Loring Place

If you want to casually impress someone with your exceptionally good taste in restaurants, take them to Loring Place. This West Village standby is perfect for every occasion, for a casual weeknight date with someone you’ve lived with for years to a celebratory dinner for your friend who finally got the job they’ve spent months interviewing for. They serve the kind of Italian-influenced New American food that will get you excited about broccoli, and not just for the nutritional value. 

The dining room is subtly sleek, with dark walls, pendant lighting, and a nice bar where you can have a drink while you wait for your table—eating here will make you feel like an adult who knows how to choose wine, even if you don’t. 

Vegetable dishes, pasta, and crudos are always excellent here. The food isn’t going to knock you out with aggressive flavors or luxury garnishes. It’s elevated, but never gimmicky. and that’s why we love this place. It’s low-key luxury, the black cashmere crewneck of West Village restaurants. Keep this place in your back pocket for any time someone asks you where to eat.

Food Rundown

Wood-Grilled Broccoli Salad

Any time you come to Loring Place, this should be on your table. The broccoli is perfectly charred, striking the perfect balance between crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. It’s served with appropriately seasonal accompaniments, like citrus in the winter. It’s the best broccoli dish we’ve ever had.

Crudo

Crudo can be snooze-inducing, but thankfully the ones here are not. They’re balanced, fresh, and remind us why New Yorkers became so obsessed with eating little slices of raw fish at the beginning of every meal.

Pastas

The pastas at Loring Place rotate seasonally, as they should! They’re also excellent. We’re still thinking about some celery root ravioli dusted with pink peppercorn that we ate on a recent visit.

Roasted Short Rib

Your best bet is to go hard on pastas and small plates here, but the primary exception to that rule is the short rib. It has the exact sticky, fall-apart texture that all short rib should aspire to. We love it.

Whole Wheat Pizza

Are these the best pizzas in NYC? They are not, but they’re pretty good, and they bulk out an order of shareable small plates very well.

Cheeseburger

You could eat plate after plate of excellent vegetables here, which is why it’s extra cool that the cheeseburger is so solid. If you feel like a burger, get it.