Palma

Palma sits on Cornelia Street, one of the Village's prettiest blocks, and serves the kind of Italian cooking that tastes like a family recipe because much of it is — the kitchen draws on the owner's Italian roots, and the menu stays seasonal and unfussy. The front room is whitewashed and flower-filled; the real prize is the garden and the restored carriage house behind it.

On a mild evening, dinner in that garden is as close as Manhattan gets to eating in someone's courtyard in the Mediterranean. It is a known quantity for date nights, but it has never hardened into a tourist machine; the warmth is still genuine.