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A Lovely Day · 7 stops · about 3.8 km on foot

A Lovely Day in the West Village

Steamed eggs at a marble counter, a walled churchyard garden, the city's most famous green salad, a century-old chocolate shop, and sunset from a park built on concrete tulips over the Hudson — then schnitzel and a deco nightcap, all inside a two-mile loop.

Best days Weekdays are ideal (quieter Buvette, Li-Lac and Little Island). Avoid Sunday: Wallsé serves no dinner and St. Luke's Gardens opens only at noon.

  1. 19:00 AM
    Illustration of a French bistro table: steak frites and wineIllustration

    WEST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN

    Buvette

    Jody Williams's gastrothèque has served breakfast through to late wine on Grove Street since 2011; the 9 a.m. room, with eggs steamed on the espresso wand and a cappuccino, is its best-kept version.

  2. about 3 min on foot

    210:15 AM

    WEST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN

    The Gardens at St. Luke in the Fields

    About two acres of roses, fig trees and gravel paths behind the 1820s Church of St. Luke in the Fields; enter from the Barrow Street gate if it is open.

  3. about 5 min on foot

    312:00 PM
    The dark wood facade of Via Carota at 51 Grove Street, with a scalloped awning, a glowing doorway and a chalk-written menu in the window.

    WEST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN

    Via Carota

    Jody Williams and Rita Sodi's trattoria has served Italian vegetable cooking on Grove Street since 2014; it is largely walk-in, so put your name down early and order the insalata verde.

  4. about 9 min on foot

    42:30 PM

    WEST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN

    Li-Lac Chocolates

    Manhattan's oldest chocolate house, making fudge, butter crunch and chocolate cast in Manhattan shapes since 1923; ask what was made this week.

  5. about 15 min on foot

    5About an hour before sunset
    Little Island's sculptural concrete planters rising from the Hudson, paths and trees on top

    CHELSEA, MANHATTAN

    Little Island

    A 2.4-acre park on 132 concrete 'tulips' over the Hudson, opened in 2021; take the southern path up to the southwest overlook for the harbor at sunset.

  6. about 12 min on foot

    67:00 PM
    The dark-painted corner storefront of Wallsé in the West Village, with a pale wooden door, gooseneck lamps and potted boxwoods.

    WEST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN

    Wallsé

    Kurt Gutenbrunner's Austrian dining room near the river, open since 2000 and hung with Julian Schnabel paintings; have the schnitzel and order the Salzburger Nockerl when you sit down.

  7. about 4 min on foot

    79:30 PM
    Illustration of cocktails on a bar topIllustration

    WEST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN

    Employees Only

    Founded by working bartenders in 2004, this deco-lit Hudson Street bar sits behind a psychic's neon sign and runs a proper late-night menu; sit at the bar and describe what you like.

More lovely days

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