• 1. Where to Stay
• 2. Where to Eat
• 3. What to Do
• 4. Insider’s Tip
• 5. An Oddball Day

(Photo: Courtesy of the Black Pearl)

Tapas bars and cocktail lounges are starting to usurp head shops and tattoo parlors on rough-around-the-edges Broadway. The best of the new guard: Spark, a seafood-heavy restaurant with peach-colored walls, starburst-shaped mirrors, a BYOB policy, and a soft spot for Asian spices.

Bypass long lines at onetime sail loft the Black Pearl on Bannister’s Wharf, and order a $4.50 cup of the famous clam chowder to go. Then sit on a bench and savor the traditional thin broth, crammed with fresh clams and dill, while watching yachts disgorge Ralph Lauren–clad tourists.

Breakfasts on the white-columned terrace at the Chanler’s Spiced Pear cost a fraction of what dinners will set you back, and though it’s no steal at $24, the buttery “lobster egg sandwich”—scrambled eggs and melted Vermont white Cheddar cheese on a flaky croissant—is worth the splurge. If you really want to make a day of it, stick around for lunch, when you can pair the Not Just a Burger (named by GQ's Alan Richman as one of the "20 Burgers You Must Eat Before You Die") with 25-cent martinis.

Published on Oct 10, 2007 as a web exclusive.