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Two things might seem misleading about the name of this pint-size restaurant. First, it’s open for lunch and dinner. Second, the food may be meatless (and in some cases, dairy-free, too) but it and the restaurant’s nuevo-retro vibe attract vegetarians, vegans, and omnivores alike. With its mustard-yellow walls, olive and burgundy vinyl booths, and rotating Paint-by-Number gallery of art, David and Jean LaPointe’s homage to roadside diners slings a revised version of American hash-house classics. Meat substitutes abound in sandwiches, burgers and platters—many of which have tongue-in-cheek names and descriptions like Scorned Beef Hash, roast loin of soy, and Virginia sham—and accent Cobb and spinach salads, sprinkled with cartoony pieces of convincingly bacony soy bacon.  Some dishes eschew faux meat altogether, like Jeanie's California Melt.  Excellent Mexican dishes hint at Mr. LaPointe’s past as one of the founders of the Burritoville empire. Breakfast is served all day but take note: Open just shy of noon, Curly's operates on East Village time. Fresh-made honey-ginger lemonade, carrot and beet juice, and smoothies are alone worth stopping in for, and a growing display of crayon-art on paper placemats attests to the neighborhood’s fondness for this sweet spot. — Colleen McKinney

Go ahead, play with your food: Name every element in Curly's Twenty-Ingredient Salad and win a slice of one of a dozen amazingly decadent vegan cakes.

Brunch
Sat.—Sun., 10 a.m.—4 p.m.

Chilaquiles, $8.95; Cubano nuevo, $7.95; avocado and jack burger, $8.95