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Save for the topless bars by the Queensborough Bridge, there's not much shaking after hours in the western reaches of Long Island City. La Vuelta Bistro Latino is a lively after-work and lunch destination colonized by personnel from the Citibank tower two blocks away. It's neither precisely a bistro nor Latin, but a throw-back-your-tie cantina with south-of-the-border menu touches. The low-lit dining room's brick walls flaunt paintings by local loft-dwellers, and a spacious patio is a magnet for cell phoners and smokers. La Vuelta's sandwich-laden, appetizer-heavy menu, a mainstay of catered lunches, goes well with the busy bar's winning tamarind martinis; a starter of grilled tuna salad features meaty slices of seared fish, and nachos are tangy with jack cheese. Heartier appetites may be sated by simple rice-based dishes scantly seasoned for the no-garlic midday delivery crowd. With all the exceptional dining options in neighboring Astoria, La Vuelta's patrons are drawn not by the chow but by the chance to hobnob with a banker they might not even know yet. — Karen Tina Harrison

Grilled tuna salad, $16