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If your friend is a total boozehound who won’t step foot anywhere that doesn’t visibly look like it can keep him properly imbibed – don’t cringe when he suggests “dinner” at one of his favorite dives. Instead steer him to one of the following bars – that just happen to dish out excellent food as well.

WEST VILLAGE
Blind Tiger Ale House
[281 Bleecker St.] [212.462.4682]

This brew pub with a barnyard feel serves a fantastic banh mi, “Bloody Beast” (a neat little roast beef slider with cheddar, red onion, and bloody mary sauce) deviled eggs, and a Murray’s cheese plate. Just as enticing are the 28 beers on tap – and the fact you can pack one up in a growler for home.

EAST VILLAGE
Jimmy’s No. 43
[43 E. 7th St.] [212.982.3006]

He will like the beer sausage, mussels in beer, and excellent selection of German, Belgian, and American craft beers. You’ll like that everything is organic, locally sourced, and positively delicious. The menu changes nightly – so try as much as you can… and wash it down with a cold one.

PARK SLOPE
Beer Table
[427 7th Ave.] [718.965.1196]

Delicious and decidedly dedicated to beer – this Park Slope favorite has excellent food as well. Even better, make reservations for this Monday and be there when they partner with Saxelby Cheesemongers. Fifty dollars gets you five brews and five cheeses (all which promise to be superbly curated and delightfully interesting: Italian-made, Belgian-style beer paired with American-made, Italian-style cheese.)

WEST VILLAGE
Wilfie & Nell
[228 W. 4th St.] [212.242.2990]

Saddle up with a sidecar and Berkshire pork sliders, scotch and scotch eggs, a beer and a corned-beef sandwich, and assorted bacon-y things with well more assorted bacon-y things. The drinks are well-constructed, the crowd pretty, and the kitchen happily open until 2am.

You flirt shamelessly. He’s says, “Let’s do dinner Thursday night- you pick the place.” You say, “Great it’s a date” and then cringe- is it really a date? Like a date-date? Why did you have to say the word date? And even though he is the one that did the asking, you’re the one feeling like you are about to be rejected – and you have to pick the place. Choose one of these carefully middling restaurants where you can play cordial until you are comfortably feeding each other dessert at the end.

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN
Al di la
[248 Fifth Ave.] [718.783.4565]

The communal tables here are not the ruckus they are at say, Kampuchea. But they will still grant you the illusion of being out with a group (even if it is a group that has absolutely no interest in talking to you.) Handmade pastas are superb. As are the braised rabbit and hanger steak. By the time you get to the gianduitto (an amazing chocolate gelato with hazelnuts) you’ll have forgotten everyone else in the room.

EAST VILLAGE
Chiyono
[328 E. 6th St.] [212.673.3984]

This charming Japanese restaurant is hidden in the midst of curry row. Slip in and feel quite far away while you enjoy braised pork belly, miso cod, fried oysters, and plum pickles straight from Iwaki, Japan (and the Chef’s mother’s garden no less.) By the end of the Omakase Tasting (a terrific value at $30) you will feel the urge to never return to the outside world.

FORTE GREENE, BROOKLYN
Pequeña
[86 S. Portland Ave.] [718.643.0000]

Yes, it is small. Which means you’ll have no choice but to be up close and personal with your date. The black bean and plantain quesadilla is fantastic – as are the fish tacos. And really- what better test is there than a couple margaritas to discover that you both have secretly wanted to make out for months.

HARLEM
Zoma
[2084 Frederick Douglass Blvd.] [212.662.0620]

On the one hand sharing your food is quite romantic. On the other, eating with your hands generally is not so much. Zoma magically combines both. The Harlem Ethiopian eatery sports low lights and superbly flavored food. Try one of the samplers for two and feed each other slow cooked stews, lentils, and vegetables with bits of injera- flat bread that here (happily) isn’t as spongy as other Ethiopian joints.