The Meatball Shop (CLOSED)

Meatball maestros Michael Chernow and Daniel Holzman dominate Gotham's saucy-Italian-orb scene with five locations—Lower East Side, West Village, Williamsburg, Chelsea and the Upper East Side—and Food & Drink Award–winning fare. At any location, you can choose from the same mix-and-match menu of meatballs (spicy pork, beef, veggie), sauces (tomato, mushroom gravy) and sides (polenta, white beans). Everything—including the daily market specials and artisanal ice-cream sandwiches—is made with superlative ingredients, like Creekstone Farms beef. All of the venues are decked out with communal wood tables, but the Williamsburg, Chelsea and Upper East Side offshoots are also equipped with fully stocked bars. The cocktail program at each boasts a “whiskey grid,” with a choice of one of three bases (Rittenhouse Bonded Rye, Beam Black Bourbon and Jack Daniel’s Tennessee) to spike an old-fashioned, Manhattan, Sazerac or whiskey sour, as well as boozy root-beer floats, hot buttered rums, alcoholic punches and Jell-O shots.