Melba's

Melba Wilson grew up in Harlem, worked the rooms at Sylvia's and Rosa Mexicano, and in 2005 opened her own corner restaurant at 114th and Frederick Douglass. The menu is American comfort food with a Southern accent — the chicken and eggnog waffles are the dish people cross town for — served in a snug, mirrored room that feels more dinner party than institution.

Melba herself became one of the neighborhood's best-known hosts, and the restaurant has since grown outposts around the city, including one in Grand Central. The original corner room is still the one to visit: small enough that the welcome is personal, good enough that the wait is routine.