Stop Sniveling Over Seats at the City’s Most Popular Restaurants

The most annoying aspect of the current dining scene is how a small group of restaurants has become wildly popular, which has made getting in almost impossible. Meanwhile, eating at those places has turned into an obsession for some. To land a table, one must be famous, an influencer, or pay absurdist membership fees; as well as endure effronteries like leaving a deposit, planning weeks in advance, dining at odd hours, or eating under a time limit. And it’s hard to escape the barrage of text messages and emails before, during, and after a visit once a place has your contact information. Alternatively, you can stand in line for hours for a walk-in table, and even then not get in.

There are too many excellent restaurants in New York to count — so you need not endure this disheartening ritual. Here are some swaps and suggestions that allow you to maintain some dignity instead of buying into the scarcity mentality promoted by Resy and so on.

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Instead of Carbone ...

When Carbone was founded a decade ago, it replaced a 90-year-old Italian restaurant named Rocco’s, channeling its décor and red-sauced sensibilities, while multiplying the prices to astronomical levels. It ushered in a modern era of needlessly expensive and exclusive restaurants, yet there was nothing particularly unique about the food, other than the fact that veal Parm is $89.

Try Gene’s

Also located in the Village, Gene’s (founded 1919) reflects the same era in Italian-American cooking Carbone aspires to, but you can get a reservation or walk in nearly any evening, and Sarah Jessica Parker is reportedly a regular. (Veal parm: $36.) 73 West 11th Street, near Sixth Avenue, Greenwich Village

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Instead of Bangkok Supper Club …

Bangkok Supper Club blew up faster than expected, becoming more popular than its parent Fish Cheeks in the blink of an eye, serving such dishes as garlic fried rice with pork belly, an unaccompanied whole grilled fish, and shrimp satay.

Try Sappe

Only a few blocks north lies Sappe, another new Thai restaurant that mimics a Bangkok cocktail lounge instead of an American supper club, with a glitzy air and full menu of satays. The heart of the menu, though, lies in currently popular Isan dishes. This restaurant has a pedigree, too: It’s a descendent of the East Village’s Soothr. 240 W. 14th Street, near Eighth Avenue, West Village

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Instead of Dhamaka …

Dhamaka has distinguished itself by providing polished versions of Indian homestyle regional cooking in a colorful but cramped space in the Essex Street Market. From Delhi, for example, comes a dish of lamb ribs flavored with mango and fennel, while Goa provides butter pepper garlic crab.

Try Indian Table

A couple of stops on the F from Dhamaka in Cobble Hill, India Table also provides a fascinating and tasty take on regional Indian food, in fact it has several dishes from the former Portuguese colony of Goa. It is much easier to get into, even offering lunch hours, which Dhamaka pointedly does not. 234 Court Street, near Baltic Street, Cobble Hill

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Instead of Roscioli …

Even the NY Post is bitching about how hard it is to get into Roscioli, having reported it turned away Claire Danes. The Roman deli serves salumi and pastas upstairs, and a prix fixe menu in the basement. Sure the pastas are good, but not that good, and the portions are small.

Try Lupa

For a taste of the excitement of Roman food, check out the long-running Lupa (still owned by Joe Bastianich with chef Umaru Bajaha running the kitchen), only a few blocks away. It boasts a menu with many more classic Roman dishes than Roscioli, including oxtail vaccinara and veal saltimbocca, while covering the same pasta bases as Roscioli with larger portions. 170 Thompson Street, near Houston Street, Greenwich Village

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Instead of Cote …

I had hoped to write about Cote’s offshoot Cocodaq, but I haven’t managed to get in yet. So, instead I’ll offer a substitute for Cote, which showed only one table on a Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. in the coming days as I write this. It was one of the first to apply steakhouse principals to Korean barbecue, and is pretty damn good, but the portions are often small and the hard backless benches reminiscent of a church pew.

Try Wooga

Wooga, which started in Fort Lee, New Jersey, has a new branch east of Penn Station where the six dry-aged steaks, running from $38 and up, are substantial in size and cooked over flame at your table with a sprig of rosemary. There are assortments of steaks, too, as at Cote. And the price is considerably less than what you pay at Cote. Wooga, Wooga!. 371 Seventh Avenue, near 31st Street, Koreatown