Antica Pizzeria Da Michele
For real Italian pizza, you can jump on a plane to Naples … or you can go to Da Michele, a branch of an 1870 Neapolitan pizzeria on Greenwich Avenue. The wood-burning oven turns out facsimiles of the Italian original: puffy dough discs with simple crushed tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil leaves, damp enough in the middle you need to eat them with a knife and fork. It has pastas and pastries, too, and is open three meals a day. Pizzas start at $20 and pasta dishes at $24. 81 Greenwich Ave.
For a splurge
The Clam
Yes, this place concentrates on clams, a bivalve central to the culinary history of New York. The relaxing setting overlooks James J. Walker Park, which is named after a mayor thought to be among the city’s most corrupt, and the fare features raw clams with cocktail sauce ($14), clam dip ($16) and spaghetti with red clam sauce ($29). Plenty of other seafood is also available. 420 Hudson St.
Leitao
Located on the West Village’s prime dining thoroughfare of Hudson Street, Leitao calls itself a taberna. Concentrating more on wines and cocktails than beer, the food is like what you might find in a corner bar in Porto, Portugal. If you can assemble a group of up to six people and order in advance, suckling pig with all the trimmings is the ticket (and not cheap, at $550 for the table), but other possibilities include grilled octopus salad ($33), sirloin steak in garlic sauce ($26) and a roster of fascinating sandwiches that include the Francesinha. 547 Hudson St.
Perry St
This most obscure of restaurants in the Jean-Georges Vongerichten empire sits at the bottom of Perry Street and is fronted by a magnificent terrace offering views of the Hudson River and New Jersey on the other shore. The food is casual and French — coming via Cedric Vongerichten, the chef’s son — with international flourishes, such as salmon crispy sushi with chipotle mayo ($23), peekytoe crab dumplings ($28), a Japanese-leaning ahi tuna burger ($38) and fried chicken with scotch bonnet sauce ($36). 176 Perry St.
Wallsé
Twenty years ago the city experienced a fad for Austrian food, and this restaurant led by Kurt Gutenbrunner is one of its last remaining vestiges. Located in a neighborhood that still has the feel of the port it once was, and decorated with fine art, Wallsé mounts a menu that offers smoked trout palatschinken (crepes) for $25, rabbit spatzle for $28, and, yes, a super-crisp wiener schnitzel ($46). Save room for the elaborate desserts. 344 West 11th St.
