If Nick's is a laid-back neighborhood hangout, Johnny's Reef (2 City Island Avenue; 718-885-2086), at the tip of City Island, is a riotous summertime feeding frenzy. Fish-fry lovers make the pilgrimage to the overlit, no-frills cafeteria in the Bronx for some of the best, freshest, most affordable seafood around. The fried soft-shell crabs, filet of sole, lobster tails, and calamari are delectably crunchy, the corn on the cob succulent and sweet, the custardy ice cream an apt conclusion to the greasy feast. Carry your cardboard tray outside to a picnic table on the enormous patio with a sweeping view of Long Island Sound.

Until now, the terrace at Giando on the Water (400 Kent Avenue, at Broadway; 718-387-7000), the old-school Italian restaurant and catering hall below the Williamsburg Bridge, has been open only for private parties. But beginning next month -- pending the arrival of a shipment of patio furniture -- cocktails will be served outside, right next to the decrepit remains of some wooden docks that lend even more atmosphere to the East River views of lower Manhattan. But the mood inside the dining room, with its saggy pink upholstered chairs and garish chandeliers, is too reminiscent of a banquet hall. None of the traditional Italian standards -- pastas, chops, seafood -- merits a special inter-borough trip. Try, if you can, to ingratiate yourself with the tuxedo-clad maître d', who might, if the dinner rush is over, grant you a premium window table for coffee and one of the best Italian cheesecakes in town -- or just wait till they open the terrace for dessert.

Related:

• Archive: “Cover Story”
• Articles by Robin Raisfeld
• Table of Contents: Jun 28, 1999 issue of New York | Subscribe!