Lupitas Restaurant

Each supper club and trattoria on Second Avenue makes room for Lupitas Restaurant on the calendar. The spot doubles as a Mexican restaurant where lunch crowds and solo diners slide into the same booths, and the afternoon hum of coffee orders sits beside the dinner rush’s clink of beer glasses. Live music turns the watch glass above the street door into a beacon after six, when the room shifts from fast service to cocktails.

Find it at 2049 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10029—dinner reservations are taken at *(646) 590-4202*—and set your phone’s map to the same coordinates used by every cab driver looking for the neighborhood’s most reliable dinner service. The route is listed here: https://www.google.com/maps/place?ftid=0x89c258a7f10b1807:0x44f1e7eb8f8b36ba. No signposts required.