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Despite its name, Cocoa Bar is less a bar than a chocolate-themed café and sweets shop, hence the unpretentious Ikea-style furniture and art by neighborhood painters and photographers on the walls. Small, round tables spark intimate conversations and act as perches for the laptops or books of freelancers. Solo flyers can also stake out with a glass of wine on a small banquette that looks onto Seventh Avenue, or at the long, light-wood bar at the center of the room. In the back, an additional seating area offers a couch and a door onto a seasonal backyard patio. The menu suggests pairings between the good selection of international wines and the homemade chocolate truffles and marshmallows, but it's hard not to enjoy wine and flourless chocolate cake in any combination. — David S. Hirschman

Flourless chocolate cake, $7