La Palapa

While strolling around the West Village with my brother on a Saturday evening we came across La Palapa, an adorable Mexican restaurant with a lively bar, a large dinning area and best of all, outdoor seating. The West Village location (6th Ave. between 21st & 22nd St.) has three custom drink creations; Fresh Lime & Pomegranate Juice Margarita, White Hibiscus Sangria and Michelada (a beer cocktail). I love white wine and love sangria so ordered the White Hibiscus Sangria, which, I have to say, was not the best white wine sangria I've ever had. It was refreshing but not great. We started our meal with their delicious homemade guacamole and chips. The menu featured four different entree-sized salads, even one that includes grilled cactus. I ordered the Ensalada De Palmitos Y Aguacate (hearts of palm, avocado, tomates and mixed greens with fresh oregano vinaigrette) with a side of black beans. They even have a main entree specifically for vegetarians, Plato Azteca Vegetariano- two potato taquitos with guacamole, salsa, rice tortilla, grilled cactus paddle and black beans.
La Palapa is a great summer spot and I definitely recommend it. Apparently there is another one in the East Village- at St. Mark's Place & 1st Ave.

Extra Virgin

Extra Virgin is a West Village neighborhood gem located at 259 West 4th St. (between Charles & Perry St). As one could guess from their name, the restaurant offers a variety of extra virgin oils from around the world. Aside from the array of olive oil, chef Joey Fortunato serves quality Mediterranean dishes like Roasted Artichoke Parmesan and a Greek Salad which is served with hearts of palm, feta cheese, tomatoes, chickpeas, kalamata olives, red onion, cucumber and hummus crostini. My cousin ordered the Mustard Crusted Virgin Chicken served with sweet pea risotto, cippolini onions and truffle broth. Even Whitney Port and her boyfriend have been seen eating at Extra Virgin in an episode of The City.
Check out this video of the restaurant.
Open for dinner every night of the week, lunch Tuesdays-Fridays and brunch on the weekends from 11am-4pm.

Cowgirl

I first heard about Cowgirl while on the Sex and the City tour in July, it's the place where Carrie and Miranda run into Aidan and Steve having lunch together.
It's a cute place and offers great outdoor dining in the warmer months but unfortunately the food was sub par. If you order right it's good place for comfort food but I ordered the Cowgirl Citrus salad from the Specials menu and it was definitely nothing special. Two of my friends ordered the Texas Veggie Trio (a cup of veggie chili, a side salad, a baked potato and a warm piece of cornbread served with sour cream, jack and pico de gallo on the side). It was a nice variety of food but they both commented that it really wasn't worth $15.

I liked the rustic feel of the restaurant and loved the idea of the little roadside General Store inside which sold candies, t-shirts and other knickknacks. Cowgirl would be a great place to meet friends at the bar and sip on the fresh fruit margaritas, cleverly served in mason jars.

I've heard that Cowgirl is a great brunch spot, if you've ever visited for brunch leave a comment below to let us know what you thought.

Located at 519 Hudson St. (at 10th St.) and open everyday- Mondays-Thursdays until midnight, Fridays and Saturdays until 2am and until 11pm on Sundays.

Zampa

About two weeks ago a colleague of mine came into my office raving about Zampa, a small wine bar in West Village, that she and her friend had visited the night before and telling me that I must go. I had plans to have dinner with two of my friends later that week so I called to make reservations. Upon our arrival it became apparent that they somehow lost our reservations. The small restaurant was crowded but we didn't really want to go back outside and face the cold New York winter weather. As we stood in the entry way debating what to do the host and owner, Anthony Briatico, came over to us apologizing that this had happened and said he'd be able to fix up the little self-like bar against the window to make it a table top and pull up three stools, plus he'd buy our first bottle of wine to apologize for the inconvenience. As I'm sure he predicted, the wine sealed the deal! We chose one of the white wines that was recommended to us by our friendly waiter, who even chimed into our Real Housewives of O.C. conversations (haha- love it!). And don't be fooled by three petite New York ladies, we didn't stop at just one bottle of vino, we had three!!!
We had almost finished our first bottle of wine before even looking at the menu. Without any pressure from the waiter, we decided it was finally time to accompany our night of drinking with some of their amazing food. We started with a plate of three different cheeses- Robiola di Tre Latti (a mix of sheep, cow and goat milk), Parmigiano Reggiano, and Tuscan Pecorino. All cheese plates are served with a side of jam and bread.
After the cheeses we shared three main dishes- two salads: Roast Beets with French Feta, Lemon, Olive Oil and Herbs as well as the Anjou Pear, and Frisee with Shallot Vinaigrette (they had no problem substituting the Gorgonzola Dolce cheese with shaved Parmigiano Reggiano). We also shared the night's special Mushroom Lasagna, one of their excellent vegetarian options.

To ensure that you have no problem securing your reservations, I recommend you use OpenTable.
Zampa is located at 306 W. 13th St. (btw. 8th Ave. & 14th St.)

Centro Vinoteca

Centro Vinoteca is a triangular shaped restaurant located in West Village on 7th Ave. near Barrow St. I stood near the hostess stand waiting for my friend for just a few minutes and was already impressed with the menu, or at least the seasonal specials that were written on the chalkboard. We ended up ordering a bunch of the Italian small plates- or "piccolini"- to share. We ordered the parsnip and chestnut soup, silver dollar-sized sweet potato cakes and zuccini fritters.

The Sous-chef at Centro Vinoteca is native New Yorker Leah Cohen who is a contestant Top Chef Season 5. Once former head chef, Anne Burrell left Centro, Cohen has stepped up to the plate, and according to George Elkins- the managing director Mangia hospitality group, which owns Centro- "She’s done a remarkable job. She’s bringing new things to the table, and everything we’ve tasted has been, well, she’s just been hitting it out of the park.” (Source) And I'd have to agree with him on that one, I absolutely loved everything at Centro Vinoteca and the fact that they serve seasonal dishes means I might be able to make an exception and repeat the restaurant!

Tre

Tre opened early in 2008 and is located at 173 Ludlow St. in the West Village. I wasn't aware the modern Italian restaurant was so new when I dined there this past February. Even though our food was great, it would also be a great place to just stop in and grab a drink.

I recommend the Insalata Di Spinaci (baby spinach salad, feta cheese, cucumber, tomato and peppers) and the Carpaccio Di Bietola (thinly sliced red beet, fried goat cheese ballas, with mango dressing).

Reservations for Tre can be made at OpenTable.com.

Mercadito Grove

Mercadito Grove is a Mexican tapas restaurant located on 7th Avenue between Grove and Barrow Streets in the West Village. This is a great summer spot with outdoor seating perfect for interesting people watching and a vast list of exciting drinks including various mojitos, margaritas and cervezas.

To start we ordered the Guacamole Sampler which included orange guac, traditional and mango. The fruit in the guacamole made the spicy dishes a little more refreshing. My friend ordered the Pollo Tacos- four small tapas-style tacos topped with a sliver of avocado- and loved them. I had the Ensalada Verde (without jicama and queso). It was spicier than I would have liked and the quesco may have helped with that but I left most of the salad on my plate but made sure all of the chips and guacamole were eaten. = )

Tasca
(130 Seventh Ave. South, at 10th St.)
I enjoyed the trendy Spanish atmosphere in the West Village but was sadly let down by the red wine sangria that seemed to be infused with too much cranberry juice. However this Spanish tapas bar does offer white wine- so try that instead and let me know what you think!
Unfortunately Tasca does not take reservations, no matter how large the party. Luckily the restaurant and wine bar next door, Central Kitchen, has the same owner as Tasca so while our party of 6 waited for about an hour for our table we were able to enjoy a drink at Central Kitchen’s wine bar.
Tasca’s menu was full of seafood and meat. The few vegetarian options- carrots & a plate of assorted cheese and salad- were very good, but definitely not too filling.
Overall I'd say it was a small place with a lot of people, not great food, service was alright.