Bars, Restaurants & Dining
Coffee lovers can take comfort in having Ultimo Coffee, one of the city’s original “third-wave” specialty shops, as a neighborhood staple at 22nd and Catharine streets.
For breakfast and brunch, neighbors gather at the bustling Honey’s Sit ‘N Eat, where a fleet of tables are complemented by a singles counter that makes weekday solo pop-ins convenient for a bite. Little Spoon, farther east on South Street at the corner of 15th Street, promises quality ingredients for its scrambles and hashes and a rotating specials menu that never fails to compel - though, its menu staple, the lemon ricotta pancakes, are an ongoing draw.
Govinda’s, on the corner of Broad and South streets, mastered vegetarian dishes long before other restaurants hopped on the bandwagon, with a soy chicken or steak Philly cheesesteak - available for a lunchtime takeout - that’s practically legendary. The Cambridge tavern offers a reliable weekend lunch menu of burgers, salads and a stout-battered fish and chips.
Sawatdee, a BYO, hits the spot for Thai entrees and offers take-out for an evening fast fix. Pumpkin stands out in the neighborhood as a modest and unassuming space for dinner that, nevertheless, consistently makes “Best of” lists for its rotating seasonal menus and perfection of simple ingredients, simple dishes - see: the chilled beet soup or option of beef sirloin or pork loin. Los Camaradas, on the southwest end of the neighborhood, is a casual Mexican dinner option for enchilada and tequila cravings, while Rex 1516 on South Street whips up Southern-inspired entrees such as a cornbread catfish, paired with a cocktail list that includes a mint julep.
Much of the drinking happens at Bob and Barbara’s, the original home of the beer-and-a-shot Citywide Special; Jet Wine Bar, a near-perfect after-work meeting ground for oenophiles; or The Sidecar Bar & Grille, a Cheers-esque bar and grille known in part for, of course, its sidecar cocktail.
Dessert is aplenty in Graduate Hospital, to boot - whether it’s gelato and frozen yogurt at The Igloo, cutesy Mason Jar puddings at The Baker’s Jar or the butterscotch bourbon pie at Magpie.