Malagueta
25-35 36th Avenue, Astoria
(718-937-4821)
If you've only experienced rodizio, that nonstop Brazilian barrage of grilled skewered meats, you'll be happily surprised by the refined elegance (and low prices: $12.95, tops) of this congenial restaurant's coconut-milk-and-palm-oil shrimp stew (moqueca de camarão); the tart, creamy passion-fruit mousse; and, on Fridays and Saturdays, the feijoada, the national Brazilian clay-pot black-bean stew packed with pork, sausage, and fatty bacon and served with white rice, garlicky collard greens, farofa (crunchy fried cassava meal), and -- in a seeming effort to cover all the major food groups -- a few orange slices.

Mamlouk
211 East 4th Street
(212-529-3477)
Sometimes the best way to experience an unfamiliar cuisine is to defer entirely to the cook, to relinquish free will and idiosyncratic tastes and simply say "Feed me." That's the way dinner unfolds twice nightly at Mamlouk, the atmospheric Middle Eastern restaurant where the $30 six-course prix fixe menu changes daily, and where the only decision you need to make is whether to book a table at 7 or 9, the only available seatings. Dinner usually begins with great bread and terrific meze, including muhammara, a delicious walnut-pepper melange, followed by a minty fattoush salad, a tasty vegetable stew, and then two meat courses that might include anything from a Persian-style chicken with walnuts and pomegranate juice to an Iraqi lamb-and-okra dish. Factor in the wailing Middle Eastern music, the exotic furnishings -- tables so low that to dine at them requires an advanced knowledge of Pilates -- and the hookah pipes ($15 surcharge) that materialize after dessert and mint tea, and dinner is an entirely transporting experience.

The Minnow
442 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
(718-832-5500)
Park Slope has wholeheartedly embraced this poor man's Le Bernardin, and with good reason: Chef-owner Aaron Bashy and his wife, Vicki, deliver high-quality, inventively prepared seafood at neighborhood-friendly prices (most entrées run $16–$17). The cozy vibe and diverse wine selection are as much of a draw as the meaty fish cakes with toasted-paprika aïoli and the couscous-crusted scallops with chickpea fries. And between his periodic kids' cooking classes and his all-you-can-eat blue-crab fests, Bashy seems determined to turn his modest neighborhood restaurant into a full-fledged community center.

Nam
110 Reade Street
(212-267-1777)
Neither shabby-cheap nor trendy-chic, Nam claims the sparsely populated Vietnamese-restaurant middle ground: understated Tribeca hip with handsome bamboo-and-wheatgrass décor and an appealing, surprisingly affordable menu (entrées, $11–$16). Rice-paper wrappers are as fresh as the whole shrimp they're stuffed with; stir-fried chopped monkfish on a black-seeded rice cracker is a terrific textural contrast; and the Hanoi-style barbecued pork is delectably charred and speckled, like most everything else, with chopped peanuts. Toasted coconut renders the homey warm banana bread just exotic enough.

ONY
357 Sixth Avenue
(212-414-8429)
From the noodle pros at Menchanko-Tei comes a joint with a gimmick: The name stands for Original Noodle for You, and the kitchen lets you customize your own steaming cauldron of ramen ($8.75) to your exact specifications. Pick the broth (the murky, rich spicy miso, say) and the toppings, which might include herb-flecked salmon balls, kimchi, fried tofu skin, or raw egg ($1–$2 a pop). If it's too hot for soup, try the soba salad ($7.75) or the sushi, which turns out to be much fresher and tastier than you'd expect from the noodle-parlor premises. And there's probably nothing that isn't improved by a jolt of the yuzu chili sauce.

Patio Dining
31 Second Avenue
(212-460-9171)
Sara Jenkins cooks with the seasons and shops at the Greenmarket, which makes her small daily menu (entrées range from $12 to $22) fresh, unpredictable, and Chez Panissean in spirit -- think Jonathan Waxman's Washington Park on an East Village budget. Earthy, comforting soups; rich, veggie-strewn pastas; boutique free-range pork and veal; and fresh, expertly cooked fish sound simple but are elevated by first-rate ingredients -- even the house olive oil makes a bold, aromatic statement. The décor is thrift-shop funky and the kitchen is tiny, but what emerges from it is often creative, always satisfying, and a refreshing break from the pervasive cook-by-numbers approach.

Pearson's Texas Barbecue
71-04 35th Avenue, Jackson Heights
(718-779-7715)
Like fading rock stars who find blue instead of green M&Ms in their dressing rooms, some of the city's new self-styled barbecue connoisseurs are impossible to please. And it's not only the meat that has to be just so; it's also the ambience, which according to these experts should approximate something like Fred Sanford's front lawn. Pearson's has both requirements covered. The new location in the back of a Jackson Heights bar isn't as screen-door funky-grubby great as the old Long Island City one with its backyard picnic tables, but it's got a working man's vibe, a jukebox, and an occasional Hell's Angel with a motorcycle mama in tow. On the other hand, the wood-smoked pork ribs, pulled chicken, chopped pork, brisket, and hot links ($12–$14.50 per pound) -- all available as sandwiches on excellent Portuguese rolls ($5.95– $6.45) -- are so damn good, and dare we say authentic, you'd be happy eating this grub off of a Frette-linen tablecloth with an asparagus holder at Ducasse. Pearson's is the closest New York comes to a quibble-free 'cue zone.

Phi Lan
249 East 45th Street
(212-922-9411)
This is the sweetest little spot you'd never expect to find in midtown, with heartfelt Vietnamese home cooking in a cozy coffee-shop setting. When Tudor City nail-salon owner and chef Lan "Nancy" Tran decided to get into the restaurant business, she enlisted practically the whole Lan Tran clan -- her sister's fiancé, her aunt from California, a great uncle or two. The family pride shows in dishes like bo xao chua, sautéed strips of beef with red peppers and onions on a mound of watercress ($10), and subtly spicy dark-meat chicken with lemongrass and chilies over rice ($6). Pho fiends might quibble that the soup doesn't include all those optional add-ins like beef tendon and "navel," but the broth is delicious, redolent of star anise and clove. And even if it weren't, there's such a friendly vibe here, you'd come back anyway.

Po
31 Cornelia Street
(212-645-2189)
There's life after Mario Batali, the original chef-partner of this vest-pocket trattoria, where crowds still flock for affordable, enticing Italian fare. Chef Lee McGrath shares his predecessor's fetish for chili pepper, which punctuates everything from lemony anchovies over a bed of faro ($9) to a refreshing, Greek-like cucumber-and-olive salad under a blanket of shaved ricotta salata ($8). Pastas are generous and satisfying; quail and lamb taste char-grilled ($12.50–$18). Try to score a window table -- it always feels like the most romantic spot in town.