The first Tables for Two appeared in The New Yorker in 1925. It was a review of a dance hall, Small’s Paradise, where the chorus was “unbelievably active, agile and noisy,” but “the women singers tend to be bores.” They’ve never been traditional restaurant reviews. Instead, Tables for Two is a sketch of a place, a time, a neighborhood. Food happens to be involved, but that’s because restaurants mean more to residents of this city than just about any other. (I know of a relationship once founded solely upon a mutual love of the ricotta crostini at Frankie’s 457 Spuntino, and none of the couple’s friends thought that was crazy.) Maybe it’s the proximity of kitchens to beds in many apartments, or the long days at work, but restaurants have become our personal spaces, the extra room that New Yorkers often dream of having. They’re where love affairs, breakups, and family fights take place, and we have all entered into a contract of pretending not to hear the conversation at the adjacent table when they happen.
Some of my favorite Tables for Two are now gathered in one place. Lauren Collins evokes a perfect, moody evening at the Russian restaurant Mari Vanna, in Gramercy. Her story ends with a man of a certain age overcome with nostalgia, almost in tears. Hannah Goldfield captures the exact moment, earlier this fall, when all anyone could talk about was sandwiches, and whether they led to marriage proposals, before revealing her choice for the best egg sandwich in the city. (It’s at Court Street Grocers, in Carroll Gardens.) Nick Paumgarten happens to be at Earl’s Beer & Cheese, on the Upper East Side, when the health inspector comes by with a Captain America pin on his lapel. Nick’s just finishing the Earl’s Eggo, and you’ll need to read his Tables to discover what the “syzzurpy goodness” on top of it is.
The map is a snapshot of some Tables for Two from the past three years or so. We ate a lot of kale salads in Brooklyn. It isn’t comprehensive, but it will continue to be updated with new reviews, as well as more from the archive. Use it for exploring, for imagining, and for remembering.
Amelia Lester is the food editor of the magazine.
Photograph by Malú Alvarez.
