Stone Park Café

Stone Park Café has held its corner of Fifth Avenue and Third Street since 2004, named for the small park across the way where the Old Stone House sits. It is the Slope's reliable white-tablecloth-without-the-tablecloth option: seasonal New American cooking, a dining room of wood and big windows, and a weekend brunch that families and lingering couples have quietly fought over for two decades.

Nothing here chases a trend, which is the point. The menu moves with the market, service is practiced, and the corner windows do lovely things with afternoon light. It's the kind of neighborhood anchor every restaurant row needs and few keep for twenty years.