In the early months of writing this newsletter, I used to receive many a reader email asking where to eat a proper meal after 9 or 10 p.m. The pandemic had destroyed what I would call later-night dining, and what others like to call post-theater dining.

“Post-pandemic New York, a late-dining city by American standards,” the reporter Rachel Sugar wrote in a 2022 article for T Magazine, “has fallen in line with places like Los Angeles or Austin, Texas, in embracing the joys of twilight dinner.” But it seems that four years later, we are finally shaking off the dust and tiptoeing our way back toward being what Eric Adams has surely called the Madrid or Paris or Hong Kong of America.

All the pierogi at Veselka Williamsburg

Maybe you heard the news that Veselka, Ukrainian American jewel of the East Village, will soon return to 24-hour service on weekends, though exactly when that will happen is a bit cloudy. (Jason Birchard, the third-generation owner of the restaurant, said he was waiting for the post-pandemic dining mania to wear off a bit.) What is absolutely certain, however, is that there is now a new Veselka location, with a 48-year lease, in East Williamsburg near the rowdy intersection of Union and Metropolitan Avenues.

“I’ll be in my late 80s when it’s wrapping up,” said Justin Birchard, Veselka’s chief operating officer and Jason’s cousin. “But, you know, we got a good deal.”

Like the mother ship, Veselka Williamsburg will be open fairly late, until 11 p.m., and serving all the pierogi and chicken paprikash you can stomach. I can already imagine many a sloppy night at Rocka Rolla starting in its generously sized booths.

646 Lorimer Street (Jackson Street)

Mortadella and blue cheese at Lions Bar & Grill

Recently, after spending about three hours soaking in a bathhouse in Flatiron, I made my way to the Lions Bar & Grill in the East Village, a large, low-lit drinking hole open since February on First Avenue. I’d come for the mortadella sandwich with pistachio-flecked meat smothered with blue cheese and pickled peppers between two pieces of toast.

They could have gone a little lighter on the pickled peppers, but that was easy to let slide given the hours of availability. Maybe for you, a fancy bologna sandwich does not a meal make, so you can also order linguine in clam sauce, a chicken club or a cheffed-up baked potato with egg yolk and Cheddar gratin followed by chocolate pot de crème — and you can do so until midnight on Sundays and Mondays, or 1 a.m. the rest of the week.

132 First Avenue (St Marks Place)

Fried Oaxacan cheese with tomatillo salsa at Hellbender Nighttime Café

In case you thought the new drive toward later dining was purely Manhattan-focused, there’s the aptly named Hellbender Nighttime Café in Ridgewood, Queens, the latest in a string of trendy restaurants that are either gentrifying the neighborhood or turning it into a dining destination, depending on who you ask.

What does a “nighttime café” entail? Fusion-y Mexican food from Yara Herrera, a California native who is serving shrimp and corn fried rice perfumed with fish sauce and lime juice; chicken fajitas that nearly make up for the fact that the only Chili’s restaurants in the city are in Glendale, Queens, and on Staten Island; and fried Oaxacan cheese with tomatillo salsa that puts all mozzarella sticks to shame. And it’s all available until midnight Monday through Saturday, and until 11 p.m. on Sunday.

68-22 Forest Avenue (68th Road)

Chrissy’s Pizza at Superiority Burger

Dedicated readers may remember that last year I waxed poetic about Chrissy’s Pizza, a pandemic-era pop-up turned tiny pizza shop in the old Superiority Burger space. Things didn’t quite work out for Chris Hansell at that location, but his late-night residency at the new Superiority Burger on Avenue A, where he’s serving variations on the New York-style pies that made him locally famous, is even more exciting. Thursday through Saturday, he slings pizza from 11 p.m. until 2 a.m. Reservations are released in batches (they’re currently booked through June 15), but no-shows happen fairly regularly if you find yourself stumbling through the East Village and want to try your luck.

119 Avenue A (St. Marks Place)

We are so back. No matter how long I live here, I will never get over the awesome power of late May and early June in New York City. The temperatures are consistently warm, but not too hot. There’s rain, but not too much. And the worst of the pollen has passed.

And you know what that means: Out! Door! Dining! With the proliferation of sidewalk and two-and-a-half parking spots dining, we’re living in boom times for eating outside, but I’m still partial to a backyard, patio or nice rooftop. Here are a few that I’ve enjoyed recently.

Rooftop lounging

I’ve been driving up 11th Street in Queens a lot lately, so I don’t know how I missed the new location of Greats of Craft, a craft beer bar in Long Island City. Over the not-long-enough weekend I dropped by with a friend to enjoy a few drinks on the surprisingly large rooftop, where you’ll find about a dozen large tables for groups, a corner bar with wraparound seating and plenty of shade.

The food is your typical bar fare — pizza, Buffalo wings, grilled cheese — but the surprise hit for me was the pretzel, a pleasingly soft, chewy creation that I could smell from half a block away.

Greats of Craft Long Island City, 10-15 43rd Avenue (11th Street)

Drink in the skyline

Speaking of rooftops, I also paid a visit to Broken Shaker at the Freehand hotel, which arrived in a flurry of pink flamingos and palm fronds back in 2018. The layout — open-air patio and a lounge-y interior — and the perfect view of the Chrysler Building are nice enough. But the food is also good (always a gamble when it comes to rooftop bars in Manhattan, sorry), particularly the addictively crispy tortilla chips with saucy tuna ceviche and the hearty barbacoa tacos. Reservations are highly recommended.

Broken Shaker at Freehand New York, 23 Lexington Avenue (East 24th Street)

Natty up

Then there’s Frog in Bed-Stuy, another of the recent string of party-centric wine bars (see also: Sauced, Cherry on Top). I’ll admit that as a crotchety resident of eight years, I was wary of Frog at first: It was a little too hip and rowdy for a neighborhood that tends to be blessedly low-key.

But they won me over with a consistent string of excellent food pop-ups, including Kreung Cambodia, Schmackwich, Birria La Flor and appearances from chefs like Mina Stone and the artist-turned-soup-entrepreneur Russell Markus, all to be enjoyed in a large, shady backyard. (Be warned: Smoking is allowed.) In early May, Frog expanded its sticky reach to the building next door, opening Tadpole, a live music venue, and doubled the size of its backyard. That said, if you’d prefer a “blessedly low-key” wine bar experience, I’m also fond of Dear Friend Books on Tompkins Avenue, which has a lovely backyard patio but not much in the way of food.

Frog, 358 Marcus Garvey Boulevard (Jefferson Avenue)

Dear Friend Books, 343A Tompkins Avenue (Monroe Street)

Snacking or snogging

If you’re looking for a little taste of the outdoors that’s on the more intimate side (i.e. a meet-up spot for your summer fling), I highly recommend Lucille’s Coffee and Cocktails in north Harlem. The interior has those airy and bright French windows that come in handy when you want to take in the outdoors but not the beating of the sun, as well as a cute little patio worth snagging if you plan on snogging. There’s also excellent pizza that you can order in pie form, but, for crust obsessives like myself, I recommend the super crispy square pies served on quarter sheet pans. (The Arthur Ave with sausage and peppers goes particularly hard.) Then take a walk through nearby Jackie Robinson Park, because how else do you take advantage of this beautiful weather we’re having?

Lucille’s Coffee and Cocktails, 26 Macombs Place (West 150th Street)

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