Thirteen of these dinner posts in, and I have never once left the Theater District. Every pick has been within a ten-minute walk of a Broadway marquee, because that is where most people are headed.
But a lot of the best theater in this city is nowhere near 45th Street. The Public is on Lafayette. New York Theatre Workshop is on East 4th. Cherry Lane is on a curved little street in the West Village that the GPS gives up on. And if you go looking for "where to eat before a show," every list you find will hand you Restaurant Row, which is forty minutes and a transfer away from where you are actually sitting.
So this one is for the downtown houses. Five rooms, all verified open this week, each one tied to specific theaters and a real walk.
First, the clock
Off-Broadway curtains wander more than Broadway's do — some houses go up at 7, some at 7:30, a couple later still, and matinees are their own animal. Check your ticket, not your memory.
But the standard Broadway evening curtain is 7 PM, and the arithmetic downtown works the same way as it does uptown: sit down by 5:45, ask for the check when the entrees land, be out of the room by 6:30. You are out of the theater around 9:45 with a short play and closer to 10 with a long one, which is why the after-curtain column matters as much as the before.
Indochine — 430 Lafayette St, across from The Public
Forty years old and still lit like a movie. Palm fronds, low light, French-Vietnamese, and it is directly across Lafayette from The Public Theater at 425 — which is not a walk, it is a street crossing.
Dinner only: Sunday through Wednesday 5:30 to 11 PM with last seating at 10:30, Thursday through Saturday 5:30 to midnight with last seating at 11:30. No lunch, so a matinee is out. Figure $70 to $100 a head with a drink — this is the splurge on the list, and the one where being seated at 5:30 sharp is the difference between making your curtain and eating dessert in a hurry.
The Thursday-through-Saturday midnight close makes it one of the very few rooms down here that works properly after a show, which is rarer than it sounds.
Veselka — 144 Second Ave at 9th, for the Orpheum and NYTW
The East Village Ukrainian diner, and the single most useful address in this post. Pierogi, borscht, cabbage, a griddle that never cools down, and about $18 to $28 for a proper dinner.
Hours are the whole argument: Monday through Thursday 9 AM to midnight, Friday 9 AM straight through overnight, Saturday open 24 hours, Sunday until 11 PM. Weekend service went back around the clock in April and has stayed there.
It is one block from the Orpheum at 126 Second Ave and about six minutes from New York Theatre Workshop at 79 East 4th. Pre-matinee, pre-evening, post-show, 2 AM — there is no version of a theater night this room does not cover.
Pete's Tavern — 129 E 18th at Irving Place, for the Union Square houses
Open since 1864, dark wood, tin ceiling, and it sits in the middle of a genuinely dense little theater cluster: the Daryl Roth at 101 East 15th is four minutes away, the Vineyard at 108 East 15th is the same walk, and Classic Stage at 136 East 13th is about seven.
Seven days a week, noon to 2 AM. The kitchen closes at 11 PM Sunday through Thursday and midnight Friday and Saturday. Entrees land in the $25 to $40 range.
Noon opening means it handles a matinee, and a kitchen open to 11 means it handles the walk back. If I had to pick one room on this list that works on the most nights of the year, it is this one.
Via Carota — 51 Grove St, for the West Village houses
Rita Sodi and Jody Williams' Italian gastroteca, a James Beard award behind it, and a dining room that people plan trips around. Monday through Thursday 11 AM to 11 PM, Friday through Sunday 10 AM to 11 PM. Walk-ins are welcome and Resy takes reservations.
It is three minutes from the Lucille Lortel at 121 Christopher and about five from Greenwich House at 27 Barrow.
Here is the honest warning, and I am giving it because the walk-in line is famous: do not try this one without a reservation on a night you have a curtain. The wait can eat your entire pre-show window. Book it, or go at 11 AM before a matinee, or eat here after the show instead. The food is worth the planning; it is not worth missing a first act.
Mamoun's Falafel — 119 MacDougal St, for Minetta Lane, Cherry Lane and SoHo Playhouse
Since 1971, a counter the width of a hallway, falafel in the $6 to $12 range, and the hours of a firehouse: Monday through Wednesday 11 AM to 2 AM, Thursday to 3 AM, Friday and Saturday to 4 AM, Sunday to 1 AM.
Minetta Lane Theatre is two minutes away. Cherry Lane at 38 Commerce is about seven. SoHo Playhouse at 15 Vandam is eight or nine.
This is the pick for the night the curtain is at 7 and you got off the train at 6:40. Eat standing up, spend eleven dollars, and be in your seat with time to read the program.
One closure, because the listings have not caught up
Mimi Cheng's at 179 Second Ave closed for good on September 11 — the lease ended. The dumplings live on in freezer cases nationwide and the company is opening something at JFK, but the East Village storefront is gone. Several pre-show roundups still send people there. Veselka is four blocks north and open later.
Where this fits
If your show is uptown after all, the budget guide to eating before a Broadway show is still the place to start, and the block-by-block guide sorts Midtown rooms by the street your theater is on.
If you are down here because you found a cheap seat, good — that is the right reason. The Off-Broadway board turned over hard this month, and the lottery hub tracks what is winnable right now. Won something for tonight and need to eat first? Any of the five above will get you fed and seated with room to spare. Except Via Carota. Book Via Carota.
