Bistro St. Mark's
76 St. Mark's Avenue, near Flatbush Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn
(718-857-8600)
Every Monday night, chef Johannes Sanzin composes a four-course tasting menu for $25, a spectacular bargain when you see what tasting portions look like in Brooklyn. (Skip lunch.) Sanzin, an alumnus of Bouley, inherited that kitchen's way with fish and the perverse knack of its ultrarich potato purée, which came one night alongside seared black bass with littleneck clams. He revels in unexpected touches, like toasted walnuts and Asian pear in a woody mushroom salad, and a summer succotash of limas, tomato, and corn with the rack of lamb. The high-ceilinged space is an echo chamber, and the staff gets stretched thin, but nothing seems to faze the multicultural clientele of brownstone renovators, bam-goers, and the upstairs neighbor making a solitary dinner of oysters and beer at the bar.

Borobudur Cafe
128 East 4th Street
(212-614-9079)
Borobudur is worth a trip just to slurp down the sweet Indonesian drinks: There's susu soda gembira (condensed milk, a sweet red syrup, and club soda), which tastes like an Indonesian egg cream; es teh Borobudur, iced tea with a cinnamon-clove bite as sharp as ginger beer; and es teler, an iced Pepto-Bismol–pink concoction made with coconut milk, syrup, basil seeds, and Gummi Bear–size pieces of sugar-palm fruit. The food here is equally intriguing: Don't miss the sensational batagor, crispy-skinned deep-fried tofu with dueling Indonesian-soy and peanut sauces ($4.50); rendang padang, briskety beef in a hot, murky coconut sauce ($8.95); and superb satay ($8.95), that dish being to Indonesian cuisine what the shish kebab is to Turkish. Hot, sweet ginger tea makes a fine finale.

Brick Oven Gallery
33 Havemeyer Street, near North 7th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
(718-963-0200)
If there's a certain nostalgic quality to this off-the-beaten-track Williamsburg pizzeria, it comes from the 119-year-old brick oven. So do the crisp, flavorful thin-crusted pies ($7–$12), the wood-fired chicken panini with roast tomatoes and goat cheese ($8), even the extra-thin, herb-crusted flatbread used to scoop up "Brooklyn caviar" (a smoky melange of eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes, $6). A sidewalk table on the preternaturally quiet block is an unpretentious oasis in the midst of hipsterville.

The City Bakery
3 West 18th Street
(212-366-1414)
Known for its minimalist tarts and iconoclastic pretzel croissants, this gourmet emporium is also home to the city's best salad bar and a lunch counter that chef Ilene Rosen playfully calls Lucille. Her Lucille Lunch menu is an inspired collection of dishes never before brought together under the same roof: miniature cream-cheese-and-guava tea sandwiches ($4.50), Lebanese yogurt with Cypriot cheese and Indian bread ($7.50), a Greenmarket mixed fry of tempura vegetables ($10), even a corn dog ($2.50). Drink coconut water from the shell, and don't skip the homemade peanuts-and-beer ice cream for dessert.

Cosette
163 East 33rd Street
(212-889-5489)
Arriving at Cosette on a dark Murray Hill side street is like being lost in the French countryside and stumbling upon a warm and welcoming sleepy-village bistro. From the moment owner Bernard Massuger insists on putting the Côte de Brouilly on ice when he senses it hasn't hit the perfect serving temperature, you know you're going to be well taken care of. Things only get better from there with chef Boubaka Segda's tasty phyllo-dough aumôniére filled with chèvre and grilled portobellos ($9), a gut-busting wintertime cassoulet ($19), and first-rate steak-frites ($18).

Deborah
43 Carmine Street
(212-242-2606)
Deborah's is one of those seemingly generic menus -- meat loaf, pork chops -- that provoke several minutes of indecision outside the restaurant. "Well, whaddya think?" you mutter to your cohort. "Umm, I don't know, what do you think?" she mutters back. Just move it inside. You'll be glad you did once you tuck into some seriously fresh, aggressively seasoned, just-tweaked-enough American comfort food: grilled-shrimp-and-avocado salad; a juicy cheeseburger with roasted tomato, chipotle mayo, and some of the best hand-cut fries in town ($9); beer-battered fish and chips to make a Brit blush ($10); and a cool Key-lime tart that even Steve Tarpin, Brooklyn's Key-lime-pie kingpin, would tout. You won't hesitate outside this door again.

DuMont
432 Union Avenue, at Devoe Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
(718-486-7717)
Judging by the ancient tiled floor and the weathered tin ceiling and walls, you'd never guess DuMont is a relative newcomer to the Williamsburg scene. But it's already become a popular destination for brunch, for takeout, or to while away a solo dinner with a book at the bar. Settle in to friendly service, Sancerre by the glass, and tasty renditions of glorified diner food like lardon-studded "DuMac and cheese" ($9), hearty vegetarian entrées, and blackboard specials like crispy roast chicken slathered with garlicky salsa verde over a salad of fennel, radish, and watercress ($13.50).

Genesis
511 West 181st Street
(212-923-3030)
We were stunned to learn that this tiny Washington Heights Ecuadoran joint had recently been renovated: With only two tables and an open kitchen crammed with peppers, simmering stockpots, and bags of rice, what could it have possibly looked like before? Regardless, if you're interested in tasty, aggressively seasoned Latino fare at rock-bottom prices, make a pit stop here on your way to or from the Cloisters for big bowls of soupy, citrusy seviche ($11), pollo guisado ($7), and, on Saturdays, a selection of Ecuadoran snacks like empanadas and llapingachos. Beware what looks like homemade coleslaw -- it's full of aji pepper, and will blow you away.

Hadom
7 Seventh Avenue South
(212-206-7374)
Endure clueless service and discomfiting staff imbroglios for what amounts to an Israeli vegetarian feast, starting with gratis pickles and olives, followed by an appetizer sampler and thick pita bread, and dominated by liberal (if painful) applications of z'houg, the Yemeni hot sauce. The lemon-and-oil-drenched appeal of Middle Eastern food shines in starters like spicy red-pepper-and-tomato Moroccan salad ($4) and smoky baba ghannouj ($4.50). And how can you resist a place that makes such transcendent hummus? Leave room for malawach ($6), the flaky fried flatbread, and jachnun ($7), the Saturday special of 24-hour-baked cylinders of dough.