The British restaurant Dame, one of the new hot eateries in the Village, offers a limited food menu. The two lengthy wine menus list what the owners think James Bond and Austin Powers would drink.

We chuckled when Ayla, our fab server, described how they keep the pretty mussels for the dilled heirloom cucumber dish, pureeing the ugly ones for its garlicky sauce ($17).  We also enjoyed the three large grilled prawns in a light sauce with Sungold tomatoes ($22).

I’d suggest the restaurant skip the langoustines (or find a meatier shellfish) to put on the kedgeree. The seafood didn’t add anything to the flavorful curried rice and smoked fish Indian dish ($32).

Instead of trying one of the restaurant’s two dessert options, we headed up the street to Cafe Reggio — a NY coffee shop claiming to have served the first US cappuccino — to continue the evening. It’s worth the stop just to see the decor as not much has changed since it opened. Literally. I did learn that my dining partner had gone there often while attending NYU.

Dame
West Village
85 MacDougal Street
New York, NY 10012
(929) 367-7370‬
damenewyork.com/

Caffe Reggio
119 MacDougal St
New York, NY 10012
(212) 475-9557
caffereggio.com/